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Sonic Projection With DEVIN TOWNSEND · HEAVY Music Interviews

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Hey, everybody, this is Devin Townsend and you were watching and or listening
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to Heavy mag Yeah before Devon, thanks for joining. It's a smart ending.
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Yeah, you're more than welcome man. Thanks for the interview. Pleasure.
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So you head back to Australia for a run of shows. It's November.
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It's starting November the eighth and Perth before hitting Melbourne and Sydney and finishing
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in Brisbane on November the twelve. So you've done that much short in your
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life, mate. Do you like you had a go bag ready to leave
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it anytime or do you sort of pack individually for each tour? Well,
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I mean I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some degree of a
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go bag ready at all times. In the closet in my bedroom, I've
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got something that I you know, it's got passport, I pad, all
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the cables that I use for the different countries, no pad, guitar picks,
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battery backup, a couple of books that I like and it's always there.
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And then I've got another bag beside it that's open. That is where
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I just put the the the clothes. But what I've done over the past
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couple of years is because I've been repeatedly going to countries. I leave a
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suitcase in every country full of clothes, so I don't have to travel with
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an extra bag. I can just show up and I've got like the only
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problem is if I've left something in a pocket and then I'm like, oh
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shit, it's in. It's in one of the tell us, what's what's
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one non essential item that you're never leave him with out? Like not even
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played in? Socks and jocks and that sort of stuff. What's my louxury
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item that you never leave it at? I think socks and jocks is a
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great name for something like let me think so a non essential item. Got
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a little candle that's like battery powered that's held together with like zip ties.
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Actually, because I've used it so much and wherever I go, I take
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that candle. It's stupid, but it's just like it's like a it's I
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like lighting, I guess. And so if I'm in some shitty hotel and
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I've got my dumb little candle, it I don't know. It kind of
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helps, but it's been it's it's falling apart in every conceivable angle. So
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literally I just have it wrapped up with three zip ties, and they don't
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they're not good looking zip ties. They're like black zip ties around this thing.
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And and yeah, I carried my I carried in my carry on bag.
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You can never have too much, like, can you, brother?
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That's true. The press release promises a show that celebrates his legendary career.
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So I've got a do you doing ten hour shows for night? To do
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that? Well? It's uh, I think maybe maybe a bit less than
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ten, to be honest. But the thing is, I've had the good
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fortune of playing with some fantastic musicians throughout my career, but the group of
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people I've got working with me right now are the most capable of playing everything.
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So it's allowed me to kind of put together a set that I think
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is a good cross section of material. And also because I've been touring with
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them for this whole year and the sound person, I'm confident that it's actually
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it's the best that I've been able to present the material by a long shot,
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in my opinion. So having that is really great for me because although
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it's been good in the past, I believe also there's been certain things that
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are like, man, I wish that you know, wish that was different,
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or wish that was articulated different, or maybe this player is really good
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at this but not so good at that, or vice versa, or what
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have you. Not to be disparaging against anybody I've worked with. I've just
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got, like you say, a huge amount of material that typically I use
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different players for all of it. So what I've done with this recent one,
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I've just found people that I'm confident that can do all of it right.
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And and they had to learn how to do all of it too.
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Like when we first first thing that I did with some of these players,
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they didn't know how to play this stuff and it took them touring to be
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able to figure it out. But now I feel that the presentation of the
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material for me is like I'm excited about being able to show it to people
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because I'm like, this sounds fucking great. Man, Like that's how I
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feel, Well you actually, yeah, I agonize, I have just set
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list when you do them up the right, Just like you say, you
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got so much material lot, you're never going to keep everyone happy. But
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I got to try and plays with a lot of people. Like does it
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get prostrated, No, it's I think the idea of trying to please people
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in general is a fool game, you know, It's like it's not going
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to work. But I think keeping an eye on what it is that people
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typically are our respond to is in your best interest. And I do.
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But it's somewhere between what people respond to, what you're trying to present with
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new material, and what I want to hear, you know, and also
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trying to appease people that like the really old stuff or the heavy stuff,
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you know, Like I like being able to be in a position now where
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I can draw from all of it, right, and and I think it
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gives a really well rounded overview of what I do as a player. I
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mean, I do a lot of shit, and I like doing a lot
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of shit, and that's kind of my deal. And you're going to be
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having tollegual as horses special guests for all but the persia, I might like,
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how good are those guys. They're going to be perfect to the run.
