Devo transformed

Q: Are they not kids?

A: They are Devo 2.0.

Nearly three decades after introducing its musical concept of “devolution” – and 16 years after “Smooth Noodle Maps,” its last album of new material – Devo has actually devolved from five middle-aged male Ohioans into five mixed-gender tweeners from California.

This impressive feat of age and sex transmogrification is in service of “Devo 2.0,” a new CD/DVD that takes the music, attitude and look of Devo (minus the cynicism and mature themes) and repackages and updates them for the Z generation.

Kids’ music is big business. The Kidz Bop series, begun in 2002, has spawned eight gold-selling volumes filled with youngsters singing sanitized versions of the latest pop hits. Congenial alt-rock veterans They Might Be Giants have scored two successful kid-friendly albums and videos, reaching gold status with “Here Comes The ABCs” video.

So when Disney approached Devo, bassist Gerald Casale already had a germ of an idea.

“They said, ‘Here’s what They Might Be Giants did,’ and I said, ‘Well, we’ve always wanted to do Devo, the next generation, a kids’ band doing Devo songs,’ ” Casale explains.

Disney approved, and last spring Casale auditioned more than 1,000 youngsters in a 3 ½-month period.

“You look for enthusiasm and talent,” he says. “A lot of parents push their kids into these situations, and it’s really sad and I didn’t want to be any part of that. So I was only looking for the kids who were really into it, and weren’t just sent there to get another job by their parents, and who really liked the music.”

That potential cast of 1000 was whittled down to 20, from which the final five were chosen.

Vocalist Nicole Stoehr, guitarist/vocalist Nathan Norman, bassist Michael Gossard, drummer Kane Ritchotte and classically trained keyboardist/vocalist Jackie Emerson are all actual musicians, though only their vocals appear on the CD. The real Devo still plays all of the backing tracks.

Casale says he chose young musicians with a grand scheme in mind.

“If the best of all possible worlds came together, ultimately Devo 2.0 could not only play live, but if it was successful, we could write original material and have them in on it, and then they would be (a) real (band),” he says.

The kids’ enthusiasm for the material is infectious, particularly that of front girl Nicole. She’s given the task of replicating the wink inherent in songs such as “That’s Good” and “Beautiful World.”

The 13-year-old student at Millikan Middle School and Performing Arts Magnet in Sherman Oaks, Calif., was initially unfamiliar with Devo. But she was “bummed” when the first round of auditions was only for boys and her school friends and brother were trying out.

“But then they wanted a girl, and I went and sang ‘Whip It’ and ‘That’s Good,’ and they liked my attitude and spunk and stuff,” she says.

Throughout both the CD and the DVD, Nicole’s spunk comes through loud and clear as she and the rest of the band run through 12 songs including “Uncontrollable Urge,” “Freedom of Choice” and a lyrically retooled (and chaste) “Boy U Want.”

The disc also sports the first new Devo songs released since 1990: the throbbing, dance-pop tune “The Winner,” and the simulated stoner-metal number “Cyclops,” which was written with the kids in mind.

The eight videos feature the group in their spiffy Devo 2.0 outfits as they wiggle, jiggle, jump and prance with preteen energy, while Casale’s digital animations add a flair of surreal humor to the sensory overload. The DVD extras include interviews with Casale and bandmate Mark Mothersbaugh.

Now that Casale and the band have worked up a 20-minute set, both he and Nicole are looking forward to presenting a real band of young musicians to kids who have been raised on lip-syncing pop tarts and pretty boys whose image outweighs their talent.

They already have a few gigs lined up in Boston and New York, and if “Devo 2.0” winds up being a success, there will likely be more shows and recordings – a prospect that validates Casale’s longtime belief that Devo could continue, even without the guys who started it.

“Kids always liked Devo songs from the beginning,” he says. “When test audiences are listening to them, the kids don’t know they are old songs. They think they are new songs, and that’s because we were at one point ahead of our time. …

“Our songs sound like they could be written today, and I’ve always said if our songs weren’t old they’d be new, so this is a chance to make them new, in a way.”