Devo features Gerald Casale (from left), Jeff Friedl, Mark Mothersbaugh, Josh Hager and Bob Mothersbaugh.
Courtesy of Devo
New Wave pioneers Devo have lampooned humanity’s pitfalls and backward steps for half a century through subversive videos and songs like “Beautiful World,” “Freedom of Choice,” and “Peek-a-Boo!”
The recent retrospective collection “50 Years of De-Evolution: 1973-2023” traces Devo’s recorded history beginning with 1974’s “I’m a Potato.” The set is littered with wry favorites like the off-kilter reinvention of the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” and Devo’s de facto theme song “Jocko Homo” with its H. G. Wells-quoting, call-and-response chorus, “Are we not men? We are Devo.”
“This idea of de-evolution started as a literary and visual concept at Kent State University,” says Devo co-leader and bassist Gerald Casale of his days as an art student in Akron, Ohio. “One of my professors knew Mark [Mothersbaugh] and I were starting to play songs together. He found this pamphlet called ‘Jocko Homo Heavenbound: King of the Apes.’ It was basically a fundamentalist repudiation of evolution and man’s being a sinner.”
The material was ripe for adapting the de-evolutionary concept to music. Mothersbaugh played synthesizer and sang lines adapted from the pamphlet. The query “Are we not men?” was borrowed from 1932 horror film “Island of Lost Souls,” about mad scientist Dr. Moreau’s experiments to create humans from animals.
Mothersbaugh remembers that the New York and London punk scenes soon became influential.
“We loved the Ramones and started playing our songs faster because of them,” he says. “Before that, we sounded sort of like Captain Beefheart meets Sun Ra meets an Italian sci-fi movie.”
The band visits Chicago’s Riviera Theatre on May 11. Some reports have misidentified the Celebrating 50 Years of De-Evolution Tour as a farewell run. Devo’s work remains unfinished.
“It’s a farewell to the first 50 years of Devo,” says Casale. “What does devolutionary music sound like going forward? I’m not sure.”
Devo’s next 50 years might involve robot bodies, touring heads in jars, or holographic avatars.
“I hope I’m not too late to have my cranial and bodily information transferred to an electronic device,” says Mothersbaugh. “It could happen.”
Standouts including Top 20 hit “Whip It” are promised during a career-spanning set list. The song rocketed Devo from cult status into mainstream awareness in 1980.
“I was a fan of the Residents, but we didn’t want to be the Ohio version of them,” says Mothersbaugh of the influential but willfully obscure avant-garde group. “We had a big idea and thought it’d amazing if we had a chance to bring it to a bigger public. ‘Whip It’ allowed that to happen.”
“Whip It” co-opts motivational slogans satirically but differs from many of Devo’s message songs with twist endings. The encouraging song suggests that improving a situation requires action.
“I was making a parody out of Horatio Alger and the cliches that you grow up with,” says Casale. “I was also inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s ‘Gravity’s Rainbow,’ where he uses those things and makes up these limericks. But of course, there has to be some earnestness in it. You do have to take action to deal with the 800-pound gorilla in the room.”
Devo concerts are rallying points for its “spuds” — devoted fans who dance to the beat while agreeing that society’s leaders are dumbing it downward, and that conformity is self-defeating. The band’s matching yellow hazmat suits and red “energy dome” hats parody herd mentality while enhancing symbology.
“There’s a certain power in presenting yourself as a unit where you’re more than the sum of your parts,” says Casale. “The individuals become a meta entity, almost like comic book characters.”
The troubling truth surrounding Devo’s quirky but captivating fare is that many dire conditions forecast in songs like the eco-warning “No Place Like Home” are manifesting into reality more rapidly than anticipated.
“We spent 50 years talking about de-evolution, humans being out of touch with nature, and maybe it was our fault things were going out of control,” says Mothersbaugh. “We were hoping we weren’t right.”
The “Devo” documentary from director Chris Smith (“American Movie,” “Tiger King”) will open Chicago’s Doc10 documentary film festival on May 2 at the Davis Theater. Band members will attend virtually for a moderated Q&A session. The film charts Devo’s rise from hippie artistes to message-bearing rockers while earning mainstream success and recognition as music video pioneers.
“It’s the Cliff’s Notes version of Devo’s story,” says Casale, describing the challenge of distilling the band’s prolific career into 95 minutes.
“It’s all good information,” says Mothersbaugh. “If that’s someone’s introduction to Devo, that could be an interesting introduction.”
At the Riviera, Mothersbaugh will point toward Devo’s future while addressing the audience in character as the band’s devolved mascot Booji Boy.
“At our last shows, [Booji Boy’s] been saying, ‘Think of this as year one for the next 50 years,’ ” says Mothersbaugh. “He’s saying, ‘Now is the time to mutate, not stagnate.’ ”