i, being the perennial johnny come lately, never got tickets to the two or three nights of devo in nyc this past fall. i tried to scalp but it was shutdown city.
yet some fuckin how (even though i should just expect this stuff) matt sweeney texts me "devo soundcheck 5pm?"
hell fuck yesssss mr sweeney!
this completely fuckin ruled. they are so intense. as a fan i would never think this but sweeney gave me a disclaimer. "these guys are so intense it might give YOU an ulcer"
well he didn't literaly say that but he was saying stuff like that. and boy was he right. they were raging on each other.
this was some serious fuckin DEVO business. some real life shit.
they were practicing some songs they had never played outside of one studio session from probably 30 years ago or something.
this was because they were performing whole albums in sequence. there was bound to be some rust.
so the guy in the center there is jihad jerry. now, he's basicly a walking heart attack that looks like dr. evil.
he'd be fuming over feedback or whatever or some one missing a note.
all the way to the right is mark mothersbaugh. he would appear to be lost in space and then lash back with a combo of razor sharp yet laid back sarcasm directed at jerry.
which would, in turn, make jerry stomp around and complain even more loudly.
as sweeney explained it, the drummer is probably the glue. he's played with everyone and is real happy go lucky. and gooder than fuckin fuck.
he perpetually calms the band down by yelling things like "ok folks! just follow me and we'll get through this!"
then the two head guys shut up. well, maybe utter stuff under their breath for a second but they fall in line and hammer out mega nailing tunes.
the two ther guys got like a "uhhh ...... just happy to be here" vibe
its odd watching a soundcheck. you cant cheer. you want to. but you cant. atleast we thought WE couldnt.
and they were playing the whole damn song. everytime. if someone was looking at us they'd have probably thought we were on really good drugs.
and then as a song ended it must have looked like our skin was on fire.
not cheering was not working.
you know like in the civil war when they gave you stick to chew on so you wouldnt shreak as they cut your fuckin leg off.
thats what its like to not cheer for devo. IT BURNS!
i didnt get to see the show because it was triple sold out. but i had a complete fuckin blast. a private devo matinee is just what i needed.
its just what anyone needs i would think.
