Devo Guitarist Bob Casale Dies at 61; Casale Observed `De-Evolution Happened'

Bob Casale, one of the original members of Devo, died yesterday. The rhythm guitarist of  New Wave band was 61.

Gerald Casale, the guitarist's brother and also a member of Devo, posted to the Devo Facebook page that Bob Casale died due to "conditions that lead to heart failure." Besides playing guitar for the band, Casale also played keyboards. Casale also helped engineer and produce Devo records.

Gerald Casale wrote, "As an original member of Devo, Bob Casale was there in the trenches with me from the beginning. He was my level-headed brother, a solid performer and talented audio engineer, always giving more than he got."
Devo was short for De-Evolution, which the band thought they were witnessing. Bob Casale has said "When you think about 1980, if somebody would have showed you in a crystal ball 2010, you would have thought it was a bad joke. De-evolution happened and now everybody agrees. They don't think we're crazy. They know that it was true."

Devo was started by Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh at Kent State University in the early 1970s. The group wrote its first music in May 1970, the same month as the Kent State shootings by the National Guard. Bob Casale and Mothersbaugh's brother Bob joined Devo in the first days. They were also joined by the drummer Alan Myers, who died last year of brain cancer at the age of 58.

Bob Casale was called "Bob 2," to Bob Mothersbaugh's "Bob 1".

Devo's first proper album, after a stint at Stiff Records, was "Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!" It was produced by art-rock musician Brian Eno. The group soon found its own cult following. Devo found its first mainstream success with "Freedom of Choice," which went platinum in the 80s. The band had their first Top 20 single with "Whip It." 

Bob Casale produced Devo's "New Traditionalists" in 1981 and got his first songwriting credit on 1988's "Blow Up." 

Devo broke up in 1991, but got back together for records and tours. Casale engineered Devo's comeback album "Something for Everybody," in 2010. It was the group's first new album in 20 years.

At the time, Casale said "We wanted to be Devo again. And so you can't help but sound like Devo - we weren't going to try and sound like anybody else, we were just going to do what we do and try and write good songs with the same kind of attention to lyrical content and song structure as we've always given all of our work."

Bob Casale was born July 14th, 1952. He is survived by his wife, Lisa, and two children.