Devo is celebrating a half century of de-evolution in 2023, bringing its wild and artsy brand of new wave/punk music — which still sounds avant-garde lo these many years later — on a tour that includes multiple California dates.
The band will hit YouTube Theater in Inglewood on Nov. 16 and will join New Order, The Human League, Tears for Fears and many other top ‘80s acts at the sold out Darker Waves Festival in Huntington Beach on Nov. 18.
Devo is supporting the newly released career retrospective, “50 Years of De-Evolution,” which is available at Rhino.com.
I recently had a chance to chat with founding member and vocalist-bassist-songwriter Gerald “Jerry” Casale about the band, which got its start in the Kent State University/Akron, Ohio area in 1973.
Casale splits his time between Santa Monica and Napa, where he runs The 50 by 50 winery.
The following conversation has been edited for space and clarity.
Let’s start off by clearing something up: Is this a farewell tour or not? Because I’m seeing some confusing things online about this being the last hurrah for the band.
A: It was supposed to be 50th anniversary tour — kind of a farewell to 50 years of de-evolution. And promoters ran with making it a farewell tour because that boosted the bottom line — made it sell faster.
But it just happened to us. Typical of things that happen to Devo.
So, hopefully there will be more tours down the line.
A: Hopefully. But you never know, right? This could be the last tour. Who knows? For any number of reasons. But that wasn’t the expressed idea.
Did you ever imagine — a half century ago, when the band was first starting out – that Devo would last this long?
A: Of course, not. You live in the moment and you don’t try to fabricate a legacy before it happens.
And de-evolution is real, by the way. Nobody thinks it is polarizing or a whacked-out idea anymore. They all go, “Oh, yeah, the world’s devolved — no doubt about it.”
Were…
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