For someone who has always aimed to subvert the mainstream from the inside-out, Mark Mothersbough can be found at home in the prime location – he not only works in a studio on Sunset Strip down by the Whiskey A Go Go in West Hollywood, but he lives in the exclusive locale too.

The journey that he’s taken from Akron, Ohio in the late 1970s to Hollywood in the late 2000s is quite extraordinary. Devo were part of an underground movement – they were extraordinarily unlike anything before them, and since them there’s been a plethora of groups mining their synth post-punk style, be it in pastiche or sincere form of flattery. These days, they’re part of the establishment.

“Yeah, go figure huh?” Mark offers. “I guess that’s what happens – everything becomes swallowed up by culture. What was outrageous in the 1970s certainly isn’t outrageous in 2008.” That’s the case? If Devo were starting out now, surely they wouldn’t be able to command strong radio airplay for songs as controversial as Jocko Homo or Mongoloid, let alone the sadomasochistic mainstream hit, Whip It!. They simply couldn’t get away with it.

“That’s like one of those questions…” he trails off. “We didn’t have a crystal ball then and even looking back with the advantage of hindsight I didn’t know where things where going in the world and if there would be a place for us. I think we’re probably needed more now in the world than then – what we were talking about in our music is more relevant now than it was then, even. All the things that we were worried about and that we talked about in our songs many of them have unfortunately become real, and I think it just boils down to dealing with the problems of humans being some sort of a non-benevolent virus that’s spread all over the planet. Those of us that understand that and see the need for cooperation to solve problems need to act on it.”

Yet Devo have shown no indication that they’re going to provide that option – while there’s been plenty of talk since their mid-1990s reformation (when they headlined Brisbane’s Livid festival), there’s been scant new material emerge to devolutionise the world. The subversive nature that was inherent in the music of Devo is, for the large part, missing in today’s modern music. “Pop music is even stupider now than it was when we were starting,” Mark says dismissively. “Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton doing a record? It’s unbelievable! How did things sink so low? That said, I think the whole world is a different model – and you have to think about it differently. When I was a kid there was the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin and you had a handful of icons. Now there’s this web of information that covers the planet and there’s people in Darwin that are writing music that’s an important piece of information, and there’s people with thoughts [everywhere] that have things to say that are relevant to the whole planet.”

If a band like Devo is needed now more than ever, why no new Devo? “Well,” he explains with a sigh, “I think we had such a sour taste from dealing with record companies during our career. We got beaten down. It really took the death of the record industry – which pretty much has happened – for us to feel inspired enough to want to do another record, and we actually are writing songs.”

With a small chance that one song may get an airing during the band’s visit around Splendour in the Grass, Mark explains that the group are being cautious in their approach to new material. They won’t really start to get serious about them until after they return to America from Australia. “There’s a caveat there,” he warns. “I think everyone in the band is objective enough, but if it doesn’t stand up to the stuff that we did in the late ‘70s, early ‘80s I think what we’ll do is launch it out into the Atlantic Ocean and never play it for anybody.”

Setting benchmarks like that is fraught with difficulty – while it certainly sets a certain standard to live up to, it nevertheless means that the music will undoubtedly be thought about in great detail…perhaps too much. “I think it’s important to me that if we do another record then it’s not a whimper,” Mark says. “If it doesn’t feel like we’ve made a statement that’s valid and important then I don’t have an interest in doing it.”

Without new material, however, there’s always a fear that a group like Devo could become a parody of themselves – forever doomed to be stuck in a rut, never advancing nor pushing themselves artistically as Devo (all members are plenty busy with other artistic endeavours). “What can you say?” Mark demands, riled by the potential accusation of Devo becoming nothing more than about the greatest hits ‘n memories than anything else. “People who became interested in my band and were first turned on by my band were in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. That’s when we happened. That’s our time. I can’t apologise for that – I can’t be the best artist right now that’s brand new that nobody has ever heard of, I can only be who I am.

“I have a history, and I think about what you’re saying – and it’s a question that’s gone through my mind before,” he assures, not taking offence at all. “I want there to be electricity – if you still believe in that music then you should play it.

“This show,” he says of their forthcoming Australian tour, “if you were to see Devo in heaven then this is the show you should see, because it’ll kind of look like what it looked like back in 1977 when we played CBGBs. This one is going to be like a club show back in those days. We made something that’s just for this show, so it’ll be a good show to see. Hopefully in two years when we come back it’ll be with new songs.”

Devo headline Splendour in the Grass, and play their own sideshows.

Thursday 31 July – Festival Hall, Melbourne

Friday 1 August – Hordern Pavilion, Sydney

Saturday 2 to Sunday 3 August – Splendour In The Grass, Byron Bay

Monday 4 August – Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide

Wednesday 6 August – Metro City, Perth