Stories From Main Street: Devo Returns To Their Roots At CBGB Music & Film Festival
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- In 1977, the members of Devo piled instruments into Mark Mothersbaugh's car, which was missing a rear window, and headed for New York City.
"It was like the biggest adventure," Mothersbaugh, the band's frontman, told WCBS 880's Sean Adams. "We were leaving a cultural wasteland for this amazing city of Oz."
Over the rainbow, the artists from Akron, Ohio, wearing red ziggurat hats found a dark, gritty, cavernous, graffiti-covered rock 'n' roll club, CBGB.
Stories From Main Street: Devo Returns To Their Roots At CBGB Music & Film Festival
"You knew you were at one of the ground zero points for pop culture," Mothersbaugh said.
They met beat writer William S. Burroughs there.
"Even as late as 1980, he sent us lyrics," Mothersbaugh said. "We never put them to music. But he wanted to write songs with Devo."
There was also plenty of high jinks.
"A band called the Dead Boys had climbed onstage while we were there," Mothersbaugh said. "And we had these shorts on -- we had just taken off our yellow suits, we just had these yellow shorts. And they were grabbing at our pants and stuff. It was pretty funny.
"So I'm up there singing without any pants on."
The impression was indelible and influenced Devo's music and message about de-evolution and the perils facing the planet.
Now, nearly 40 years later, they're back for the CBGB Music & Film Festival with a documentary Friday and a concert Sunday featuring early material.
WEB EXTRA: More Info On The CBGB Music & Film Festival
"It will be the first thing that's been recorded since the early '70s, some of these songs," Mothersbaugh said. "We only recorded them in our basement on like a four-track tape recorder."
The band's sound changed after coming to CBGB.
"CBGB's did a play a part in really influencing the whole trajectory of Devo," Mothersbaugh said. "It'll be mythological and legendary to people 50 years from now. And it'll spark their imagination."
The third-annual CBGB festival will be held Wednesday through Sunday at venues throughout the city. It will include more than 30 films and 200 bands, including Jane's Addiction and Billy Idol.
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