Devobit: Bob Casale

Sad news from Devo, as founder member Bob Casale has died:

Post by Devo.

Devobit: Alan Myers

Alan Myers, Devo's "human metronome", has died.

Myers was the third, and perhaps most supreme, of Devo's drummers, joining in time for Jocko Homo and bailing before the band soundtracked that Toni Basil horror movie, Slaughterhouse Rock. His departure came as the band started to embrace more and more technology in their act; the decision to pre-program a lot of the percussion into a Fairlight was point where he decided enough was enough.

After Devo, he played with various acts in Los Angeles, including regular slots for his Skyline Electric band in galleries around the city.

Talking to Reuters in 2010, Myers said he felt out of the loop from the on-going versions of Devo, and wasn't interested in returing.

Alan Myers died from brain cancer on June 24th. He was 58.

Bookmarks: Jubilee

There's a great piece on WFMU's Beware Of The Blog about Derek Jarman's Jubilee; the ironic way that Vivienne Westwood complained about how it was a misuse of punk; why it took until 1986 that it started to hit its targets; and how Jarman probably knew more about the world than Westwood:

perhaps Jarman’s age and experience gave him a bit of perspective, since beyond incorporating all of the then-current punk buzzwords (“No Future!”), he also had the good sense to include elements of what had come before. The original score of the film is composed by Brian Eno, who, even though the first Roxy Music album had come out a scant six years before, was by then something of an elder statesman. Punk is traditionally thought of as a rejection of what rock had become in the early and mid-70s, but it didn’t come out of nowhere, and Eno’s groundbreaking avant-pop was a big influence (not that he ever stopped making waves; the same year Jubilee was released, he was producing Devo’s landmark debut, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!).

Devo on the TIVO*

* - well, actually on web video, but that doesn't rhyme.

Motherboard TV - the notevenslightly geeky kit 'n' shit Dell-sponsored video service - have gone and had a route round Devo's studio:



No sign of them using a Swiffer yet, but early days...

Are we not Quatchi? We are Devo

One of the few bright spots in the Winter Olympics which loom over us like a ski-shoe sliding down our faces forever is the news that Devo are going to turn up in Whistler to do a gig.

Not quite sure I can follow a line from 'winter sports' to 'Devo', but the whole thing will be shown by NBC in the states and, presumably, for a tantalising few seconds make it on to YouTube before getting yanked off again.

Twittergem: Amanda Palmer

very happy moment. DEVO just walked by and they were WEARING THE WEIRD ANGULAR FLOWERPOT HATS.

- twitter.com/amandapalmer

New Devo, oh yes

Nearly twenty years since Smooth Noodle Maps, Devo are in the studio, making a new album.

Are We Not Men gets Don't Look Back

Some happier news: Devo have announced they're going to do a run through of Q: Are We Not Men as part of Don't Look Back at the Forum on May 6th.

Are we not Happy Meals?

This is New Wave Nigel, one of the characters you could collect at American branches of McDonalds as an American Idol themed toy with the Happy Meals.

Why, yes, there is a passing resemblance to Devo, what with the hat and all. And, since you mention it, Devo have noticed, too. And they're not Happy:

McDonald's & American Idol Go Low
By Co-Opting DEVO's Energy Dome

We recently discovered that DEVO has once again unwittingly intersected with mainstream pop culture.

McDonald's fast food restaurants are offering a series of American Idol TV show themed toys in their children's Happy Meals. One of the toys is named "New Wave Nigel", who sports an orange jumpsuit, punk shades, and an unmistakable DEVO Energy Dome. Flipping a switch plays a DEVO-esque song (which sounds a bit like a mutated version of DEVO's Doctor Detroit.

Was DEVO ever contacted by McDonald's, American Idol, or anyone else involved in making and distributing this toy wearing their trademark headgear?
Of course not. Pioneers who got scalped....again.

It's disgusting, this sort of commercial exploitation of a band who set their face against commerce. Except when they did the 2003 advert for Swiffer.

We're given to understand they had been negotiating to create an "Are we not Bells? We are Taco - T-A-C-O" campaign for a rival chain.

Dude, you're getting a Devo

The first new Devo track in seventeen years is now out in the wild. Sadly, it's an advertising jingle. Even more sadly, it's for Dell Computers. Surely it's now only a matter of weeks before we get "are we not men? We are Tesco".