Devo's drummer, Alan Myers died on Monday. He was with the band during their formative years from 1976 and leaving during 1987, playing on 7 of their releases.
Devo’s Gerald Casale "He could not tolerate being replaced by the Fairlight and autocratic machine music."
Myesr was a true original who created the metronomic timing that lifted the band from a straight ahead punk band into something incomparable at the time. Late 1970's and 80's new wave and pop groups imitated the beat but with the use of the drum machine instead. It takes a very special sense of rhythm, especially in a young drummer to keep such a rigid yet consistently grooving beat.
Devo's first hit in the UK came in 1977 with the EP 'Be Stiff' released by the then HQ of punk, Stiff Records.
The clunk of the disjointed Devo rhythm was irresistible to the pogo-ing fans at many of the punk gigs DJ picks in '77.
Here's a wonderfully early performance of them at New York's legendary Max's Kansas City in 1977 with their cover of the Stone's '(Can't Get No) Satisfaction' which was included on the Stiff EP, although here live, Myers plays the beat much slower to great effect.
