Motherboard

UPDATE: Devo played the Olympics last night, but NBC didn’t broadcast it in the US! Here are photos and here’s their new song.

As the whole music industry struggles to cope with the rise of the machines, and old marketing models go the way of the newspaper, leave it to new-wave pioneers Devo to come up with some kind of a solution: Devo, Inc!

Backed by a fancy marketing agency and that ol’ dinosaur Warner Brothers, the fathers of devolution are making a comeback with a corporate guise and a set of focus groups meant to guide their creative process. Says Devo Inc. CEO Greg Schott (who is a real-life corporate exec):

Devo has remarked that the typical artist feels special because he or she invents his own world and sticks to it, all outside opinions be damned! Instead the band feels it’s much more special to actually listen to others’ ideas and feelings and take them into account. It’s a brave new attitude that I commend them for.
On behalf of Devo I can sincerely say we would really appreciate it if you could help us out. Follow the link here to be part of the study: http://www.clubdevo.com/colorstudy We look forward to your participation.

Even if the irony is thicker than their synths, the super glossy corporate bit is kinda brilliant, underscoring not just the alarm of the music biz but the dependencies of artists like Devo on the Man (see their previous—and weird and wonderful—collabo with Disney). And this is probably not a bad way for the campy new-wavers to recapture the tapering imaginations of kids a) weaned on Lady Gaga and b) who only know Devo because Wes Anderson hearts Mark Mothersbaugh.

Also, they need new colors for their cute energy dome hats! Mothersbaugh elaborates to Pitchfork:

We’ve employed focus groups to help us choose a color. There are advantages and disadvantages we’ve found. We’ve gotten letters from people that said that they had problems with red hats. The color red, they felt, was unsafe. So the energy dome, I’m pretty certain it’s going to change color. Your suggestion of camouflage will be taken to heart. I’m kind of leaning towards that. That could be the way to go in these times. It’s a very pugilistic world out there, and sometimes a little bit of camouflage could go a long way.

The new hats (with new biohazard uniforms) will debut tomorrow when the band plays the super mainstream music festival the Winter Olympics, alongside other possibly athletically inclined musicians like Feist and Usher. They also promise to use their Olympics soap box (and their upcoming SXSW and Coachella performances, in lead up to a new album) to push forward their ever-relevant message of cultural devolution. Just in case the whole corporate thing didn’t already whip it into our brains.

Photo: Devo