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They're really good. They're really good. I met them at some point,
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and I have a vague recollection of like having dinner with them or something,
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but I don't. I'm not so familiar with them that we're on you
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know, like a social basis. But they're fantastic man, and I'm honored
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that they chose to be involved. I don't know if you get a chance
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to talk to someone who's inspiring as yourself, mate, So I hope you
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don't mind me asking a these questions. But can we go back to the
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start of your career mat like when dibute on Steve iis Sex and Religion in
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ninety ninety three before hitting the ride with him. At that stage of your
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life, what were you looking for out of music? I think it's the
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same thing I'm looking for now. I'm just looking for ways to develop my
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skill set so that I can actualize the sounds in my head that are in
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line with where I'm at at that point in my life. And that was
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the same then. I think the reason why the Steve By project was was
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difficult for me as a young man was because I was chomping at the bit
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to do my own thing from the very beginning. As much as you know
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Steve Vie is a genius and his material is is intricate and beautiful and powerful,
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it wasn't mine, you know. And although in hindsight, of course
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I had to go through that and of course I had to go through everything
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that I went through past that point, like Wild Hearts and Strapping and Ocean
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Machine and all this stuff to get to the point where I'm at now,
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where I'm able to know how to do what it is that I want to
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do. At that time, it was I was so impatient, you know,
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I'm like, come on, mind, let us get out, Let
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me get at this, Let me get at this, you know. And
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even though the experiences that I was having with Steve, you know, we're
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on tour with Aerosmith and Arenas and Tonight shows and record did really well in
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Japan and we're doing all this sort of touring, I just was so impatient
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that I couldn't wait to do my own thing. And That's what I've been
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doing ever since. And I'm still impatient. Man. So along those linesmen,
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like, certain frustrations with the music industry provided the catalyst for your first
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album of your own, when you vented that anger on the album Heavy as
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a really heavy thing. Like do you mind be asking what those frustrations were
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back then, and if you think they've been adequately addressed over the years.
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Yeah, I mean, the frustrations were primarily rooted in my own projection.
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I guess I had assumptions of what I thought other people who I've seen in
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positions of power or success, I had a perception of how they perceived the
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work, and that perception was based on my own. I was just projecting
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it right, thinking that of course people feel the same way that I do
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about it. For me, music is in some way it's like the form
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of self help, right you just you get it out of your system so
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that you can purge it and then move on. It's like, until I'm
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able to write about it, it's like stuck in a way. And I
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guess, just naively, I assumed everybody was like that. And when I
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moved down to La, I just had so many interactions with people that I
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just thought, not only is it not that, but they're just awful,
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you know what I mean? And and I felt like it felt like like
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a dark night of the soul in a way where you're where you're your connections
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to something are so ingrained with your your your perception of what it is,
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that when the truth reveals itself and it is the truth, it's an industry.
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There's of course there's people that feel the same way about music as I
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do, of course, but the majority of people that I met back there
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just didn't. And I remember thinking, Oh, this is like this romantic,
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precious, intimate thing that I want to share is just this. It's
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just a commodity. It's just this this thing, and these are the chords
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were used in the summer, and we're gonna add double kick to this because
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that's what's popular now and get to the chorus and all this shit. And
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I remember being like, oh, I just want it all to just burn.
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And so that's when I started making heavy stuff, and that was it
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was never intended to be successful, like strapping was never meant to be anything.
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I just thought, I'll just get that out of my system. If
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people are telling me that, you know, you're never gonna succeed in the
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music industry because you use too much echo, or you're never going to succeed
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because you don't get to the chorus fast enough, I was like, Okay,
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well, now I'm just gonna make music that's just explosions like fuck you,
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right and then yeah, and then the ramifications of that I've been working
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through ever since. Looking back, you know, I saw it. How
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did that experience early on in your career, influencer with that impressionable stitche Well,
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I made a shitload of mistakes and hurt a bunch of people, and
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you know, decided that escaping reality through whatever means for a decade was the
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most appropriate course of action. But I mean, that's where I was,
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and this is why when people talk to me about Strapping or Infinity or Ocean
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Machine or any of these things. And while I did the album cover,
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you know, it got naked again for the reissue of Infinity. A lot
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of it is because I'm not ashamed of it, you know what I mean.
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It's like, although I made a bunch of mistakes and I had to
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learn a bunch of lessons, where I'm at now is a direct result from
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that, from those lessons and that learning. So I've got a lot of
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respect for the stumbling that occurred back then, and it affected me in some
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very good ways as well. For example, I never had to do what
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anybody asked me. The only time that I've even attempted that was on light
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work, just to see what it would be like to work with the producer.
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But I learned a lesson from that too, you know, and and
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to be in a position where I've had enough success to sustain myself but not
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enough success to be a household name is perfect for me because that way,
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I can do whatever I want anytime. And I've been doing it now for
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thirty some years. So not only can I do whatever I want, but
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I have the skills now to do that in ways that I don't think anybody
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else can. When it comes to my own music. I mean, it's
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like, you know, I can do things with my own music that other
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people can't, just because I've been through all this stuff and I've had to
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be so fiercely independent for so long just to kind of keep things going that
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now I'm in this really unique position in a way where yeah, not only
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can I do whatever I want, but I can do whatever where I want.
