David Thomas: The Mr. Skin Interview

Do you think there's a danger of appearing misogynistic after releasing an album called Why I Hate Women?

Forgive my ignorance but I figured Mr.Skin.com was some Spirit fan website or something. Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus freak. As for the specifics of your question: People will read into the title their own prejudices.

People who are misogynists--most of these are women, paradoxically--will read that in. This is not my problem. It's called fiction. One of the reasons I settled on the name in the end was to put to the sword in this mythology that musicians deal with tortured autobiographies and it's all confessional soul rendings. Baloney. It's made up. It's a story. Try the same nonsense on serious writers and it will get you laughed out of the room.

You've said that pulp-noir writer Jim Thompson influenced the album. Are there any femme fatales seducing between the notes?

I'm not sure he "influenced" it in the usual sense. I wanted to write a noir story for the album. Across the decades I've mined the Raymond Chandler vein heavily. Besides that I wanted something darker, and JT is about as dark as you get. There is no specific femme fatale lurking behind the scenes--all women have darkness in them. It's part of the energy that drives sexual relations.

Has this record received any negative reviews from feminists?

Not that I have seen. Only a few comments from women-fearing worm boys--I find the younger generations of men to be particularly spineless and grossly misinformed about the nature of women.

Our drummer had the best line, after being accosted by some of his worm-boy friends, "What?! You've never had a girlfriend?" That is not, by the way, the official band response line.

I've only had two comments from women on the title. I asked our female bass player what she thought of the title and she said, "Why ask me all of a sudden, but it's a great title." And then I got an email from a Canadian female fan which went something like, "I hate them too."

What made you chose this string of words as a title?

It came to me in my local pub. I tend to go with things that happen that way.

Does Pere Ubu attract wild women to its live shows?

I expect there is a reasonably accurate percentage for the population at large.

Are you a man who travels with an entourage of sex-loving groupies?

I'm a married man and a one-woman guy.

There must be a story where naked and adoring women and you intersect?

Well, that might be true if we were Led Zeppelin or some such.

Before Pere Ubu, you were in Rocket from the Tombs, an influential band that featured future Dead Boy Cheetah Chrome. What's your take on the music that would be labeled punk?

It's conservative to the point of being reactionary. It's profoundly anti-American-culture. It's tiresome and willfully ignorant of the nature of the human experience.

Will Pere Ubu ever get the big Hollywood biopic treatment, and if so what will the film be rated?

No, and D for Dull.

Do you recall the first time you saw nudity in a mainstream movie--what film was it, who was naked? You know, fast-forward to the good parts.

Wow--that's tough. Was there some in A Clockwork Orange? (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3) That sticks out in my memory as a particularly risqu?ilm I saw a long time ago. No idea who it might have been. Sorry.

Are you a fan of exploitation films? If so which ones?

I like any movie with a spaceship, but I'm not sure this falls into the category of exploitation. I watched all those teen monster movies of the '50s and '60s, but I wouldn't say I'm a fan. And frankly after you've seen three-to-four dozen of them, the charm wears real thin. I don't think I've been able to stick through an entire showing since about 1965.

The name Pere Ubu comes from the title character in Alfred Jarry's proto-absurdist play Ubu Roi, with its famous opening line of "Merde!" Does that mean you're an ass man or do you consider yourself more a breast man?

It means neither.

Enough about body parts, let's discuss the whole package. Who are the women, actresses, musicians, and so on that you find most sexually attractive?

Someone with personality.

You're touring the album now, but when you get back home what's next on the agenda?

It's always the same agenda. Get home, sit in a corner and wonder why, and then start a new record in order to repeat the entire pointless exercise.

Did you enjoy your fifteen minutes of Skin in the spotlight of our unique interview?

I don't think in terms of enjoyment when I am doing my job. If you allow room for enjoyment then you have to admit the possibility of non-enjoyment and that is something I don't permit myself, never have. I avoid the question "Why?" for the same reason. I do what I do. I'm good at it. That's enough.


All images of Pere Ubu and David Thomas courtesy of Lex Van Rossen and Smog Veil Records