DEVO

Few groups embraced sci-fi, satire and surrealism with the gusto that the Dada-inspired, US new-wave, art-punk, synth-pop band DEVO did, as this energetic portrait reveals.

DEVO was formed by Ohio twins Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, and Gerald and Bob Casale, along with Bob Lewis, in 1973. They took their name from the word ‘de-evolution’, believing than humankind had reached a point of regression in its development. They looked like they had stepped out of a sci-fi movie, sounded like a melange of emerging music styles (embracing punk, rock, the emerging electronica scene and, later, pop) and critiqued the direction their country – and the world – was heading. //Wham!// director Chris Smith’s immensely entertaining and insightful film presents this eclectic band’s storied past and present, from their work with Brian Eno and the success of the single Whip It to more recent incarnations of the group.