DATE OF INTERVIEW:
DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT
31st March 2015
DEVIN TOWNSEND
METAL DISCOVERY: So, the Royal Albert Hall, that must be quite surreal…
DEVIN: Yeah but, you know, it’s like anything I do – if I think about it, it gets overwhelming, but if I just take it with a grain of salt and just do it then I feel like I can do it well. You know, there are certain things that doesn’t work for, like being sick on the last day of the tour with a big show… I’m just like, what do I do? But, ultimately, in the same way, it’s the Royal Albert, it’s gonna happen, so you just have to do your best and you just have to not allow your mind to play tricks on you.
(Devin Townsend on the Royal Albert Hall show)
"...that’s a type of psych-out that I don’t need...I don’t wanna think about the heritage and the history of it. I mean, that just doesn’t help; it makes it more of a problem. We’ll look at it after!"
Devin Townsend backstage at the Academy, Manchester, UK, 31st March 2015
Photograph copyright © 2015 Mark Holmes - www.metal-discovery.com
Interview & Photography by Mark Holmes
RELATED LINKS
Devin Townsend Official Website:
DEVIN TOWNSEND SOLO DISCOGRAPHY
Ocean Machine: Biomech (1997)
Albums
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Freddy Palmer for arranging the interview
Infinity (1998)
Physicist (2000)
Accelerated Evolution (2003)
Devlab (2004)
Synchestra (2006)
Ziltoid the Omniscient (2007)
Ki (2009)
Addicted (2009)
Devin Townsend Official Twitter:
Terria (2001)
The Hummer (2006)
Devin Townsend Official Facebook:
Deconstruction (2011)
Ghost (2011)
Epicloud (2012)
Casualties of Cool (2014)
The Retinal Circus (2013)
Z²: Sky Blue (2014)
Z²: Dark Matters (2014)
MD: Do you think it will transpire to be one of those career-defining moments?
DEVIN: Yeah, I think so.
MD: Have you seen DVDs and whatever else, of other people playing the Albert Hall?
DEVIN: Oh yeah, since I was a kid. But that’s a type of psych-out that I don’t need, either. I don’t wanna think about the heritage and the history of it. I mean, that just doesn’t help; it makes it more of a problem. We’ll look at it after!
MD: When you get out there on the stage and get into the zone, it’ll be just like another show, I’m sure.
DEVIN: Yeah, it still is just another show so, whether or not it actually is, I choose to not think about the history of it until later.
MD: As well as the Ziltoid set, you’re playing a “by request” set as well?
DEVIN: Yes, correct.
MD: Does the whole request thing excite you as well as worry you in that people could choose loads of obscurities you haven’t ever played?
DEVIN: Yeah, they did, and there’s a limited amount of time we had to learn it and practice it. But I think these are songs that people have wanted to hear for quite some time so, being able to do it in this epic environment, I think is a great way to introduce the stuff.
MD: Were you surprised it sold out as quickly as it did?
DEVIN: Very much. I’m surprised that we sell anything. Not in a self-deprecating way, it’s just I don’t think about it. I want to give people a good night out; I want people to be happy; I wanna contribute in some way; I wanna help in some way. But, when people are so supportive with it, it’s still shocking and humbling and very much appreciated.
MD: One of the most gratifying things must be that you’ve sold out the Royal Albert Hall without “selling out”, if you know what I mean?
DEVIN: Yeah.
MD: Because it’s on your own terms, with complete musical integrity, and you’ve not had to compromise anything to get to that stage.
DEVIN: Yeah, yeah, it’s awesome, man, awesome. You know, I keep pinching myself in a lot of ways because I just wanna say “thank you so much” to everybody for allowing us to do it. But, at the same time, it’s not the end of the rainbow, either. It’s about really isolating what it is you wanna do; like, really coming to terms with what it is you wanna do. I wanna make music and I wanna help people in some way – not in a preachy, altruistic way but, I mean, give you an hour away from the bullshit; give you a soundtrack for something. It’s nothing of significance but I’d like to contribute in some way. So, if that’s your objective, you just keep moving forward and learning from your mistakes, and working through flu or bad states of mind or whatever. And, hopefully, the outcome of it is something you can share with the audience and then, together, you make a really cool energy. Royal Albert’s another example.
MD: I think it’s inadvertent philanthropy, in one sense. I mean, a lot of people place so much importance on music in their lives, and it brings so much joy and catharsis to people, so I think it is a form of philanthropy, even if that’s not intended by yourself.
DEVIN: It’s not intended and I appreciate it, but I also think it’s really healthy for me as much as music means everything to me in so many ways. To recognise that, to other people, it’s a component, it’s a part, it’s something that might contribute or it might not. And I guess if there’s anything people take away from it, is that there’s other people, meaning my scenario and situation, for people who are not giving up either. So maybe that helps in some inadvertent way.
