Canadian madman DEVIN TOWNSEND has released the following update on his various projects:
"Everything is chugging along. I haven't slept in weeks. I want to make clear that I've got nothing to prove with any of these records. It's just what I felt like doing. People wanted another STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, and I didn't want to let my solo fans down, so I did a solo record as well. A divine comedy ceremony of opposites? Nope. A kick-ass futuristic hard rock album, and a shit-storming heavy metal record. No bullshit, no filler, no overly cringe-inducing pretense, just solid, well produced music that kind of epitomizes both ends of my spectrum at the moment.
"STRAPPING YOUNG LAD: Everything is finished but vocals on 3 songs, and the mix. For consistency, Jed played all the guitar parts, and proved that he can apply 38 years of heavy metal knowledge when the chips are down. What a style! James Hetfield circa Ride The Lightning for the year 2003. Gene, after practicing to a cool little metronome for months before the recording, (and driving all close to him fucking shit crazy...) came in with an even more iron-clad sense of tempo than I've ever seen before. Gene is the uber drummer. His dedication and drive to make this record a basically edit-free bible for heavy metal drummers will be known by all. I could praise the lug forever, but he's Gene, so you already know what I mean. And that being said...this is some of THE best work he's ever done. Byron stepped up more than any of us though, I had a habit of playing everybody's parts on the last records, and with music that he had actually written his parts to, the tone of a Canadian Viking came out of the speakers and walked around the room so to speak. Shaun, the engineer and I were soloing the kick and bass tracks, and it was unbelievably tight. Will, the new keyboard player, did his entire takes in one night...and they were sick as fuck. He's the guy. He fits in. He instinctively knows what to do with his instrument in the context of the music, and I can't tell you the relief that is for me personally. Delegate delegate delegate... I conjured demons for the noises and echo guitars and suitably scared myself. But not so much as with the vocals. Let's just say this... If TERRIA made anyone think the Dev couldn't pull off ball blazing heavy metal vocals of the classic variety, this will set em straight. I tried not to double too much, and alot of the vocals were one takes, to get a live and aggressive feel. Even the mix will reflect this. Sonically I wanted to get a way from the sterile, digital metal vibe... and go for what we sound like live... over the top, big, thumping and METAL. (no nu in sight)
"THE DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND: The drums and guitars are done, and we start bass on Tuesday... (tomorrow) As much as SYL has become a classic heavy metal band in every sense of the term, THE DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND is very much a personal thing for me. It's my pet project. In SYL, everything is now a democracy, and that restraint has worked really well for it. But I'm still me. I still think TERRIA, OCEAN MACHINE and INFINITY. This record is the next in that line. There are some new noticeable differences though... #1, I've consciously tried (just for this record, relax...) to make real SONGS as the basis for the theme. (which is still about relationships) In terms of the other records, apart from maybe OCEAN MACHINE, the themes were illustrated by 'songs' that were essentially graphically illustrated streams of conscious, leaving certain songs too stick out much more than others IMHO. Although some of those songs were highlights for me personally, they were less songs than lots of information ('Soul Driven', 'Mountain', etc...) tied together in a way that made them song-like. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as there's a very good possibility the next in the solo line will be a more current version of that. But for THIS one, The DT band, I wanted 9-10 solid chunks of song that I could insert catchy, yet unconventional melodies onto. The result? SUCH strong, urgent, and highly (emphasis on the highly) emotional music. Where SYL is the cold bleak, heavy metal observer, this record is the living shitting, eating, fucked up, loving, me. #2, I wanted to be a lot more minimal in the way this one sounds. I want the basis to be huge drums, loud bass, solid, thick guitars, orchestrated keyboards and great singing. I don't want to rely on shiny production and a million background vocals. This music is great without it, and I honestly think it would end up sounding showy in the process. But again, I'll do it in the future, so just listen to this for what it is, honest, no bullshit futuristic pop-metal. The band is coming along well, we start doing shows soon, so we'll have to hurtle the awkward 'holy shit there's people here' phase, but bear with us, because I have faith that the personalities in the line up could project a real strong statement. We don't really know each other yet, but I think the initial energy holds quite a bit of possibility. So in closing ... don't like SYL? No problem, come on over! The record title has changed, it's no longer Relationship which was awkward, to say the least...it's now tentatively titled Accelerated Evolution 'cause that kind of sums it up. Stay tuned!
"EKO: It's on my hard drive, I'll get to it. I honestly wouldn't worry about it unless you like VH1 or you're over 50. Are you? Do you? ...no. I'll get to it. Is it cool? yeah, it's cool as fuck and not nearly as terrible as what you may expect, it was just easy and entertains me. I'll think I'll get to it in the first two weeks of January, and it may just be sold on our site.
"ASS SORDID II: I have nothing I want anyone to hear from this at the moment. 3 should be enough! That's it...more later. Devin."
