Devo on the Polysics.

Two of my favorite bands are Devo and the Polysics. The Polysics have styled themselves after Devo, in their own weird Japanese way, and I absolutely love them. But I've always wondered how Devo felt about such close emulation (tho with said weird Japanese-ness). Luckily, Devo recently toured Japan, and here's an awesome Japanese interview with them on this topic (bold mine):

"Actually, Polysics helped us out," Mothersbaugh says of the Tokyo band who copied Devo's visual style so acutely it goes beyond flattery and becomes a bit embarrassing. "We had a case with some of our smaller things in it come off the plane upside down (when Devo arrived in Japan), so one of our key sample triggerers was out. But Polysics had the exact same piece, so they let us program our songs into it. They came to the rescue."

Polysics have never been shy to admit their love for Devo — every Polysics album carries a thank-you to the Ohio band, and when asked for his influences in interviews, frontman Hiroyuki Hayashi has said, "Only Devo." But when both bands appeared just hours apart on the same stage at last month's Summer Sonic festival, both dressed in boiler suits and using similar stage play, it was pretty clear who were the innovators and who were their emulators.

Devo don't seem to care. When asked how it feels to have had such a direct influence on a band more than 10,000 km from home, Jerry Casale, the redhead, says, "Nice. We were always liked by other artists and musicians. We always were embraced by other creative people. We might not have inspired critics," he laughs, "but we inspired other creative people."

As a Coozer aside, can I just say I LOVE the Polysics? My god, gentle reader, pick up some goddamn Polysics!!!