The music world mourns Devo's Bob Casale

Today the music world is in mourning following the death of Bob Casale, founding member of Devo, who passed away following heart failure on Monday aged just 61. Devo, who formed in 1972 in Akron, Ohio, also feature Gerald Casale, his brother, who posted a moving tibute on the band's official Facebook page. "As an original member of Devo, Bob Casale was there in the trenches with me from the beginning," writes Casale. "He was my level-headed brother, a solid performer and talented audio engineer, always giving more than he got... His sudden death from conditions that lead to heart failure came as a total shock to us all."

The band had worked together sporadically over the past few years, playing South By Southwest in 2009 and Coachella in 2010, releasing an album in 2010 titled Something For Everybody, their first in two deacdes. In 2011, Gerald Casale was rumoured to be planning a Devo stage musical, and in 2012 the band released a single Don’t Roof Rack Me, Bro (Seamus Unleashed), which poked fun at Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. 

Speaking to website Under the Radar in 2012, Casale described the conditions that led to the formation of Devo's bizarre brad of postmodernism, agit-prop, surrealism and new wave. "We came of age in the middle of a huge cultural war," he said, referring to the founding members' experience of witnessing the Kent State riots in 1970s Ohio. "This country was basically in the midst of a new civil war - the lines were drawn very clearly. There was the preppy college kid who was going to be towards the war and then there was the counter culture who embraced early Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, and they were doing pot and hash and psychedelic drugs, and they were against the Vietnam War. And the two sides hated each other, and were ready to kill each other. It was real."

Echoing the later spirit of the punk movement, Casale speculated that forming devo was "a more immediate way of self-expression that required less money and no outside permission. You try to make a film and you have to come up with the money, you need a big crew, you need to ask people for favours and get permission. If you have an idea for a song you can pretty much go into your basement with your band mates and do it."

The band's original drummer Alan Myers passed away in 2013 following a battle with cancer. Fellow founding member Mark Mothersbaugh commented on the passing of Casale, quoted by Contact Music, saying: "We are shocked and saddened by Bob Casale's passing. He not only was integral in Devo's sound, he worked over twenty years at Mutato, collaborating with me on sixty or seventy films and television shows, not to mention countless commercials and many video games. Bob was instrumental in creating the sound of projects as varied as Rugrats and Wes Anderson's films. He was a great friend. I will miss him greatly." Latter day drummer for the band Josh Freese remarked on Twitter: "Such a good guy, talented musician, fantastic engineer and integral part of Devo."

Devo had already announced plans to release a recording of the band live at max's Kansas City, from 1977, on Record Store Day this year. The planned release will still go ahead. A handful of voices from the world of music offered comment on Casale's passing, including Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who tweeted that Casale was a "great guitar stylist. Hugely influential on me. First 'non metal' show I attended and he/they floored me." Other artists tweeting their respects included Ghostpoet, and comics writer David Lapham.

From the archive

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