As you’ll see if you’ve looked at my ‘Links’ page, I’ve been a Devo fan since around 1978. Now if you say to someone you like Devo here in the UK - even if they’re from the right generation, you’re likely to get a reply along the lines of “Devo?” Unfortunately they never made it bigtime over here, and in most cases if anyone remembers anything it’s likely to be either the singles Q:Are We Not Men? or maybe Whip It.

My first trip to see them was way back in 1980, and the last (indeed their last UK trip) was at The Town & Country Club in London in 1990 for the Smooth Noodle Maps tour.

Whenever I’m asked to describe what Devo’s music is like I come unstuck - they’ve been described as belonging partly to many genres and never quite fitting any of them completely. As their break came at the beginning of punk, they were slotted there initially. However the fact that they used synthesizers didn’t fit with the punk ethos at the time and since then there have been so many terms - punk, electro-pop, new-wave, synth rock. And on it goes!

Many people don’t ‘get’ Devo as they don’t listen properly to their lyrics. One of the things they’ve always proclaimed has been proven true on too many occasions - that is that humanity rather than evolving and getting more advanced as the years progress, is in fact devolving, going backwards on the evolutionary scale. Just look at the administration  of certain ‘super powers’ to get that confirmed!

“De-Evolution Is Real!”

To read some more about Devo there are some links below...

Club Devo - The official site

Devo Obsesso - The great Michael Pilmer’s fantastic site

Wikipedia - Devo entry

All Music Biography - Devo entry

www.punk77.co.uk - History of UK punk with Devo page

As well as performing as part of the group, Mark Mothersbaugh, Devo’s frontman has for many years created his own uniquely styled artwork. For years as the group travelled he would get postcards from wherever they happened to be at the time and draw on these. Now amounting many thousands of postcards and paintings he exhibited some of his artwork - his first exhibition outside the USA, at the Norwich Arts Centre 8th-28th June 2006. The opening night was a great success and although Mark couldn’t get to the UK for the event that night  I was lucky enough to have a chat with him via Webcam & phone! (For more info & a full report by Michael see www.mutatovisual.com - yep I’m in one of those squares!) That chat was courtesy of the great Michael Pilmer who does loads of stuff for Devo including running their web site and fan club. As Mark couldn’t make it, Michael came across.

The gist of the conversation was that I said to Mark I’d love to see the group again after so long, but aside from going to the USA where they were touring again I didn’t hold up much hope as the probability of them coming to Europe again was pretty thin. Mark said that if I could somehow get to the USA in October for their California shows,  he would be happy to cover any tickets to make sure I could see all the shows. What a generous offer - and how could I refuse?!

Following that chat with Mark and emails & conversations with Michael afterwards I booked my flights to head out to Los Angeles in October to go to as many shows as I could fit in the time. Woohoo!

Spudtalk is a Devo fan chat site (see links) with a great bunch of people. Michael put me in contact with fellow Spuds Jane (Spudess) & Kristin (She-vo) in California who offered to put me up, and join them to travel to the shows. So too did a fellow UK Spud, Jon Kay who was travelling out to some of the shows with his daughter Rhiannan.

Well October 24th came round quickly & I found myself at Norwich airport ready for a short hop to Amsterdam where I picked up my USA bound flight - to say I couldn’t quite believe I was really going is an understatement!

Read on to see all the photos & find out more...

Next Page - California Here I Come!

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