MUSIC
ROCK AND ROLL #DEVOTE
It’s a Beautiful World as Akron joins together to Elect Devo into the Hall of Fame
BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH
L
my test. And it turned out that I had it. But I never went into respiratory, you know, ventilator time. All I had was the total loss of smell and taste and fatigue and just a general kind of creepy feeling that was undefined. Then it went away. That was it and I was back.
AST MONTH - ON APRIL 1 OF ALL DAYS - THE Mayor of Akron, Ohio issued an official proclamation in honor of Devo. While music fans wondered if it might be some sort of April Fool’s Day joke, Devo Day really did christen an entire month of homegrown promotions. The Congrats on making it through. How’s Mark now? civic-minded goal was to encourage an increase of Fan Votes Well, he’s fine now, it just took him a long time to recover for the group’s potential Rock & Roll Hall of Fam induction. from having to go into the hospital and on a ventilator. That’s The groundbreaking and influential band, best-known some serious business. for their ‘80s hits “Whip It” and “Freedom Of Choice,” was formed in Ohio in 1973 with a fluctuating line-up of I keep thinking things are becoming crazier and crazier like-minded art visionaries, eventually settling on two sets and the world never lets me down. And every time, I think of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the about your project: ‘Maybe Devo covered this thirty or forty Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with drummer Alan Myers. years ago.’ But there’s always fodder for new material and The month-long promotion included the installation of concepts, right? fifty Energy Dome sculptures, constructed from recycled You got that right. I mean, ‘cause it’s real, right? It’s Goodyear tires, stacked into the shape of the band’s iconic everything we talked about - but somehow it’s surpassed us. red hats. The monuments featured special QR codes to De-evolution got even uglier than even we thought it would. link to the Hall’s website, so fans could easily vote for their favorite spud rockers. Unfortunately, we’re not done yet. Downtown Akron bristled with life-size No, no. There is no end, my friend. Except WE’D HAVE A cutouts of the band as well as an interactive experience housed in a storefront window. RESPONSIBILITY ‘the end.’ Mayor Dan Horrigan was also included TO USE THE Well, hopefully we’re a few years away from in a “DEVOtional” video with devoted OPPORTUNITY TO the series finale. But for you, as a filmmaker testimonies from fans including Jack Black, musician, is it easier or harder for you MAKE A PRETTY and Fred Armisen and Tony Hawk. Even the to make a music video for someone besides iconic Goodyear Blimp was along for the DEFINITIVE your own projects? Obviously you’re shot ride, flashing support for the revolutionary many Devo films, but when an act like Foo STATEMENT. I THINK group. Likewise, fans around the world were Fighters, for example, enlists your services using the hashtag #DEVOTE on their favorite THAT’S EXPECTED OF - is that more of a challenge for you at social media platforms to drum up interest. US AND WE’LL HAVE this point? Back in the running after an unsuccessful Well, it’s a much bigger challenge because I TO LIVE UP TO IT. bid last year, Devo is one of 16 nominees on mean, Devo had this situation where we had the official HOF ballot. The winners will be a production deal with the record company. announced this month. Will Devo Whip It out this time? We had creative control of the use of our funds and what we Stay tuned! were doing. Since they didn’t even understand what we were In anticipation, INsite spoke with band co-founder, doing, they didn’t come around and put, you know, their foot singer-songwriter-filmmaker Gerald Casale from his studio on it like a big dog in the park. We had the freedom to do in California. what we wanted. So if we had an idea it wasn’t like we had a manager saying one thing and a publicist saying another How is Devo handling the pandemic? I heard Mark had a thing or the lead singer’s girlfriend saying a third thing. rough time with Covid-19. There were no politics. Well, he went almost all the way; he was on a ventilator. I got it before anybody. I got it before they even knew It was an art project. what it was. My wife got it and then I got it a week later. Exactly. We were an art collective. There was the idea we That was over a year ago, in the beginning of March. And wanted to run with and nobody was there to stop us. The then when we already had it, they started publishing these only limitation was the budget. We knew what we wanted to symptoms and we’re going, ‘Well, wait a minute, we have do and how to do it, so that was actually easy. But when you those symptoms.’ She found me a place to go get tested when get into being the director for other bands - well, the first there were only two places in all of L.A County to get tested thing you do is write a concept. You’re in a competition with back then. I drove down to some kind of gospel church for at least six other directors. Then they pick you and you go, ‘They like your idea, Gerry.’ Now you think you’re going to get to do your idea. But that isn’t what usually happens. Then the other cooks step into the kitchen. Unfortunately, yes. The video commissioner weighs in. He starts creating fear and doubt saying, ‘Well, you can’t do this and this and this, but maybe you can do the rest of it.’ Then the management, depending on how much power the manager has over the band creatively, they’ll say, ‘Well, I know the band liked this idea, but you can’t really do it like that. You gotta do it like this. And you have to show the lead singer in a closeup, in at least 50% of the cuts.’ Right? Pretty soon you don’t even recognize your own idea. But as an artistic entity, Devo never compromised. Yeah. I mean, AC/DC never changed. It it’s like, if that’s what you do, you don’t try to do something you can’t - you just stay in your wheelhouse. Devo’s most recent album was released in 2010. Before that, there was one in 1990. So are we nine years away from a new album at this point? Well, you know, we may have literally devolved. I don’t know. I don’t know where we are, really. We’re dead in the water. But maybe getting into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will change Mark’s mind, I don’t know. PG 6 • May 2021 • insiteatlanta.com
When Devo is finally welcomed into the Hall of Fame, it could very well be the most ironic thing ever the band ever accomplished. Finally, there would be a real punk band in the hallowed Hall. (Laughs) Although the punks didn’t think we were punk, which was funny. I thought we really were punk in the truest sense of the word. But not formulate punk, right? Because punk to me meant disrespect for illegitimate authority. It meant doing whatever came to your mind and not caring about what’s right or what’s cool and just being original. And that’s what we did. That’s exactly what we did and so yeah, we were the punkiest! It will be interesting to see what happens. Not if - but when - you do get in the Hall of Fame, it’s going to be your most elaborate art project ever. Well, yeah. I know what you mean. We’d have a responsibility to use the opportunity to make a pretty definitive statement. I think that’s expected of us and we’ll have to live up to it. You know, it can’t be the typical artist pose like, ‘We’re not going, we don’t want to be part of any club that would have us.’ You know, like the Groucho Marx thing. Or like Radiohead did and even like Johnny Rotten did. I think that’s just too easy. I really think that’s kind of a wanky artist pose. For us, it’s more like, hey they’re giving you this opportunity. Whether you think they put you in there for the right reasons or not, you owe this to all the people who ever thought anything about you or that thought they should take you seriously at all. You owe this to them. That’s the way I would look at it. Have you given any thought as to what you might do in the moment of acceptance? (Laughs) You mean besides sing and play good? Um… Yeah - besides that, of course. Well first of all, I think [Mark Mothersbaugh’s beloved character] Booji Boy has to show up. Secondly, I can promise you if I get to talk my speech will not disappoint. I have no doubt about it. We’ve all seen plenty of embarrassing speeches. I know Devo won’t suffer that fate. Oh my God, no. I will not bore people. It will be short and sweet - but every word will count. For Devo info and merchandise - including limited-edition, band-branded PPE items - visit clubdevo.com.
