Thursday, March 26, 2009

"Rejecting Stupidity and Embracing Ideas": Devo


Whenever anyone attempts to trash my home state of Ohio as a whole (a nonsensical attack in the first place, as if one chunk of rock and the stuff on top of it is inherently better than the next), my completely sincere response is, "Hey, Ohio spawned Devo." Though I don't know how I would rank the bands, Sonic Youth, Joy Division, Talking Heads, and Devo are easily some of my biggest influences, not solely for their music, but for how they went (or go) about making that music and all their peripheral art and sound projects.

That said, I was overjoyed to read this interview by Pop Candy's Whitney Matheson with Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale of Devo, with talks of a new album and touring (Devo being one of the bands I think capable of pulling this sort of thing off travesty-free).

The interview reflects all of the things I like about the band: intellectual integrity, a seriousness about the importance of ridiculousness, and an excitement about the revolutions (both possible and actual) in the music industry.

De-evolution's still in the air, and it's a beautiful world.

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