Devo are preparing to go on their first tour without rhythm guitarist Bob Casale, where they will perform songs that haven’t been performed live since 1977.
Bassist Jerry Casale told Rolling Stone: “At the end of our last tour we started talking about abandoning everything and doing a tour that was purely artistic. We thought it would be cool to revisit the old basement recordings. The thought was, ‘What if we play songs we haven’t played in 35 years for a crowd that never heard them except on old basement recordings?'”
The new tour was in the early planning stages when Bob Casale, Jerry’s brother, died suddenly of heart failure in February. “It was a horrific shock and an explosion in the Devo universe,” Casale told Rolling Stone.
“For a month or so, nobody talked about anything. But then we realized we can still do it and make it a memorial to Bob and raise money for his family. He died without a will and life insurance. Devo hadn’t been playing many gigs when he died, so his finances were pretty depleted. We’ve also raised money for his family through an online donation drive.”
The tour kicks off on June 18 in Baltimore and runs through to July 2 in Austin. The band have said that they have no idea how crowds will react to the shows without the inclusion of more familiar songs like “Whip It” and “Girl U Want”.
“It might create the early Devo experience of people yelling at us and walking out,” said Casale. “It will really jolt us back into the past.”
For the shows, the group will not wear their trademark red energy domes or yellow jumpsuits.
“We’re going to shock people with our outfits,” Casale said. “We may just dress in street clothes and possibly, as happened in real life; a friend will interrupt us with yellow jumpsuits. That’s what happened in real life. I bought them through an industrial catalog. One night we were rehearsing and a friend rang the doorbell and brought them down to the basement. We tried them on in front of each other, so we might try them on onstage.”