‘We were once paid $50 to quit’: new wave heroes Devo on boos, Bowie and retiring after 50 years

“Devo’s own singular world was formed at Ohio’s Kent State University, where Casale and Mothersbaugh studied. They became fast friends and kindred creative spirits, with a taste for the weird. They were young, idealistic, almost hippy-leaning, but on 4 May 1970 their idealism was suddenly shattered. That day two of Casale’s friends at Kent State, Jeffrey Miller and Allison Krause, were killed along with two other students by the Ohio National Guard during a peace rally condemning the Vietnam war’s expansion into Cambodia. Casale was there and saw his friends lying dead. “It completely and utterly changed my life,” he says.

Casale came up with a theory to explain the horror they had witnessed: De-Evolution, the idea that the human race was no longer advancing. Casale and Mothersbaugh found themselves asking: “What would the musical application of De-Evolution be? What would that sound like?”

And so Devo was born in 1973 with Mothersbaugh describing the early incarnation as like “Captain Beefheart meets an Italian sci-fi movie from the 60s”.

…

“And while Devo may be saying farewell to touring, it’s not entirely the end. A new box set of rarities, Art Devo 1973-1977, is coming in September along with a documentary in production by Tiger King director Chris Smith”

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/aug/19/devo-band-interview-mark-mothersbaugh-gerald-casale

theguardian.com

‘We were once paid $50 to quit’: new wave heroes Devo on boos, Bowie and retiring after 50 years

For half a century, the Ohio band have confounded audiences, collaborated with A-listers and continued to reinvent themselves. They explain why now is the time to finally call it a day