David Thomas – co-founder and frontman of Rocket From The Tombs and Pere Ubu – has died aged 71, after a long illness.
According to a statement from his label, Fire Records, Thomas “passed away on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at home with MC5 playing on the radio.”
Thomas co-founded Rocket From The Tombs in Cleveland in 1974. The band were together for little over a year and never recorded an album, but proved to be hugely influential on the emerging punk movement.
Thomas went on to form Pere Ubu, who released their startling debut single “30 Seconds Over Tokyo” on Thomas’s own Hearthan label in 1975, followed by landmark post-punk albums The Modern Dance, Dub Housing and New Picnic Time.
Apart from a five-year hiatus in the 1980s, the band continued to tour and record at a steady rate in various permutations, with Thomas the sole constant. All in all, Pere Ubu released 19 studio albums, their most recent being 2023’s Trouble On Big Beat Street.
Thomas also pursued numerous solo ventures – often of a more freeform, poetic bent – backed by outfits including The Pedestrians, The Wooden Birds and Two Pale Boys. Along the way, he collaborated with musicians such as Richard Thompson and Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo.
Fire’s statement adds: “Thomas leaves behind a legacy as one of the true outsiders of modern music – a singular voice who inspired generations of artists across genres. From punk and post-punk to art rock and experimental music, his influence is deeply felt. Musicians ranging from Joy Division and R.E.M. to The Fall, Pixies and Sonic Youth have acknowledged Pere Ubu’s role in shaping their sound. David’s work opened doors for the bold, the weird, and the fiercely independent… Long live Pere Ubu.”