"Everything is chugging along. I haven't slept in weeks. I want to make clear that I've got nothing to prove with any of these records. It's just what I felt like doing. People wanted another STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, and I didn't want to let my solo fans down, so I did a solo record as well. A divine comedy ceremony of opposites? Nope. A kick-ass futuristic hard rock album, and a shit-storming heavy metal record. No bullshit, no filler, no overly cringe-inducing pretense, just solid, well produced music that kind of epitomizes both ends of my spectrum at the moment.
"STRAPPING YOUNG LAD: Everything is finished but vocals on 3 songs, and the mix. For consistency, Jed played all the guitar parts, and proved that he can apply 38 years of heavy metal knowledge when the chips are down. What a style! James Hetfield circa Ride The Lightning for the year 2003. Gene, after practicing to a cool little metronome for months before the recording, (and driving all close to him fucking shit crazy...) came in with an even more iron-clad sense of tempo than I've ever seen before. Gene is the uber drummer. His dedication and drive to make this record a basically edit-free bible for heavy metal drummers will be known by all. I could praise the lug forever, but he's Gene, so you already know what I mean. And that being said...this is some of THE best work he's ever done. Byron stepped up more than any of us though, I had a habit of playing everybody's parts on the last records, and with music that he had actually written his parts to, the tone of a Canadian Viking came out of the speakers and walked around the room so to speak. Shaun, the engineer and I were soloing the kick and bass tracks, and it was unbelievably tight. Will, the new keyboard player, did his entire takes in one night...and they were sick as fuck. He's the guy. He fits in. He instinctively knows what to do with his instrument in the context of the music, and I can't tell you the relief that is for me personally. Delegate delegate delegate... I conjured demons for the noises and echo guitars and suitably scared myself. But not so much as with the vocals. Let's just say this... If TERRIA made anyone think the Dev couldn't pull off ball blazing heavy metal vocals of the classic variety, this will set em straight. I tried not to double too much, and alot of the vocals were one takes, to get a live and aggressive feel. Even the mix will reflect this. Sonically I wanted to get a way from the sterile, digital metal vibe... and go for what we sound like live... over the top, big, thumping and METAL. (no nu in sight)
"THE DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND: The drums and guitars are done, and we start bass on Tuesday... (tomorrow) As much as SYL has become a classic heavy metal band in every sense of the term, THE DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND is very much a personal thing for me. It's my pet project. In SYL, everything is now a democracy, and that restraint has worked really well for it. But I'm still me. I still think TERRIA, OCEAN MACHINE and INFINITY. This record is the next in that line. There are some new noticeable differences though... #1, I've consciously tried (just for this record, relax...) to make real SONGS as the basis for the theme. (which is still about relationships) In terms of the other records, apart from maybe OCEAN MACHINE, the themes were illustrated by 'songs' that were essentially graphically illustrated streams of conscious, leaving certain songs too stick out much more than others IMHO. Although some of those songs were highlights for me personally, they were less songs than lots of information ('Soul Driven', 'Mountain', etc...) tied together in a way that made them song-like. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as there's a very good possibility the next in the solo line will be a more current version of that. But for THIS one, The DT band, I wanted 9-10 solid chunks of song that I could insert catchy, yet unconventional melodies onto. The result? SUCH strong, urgent, and highly (emphasis on the highly) emotional music. Where SYL is the cold bleak, heavy metal observer, this record is the living shitting, eating, fucked up, loving, me. #2, I wanted to be a lot more minimal in the way this one sounds. I want the basis to be huge drums, loud bass, solid, thick guitars, orchestrated keyboards and great singing. I don't want to rely on shiny production and a million background vocals. This music is great without it, and I honestly think it would end up sounding showy in the process. But again, I'll do it in the future, so just listen to this for what it is, honest, no bullshit futuristic pop-metal. The band is coming along well, we start doing shows soon, so we'll have to hurtle the awkward 'holy shit there's people here' phase, but bear with us, because I have faith that the personalities in the line up could project a real strong statement. We don't really know each other yet, but I think the initial energy holds quite a bit of possibility. So in closing ... don't like SYL? No problem, come on over! The record title has changed, it's no longer Relationship which was awkward, to say the least...it's now tentatively titled Accelerated Evolution 'cause that kind of sums it up. Stay tuned!
"EKO: It's on my hard drive, I'll get to it. I honestly wouldn't worry about it unless you like VH1 or you're over 50. Are you? Do you? ...no. I'll get to it. Is it cool? yeah, it's cool as fuck and not nearly as terrible as what you may expect, it was just easy and entertains me. I'll think I'll get to it in the first two weeks of January, and it may just be sold on our site.
"ASS SORDID II: I have nothing I want anyone to hear from this at the moment. 3 should be enough! That's it...more later. Devin."
