Akron, Ohio 19 73, before new wave before punk rock. 2 kent state graduates Gerald Sally and Bob Lewis found their destin when they met up with a keyboard from a band called Floss Ba. His name, Mark Mother's spa. Together they formed something entirely different. Releasing their mongol creation upon an unsuspecting wiggly world with Sp mix designed to whip it at every turn.
In this episode of the Dandy Fun House, we've venture to ask the eternal burning question Are we not men for this is the story of dev. Let's step into the fun house. Where am I? You just enter the danny house. Hello, and welcome to the Dandy Fun Video show podcast in blog. This is where we whip up the very best in retro pop culture, toys and games, and all the fun stuff. I'm your host, Neil Dandy, and in this episode, We're gonna carry out our duty now for the future.
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Alright. Dev. If you're a little older like me, you probably remember, this weird funky electronic band going back as far as their appearances, on the original Saturday night live in the seventies when it used to be funny. If you're a little younger, you might be familiar with the 80 hit whip it. Well, not only is Dev still a creative force today, but they've got quite the s past, and it goes back farther than you might think.
It's the late 19 sixties and 2 kent state University Art students named Gerald Ka and Bob Lewis, make an art project together, reflecting the theory that mankind is not only not evolving but actually d evolving. Both were budding modern artist and also musicians. Has sally was performing with a band called the numbers band. Around 19 70, they began hanging out with another band called Floss Bob, featuring a crazy talented keyboard named Mark Mother's boss.
See where I'm going with all this. The musicians began jamming around with each other as people did in the early seventies and creating a more cutting edge feel and what was around at that time during the height of hippie culture. They also discovered that they shared a love for satire. 1 day, Mark Mother's ba was sharing a pamphlet to the other guys called Jo Heaven bound. And it featured the character of a winged devil named D evolution.
Now, this pamphlet would later inspire the classic song, Jo As well as the band name, but we're not quite there yet. Then 05/04/1970. The infamous massacre it kent state took place, and the theory of d evolution became all too real and far too close to home. Gerald K was a witness to the event and personally saw 2 of his friends gun down. His life changed in an instant. He stopped being a hippie and became angry, very angry.
Funneling is anger into our artistic expression this event would ultimately become the inspiration for the coming together of this group of musicians to form a band, with the underlying theme highlighting the regression of mankind. In 19 73, they made it official with Gerald recruiting his brother, Bob, and Mark recruiting his brother, Bob, while adding in Allen Myers, Rod Rei and Fred Weber to round out the group. Thus sex diva was born. That's what they were originally called.
When it was shortened to just D is up for debate, but from all the information I've been able to gather, it happened pretty quickly during the formative years of the band. This newly formed ensemble through conventional out the window, experimenting with electronic sounds mixed with sensibilities of the burg roots of what would soon become punk rock. Dev performed around the university over the next few years with various players coming and going.
Sometimes a 4 piece, other times a larger group and under the creative direction of Gerald K who experimented heavily with the format of music videos, Dev created their first videos for the song secret agent man as well as Jo. In 19 75, they eventually settled in with a solid lineup of 5 members that would last for the next 10 years.
In 19 76, a short film, including the band called the truth about dea evolution was released by a director named Chuck Stat and gained some notoriety as well as winning a prize at the Ann arbor film festival. Now, this gave Dev some much needed publicity and also caught the attention of Avant Guard Rockstar star David Bowie who be fronted the band and ultimately helped negotiate a recording contract
with Warner Music group. And in 19 77, Dev released their first single with Warner, Mongol, a 45 record with Jo as the flip side. They followed up this release with their cover of satisfaction by the Rolling stones. At come 19 78, Dev finally released their first full length album. Are we not men? We are dev, produced by Brian En and proceeded to gain national exposure with an appearance on Saturday night live when it used to be funny, and they performed satisfaction and Jo for the nation.
In the following year 19 79, Dev released the album, Duty now for the future, featuring the song block head, as well as a cover of Johnny Rivers secret agent man. A dev toward extensively in support of the album, and actually opened up for themselves on a lot of these dates pretending to be a Christian soft rock band called Dove, the band of love. They would appear the following year as dove the band of love in the 19 80 tele spoof film pray Tv,
then came the eighties. Now when the eighties rolled round, Dev, had laid the groundwork and they were in the right place at the right time with the right weird looks and the right back catalogs of the videos and songs to take full advantage of the juggernaut that was coming onto to the air waves Mtv. Back when Mtv had music. Dev made a new album with songs that were catch and more radio friendly, but still very much dev. The album, freedom of choice. The lead single whip it.
