Our Interview with Gerald Casale of DEVO

When I got the call from the Warner Brother’s PR guy, Rick, I was beside myself. I was going to get to interview Gerald Casale, one of the co-founders of DEVO… FUCKING DEVO. They were one of the first bands I remember liking because I liked them and not because it was what my parents played around the house. I was ushered into music fandom on the back of MTV and a few of the ne'erdowells who worked on the beer truck with my dad. DEVO was one of the early bands that made a real impression on a young Tim. I didn’t necessarily understand them, shit I just liked the groove, it was original, sounded like the time, and the video for Whip It was probably one of the first times I knew something was sexual without understanding why. Little did I know that this conundrum would define the next 20+ years of my life, it was also one of the first videos I remember being weirdly embarrassed watching in front of my parents.

They are as distinctive as they are iconic. Constantly ahead of their time and always with a finger on the pulse of what’s happening now. If I am being honest, in the years that followed my introduction to DEVO, I drifted away to what seemed to be edgier corners of music – Metal, Hardcore, Rap, Punk, Muzak, etc. The one thing that remained constant however was that DEVO was putting out new and interesting music that always excited me, even if I had to learn about it years after the point. DEVO is the real fucking deal. They have been around almost as long as I have been alive. They are always relevant and they will, or at least their outfits will, be around long after all life is blown off this spinning ball. The DEVOLUTION will not be televised, but it will be SYFFALIZED:

SYFFAL: Who is the current manifestation of DEVO, their instruments, and the fragrance most associated with them?

GERALD CASALE: It is the original members except for the drummer Josh Freese. He is a world famous drummer and he smells like an amusement park.

SYFFAL: And the others?

GERALD CASALE: Bob #2 plays rhythm guitar and keyboards. Women have described his scent as a ham and cheese Panini.

There’s me of course; bass guitar, synth bass, vocals, and co-songwriter. It's hard to pin down my scent since you get so used to your own smell you think it's not even there. A dominatrix once told me it was unsalted butter.

Mark Mothersbaugh; synths, keyboards, mutated guitar, vocals and co-songwriter. His is the Sweet Smell of Success.

Bob #1, that's Bob Mothersbaugh, the lead guitarist who used to be known as Clown in high school, but not a funny clown, a clown that they are all afraid of. They used to say, "Jesus we are having a party... Don't. Tell. Clown."

SYFFAL: He isn't associated with the clown from Slipknot is he?

GERALD CASALE: No, although at that point in his life, well, he kind of predated Slipknot. He could have showed Keith Richards a thing or two, and the fragrance most associated with him is battery acid.

SYFFAL: Is that a pungent scent?

GERALD CASALE: Yeah, it cuts through everything.

SYFFAL: I had a feeling; I imagine it gets right down to the back of the throat.

GERALD CASALE: Yeah exactly... The girls love it.

SYFFAL: He should bottle it; it's like sex in a can.

GERALD CASALE: Ha, what the girls really want is an antidote for this spray called Detecto.

SYFFAL: What's Detecto?

GERALD CASALE: Like if you have been with some other girl in less than a 24 hour period, you know how girls can sense it? ...well, they can smell it. They are like incredible animals that know you have been with another woman, so Detecto gets rid of the evidence.

SYFFAL: Really?

GERALD CASALE: Yeah, and girls are being tricked into thinking their men are being faithful. So they need an antidote to Detecto.

SYFFAL: I guess it is like mustard seeds, the way they keep drug sniffing dogs away from drugs.

GERALD CASALE: I think 50 Cent had something to do with developing it. I think he funded it.

SYFFAL: Seems about right. That man is an entrepreneur for all the wrong reasons.

GERALD CASALE: Isn't it amazing... a couple of years ago he had a $50 million dollar year just off endorsements...

SYFFAL: Yeah he sold some Vitamin Water which I'm sure was filled with delicious vitamins.

GERALD CASALE: It's just more proof of Devolution.

SYFFAL: Speaking of the idea of Devolution... seeing that we have already fully devolved, what would you call the band if you were starting it today?

GERALD CASALE: We would call it Fuck Face ...or something like that. We would sell more records that way.

