An evening of song, shouting, laughter and fear... UBUDOLL is the collaboration between Jackie Leven (Doll By Doll) and David Thomas (Pere Ubu). It is a duet. Leven and Thomas were and are the begetters of two of the last century's great underground bands from Scotland and America respectively. They met on the south coast of England in 1996, recognizing a kinship that led, first, to working together on Mr. Thomas' ground-breaking theater project (and subsequent album), Mirror Man , which premiered at the South Bank in 1998, and more recently on Mr. Leven's acclaimed album, "Defending Ancient Springs" (2000).
Leven and Thomas are travellers, collectors of funny, tragic, dangerous, and sometimes true, always real, human episodes. They are natural born storytellers, equally at ease with either song or spoken word.
The partnership is bound to be mercurial. They recognize in each other a soul mate and between them they have made over 35 albums of passionate, different and soulful music filled with songs and stories that complement and weave in and out of each other. Even so, they are each loners, uncompromising, and dedicated to unique vision. It is this magnetic tension of opposition and attraction that makes for such a compelling performance, and which will, one day, inevitably, end the project. But not the friendship.
UBUDOLL can be heard on the web in a concert recorded for Dutch radio station VPRO on May 19 2000. The songs are Morbid Sky, Bus called Happiness, Brunswick Parking Lot, Extremely Violent Man and Stranger on the Square.