Fast and Slow DEVO Shows

[Mitchell]

In listening to several of the DEVO concerts from 1977 I've noticed
that some live shows are a fast set and some are slow. There are also
some DEVO shows where one song will be the slow version of that song
and the next song will be a fast version of a particular song.
Eventually of course(by 1978) the Spuds would stick with the fast
version only. Was DEVO just experimenting with their sound early on to
try to determine the best way to have a song sound live, and then
decide to play just about all their songs fast to fit in better with
the punk movement? Did moving to LA coincide with this? Does anyone
have any quotes from Mark or Jerry on this one?

[Boom]

Post by Mitchell
In listening to several of the DEVO concerts from 1977 I've noticed
that some live shows are a fast set and some are slow. There are also
some DEVO shows where one song will be the slow version of that song
and the next song will be a fast version of a particular song.
Eventually of course(by 1978) the Spuds would stick with the fast
version only. Was DEVO just experimenting with their sound early on to
try to determine the best way to have a song sound live, and then
decide to play just about all their songs fast to fit in better with
the punk movement? Did moving to LA coincide with this? Does anyone
have any quotes from Mark or Jerry on this one?

It's a combination of things. When they started out, Jim Mothersbaugh
played that homemade electronic drum kit and most of their songs had a
lot slower tempos. When Alan Myers joined and started playing with
them, he gradually sped up the songs the longer they played them.
It's kind of a thing where you don't really notice it while you're
doing it, but you hear a playback and you notice it. Those songs all
gradually sped up as time went on. You can listen to bootlegs from
the different years and hear how they sped up in increments. And they
kept on speeding up the songs live from the "official" releases, so it
wasn't just the early songs that got sped up. The only thing I ever
read about it, though, was Jerry saying their "tempos went nuclear" in
the liner notes to Live: The Mongoloid Years. But it's obvious to
anyone who's ever played in a band what happened.

[Stiiv]

Post by Boom
But it's obvious to
anyone who's ever played in a band what happened.

You know it. There's also the fact that, as a band gets tighter & the
musicians become better players, you'll speed up just because you
can....

Here's a good example...early Ramones shows had the band playing
pretty much at the speed of the album tracks....I know 'cause I was
there for quite a few. When they became a 30-songs-in-45-minutes
machine, as on It's Alive, they blitzed through their sets at blinding
(for the time) speed. The addition of Marky (Bell) helped as
well....he's a better dummer than Tommy Erdelyi, & could play much
faster.

Stiiv
http://www.stiiv.com

[Boom]

On Tue, 05 Apr 2005 17:06:45 GMT, Stiiv

Post by Stiiv

Post by Boom
But it's obvious to
anyone who's ever played in a band what happened.

You know it. There's also the fact that, as a band gets tighter & the
musicians become better players, you'll speed up just because you
can....

Unfortunately. I always try to combat that in the bands I'm in. I'm
always trying to pull back the drummer. But it's not easy, and it
happens a lot more than I'd like.

Post by Stiiv
Here's a good example...early Ramones shows had the band playing
pretty much at the speed of the album tracks....I know 'cause I was
there for quite a few. When they became a 30-songs-in-45-minutes
machine, as on It's Alive, they blitzed through their sets at blinding
(for the time) speed. The addition of Marky (Bell) helped as
well....he's a better dummer than Tommy Erdelyi, & could play much
faster.

Yeah, he's good. I saw them once with him on drums. They raced
through the old stuff but the new stuff (Pleasant Dreams was the
current album) got played at reasonable tempos. So it definitely
takes time to get to that speed.