From the Winnipeg Free Press, May 20 2010:

Video made the new wave stars

By: Rob Williams

20/05/2010 1:00 AM |

Without Chuck Statler, Devo fans might not have ever had the chance to answer the question: Are we not men?

The new wave group was on the verge of calling it quits in 1976 when their friend Statler, who was studying film at Kent State University, said he wanted some footage of them before they split.

The result was the short film (a.k.a. music video) The Truth about De-Evolution, featuring the songs Secret Agent Man and Jocko Homo. It went on to win first prize at the Ann Arbor Film Festival the following year, before hitting the film-festival circuit.

The video helped the group issue a single on Stiff Records and sign to Warner Bros. for their debut full-length Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, a seminal new wave album.

"They had circulated cassettes to a number of record companies and nothing really clicked until we made the film -- that kind of opened it up for them," Statler says over the phone from his home in Minneapolis.

"It was my first attempt at music and film. I didn't purposely set out to record any group when I set up to make films, but music on the soundtrack was an integral element."

Statler went on to direct clips for the likes of Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and the J. Geils Band before moving into advertising and becoming a commercial director.

But it's his music videos that will be the subject of Before MTV: Devo Tribute tonight at the West End Cultural Centre (admission is $15).

The evening will feature a video presentation featuring highlights of Statler's work, a Q&A session and a tribute to Devo, featuring local artists Birdapres, Pip Skid, Blunderspublik, Rouge's Malady and Ton O' Love.

Statler admits he's not nostalgic about the past, but he appreciates the fact people enjoy his work, which has been shown at festivals around the country and was the subject of an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

"It was a three-night screening, and even at that point I thought, 'It's much ado about nothing,' although I certainly was flattered," he says.

These days the 60-something still follows the music scene and is working on two feature films: a documentary about elevator music, The Sound From the Ceiling; and a documentary about 13 underground bands, such as Melt Banana and Har Mar Superstar, who incorporate a visual element to their show. The working title is Beautiful Dreamers and he is in the process of trying to raise money to shoot it.

"We'll see where it goes. I keep telling myself stranger things have happened," he says.

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