There was always a lot more to Devo than yellow plastic jumpsuits and a catchy song
called "Whip-It." Devo formed in Akron, Ohio, in an angry, frustrated response to the
Kent State shootings in which two of their friends and fellow students were among the
four killed that day.
Hiding behind an artifice of pop culture, the sly jokes and intellectual brain-twisters
in their songs left many a puzzled rock journalistic scratching their head.
I met up with Devo in the bowels of the Bill Graham Civic auditorium, amongst a carefully
hanging rack of the aforementioned jumpsuits just waiting to be donned to lead a whole
new generation to the Devolutionary Oath. As follows;
1. Be like your ancestors or be different. It doesn't matter.
2. Lay a million eggs or give birth to one.
3. Wear gaudy colors or avoid display. It's all the same.
4. The fittest shall survive, yet the unfit may live.
5. We Must Repeat.
* * * * * * * * * *
Tuula: So I heard that back in the day, before e-mail etc., that you had to actually go
to Mick Jagger himself to get approval for your cover of "Satisfaction".
Jerry: Yeah, even though we had completely changed the song and it sounded nothing like
the Stones, he had to give his okay before we could release it. So we go to meet him at
his hotel in New York and he's in this huge suite, wearing a 3 piece suit and a paisley
tie and sitting in this overstuffed club chair, drinking some expensive scotch. And we
go and play it for him and for a little terrifying while he's just listening and slightly
nodding his head. Then he gets up suddenly and starts singing along and dancing around
the room like the Mick Jagger you see on TV.
Tuula: Well, I guess he liked it then.
Jerry: Oh, I'll never forget it.
Tuula: This is what, part of a tour you guys are on? Are you guys recording right now,
or anything?
Jerry: No...if you call playing 20 shows this year touring (laughs). I'd like too, but
Mark's pretty busy with his music production company.
Tuula: So you get to do Jihad Jerry and the Evildoers. I also heard that you collect
wines.
Jerry: Yes, I do.
Tuula: I always wondered, what's with the potato? Is the potato, like, the ubermensch
or something?
Jerry: It's the self. And it's the all-seeing potato, it's got eyes everywhere, even in
the back of it's head.
Tuula: So what kind of wine goes best with a potato? Or for, say, a flaky fish?
Jerry: I would say a dry white wine.
Tuula: What if, you were this potato that lived in a world completely governed by Devo?
What would the laws of this world be?
Mark: First, we would wash out everyone's brain.
Jerry: Yeah, clear out all the crap that people today believe in, all the logic that's
gone right over the top of their heads. Maybe we could start a Devo Church of Devotion.
Tuula: Would everyone have to get a tattoo? There's so many Devo tattoos on your
website, is it the mark of the chosen one?
Mark: I see you with one, a small energy dome with angel wings, I think.
Tuula: So, it's not really a flower pot.
Mark: No, it's an Energy Dome.
Jerry: It re-circulates energy that escapes from the crown of the head and redirects it
back into the Medulla Oblongata.
Tuula: And you have to wear something underneath the dome, I've heard, a liner of some
sort?
Jerry: Yes, without it the energy dome is useless, the dome needs to float slightly
above the head.
Tuula: With all the costumes and whatnot, do you think people ever realized all of the
inside jokes and philosophical references? Do you think Devo ever got the respect you
deserved?
Jerry: Some critic once called us, he was being sarcastic, and he called us the
"thinking man's KISS". And that was our dream, in a way, we would have absolutely loved
to be as big as KISS..
Mark: KISS but with our context and message.
Jerry: But radio programming totally suppressed us. And now it's all Cal Rudman and
Michael Eisner and Clear Channel, it's all a giant conglomerate mess, it's not going to
get any better.
Tuula: But some people might say that by selling your music to commercials, that it's
the same thing. LIke the Nissan commercial.
Jerry: See, it's a different kind of productivity, it's a different way to do things.
And we're not really a reliable voice in today's music anymore, we're just surviving in a
different world today. No-one cares about Devo! (pretends to mock cry)
Mark: (deadpan) Plus, we really liked the car.
Tuula: (to Mark) - I must say, those are some stunning glasses.
Mark: Thank you. They're laser cut, I've had them for years.
Tuula: So Devo, what is the secret of life? The grand meaning of it all?
Jerry: Well, you'd be surprised, but it's...
(interview ends)
By Tuula Ala
