When it rains, it pours DEVO in these days of Maximum De-Evolution®! If the 21st century had not made abundantly clear enough, we’ve already peaked. Decades ago, really, and it’s just the big entropic wave approaching us at 120 m.p.h. With the mooted DEVO live event[s] having been suspended in the pandemic last year, with the added indignity of Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale having been hit by Covid-19 last year, there are two live events planned for this year that must be viewed as a chance to experience the increasingly rare communion with DEVO.
Riot Fest 2021 | Chicago
The three day Riot Fest held in Chicago would be a rare chance to see DEVO in one of America’s most interesting cities, but if you don’t already have tickets in your hand, it’s scalpers or nothing for you. I got the email from DEVO less than 48 hours ago, but glances at the Riot Fest website showed day passes already sold on receipt of the DEVO mail, and by today, the event is sold out lock, stock, and barrels. It’s a factor of my advanced age that I only even recognize roughly a third of the bands on the bill, and when a Saturday headliner [Run the Jewels] is one top billed over bands I do recognize, it’s maybe time to hang up the cassock. If there were any justice then DEVO would be top billed over The Pixies [and even NIN] much less the heretofore unknown Machine Gun Kelly. It’s too late for tickets [this year] but you can get a leg up on next year below.
Punk Rock Bowling 2021 | Las Vegas
At least if you’re free the next week, you can see DEVO headline the last night of Punk Rock Bowling 2021. Anything that brings Punk Rock to Las Vegas is an improvement! At least here DEVO are being given the position they merit with the schedule having them closing out the event. And day passes of $70/day [plus fees] and the three day pass of $170 [plus fees] are priced to move. The only band I’ve seen on the bill before was The Queers and they were a great set. I’m amazed to see that The Lunachicks are still kicking around! I used to have their first EP. You can hit that button below to secure tickets.
DEVO Leisure Wear Line Explodes
Given that the recreation of the DEVO Leisure Wear shirt from 1980 was a huge hit beyond expectations, the band and the branding demons at Middle Of Beyond have conspired to find more ways to get devoted spuds to part with their shekels.
Three new designs are currently in pre-order for sale on June 7th with the classic Leisure wear “paramecium/atom bombs in tailspin/golfer” design looking very sharp in basic black. They have added two designs as well. A surprisingly abstract red on black Aztec Energy Dome® design that may pass unnoticed among “normals.”
The final new design was Nu-Tra® the astronaut from the “New Traditionalists” era on a black cotton shirt. I’m thinking that maybe that design would look better on white, since the Nu-Tra® art looked great that way on the band’s live album from 1981. If any of these shirts has your name on it, make sure you’ve got the $55 to back it up. Additional quantities of the original white Leisurewear shirt can still be bought as well. The new shirts are currently in pre-order and they will manufacture to match demand, with certain sizes selling out sooner than later, so you know what to do. Hit that button.
RSD DEVO Drops For 2021
DEVO: Somewhere With DEVO – US – LP [2021]
- Somewhere With DEVO
- Freedom Of Choice
- What We Do
- Peek-A-Boo
- Cemeo
- Step Up
The gorgeously shot cover for “Somewhere With DEVO” consisted of the live encore from the band’s “Now It Can Be Told” live album of 1989 along with DJ Kinky’s 2010 DEVO remix set on an LP that will have 2500 copies for Record Store Day drop #1 on June 12th at a reasonable $19.99. Quite frankly, it’s worth the price just for the stunning cover photo showing the members of DEVO ca. 1988 in garb of the band’s many eras on risers with glamour key lighting. You can fight the crowds or you can sneak into the label’s store and pre-order yours below. Shhh!
Crypto-DEVO Back In DLX RM
Jihad Jerry + The Evildoers: Mine Is Not A Holy War DLX RM – US – CD [2021]
I eventually saw the Jihad Jerry project from Gerald V. Casale out in the internet wilds and it’s been on the infinite Want List to check out for some time but as it’s OOP and going for inflated amounts right now, it’s not likely. How nice is it that the album had been re-issued in a DLX RM CD with five bonus tracks for RDS this year.
The new tracks include a new 2021 single, “I’m Gonna Pay U Back” which is available also on 7″ gold wax or the full album, with the new single added to the running order. There are 2000 copies of the LP for $26.99. You can fight the hordes on June 12th, or you can pre-order the LP below from Rough Trade US. The choice is yours. As for me I will want that CD. I’m interested to hear this LP as it featured all of DEVO playing on it. As mentioned, the cover is a thing of beauty. And here’s the primary Monk-bait regarding the new single…
It is the first time that DEVO and Steve Bartek of Oingo Boingo have ever joined forces in the studio.
So yeah, now you might need this badly. Hit it, Morty…
And I may have never mentioned it before, but PPM is a lone wolf in the web of commerce. I do not monetize any sales links I deign to put here and get no “pay for play.” Just saying, since this post is full of ’em.
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![Chris Cross: 1952-2024 [part 2]](https://i0.wp.com/postpunkmonk.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ultravox-cross.jpg?resize=200%2C200&ssl=1)
Post-Punk Monk 
Are you sure that cover for “Somewhere…” wasn’t expertly assembled form older photos? That’s Alan Meyers on drums in the photos, but he wasn’t in DEVO anymore by the time of this tour.
As for the Jihad Jerry record, I initially reckoned it to be a novelty record that didn’t rate much better than *Smooth Noodle Maps*, but it has steadily grown on me. Jerry is off the leash lyrically on this one, ranting as only he knows how. Musically, it points in the direction of *Something for Everyone* without being quite as strong. It’s got some good – but seldom great – material on it, but is by no means a waste of time for DEVO fans.
