No matter who you'll be voting for this November, I think we can agree on one thing: Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney did, in fact, tie his Irish Setter to the roof of his car in 1983. He said the dog liked it. Gerald Casale, founding member of the band DEVO, would have to disagree.
Seamus may have forgiven Romney, but Casale hasn't.
The songwriter, who is probably best known for co-writing the 1980 hit "Whip It," has a new ditty titled, "Don't Roof Rack Me, Bro!" The song will be released as a single and included in The Crate Escape: Seamus Unleashed, a free gaming app for the iPhone and iPad, designed to satirize the dog-on-roof incident. Both are coming to digital retailers on August 26, 2012. That's National Dog Day, people. It also just happens to be one day before the Republican National Convention.
Despite being inspired by the game, "Don't Roof Rack Me, Bro!" may go down as one of the biggest songs in DEVO history – at least the one that created the most buzz. This coming from a band who helped pioneer the music video age, took home the 2010 Moog Innovator Award, and have a frontman who currently splits some of his time with Nick Jr.'s Yo Gabba Gabba. The list of geeky credentials goes on. I got the chance to fire off a few questions to Casale about the release, his love for animals, the band's future, and how certain Tea Party members may want him dead.
GeekMom: What made you write this song?
Casale: I have a site called RememberSeamus.com as well as a Facebook page, and this guy Scott Crider runs Dogs Against Romney. I got hooked up with him and he was doing a video game with his friends called The Crate Escape. It's a parody video game that's going to be released on the 26th, which is National Dog Day. You get to help Seamus escape from his crate and get revenge on Romney. It's funny.
Talking to him, he was such a cool guy. He said, "Hey why don't you and DEVO write a song for the game?" A few days later, I was with Mark Mothersbaugh and said I'm going to write a song for this video game and I didn't know if DEVO would want to do this. He looked at my lyrics and said OK. We recorded the song and it was all happening – and there was a leak. It wasn't Crider's people and it wasn't me. We were sending e-mails to iTunes about having them distribute the song, so I don't know. Anyway, everything that you see happening has nothing to do with a publicist or a campaign.
GM: Did you expect to get such a reaction out of people?
Casale: No I did not. I've had dogs my whole life. I'm a lover of animals and the symbiotic relationship between people and animals. I thought what Scott was doing was great and we had RememberSeamus.com – but this was all a surprise. I can't believe what a shitstorm this song has created. All of the Tea Party people are talking on the Facebook page, wanting me dead.
GM: Is the timing of the release – the day before the Republican National Convention – just a coincidence?
Casale: [Laughs.] It actually is. You know how long games take to program and to try? They couldn't have planned it. They were trying to hit National Dog Day.
GM: Have you played the game The Crate Escape: Seamus Unleashed?
Casale: I've seen pieces and it's funny – and it features our song.
GM: Can we assume that you're voting for Obama?
Casale: Yes, but it's because of the character of the opponent. It's not because I think that Obama has done a great job or that there's a big difference between Democrats and Republicans. I want to make that clear.
In our society now, the United States is just an idea. It's not a real place anymore; it's a brand. People that really control things here are international banking and corporations that have most of their money outside of the country. Our candidates are figureheads. They're like shill-men on a commercial who present a happy face.
I think Obama has some humanity and he tries his best to do no harm. I think he's owned and bought by the corporations or he wouldn't be president. He might even be dead. Romney is not a good guy. I respect people that respect other species. Don't we have a bond between dogs and cats and other species? If we're supposed to be better, supposed to be smarter and more powerful, then we have a responsibility not to be buttholes about it. I do think people that have empathy for our pets, our children and our elderly; people that have an empathetic bond are people we can trust. I just don't trust this guy.
GM: Do you consider yourself to be an animal person?
Casale: Yes I do, and everybody in DEVO are animal people. I know nobody believes that. People have shaped ideas about us; they stereotype or they think we're robots, that we don't have any emotions. They think we're like aliens. That's not really true. We were warning people about androids and technology and losing your humanity. We think it's very important to interact with animals and pets.
GM: What's next for DEVO?
Casale: We are going on tour with Blondie and have some dates in September. In December, we're going to Australia and touring with Simple Minds. We have a documentary that will be finished next year, about the origins of DEVO. Then, Mark and I are working on a DEVO musical.
GM: Will you perform this song on the tour?
Casale: The funny thing is, we hadn't thought about that; it sort of blindsided us. With this momentum building and rehearsal starting next week, we may have to actually learn to play it live. All we did was record it, and you know how different that is. We may have to do it.
GM: Are you wearing the Energy Dome for this interview?
Casale: No. You caught me at the Blue Plate Oysterette in Santa Monica, California. I don't normally wear the Energy Dome when I'm eating.