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It's like ideal, Right, we never good enough time to go through
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your whole Korea, but you've written and performed everything from extreme metal to prog
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metal to pop your sort of music. Right, Like when you were younger,
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you had that anger that was drawing you to do these things. But
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as you get older and more happy with you with yourself, I guess what
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draws you to keep experimenting now, well, uh, ignorance. I guess
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there's a big part of it because I'm a perfectionist. But perfectionism is it
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doesn't exist, and I know that, so I always try to make things
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perfect and that's why I keep going because I'm not perfect. So that's an
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endless source of inspiration. Is if you want something to be perfect and perfect
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doesn't exist, then you're always going to have shot to write about it and
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things to get better. Right. But also so the nature of the process
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that I've been doing since day one has been, like I mentioned earlier,
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feels like, in a sense, the only way I'm able to understand where
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I've been is to write about it. And then once I do, I
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feel like I can kind of get rid of that, you know, I
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can kind of move on and life just doesn't stop. It's not like you're
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twenty five and then you have no more experiences for the rest of your life.
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It's every day there's something new. You know, my buddy just had
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a cancer surgeryad it just picked them up today. And you know, my
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son is now getting ready to move out of home, and my parents are
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older, and you know, and my wife and I are now in our
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fifties, and there's a pandemic, and there's you know, there's money things,
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and there's ai there's all these things that every day there's something new.
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And how that affects us if we're doing our best, even if we're not
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doing our best, But how it affects me if I try to do my
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best is that my life changes all the time, and just by the nature
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of my life changing, it requires me to have some sort of have some
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sort of perspective on it in order for me to remain balanced. Right and
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again, the way that I find that I am able to gain perspective is
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by writing, and so that means that there's always going to be things to
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write about. It may not appeal to the same people as it once did.
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I mean, I'd be shocked if it did, but I think there's
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enough people that participate in what I do that or on either a similar path
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age wise or experience wise, or are more concerned about the intent than they
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are with the with the outcome. Meaning, as long as you're coming at
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it from an authentic point of view, then fill your boots. You know,
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however it comes out, that's what is going to be important. Is
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whether or not you mean it, and I do so. Now, don't
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tell me you've done nearly thirty albums in as many years, which is a
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phenomenal output. But just creating new music becomes you hta, what you do?
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Do you think that's the best part of it? I love it.
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I love creating new things. I even love the drama that comes from thinking
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that you have nothing more to say. You know, it's like, remember
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when I was younger, the process of making records has remained reasonably consistent.
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It's like it's the same up and down emotional like I love it, I
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hate it. Oh, this is amazing how it sucks? So you know,
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like every record is the same thing. And I would assume that anybody
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listening to this who's making a record has the exact same experience. It's part
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of the artistic temperament. Right. If you don't, I'm shocked and jealous,
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right, But at the same time, I've also after thirty records.
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Now I'm more able or willing at least to accept that that's just part of
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it, you know, the drama, the ups and downs, the dark
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knights of the soul, and the elation and the feeling of uncovering something that's
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that's golden, and then only you have a fall of shit or whatever.
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It's like, all that is what the active writing is. I never thought
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that when I was younger. I thought the active writing was you make riffs
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and then you put it together and then at the end of it you're like,
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you know, you got a badass song. And again there's some people
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that that's what they do. That sounds amazing, but that's not how I
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do it. Like how I write is is that all that psychological diarrhea.
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It's just that's what it is for me. And so so I still I
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still participated it it almost precisely the same way as I did in the beginning.
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It still tears you apart in the way that it does, it still
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empowers you in the way that it does. The difference now is that I'm
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I'm comfortable with the fact that, well, that's who I am and that's
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how I do it. So maybe when I was younger, I would impose
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that on people. I was going through some shit and I was like,
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oh, this is everybody else's problem as well as mine, because I'm an
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artist or whatever. But now, as you know, early fifties father and
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whatever. You're just like, I keep that shift to yourself when you're right
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about it. And then when it's dinner time, you make sure you're present,
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you know what I mean. Like it's all learning then and I'm here
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for it. Well, formula your game, mate. I've started doing three
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different Spotify playlists based on songs from artists that I speak to. So using
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your own songs, give me one for a playlist to get the party started,
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one for a playlist to save your marriage, and one for a playlist
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that could potentially end your marriage. Okay, to get the party started,
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we could use the song Addicted from Addicted Song to save your marriage. Uh,
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call the Call of the Void, I think is a nice song.
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A song to end your marriage. I would say you could probably either use
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shit Storm or info Dumb from Alien Beautiful. I might use both of the
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mate sayings both good songs. Oh devil, thanks very much for your time
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that I made me an absolute pleasure. The tour kicks off on November the
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eighth, right in Perth, so it's finally select few shows, mate,
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so you sell some tickets before they all go. Thank you so much for
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the support, brother, and I'll see you there,