movie . That was cool , but it was hardcore . We got paid to quit a show one time .
IE : Devo returned to Chicago in May . I have heard differing things about your plans for the band post-tour . When this tour started last year , some reports called this a farewell tour . GC : That tour was supposed to be like a 50th anniversary tour . Then , promoters wanted to latch on to make it a farewell tour , probably to sell more tickets . There was nobody steering the boat . If it ’ s farewell , it ’ s farewell to the first 50 years of Devo . Where do you go after that ? What does devolutionary music sound like going forward ? I ’ m not sure . I would certainly like to be proactive and make that happen .
MM : Booking agents had the idea that it was a good selling point if they called the shows that we did last year a farewell tour . They come up with those phrases , not the band . But we liked being able to slice it into a 50- year segment . 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 on the planet . Unfortunately , too much of that came true .
IE : I have a paragraph on a formative event . I hoped you would confirm or debunk it . Here goes : “ Devo traces its history to the early ‘ 70s at Kent State University in Akron , Ohio . Art students Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh collaborated on projects with an underlying idea that society had ceased to progress and had entered a phase of regression . The infamous 1970 shootings by the National Guard during a student demonstration galvanized and catalyzed the pair ’ s art as a form of protest .” GC : That ’ s pretty much true . I was a member of SDS [ the anti-Vietnam War activist group Students for a Democratic Society ] at that time . The May 4th protest was very thought-out and focused . It was about the fact that Nixon had expanded the Vietnam War into Cambodia without an act of Congress . This was back at a time when people were still respecting the three rails of government and the separation of powers , and [ were angry ] that he had usurped that and become this authoritarian president . It sounds too familiar today , right ? But there was outrage then , because people were pretty conversant with the Constitution and the way things were supposed to work . The fact that he had done that without an act of Congress was a big deal to any student of politics and to the general population that bothered to read newspapers and pay attention . And so , to quote an old country song , we didn ’ t know the guns were loaded . We had no idea that it was not just a ritualistic protest , and that it would end in shooting and the death of unarmed students . I was in the middle of it . The students that were killed were behind me . They were further away from the guard . I think the guard was about the same age as us , and they could see us . We weren ’ t wearing gas masks , and I don ’ t think they wanted to kill people they could identify . So , they kind of shot over our heads . A lot of the people that were killed were just collateral damage . They weren ’ t even activists . So that traumatized me . I probably had PTSD , because I remember just sitting down in the grass and feeling like I was going to vomit or pass out . I could see the blood running out of Jeffrey Miller down the sidewalk . I was shaking head to toe and just ruined for months .
MM : That sounds about right . That was the time we were there . The FBI has photos of when I marched with SDS [ the anti-Vietnam War activist group Students for a Democratic Society ] down to the recruiting station . My brother Bob was in high school . I remember my mom crying when FBI agents came over to the house and showed her pictures of him trying to stop firemen from putting out the fire when students lit the ROTC building on fire . She was crying and going , “ Not my Bobby !”
IE : So , Devo has put in 50 years , and you ’ re not finished yet . You ’ ve at least got to stay on the job until the new shift arrives . I wondered if we ’ ll see another band that blends art , politics , wit , and music to the degree that you have . In the past , the Residents would have been an example , albeit without the political component . Midnight Oil would have been an example , without the art aesthetic . Is there anyone to pass the torch to ? I wondered whether a band like Devo could emerge today . GC : I ’ d like to think it could . I don ’ t like to be a pessimist . It would be interesting . What would the Devo of today be ? What would they be doing ? They wouldn ’ t look or sound like we did , but they would have their own programming and their own YouTube channel . If Devo had had the tools that people have today , we would ’ ve just created a whole media empire starting small and would have gone directly out to the world the way people do with video podcasts .
MM : Well , it ' s funny you ’ re saying that . When we were first trying to decide what Devo would be and how we would be - this was before Menudo - we thought , Devo doesn ' t have to be the four of us . It could be other people . We could send three or four Devos into the world at the same time . We could just stay here and come up with the music and the videos and the ideas and the costumes and design the show . We wouldn ' t have to hang out in these clubs or theaters . That could be someone else ’ s job .
Read Jeff Elbel ‘ s full Q & A at illinoisentertainer . com
june 2024 illinoisentertainer . com 37