2010 Olympics Day 11 – DEVO, Medals Ceremony

February 22 2010 was the 11th day of the Olympics here in Whistler and it was an action packed day for me, seeing 4 live acts play on stage and watching the Victory Ceremony at the Medals Plaza here in Whistler. Check out the photo’s I was able to capture and a little bit about the bands I was able to photograph.

The Wassabi Collective is a five-piece group from Nelson, British Columbia. The collective consists of Brent “Gisto” Hongisto’s reggae guitar and vocals with Melissa Meretsky who melds her voice with the solid foundation of Jimmy Lewis’s drums and Andrew McCormick’s laidback, yet rock solid, bass playing tied in with Rahj Levinson on the keyboard who makes it all sound connected.

The band has a very distinct style from their hip hop punches to their head bopping hooks fused in with their tasty pockets of funk. They have it all to keep you grooving to their exploratory jams and tribal soul shakedowns.

“Wassabi’s joyous sound takes you on a cosmic carpet ride from satisfaction to pure bliss…THE ULTIMATE FEEL GOOD ELIXIR!” – Exclaim Magazine

The band debuted their first EP album titled Cato in 2005 aswell as a banging collection of live records.

A few years later in 2007 they released their first full lenght studio album titled Stories Not Forgotten which would go on to winning Album of the Year at the 2008 BC Interior Music Awards while Melissa received the Female Performer of the Year.

This was no supprise with their hypnotizing tribal beats mixed in with a tranquil spell of funk; and with their exciting entourage that they brought with them on stage it just adds to the thrill of watching the show.

They have been hailed as one of the best Canadian live indi bands, placing Top 20 in the Peak Performance Project and are busy spreading their positive west coast vibes all across Canada.

The boundless energy and powerful and assertive vocals that are spreading messages of environmental, social and spiritual advocacy packaged in with their positive, feel-good lyrics really help them spread their positive west coast vibes all across Canada.  But you might be too busy dancing to pick up on it.

After Wassabi Collective ignited a groove with their rhythmic drive and party-hearty energy, Hey Rosetta! hit the stage with their soaring vocals and layered sound incorporating piano, violin and cello with traditional rock instrumentation.

Hey Rosetta! was formed in St. John’s Newfoundland in 2005. The six-piece ensamble immediately started attracting attention for the quality of their live shows because they really step it up a notch when they get on stage.

Tim Baker the lead singer with his soft-spoken vocals mixed in with his piano and guitar during really flow well on stage with Adam Hogan with his catchy riffs on guitar, Josh Ward’s groovy bass, Phil Maloney’s unparalleled tones on the drums. The band also includes Romesh Thavanathan’s smooth cello and Erin Aurich’s tight rhythm on the violin.

“The last notes of each of their epic songs was met with thunderous appreciation. It was a career-making performance from a very special Canadian band.”  Grant Lawrence, CBC3 NxNE ’08

They have toured extensively in Canada as well as in Australia, France, UK, and the United States. Hey Rosetta! won three East Coast Music Awards in 2009, as well as XM’s Verge Award for Best Album, and the CMW Indie Award for Best Album.

Theoretically, the new record is a deviation from Tim’s initial work which was often composed in the seclusion of his bedroom. This collection was created in two East Coast harbour towns with producer and singer-songwriter Hawksley Workman. Creating this album away from home helped create a new intensity and amplitude that comes from exposure of life on the road as a touring band.

“the record is anchored throughout by faultless melody lines, often carried by the surging guitar. It’s the tunefulness that will take Hey Rosetta! where they’re going. Look out, world.” – THE COAST.

Later on in the evening I went to watch the Victory Ceremony at the Medals Plaza in Whistler and Devo was the live act to hit the stage that nights, and what a show they where.

Devo is a band known for their live shows which bring together science fiction themes (they where dressed up like space pilots) and often use unusual synthetic instruments.

The name of the group originated from a theory of De-Evolution. It was their idea that instead of mankind evolving we where actually regressing as evidence by the “dysfunction and herd mentality of American society”. The first form of Devo was performed at the Kent State Performing Arts Festival. At the festival the group contained Gerald Casale, Bob Lewis and Mothersbaugh and Geralds brother Bob Casale on guitar. They also included Rod Reisman and Fred Weber on drums and vocals. This sextet only performed together once.

The performance at Kent State was recorded and included in the film The Complete Truth About De-Evoltion. In 1976 the band gained some fame when Chuck Statler‘s movie (The Complete Truth About De-Evolution) won a prize at the Ann Arbor Film Festival which the band was featured in.

With the success Devo has generated since their origin the likes of David Bowie and Iggy Pop took notice and helped Devo score a record deal with Warner Bros. Recording. The band released their first album ‘Are We Not Men? We Are Devo!’ included 9 brand new songs and also headlined new versions of their previous hit singles Mongoloid and a cover of Rolling Stones (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction .

Devo then managed to gain national exposure when they where featured on Saturday Night Live, performing Satisfaction and Jocko Homo (Devo’s anthem). The band then released their second album Freedom of Choice album in 1980 which featured “Whip It” a trakc that hit Top 40 soon after its release.

A few years following the band was featured in a film that Neil Young participated in making called “Human Highway” where the band played the role of “Nuclear Garbage persons”. They where asked to write their own parts while Mark Mothersbaugh composed and recorded majority of its soundtrack.

One thing that Devo was know for were being innovators of the music video with their “Whip It” video which received extensive airplay on MTV in the early years. Devo had self produced many music videos which where included in the film The Truth About De-evolution and Devo’s self produced cassette’s where the first among the first true long form video productions.

In the 1980′s Devo released 4 albums, Freedom of Choice (1980) which was a hit but their following 3 albums New Traditionalists (1981), OH, No! It’s Devo (1982), and Shout in 1984 had very little success. Following the commercial failure they where dropped from the Warner Bros. Recording label. Shortly after the loss of their record label Alan Myers left the band and Devo retreated on a 2 year hiatus.

Devo didn’t release any self titled albums since the mid 80′s but they did record several songs for various films since their reunion, including a cover of Nine Inch Nails song “Head Like a Hole” for the film Supercop.

In 2005 Devo opened some new doors and dropped into the advertising market with a new version of “Whip it” for use in a Swiffer commercial. The lyrics of the song where changed from Whip It to Swiff It and showed a mom swiffering the floor while robotically dancing to the Devo hit. Later after the commercial was released the band regretted the decision. Gerald Casale told the Dallas Observer “It’s just aesthetically offensive. It’s got everything a commercial that turns people off has.”

Rolling Stone stated that “Devon are working on their first album of new material since 1990′s Smooth Noodle Maps. ‘We have about 17 songs we’re testing out,’ says front man Mark Mothersbaugh. ‘We’ve already been contacted by 20 producers – including Snoop Dogg and Fatboy Slim.’” Devo’s new album should be picking-up from where they left off. “We think it’s the best record that we’d ever done although we’re not certain that Fresh will be the title. There are more good songs on this album than any other record that we’ve made. We’re aiming for a spring release,” quoted Casale.

Here are some photos I was able to capture of the Medals during the VIctory Ceremony in the Medals Plaza in Whistler.

Check out the previous day in Whistler at the 2010 Olympics – Sam Roberts Band live in Whistler