SYFFAL: Yeah, you would definitely hit the Nu Metal crowd for sure.

GERALD CASALE: We would have cred.

SYFFAL: You would be so street. You had a fake band called Dove that was a sort of Christian rock experience. Would you be willing to pay me to start a new jack swing cover band called Bell Biv DEVO?

GERALD CASALE: It would be a matter of how much we could afford, we would love to see that. We could give you the rest of our Warner contract.

SYFFAL: What would you say the pros and cons are of wearing matching outfits?

GERALD CASALE: We know what the pros are. It eliminates a lot of unnecessary differences in the cult of personality, and hides the fact that everyone's bodies sort of look like potatoes naked.

SYFFAL: Sounds like someone went to Catholic school.

GERALD CASALE: Yeah you bet, and the cons of course are that you put on somebody else’s foul, rank smelling pants and jacket.

SYFFAL: The outfits don't look like they have much breathability.

GERALD CASALE: Absolutely, why would DEVO have anything that’s organic?

SYFFAL: Good point, I imagine that only your outfits and cockroaches will be alive after Japan's nuclear meltdown kills us all.

GERALD CASALE: Oh man, we have titanium thread; cockroaches can't even live in our outfits.

SYFFAL: Ha-ha.

GERALD CASALE: No, we really have titanium thread in our outfits... that's why they glow on stage.

SYFFAL: Really?

GERALD CASALE: Yeah, this woman that's married to Jonas Ackerlund, her name is Bee; she found the stuff in Sweden.

SYFFAL: Wow, Swedish design, you guys are like IKEA.

GERALD CASALE: Ha.

SYFFAL: So going back to people in matching outfits... Is there a tipping point where it goes from cool to scary?

GERALD CASALE: That is a great question! I've never considered a number, and I guess it depends on what they are doing. 10 guys goose-stepping is pretty scary to me.

SYFFAL: Indeed. I was going to say 5 and that you hit the perfect number.

GERALD CASALE: HAHA. Ok, I can live with that.

SYFFAL: So I read that you guys are jealous of Weird Al Yankovic for the song Dare to be Stupid.

GERALD CASALE: Jealous?

SYFFAL: Yeah that he made the perfect DEVO song.

GERALD CASALE: Who said it?

SYFFAL: I'm not sure; I read it on his Wiki page.

GERALD CASALE: Oh, well you know it is a truthful song, but it's more about him than it is about us, but we might be jealous that he made so much money off of being stupid.

 

SYFFAL: Is there any other deadly sins that Al's music conjures?

GERALD CASALE: Well it's just big dollops of silliness.

SYFFAL: I find that I have a lot of lust for Weird Al.

GERALD CASALE: You like him?

SYFFAL: Well I like his mustache. Have you ever grown mustaches?

GERALD CASALE: We wore fake ones for videos, even before the Beasties wore 'em for Sabotage.

SYFFAL: Is it because you can't grow one or because you choose not too?

GERALD CASALE: Well I did grow a mustache. I looked like a goomba. Like I could have owned a fruit stand in Brooklyn.

SYFFAL: I would have bought fruit from you.

GERALD CASALE: It was embarrassing.

SYFFAL: Did you name it?

GERALD CASALE: My mustache?

SYFFAL: Yeah all the kids are naming their mustaches these days.

GERALD CASALE: No. It looked more like a fucking merkin.

SYFFAL: HAHA. That is a good look.

GERALD CASALE: Yeah, except when people want to fuck your mouth.

SYFFAL: Well that is just part of being in the rock n' roll business my friend.

GERALD CASALE: Hahaha. That's rock n' roll! I like it, it sounds like something Jerry Lee Lewis would tell a kid.

SYFFAL: So you guys are from Ohio right?

GERALD CASALE: Yeah unfortunately.

SYFFAL: Is there anything else you are ashamed of?

GERALD CASALE: No.

SYFFAL: On the album The Truth About Devolution, did you tell the whole truth? Is there anything that you left out?

GERALD CASALE: We did not tell the whole truth, that's to come. Let's just say it will beat Charlie Sheen and the story Sammy Hagar told about Eddie Van Halen in the Rolling Stone.

