The Grumblemags.

[Doug Pearson]

On Thu, 18 Jul 2002 18:43:05 -0400, Ductor, Dan [NEUUS]
<DDUCTOR at NEUUS.JNJ.COM> wrote:
>Penetration in the Centerfold......a
>forgotten DEVO gem. Always loved that song.
>
>This is off topic, but..
>
>I ran into Mark Mothersbaugh at Club Spaceland.  Cluster was playing and,
>before the show, I had a nice talk with Mark.  He told me that, during
>DEVO's first UK tour, he went to see Motorhead and was totally blown
>away.  Who would've thought??

That reminds me of the story recounted by former Black Flag
singer/guitarist Dez Candena (later of DC3, who did a bunch of Hawkwind
covers back in the late 80's) when he interviewed Dave & Richard (I think)
for (the late) 'Flipside' on Hawkwind's '89 US tour ... he talks about
Black Flag being on their first UK tour around 1980.  When they had a night
off, their hosts ask if they want to check out any bands ... "UK Subs?
Stranglers?  Exploited?" (name a dozen other UK punk bands), and Black Flag
respond in unison, "We wanna see Hawkwind!" (which, of course, thoroughly
appalled their punk-"purist" hosts).

I have no actual verification for this story, but I've *heard* that Mark
Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale decided to turn their conceptual/art project
into a "real" band after being encouraged to do so in a backstage
conversation with Hawkwind, which would have had to have been while Lemmy
was still in the band (according to the "master" gig list, the last show
the band played in the USA before the ill-fated Canadian border crossing
was Cleveland, 16may75, which would've been the last Cleveland gig until
after Devo were already an established band).

However, if you spoke with Mark, and the subject of Hawkwind came up, and
this incident wasn't mentioned, then it would seem to verify that this
rumor is, alas, completely false (too bad, I think it's a great story!).

    -Doug
     jasret at mindspring.com