Comments on: DEVIN TOWNSEND – The Deconstruction Of Destruction

By: tom

tom — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:32:25 +0000

I hope for a comeback of strapping young lad but i know its never going to happen.

By: Evan

Evan — Fri, 15 May 2009 03:44:04 +0000

I’m so happy to have read this; It’s precisely the kind of honesty that I love to see. I especially loved the part about being a badass on stage and then going home to the parents. That’s how I always see it, like people who put up a gritty facade probably don’t really like what they are doing and might feel trapped and depressed. It’s always best to be earnest.

I hope Devin continues to just do whatever he wants to. I got into his music through SYL, which lead to Ocean Machine and his other solo works, but I love Ki. Ki is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard.

Devin, if you want to write symphonies, please do. My brother and I are both fans of your music and also both love symphonic music. What you said about using your knowledge of how to write heavy music to fill in the climax of a symphony is exactly what I have in mind. I’m not kidding when I say you have hit the nail on the head. Always stay true to yourself and those you love – nothing else is important.

By: Glenn P.

Glenn P. — Fri, 15 May 2009 03:39:38 +0000

Carl,
Thanks for the interview. Man, it’s good to read an in-depth piece from Devin. So many are usually quick and superficial. This was very satisfying to read.

I wonder, though, how much of this to really take to heart. I enjoy Devin’s solo stuff more than SYL. I think Synchestra is my favorite. And, I loved Ziltoid. Ki is a very good album. I really like several of the songs, though they’re a little too simple in places for me. I laughed when I read Devin say he doesn’t listen to Opeth because he feels like they’re yelling at him. I’m almost 38 and I love listening to Opeth. I guess I love being yelled at!

So, I’ve noticed that Devin, in the past, has not been very good at predicting his future. He described Synchestra at one point as being a one-song, 70 minute epic orchestral thing. It has some of that, I guess. Then, Ziltoid was just going to be a puppet show. And it became an album with some auxillary webisodes. He “retires” and then works on four albums. So, when Devin says he’s done doing heavy music, I think to myself, “Yeah, for now.” And, there’s a lot of “heavy” moments on Ki, anyway. Think it’s mellow, play it for someone who’s into mellow music. Play it for your grandma. It’s an intense album.

By: carl

carl — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:02:31 +0000

Thanks. Glad you liked it. As for Ziltoid, it’s not the music I objected to. I like most of it. My “whimper versus roar” complaint came from the fact that the album was supposed to be Devin’s swansong on some level, yet the album had this almost gentle fade that irked me. I’m a huge fan of his catalogue – Ocean Machine, Punky Brüster and Terria being my non-SYL faves – and it irked me that he’d go out “like that”.

Devin and I have known and been dealing with each other since 1995, which is why he found my reaction puzzling. He knows I know there’s always something going on beneath the music. We’ve had discussions about that before. And listening to Ziltoid now I’m thinking “duh!”. Yep, brainsliding at its finest… ;-/

By: BenMech

BenMech — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:46:57 +0000

Perfect interview, Carl, though I’m as puzzled as Devin why you disliked Ziltoid.

By: Dw Dunphy

Dw Dunphy — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:16:53 +0000

Having heard Ki (and subsequently pre-ordered it) I absolutely understand where Devin is coming from. Think about it. Strapping Young Lad was, in most ways, satirical. Yet it got taken as a manifesto. Then Devin releases solo albums like Terria, albums with a lot of honest emotional things on it, and he finds he has to qualify some of the songs as a prank, rock-star bullshit stuff, etc.

How tough might it be that your joke is taken as gospel and your confession is mistaken for a joke?

Another point to consider is that Devin hasn’t just disbanded Strapping, but also the Devin Townsend Band. The Project is now a sort of unified theory of Townsend, where everything from occasional Strapping fury to the quiet moments from the solos, to the experimental gist of the ambient albums are now under the same tent, rather than being schizoid fragments segregated to keep sectors of the public perception appeased.

When you get older, and your head gets clearer, you start to adopt an “it’s all music” belief. By age 30, nobody is impressed if you’re the indie rock guy with the Smog t-shirt all the time, or the electro-dance guy or the metal guy. By age 30, wearing those outfits just make you look silly. By allowing one’s self to just be free to all of it is a very healthy and mature perspective.

And, by the way, Ki still has awesome moments of rock outburst (“Trainfire”, anyone?)