The video featured crazy red flower pot hats on the band, which became synonymous with the group almost overnight, and Mark Mother's ba using a bull on everything in sight, including whipping a cigarette out of a model's mouth. It was a breakthrough hit for the band and catapult them right into new wave rockstar status all over the world. The album of also featured 2 other medium hits grow you want and the title track freedom of choice.
While they continued touring and releasing music and exploring deeper levels of creativity, they never did quite have another single as big as whip it. The freedom of choice tour tore relentlessly through the Japan, Uk France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and United States audiences. And the following year in 19 81, Dev hit down under in a big way, releasing a Live Called Dev Live, which became a huge hit in Australia and landed them at the top of their charts for 3 weeks solid.
Now, for those of you out there who don't know what an P is. It's a 12 inch vinyl record with usually just a couple songs on each side. Ep p standing for extended play, which meant longer than a 7 inch 45 record, but still not quite a full album. A dev continued to enjoy success in Australia, for many years to come with live Tv appearances, lots of radio support and their video staying in heavy rotation. Australia the eighties could not get enough dev.
The group also released a song around this time, which was recorded during the sessions for the album, freedom of choice, but never made the final cut, working in a coal mine. They submitted it for the soundtrack of the movie heavy metal, but Warner brothers ultimately rejected it. So they released it as an independent single in the run up to their next album, new traditional. 19 81 also found the band becoming the backing band for Hollywood, chore, turned actress turned pop artist,
Tony Basil, you know? Oh, Mickey. It's a fine. You're a fine. You blow my mind Hey, Mickey. Hey, Mickey. And in 19 82, Dev released the album. Oh, no it's Dev with limited success, and also contributed 2 songs to the Dan Asteroid movie, doctor Detroit. 19 84, Dev put out a flop of an album commercially speaking called Shout, which featured a cover of Jamie Hendrix, are you experienced?
I love the song. And the video feature in the band wearing inflatable outfits and floating in the air with sai swirling all around them with the Dev twist of course. But unfortunately, the Album tank hard and their label wasn't in the mood. So Warner bought out the remainder of their recording contract and diva was out on the street with flower pot hats in hand.
And this led the longtime member, Alan Myers is also deciding that He had his fill of whipping it and exited the group, citing lack of creative fulfillment. End dev, 3 years later in 19 87, Dev bring in former sparks drummer David Kendrick to replace Alan Myers, and then re record most of their most popular songs as easy listening music. Which they released on cassette to their fan club Club dev, and later as a Cd entitled easy listening
disc. Which they would play as house music prior to their concerts. However, their most notable project of 19 87 would be recording the soundtrack for the horror film, slaughter house rock starring Tony Basil, which was released in 19 88. Dev also signed a new recording contract in 19 88 with En records, releasing the album total Dev and set out on a brand new world tour with hopes running high, but unfortunately, the album didn't do well.
In 19 90, Dev took another shot. With a new album called smooth noodle maps. Now this would prove to be their worst selling album of all time. The attempted tour to support smooth noodle maps also fell apart as their record label Filed for bankruptcy and ticket sales were practically nonexistent existent. The tour was canceled midway through, and dev sadly dev evolved themselves into non existence and dis. Mark Mother's ball would later be interviewed about the breakup of dev.
And he said that at the time, they were doing their final tour in Europe, and they were watching spinal tap on the bus and said, this is our life and they decided things had to change. So the agreement was made that they wouldn't do live shows anymore. Now following the breakup of dev, Mark Mother's boss established a music production house along with the 2 bobs from Dev to form mu music.
This production company enjoyed a great deal of success, creating the soundtrack for such popular shows as Pee Play house. The Nickelodeon cartoon rug rats and countless other Tv and film scores. A Mark did the composing and his brother, Bob was the chief audio engineer. Gerald Ka, meanwhile, Dove head first into his love of video production. Creating videos for bands like Rush, sound garden, and the fo fighters as well as Tv commercials.
