Pure Punk Picks
Non-Alignment Pact – Pere Ubu
Pere Ubu is my favorite koo-koo band.
I believe, Deborah Harry has a solo album named that. I haven’t heard it but I’m guessing it doesn’t have what I refer to as “koo-koo music” on it.
But that’s what, I and Andy’s name for experimental local punk/new wave bands back in the eighties. The Girls and The Dark were my two favorites.
(One of The Dark’s song even had someone in the band chirping “koo-koo” each time at the end of one of their musical lines).
These bands had energy, aggressive playing, more realistic and sarcastic lyrics than mainstream bands at the time and some adept playing- lots of these
cats could play! But they were not pompous assholes about it. They didn’t try to pander to the accepted notion of what a “good musician” was at the time.
They wanted to rock and kick ass and create something of substance. And that they did.
There was a band from Cleveland, Ohio in the mid seventies called Frankenstein. When that band split up, half of the band formed The Dead Boys and the
other half Pere Ubu.
Of course, The Dead Boys soon became one of the most popular and potent bands of the early New York/CBGB’s punk scene. And Pere Ubu was successful, in
a very underground way, recording many albums and continue to this day.
They were a synth/noise band with some reggae influences led by David Thomas, who continues as the only original member. He looks a bit like Meatloaf
and sings in a high pitched, frantic voice that suggests David Byrne of the Talking Heads on mind altering drugs.
This song starts with a headache inducing, high synth note repeated with a high note bass guitar, playing double notes line above it. Eventually, a rockabilly
like guitar lick signals to the drummer that “the coast is clear” and when the bass calms down, it moves into a cool, eighth note rocking rhythm.
“I wanna make a deal with you, girl. Get it signed by the heads of state. I wanna make a deal with you, girl. Get it recognized around the world.”
This is a brilliant switch on the usual love song longings here transformed into the promise of an international incident!
But all is well, as the chorus goes, “It’s a non-alignment pact.”
The chorus rocks hard as the background vocals yelp the title with the swirling, sustained synthesizer wheezing like a banished banshee sprung from hell.
There’s a bridge, or what would now be called, a breakdown, where the rhythm recedes and an almost fifties music like atmosphere appears along with the synth
making cooing, bird noises- until the merciless, rhythm kicks down the doors once again.
Soon there arises an instrumental part where the squealing, screaming synthesizer accompanies a sort of bass solo that leads into a wonderful extended
coda.
This song fills me with so much glee that I picture myself pouring gasoline on my head, setting it on fire and then riding backwards on a unicycle, finally
doing a double back flip into a cascading waterfall, emerging unharmed- just a little scorched by this burning, fiery music.
This band will probably be forgotten in the sands of time but the guts to stick out and play something of value that most people don’t want to hear,
that notion will continue to inspire new musicians to do so and waste their life as well! But I think, not really, because what they create is ultimately,
of the highest value.
But what do I know? I’m koo-koo so I like koo-koo bands.
I guess if I was normal I could go ga-ga about Billy Joel, Taylor Swift or Bruno Mars, or at least, someone more socially acceptable.
But I believe in very little the normal people believe in or want to live my life, like most others do. And I guess, I never have or ever will.
But I believe in Pere Ubu.
And whether the term is experimental, avant-garde, noise- or as Billy Joel almost sang, on his unreleased death metal album, “It’s still koo-koo music to me.”
You better shout it out.
(Slimedog)