MD: Back to the integrity thing, I gather you wrote a song at the end of last year, in LA, with people responsible for Nickelback and American Idol stuff?
DEVIN: Yeah.
MD: From what I read, you opted not to release it as you didn’t want to sacrifice your integrity for a quick buck, but do you think that process was still necessary for you to go through to reassure yourself that’s what you didn’t want to do?
DEVIN: Yeah, a hundred per cent that, but the other thing I learnt is that I’ve got a big fucking mouth and I ended up doing interviews after I had that experience, and just being, like, “oh, it’s bullshit, it’s bullshit, I fucking hated it.” But I neglected to mention that I asked these people to do this with me. And, so, they got really upset, you know. Some might say too upset. But, that aside, I should’ve watched myself a little more.
MD: I guess those kind of people don’t live in a world defined by integrity in the first place, but more by commercialism, to make a lot of money.
DEVIN: I wonder. Well, maybe not, though, because, when I was down there, all I know is I thought I understood that world and that scene, but I don’t. So maybe there is an integrity there that is separate from what I view as such. But, ultimately, the thing that happened from that is they got super pissed off with me and I remember thinking to myself: “Oh, okay, I don’t take anything that I said back, but I certainly don’t wanna upset you guys; that’s not my intention. I don’t want it to be like a me against you type of thing because you’re obviously incredibly successful and financially successful and I don’t want, for a second, to try and make it like I’ve got some crusade against what you do because I asked you to do this with me. And it’s not the only thing you can do, of course, you’re very talented.” But I learnt, at the end, well, that is another example, the fact they were as upset at me about it as they were. That’s another example of the fact that I just don’t understand that scene.
MD: It would be nice to think, also, that they learnt something from you – a guy coming from a place of total, hundred percent, integrity, and hopefully they learnt something from that experience as well.
DEVIN: Yeah, I guess. I don’t think they care, to be honest. I think they don’t need to care. I think, again, my end result on that is that I could’ve handled that better, but I also get pissed off really easily, right, and I was pissed off about this scenario. So it was one of these things where I know for the future that, sometimes, it’s just better to hold your tongue as opposed to wagging it around, because that just causes me, personally, more grief in the long run, if you have to, all of a sudden, coordinate other people’s feelings and all that shit. You know, it was a great learning experience, man.
MD: The phrase you used in one interview that made me smile is “honesty Tourette’s”.
DEVIN: Honesty Tourette’s. That’s it.
MD: That’s a great way to be.
DEVIN: Yeah, it is in a way, but it’s also, unless you’re tinging that with a sense of compassion, you can just say things that don’t need to be said. And then people get hurt as a result of you just saying, “well, it was honest.” I think there’s a fine line between saying what it is you feel you need to say versus saying things just because they’re the truth, and then other people having to suffer through that as a result. I mean, again, my goals, musically and creatively, are to help. I certainly don’t want to be “honest” and then, as a result, end up hurting people. So it’s a fine line. Ultimately, that whole LA situation with those producers, was something I learned a great deal from. And I stand by everything I said; I really, really disliked it. But, it was my choice to do it; I asked them to do it.
MD: So it’s your prerogative to release it or not release it at the end of the day.
DEVIN: It’s my prerogative, yeah. And I’ll say, just to close it off, as I’ve said in every interview, the people that I worked with are incredibly talented and that’s not the only thing they can do. And, hey, if you’re in a hard rock band, go to them and I’m sure they’ll make you a really good record.
MD: My final thing to ask, then – based on the current rate of your popularity growth, I’ve done a rough calculation that you should be headlining Wembley Stadium by 2022…
DEVIN: [Laughs]
MD: So can you see yourself performing at that level in a few years’ time?
DEVIN: [Laughs] Well, like I said earlier, if I don’t think about it, yeah, because, ultimately, I don’t consider what I do to be me; I consider it to be the people involved with my work. I mean, I write the music and I have the vision and I have the themes which defines this but, ultimately, I can’t do it on my own. I’ve got a ton of people that articulate this stuff for me in ways that I could never do, and a lot of that is the audience. We were in Glasgow last night and the audience propped us up in such a way that the energy of the show became euphoric. And it’s not because of what I was doing, it was because of what we were all doing. And as hippy as that sounds, in a sense, it’s really true. And I think that if I can keep my shit together, if I can learn to foster some sort of self-respect or decrease self-loathing, and accept the fact that people want this to be a cool thing… because I battle with myself in such a way, which was the theme of ‘Z²’, that if I can accept that, then I think that if we ever got to that level – Wembley or whatever – it would be something that the audience would want it to be there and we could do it together.
MD: I’m sure it will happen soon.
DEVIN: We’ll see. I’ve got a lot of work to do on my own front so I appreciate the vote of confidence, brother.
MD: Well, thank you so much for your time.
DEVIN: Sorry I’m a little…
MD: No need to apologise!
DEVIN: I’m Canadian, man, that’s what I do!