While Dev was no longer officially a banned, They did reunite in 19 95 to re record their classic song girl you want for the horrible movie tank girl. Sorry. I tried to watch that tank wreck of a flick a few times that. I I just couldn't. I couldn't make it past the first 15 minutes. I mean, it's bad. But what's not bad is the fact that coming back together led to talk of performing live again. And in 19 96, Dev re turned to the stage at the Sundance film
festival in Park City, Utah. From there, they started performing in the rotating mystery slot at La, Palo and also recorded a cover of the song head like a hole from 9 inch nails, which was used in the movie super. Diva was back. They had such a warm welcome at La Palo that they were invited back the following year as headline liners. As the Internet became more ubiquitous throughout the 19 nineties. Dev found themselves and their music reaching a
whole new generation of fans. And in 2001, a fan convention, focusing on all things dev, including A5K foot race, was launched in Cleveland, Ohio and continues to this day. And by the mid 2 thousands, D music began finding its way in the Tv commercials for Sw using Whip, as well as target utilizing what's probably Second most recognizable song beautiful world. Ad also toured extensively throughout this time.
And Mark Mother's ba in an interview discussed how being older and deciding to tour again after several years off the road didn't come without its challenges. After sitting in a chair producing in a studio for a whole lot of years. He discovered that he had some physical challenges performing the way he used to. And decided he wasn't willing to bring less
than the best. So hit the gym he did, and he whipped himself back into shape in order to be able to bounce around, run out in the audience and perform the levels that he once did. Now, the new newfound dedication to the band ultimately led to a reunion in 2009 with their former record label, warner music For re releases of their classic albums, are we not men we are dev and freedom of choice, followed by a tour plane both albums in their entirety.
Now this reunion with Warner continued, and in 20 10, Dev released their first full length album in 20 years something for everybody. And also became the recipients of the very first, Mo innovator award at Mo fest 20 10 in Nashville North Carolina. For those of you who don't know what Mo is. It's a brand of keyboard that revolutionized music, during the sixties and seventies, bringing electronic sounds into our modern culture.
On a sadly in 20 14, tragedy struck and founding member Bob Ka died of heart failure at the age of 61. Dev honored him by embarking on a 10 city tour as a quart, to raise funds to support his family. 5 years later in 20 21, Toy maker Funko, Honors Dev, releasing 2 different versions of dev funko pops, highlighting the looks from their videos whip it and also satisfaction. Shortly thereafter merchandising continued with an official dev branded Vodka through the trust me Vodka brand.
20 22, Dev are nominated for the third time for induction into the Rock and roll hall of fame, but like their 20 18 and 20 21 nominations are not chosen. And I'm just gonna say it. The rock and roll hall of fame sucks and it's a joke. Now, hopefully now that the idiot from Rolling Stone Magazine, Jan Werner is no longer on the board. Some things might change for the better in groups like dev, journey, foreigner,
iron maiden. I mean, there's a sea of people at every single iron Maiden concert everywhere in the world. And dare I say Ted N mnuchin, will receive their long overdue honors, but I'm not hold my breath, nor do I actually care that much. The Rock Roll Hall of fame has sq. Any shreds of credibility that it may have once had, and it's cost them their relevance. Why am I even talking about this right now? Okay. Back to Dev? In 20 23, dev toward in celebration of 50 years.
Right. Like that. Yeah. In 20 24, a documentary film about Dev simply titled Dev, premiered to the Sundance film festival. Also another film entitled 50 years of dev, premiered at the Marquee theater in Park City, Utah on 01/22/2024, followed by a live performance of the band itself. Now this year also marked with a special box set release On rhino records, dev, 50 years of dea evolution, 19 73 to 20 23 with 4 Lps I'm Clear vinyl that spell out dev when you line them all up. This is
a must for any ra fan. And speaking of fans, Maybe you'd like to check out the official Dev fan club, club dev, you can find it at club dev dot com. Forward slash dev, hyphen home. At least, that's where I ended up finding it. I tried to go just to club dev, but the website was under renovation at the time. And this is also the official diva website. And speaking of official, Dev has kept their 50 years with an announcement that they are officially retiring from touring.
Will there be any future creative output from the band? Maybe we'll see some answers once the website's finished with its renovations? Only the sp can tell. And if you couldn't already tell, that's the story of Da. And if you'd like to help me afford that cool rhino records box said I've had my eye, please consider supporting future productions of the Dandy Fun house by heading over to our website at dandy fun house dot com. Our website works. We've got a
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