Bands pretty much get to wear masks and costumes every night. We couldn’t decide whether this made Halloween particularly awesome or particularly mundane for bands. But we settled somewhere closer to awesome, because at least one day of the year everyone gets to join them in this and maybe they don’t feel so alone. Then we wondered what is was like for Conor Oberst to not feel alone. Maybe he doesn’t do Halloween concerts…

Regardless, when bands use the Halloween spirit to channel bands they would otherwise probably never come anywhere near, it falls much closer to awesome. And while the Weezer costumes may not have worked so well for Titus Andronicus, these Devo get-ups seem to be making the boys from Pearl Jam downright jovial for their cover of “Whip It.” So embrace the semi-absurdity of the whole thing and enjoy this clip from the last show at Philly’s now defunct Spectrum.

Named after their own concept of de-evolution, DEVO, quite conscious of their antics, have rarely  de-volved. Har. At the forefront of the proto-punk and New Wave movments, the band is often experimenting with new ways to engage its audience (see Laser Disc videos), while pushing their crafted blend of satirical, scientific-art punk to the next level. This time the band, lead by Rugrats score composer and Wes Anderson BFF Mark Mothersbaugh, signed an all-inclusive deal with long time label Warner Bros., which covers “all aspects of the band’s career, including recorded music, touring, merchandising, web services, promotion, ecommerce, sponsorships, licensing, and endorsements.” The 360-deal, similar to Live Nation’s deals with U2, Jay-Z and Nickelback, comes as Warner’s is set to reissue DEVO’s first six albums in remastered form. In accordance, and in an attempt to sell a few copies of the reissues of Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! and Freedom of Choice, the band will play said albums on a short tour of North America, which includes the band’s first show in Toronto in 25 years. (note: DEVO are theoretically opposed to hockey teams named after leaves.) The tour runs from Tuesday November 3rd to November 24th, meaning there is no excuse not to buy your grandmother one of these for Christmas.

Devo Tour Dates

11.03 Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theater
11.04 Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theater
11.06 San Francisco @ The Regency Ballroom
11.07 San Francisco @ The Regency Ballroom
11.08 Seattle, WA @ The Moore
11.09 Seattle, WA @ The Moore
11.12 Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theatre
11.13 Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theatre
11.15 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
11.16 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
11.20 New York, NY @ The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza
11.21 New York, NY @ The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza
11.23 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
11.24 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre

The guys of Devo — or rather, our friends Devo — recently donated a custom-made, one of a kind bicycle to be auctioned off for Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Cancer Foundation. The winning bidder has the satisfaction of knowing he gave $1,325 to cancer research and the joy of riding the coolest bike ever.

The bike is a 57 cm single-speed road bike with red Velocity Deep V Rims/Formula Hubs, a customized Lemond Fillmore from Trek Bicycles. Until it’s handed over to its rightful owner, the bike is on display at Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop in Austin, Texas.

We bet lucky bidder number 12, who scored the bike, was persuaded by this description on the bid page:

You might not be able to eliminate all the Ninnies and the Twits but they won’t be able to keep up with you on your very own one of a kind custom built Devo Bike. So go beyond the normal thing, do the super thing. Bid to help fight cancer and bid to claim this devo-lutionary machine.

Remember “Square Pegs”? The 80s teen-girl sitcom with Sarah Jessica Parker? You can admit it, it’s okay. If DEVO was on the show, it definitely won’t ruin your street cred — and apparently it’s only improving theirs. One DEVO member now tells tales of coke, debauchery and sexual innuendo (oh my!) on the set.

The band headlined a “new wave Bat Mitzvah” in an episode of the show, and while the 30 minutes of squeaky clean fun that aired might have been G-rated, the behind-the-scenes antics apparently were anything but.

After we spoke to the band ourselves last month, we find it hard to imagine the now middle-aged men of DEVO blowing lines with underage actresses, but bassist/synthesizer player Gerald V. Casale gave Heeb Magazine the low down.