SYFFAL: Fuck how did I miss that?

GERALD CASALE: That is a movie you are thinking David Lynch has to direct.

SYFFAL: I have to find that, I'm weirdly obsessed with them.

GERALD CASALE: I believe him too, because he would be so liable if he is lying.

SYFFAL: Well it has to validate David Lee Roth, don't you think, that they were really the a-holes and not him?

GERALD CASALE: Well it shows that he is an a-hole, but more normal.

SYFFAL: Yeah like a creepy uncle...

GERALD CASALE: Or a rock n' roll version of some crazed frat jock.

SYFFAL: Would you say he is one of the greatest front men ever?

GERALD CASALE: Yeah, that's not even an argument.

SYFFAL: Do you have a Mount Rushmore of front men?

GERALD CASALE: I don't but it's pretty obvious: Roth, Freddie Mercury, Mick Jagger, and...who am I missing?

SYFFAL: Bon Scott?

GERALD CASALE: There's that.

SYFFAL: Speaking of great front men, is there any chance of Kool Keith becoming an honorary member?

GERALD CASALE: Is he interested in that?

SYFFAL: I imagine he would, he wears the plastic hair all the time.

GERALD CASALE: This is news to me.

SYFFAL: Yeah, on the Black Elvis album he rocks the DEVO hair.

GERALD CASALE: I'm flattered.

SYFFAL: You should be. It is Kool Keith.

GERALD CASALE: Fuck... he could come up when Mark doesn’t want to tour, he could be our lead singer.

SYFFAL: I think we just formed a new super group, move over Audioslave.

GERALD CASALE: The only thing better would be if Janelle Monae wanted to be our lead singer. She has a good look, it's a good alternative to the ho trash look. It's powerful. It's like 'don't fuck with her', she is serious.

SYFFAL: Yeah, she might only be 4'2", but she means business.

GERALD CASALE: Is she really that small?

SYFFAL: That's what I heard.

GERALD CASALE: I couldn't tell from the video.

SYFFAL: How do you feel now knowing that Taboo, from the Black Eyed Peas, first musical roll was as the woman in your Whip It video?

GERALD CASALE: Well you can find them, but you can't always cash in.

SYFFAL: That's what happens when you are ahead of your time.

GERALD CASALE: Yeah.

SYFFAL: So you guys want to come over for dinner? You are always welcome, unless of course you are allergic to wheat. Then you can’t come.

GERALD CASALE: Why would we be allergic to wheat?

SYFFAL: Everyone I know who is into you guys or looks like you is allergic to wheat.

GERALD CASALE: Well, I might be and not even know it.

SYFFAL: Are you familiar with Greg Proops?

GERALD CASALE: No, who is he?

SYFFAL: Well never mind, he is a comedian that I think looks like you guys.

GERALD CASALE: Oh, he looks like us? Well I am sure that's not a compliment...

SYFFAL: Sure it is... you guys are dreamy.

GERALD CASALE: Dreamy?

SYFFAL: Yeah, you're in the spank bank.

GERALD CASALE: More like a nightmare.

SYFFAL: Come on!!! Even if that is the case some people get aroused by fear.

GERALD CASALE: Well we knew none of us looked like leading men. We were well aware of it when we started so we never stuffed socks in our crotches. We went a whole different direction. It worked well. Everyone thought we were these asexual nerds, that we left our hotel rooms neater than we found them and didn’t do drugs and weren't interested or into women. It let us get away with everything, things people were getting popped or living in scandal for. Plus we had the red hats and glasses on stage, so nobody knew us, we had anonymity.

SYFFAL: So kind of like being in Kiss without having to hang out with Gene Simmons?

GERALD CASALE: That's right! We were once described pejoratively by Alan Jones (he was a big critic for Melody Maker at the time) and he thought it was the supreme put down, he said: we were the "thinking man's Kiss."  And when I saw it and looked at it for a second, I realized it wasn't that insulting. I would hope that we WOULD BE the thinking man's Kiss in that we are the opposite of what they are and made lots of money doing it. Although I don't think we ever really lived up to that...

From here we got to talking about pizza, kids, and relationships. I won't bore you with that...