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JT – I looked at the full res photo and saw that it was a different drummer. The plastic hair was the same as what Alan Myers wore in 1981 but the face underneath it was definitely David Kendrick.
Interesting thoughts on the Jihad Jerry. About what I reckoned at the time.
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Great post! And now I get your logo at the top :-) DEVO and Oingo Boingo!!!!!!! Another Wow – I loved Oingo Boingo. So much energy. I cannot imagine DEVO and Oingo Boingo together – the energy would break the capacitor as it grounded out :-) So danceable. And you are correct the graphics are amazing on those products.
Your comment about Las Vegas is spot on – I grew up in AZ and that desert is a pretty one (Sonoran). I always call Las Vegas a ‘cat box’ – dirt with cat droppings all around. The only saving grace around LV is the Red Rocks Park north of the city that’s managed by the BLM – beautiful place to hike.
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Bridget – Hah! Love your electrical engineering metaphor re: DEVO + Oingo Boingo. As for Las Vegas you admirably picked up on my subtextual feelings! My wife and I famously took a trip to Las Vegas shortly after our wedding to attend the wedding of her former housemate and her beau. They were getting married at the Elvis Chapel and we thought it would be fun. I had not been through Las Vegas since childhood, when my family would take trips to Reno for vacation [we lived in Los Angeles then] and once we took a day trip to Las Vegas to gawk at the 1971 spectacle.
Nearly 30 years later it was the most repellent place imaginable to us. We had taken four days to stay there and were regretting it immediately. The hell of the slot machine noise, which began immediately after disembarking from the plane as a constant din in your skull was the first indicator that we would not be having any fun. Then the sad desperation of the elderly gamblers joylessly feeding their Social Security funds into the gaming was dispiriting. The trash aesthetic bypassed camp and went straight to despair. The final nail in the coffin of the human condition that was Vegas was the employment of homeless people to dispense sex newspapers to passers by on the teeming streets… I had completely missed the legality of prostitution there. UGH! We had to get out of that place to keep our sanity and Red Rocks Park was our salvation there as we bolted and being Florida residents at the time, were entranced by mountains nearby which we could drive to and touch! Now we live on a mountain.
We only went to Vegas once since then when Bryan Ferry was touring for his “As Time Goes By” album with a jazz band. I saw he was in the Hard Rock Cafe and told my wife we were going as the tour didn’t hit anywhere near the southeast. Flying from Orlando to Vegas cost a pittance. We flew in, taxi to the hotel, changed and ran to the show through a tunnel high above the streets that connected to the venue. Loved the show, came back to the motel and ate something. Went to sleep, then took a taxi to the airport in the morning, having spent the bare minimum of time there [< 18 hours], hermetically sealed where possible, from the Vegas disease. That was still my favorite Ferry concert.
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Ahhhh, I forgot about the constant sound noise of the slots-even at the airport! And the free freak show all around you can be entertaining sometimes but gets annoying after awhile.
What mountain are you referring to in FL???? My father lives in central FL on what he claims is the highest spot in his county and this southwestern girl looks at him like he is crazy…it’s flat!!!
And, yeah, I’m an engineer…mechanical and biomedical, hence the previous comments about college and afterwards being blurs of school, homework and work. Just means I now have time a moolah to go to expensive OMD concerts 😉
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Bridget – We escaped from Florida a long time ago. We live in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
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OK – response about the band – my favorite DEVO songs are “Whip it!” and “Secret Agent Man.” They weren’t my fave, but I really liked those songs, especially Agent Man – when you compare the original and then the clipped DEVO version it just roboticizes it so much – love it!
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Bridget – These guys were seriously major to me. No one else had their sociological vision steeped in satire. True, they burnt out by 1984 but had a slight uptick some years later.
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That Punk Rock Bowling lineup has me wishing my wife wasn’t a school teacher. I am under strict orders that September is sacred and my support here is absolute. My 18 year old really wants to go to Riot Fest (Coheed and Cambria) and tried to get DEVO to entice me to break the sacred month of September travel ban.
The energy dome hat shirt is awfully tempting, but with COVID induced therapies for our teens maxing our credit card 3 out of the 5 months of 2021, I can’t justify the price.
I have the Jihad Jerry CD and and slightly miffed I need to buy it again. Commerce is king, DEVO-lution of the dollar or something. I’m going to get it of course, like the faithful lapdog I am.
Oh, to see them just *ONE* more time…
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postpostmoderndad – I’d settle for just ONCE! Though I did see Mark give a panel discussion at a nearby college, and got to chat with him afterward.
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Oh jeez. I saw them in … 96? Lollapalooza with Ramones and Rancid. That was my first time. Then again in 2006 doing a full set on tour then again 2014 during the HardCore tour (ang got to meet them and express my condolences to Jerry). I am lucky and I know it.
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postpostmoderndad – At least I have the DVD of the ’96 Lollapalooza gig. I was amazed at how good they were. But that was…yikes, a quarter century ago!
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The Jihad Jerry page says “available online shortly,” and the sneaky link for the Somewhere With DEVO page doesn’t let you push the button (frank) without logging in, which is for dealers/industry only. :(
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PS. But if someone gets in for either one, buy an extra for me and I’ll send you the cash-ola!
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DEVO are also doing a stand-alone headline show at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, CA on September 24! 😀
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David Ponak – So it looks like the DEVO shows will now be conficned to So Cal with tours a thing of the past. A pity as I’ll never catch them now. At least I got to talk to Mark Mothersbaugh in Cullowhee, NC! That counts for something.
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