“The girls were out of control—they were doing drugs and they were making out and they were coming on to us in a big way,” says Gerald V. Casale, DEVO bassist/synthesizer player. The musician vaguely recalls doing coke with Jami Gertz and SJP in the talent trailers. “They might have been 15 or 16, but in their heads they were already 40. I don’t think there was a virgin on the set, except maybe a couple of the guys,” he adds.

The story goes onto explain further tales of debauchery, including the video projection the band pieced together to accompany their live performance. Let’s just say it’s a coming of age story. As Heeb continues, Casale was bummed that the video didn’t make primetime, but that wasn’t his only regret after filming the famous episode: He had the hots for Jami Gertz, who played Bat Mitzvah girl Muffy Tepperman. “Why didn’t I do something about that?” he says.

It was the Tripwire day at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort, and I’m talking to Women as we’re all anticipating the spectacle that will be the first ever Tinted Windows performance, when in walks Devo (in full garb mind you). In one of, if not the, most surreal moments of my career, I witnessed all of Devo walking past me and into the dressing room as Taylor Hanson and James Iha walk out. Seriously, you can’t script this stuff.

Devo was actually there to do an interview with another media outlet, when the bells of “hey, this is our venue, maybe we should talk to them too” went off. It all happened so fast, we didn’t have time to mic them or even find a space where they all could sit. Not to mention they had a full video crew documenting their every move for an upcoming film about the reunion and subsequent album and tours. So we crammed roughly ten people, four cameras and two studio lights into the dressing room and threw a FADER mic in front of them as I tried to summarize the last 20 years of the band’s existence in a ten-minute interview. All in all, it was a pretty exciting moment, my only regret is that I didn’t ask them what it was like to do an interview without one “Whip It” question.

It’s no secret we’re fans of Women; aside from the On The Cover feature we ran last November, we surmised that that their self-titled debut was the 6th best record of 2008. So when I was asked what band I would most like to see play the Tripwire day at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort, the choice was simple.

Having played right before Tinted Windows, it created an odd paradigm — one that wasn’t lost on the sound guy apparently. But Women did stick around long enough to see Devo, Peter Bjorn and John and for us to talk to them via flipcam while they were loading out.

Correspondent Meiyee Apple takes us through her guide of SxSW day parties with her search for free music and drinks on Friday, March 20. You can see the Thursday, March 19 installment here.

The Thursday night after my day party extravaganza was filled with Scandinavian bands at the Oya/Oh My Rockness showcase with the Casio Kids, Wavves, and some hardcore band who’s only lyrics for their song “Jeans and Heels” were “jeans” and “heels.” Instead of capping the evening with a late-night party session, I went and ate a “Sloppy Burger” at Magnolia and passed out.

There were high hopes on hitting a bevy of day parties.

The ones that that I hit:
Aussie BBQ with Youth Group
AAM Extravaganza
Reeperbahn Festival Party
Spin Magazine party with the Black Lips, Crystal Method DJing, and Echo and the Bunnymen (totally missed Passion Pit and am still kicking myself for it)

Of course with all that was going on, a lot of parties on my agenda were missed:
BMI Acoustic Brunch (woke up too late)
Onion A/V Club party (long was WAY too line)
Showcasing Scotland at The British Music Embassy (too busy getting hammered at the Spin Party)
The Music Stimulus Event (too busy getting hammered at Spin Party)
Next Big Nashville (too busy getting hammered at the Spin Party)
New Zealand Music Party (too busy getting hammered at the Spin Party)

Upon nightfall, I reported back to the sprawling and wonderful FADER Fort. I had not consumed anything solid all day, despite all the free food at the parties. Hence, the obvious inebriation at the end of my day.

I headed over to the Austin Music Hall for the Touch Tunes Ultimate Party with Datarock, Tricky and Devo. Datarock rocked my socks, Tricky made me fall asleep (due to the lingering booze), and Devo revealed new songs, wore new costumes, and sang the hits. Those old dudes are so timeless.

[Devo]

[Datarock]

[Echo And The Bunnymen]