Even-keeled Devoguitarist, Casale, fond of technology

Published 12:00 am Friday, February 21, 2014

AKRON, Ohio — Bob Casale, guitarist and keyboardist for the Akron-born band Devo, died unexpectedly Monday of heart failure at the age of 61.

He was known by fans of the band as “Bob 2,” a play on the fact that Devo had two guys named Bob, Casale and Mothersbaugh, also known as “Bob 1.” While singers and songwriters Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale were the band’s nominal front men, Bob Casale’s musical and technical contributions were strong.

“We were the creative core, we wrote the songs together, and I directed the videos and created the stage show. But it always took the group working together,” Gerald Casale said from his home in Southern California.

“You couldn’t have those songs and have that performance without everybody giving 100 percent, and Bob really lent himself to the aesthetic; totally got it, really smart guy. He totally understood what we were up to and he contributed in many ways,” Casale said. “Songwriting is just one thing, but he contributed in a lot of ways. He’d come up with a lot of very original guitar parts. He came up with the guitar part for “Satisfaction,” which is basically the hook of the song.”

The literal band of brothers (the Mothersbaughs, the Casales, and Alan Myers, who died of cancer in 2013) took the name Devo in 1974 and wrapped it around a meta-concept of human and societal de-evolution, a pretty difficult sell in the days of androgynous glam-rockers and a soon-to-be burgeoning punk scene that preferred three power chords and lyrical blunt force.

Devo is often incorrectly remembered as a new wave band for songs such as “Whip It,” but the group’s early work was often driven by the twin guitars of “the Bobs” (as they were affectionately known), giving tunes such as “Uncontrollable Urge” a bit of a punk edge, while Bob Casale’s keyboard playing, like on the catchy guitar lick of “Girl U Want,” helped maintain the band’s signature sound.

Gerald Casale said his brother was on board from day one, when Gerald, Mark Mothersbaugh and Bob Lewis concocted the de-evolution concept and trusted that his older brother had a good idea.

“When everybody’s laughing and throwing beer bottles at you, you can’t be squeamish,” Gerald Casale said, referring to the band’s early performances.

He called his brother “really solid and even-keeled. He was the level-head anchor of Devo; he was very slow to anger. Unlike my hot-tempered self, where I would confront people,’” he said, laughing.

In addition to his musical acumen, Bob Casale’s team-player attitude extended into other areas of the band. He was a self-taught engineer and technician who, according to his brother, “watched in the studio when we’d have producers or engineers and then he’d be able to do it.” He voluntarily helped maintain all the analog synthesizers, and when the band went digital, he absorbed the new technology and began helping to engineer their albums following the 1980 commercial breakthrough, “Freedom of Choice.”

Bob Casale worked with Mark Mothersbaugh at his music production company, Mutato Muzika, in Los Angeles.

“We are shocked and saddened by Bob Casale’s passing,” Mothersbaugh said in a statement on the Mutato Muzika site and Club Devo’s Facebook page.

“He not only was integral in Devo’s sound, he worked over 20 years at Mutato, collaborating with me on 60 or 70 films and television shows, not to mention countless commercials and many video games. Bob was instrumental in creating the sound of projects as varied as ‘Rugrats’ and Wes Anderson’s films. He was a great friend. I will miss him greatly.”