The article was originally written by Rae Amitay.
MetalReview’s Rae Amitay took the opportunity to sit down and chat with the one and only Devin Townsend before his set at The Palladium in Worcester, MA on July 19th. They discussed his latest work, future plans, and the merits of caffeinated beverages. The following video captures the entire thing; for those of you that are loathe to pause your Terria session, a full transcript has been unleashed below.
Metal Review: Well, this is your last show with Children of Bodom on the North American tour. So how’s it been, looking back?
Devin Townsend: It’s been really cool, I mean, this tour has been one that I don’t think I would typically have expected the Devin Townsend Project to be participating in. All the bands are much heavier than where I’m at currently, and at first I was a little concerned because you know, trying to compete with this, sort of put me in a position where I thought I’d have to do just that, right? To a certain extent we tailored the set towards a bit of a heavier angle, but ultimately after two or three shows I was just like, you know, you’ve just gotta be yourself, right? And I think that because what I’m trying to say with the music is perhaps a little lighter in spirit than some of the other bands, it sticks out, and I think it’s allowed us to kind of at least give people an option, and I think that’s kinda cool. The people on the tour, the bands and everything, it’s just been a really good collection of humans. And typically even though every day that goes by I question my love for metal even more, I do like whatever it is that I do…But I’m starting to think that maybe it’s not as metal as metal can be, right? However what I have found is sometimes the heaviest bands on the planet are just some of the sweetest people ever, and this is another example of that.
MR: So you think you’ve been generally really well received by the Bodom fans?
Yeah, I think generally there’s always going to be a couple that have a preconceived notion and there’s nothing that you’re going to be able to do to shake that. I tend to be a little reactionary with those sort of folks in the first place, so I’ve definitely offended a few people along the way but you know, I don’t know if profanity is used on your show but my dad used to say, “Fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke.”
MR: [Laughs] No, that’s true!
DT: That’s where I’m at, right?
MR: You were working on Ki, Addicted, Deconstruction, and Ghostsimultaneously, right?
DT: To a certain extent. About 80% of the material, the bulk of it, was written around the same period of time because it’s meant to sort of illustrate a certain period of personal development or whatever, so it was written at approximately the same time. In terms of the actualization of every record, I have to do things one at a time. It’s the same way I eat my dinner, right? Like, peas will go first, then potatoes, you know, one thing at a time is good for me. Otherwise it gets messy.
MR: Did you always know that you were going to end with Ghost as the lightest album?
DT: Absolutely. That’s the whole point of it, right? At the end of Deconstruction I think the whole idea of Deconstructionwas facing myself, I think, or the character facing himself, and being able to recognize that there’s no real reason to fear that element of me, or any of us artistically. If you choose to make a statement that’s visceral, as long as you’re accountable for it I think you can utilize that to really make a strong point. The point of Deconstruction is at the end of it, the character kind of has that element of himself cornered, and you can choose to do anything. You can choose to destroy it or you can choose to punish it or whatever. With the last record, the whole point of the exercise is that he chooses to marry it, you know what I mean?
MR: Right, yeah.
DT: I think there’s an element of compassion. You’ve gotta forgive yourself for being who you are, right? And I think that Ghost is an exercise in that., and that’s where I wanted to end up. That’s the type of music I hope to do more of in the future, and it was nice to have Deconstruction to really set it up, so it’s like “Now what do we do?” Well, now we relax! [Laughs]
MR: And I heard you were going to be doing some acoustic in the UK, so is that kind of in the same vein of doing a more “light” kind of show?
DT: Yeah, I mean, I’ve got a good group of people together for the more mellow or introspective type of music, and the process that I think I’ve engaged in, in order to get me to where I hopefully am going has been a really long one. That’s like twenty years of trying to find my voice in a lot of ways, and trying on a bunch of different outfits in order to get there. I think sometimes the hardest thing to see is just your true nature, right? Like, who you really are. And I know that performing for me is such an exaggerated version of all these things that sometimes I get caught up in that and forget, right? But I think that the whole process that I’ve gone through in doing a heavy tour like this and being able to do Ghost and things like that are putting me in a position where eventually, sooner rather than later, I’m gonna find my real voice for what I want to represent live and what I want to people, and it’s definitely quieter than Deicide, right?
MR: Right, definitely. So, Deconstruction is the heaviest [album], but people are kind of finding it humorous and I know that you’ve said that it’s not supposed to be funny. Do you want to go into that more?
DT: Well I mean it’s not supposed to be funny, but I mean, there’s farts and shit and all that sort of thing. But I guess the whole point of it is, what I meant by it’s not being funny, is the character is trying to go to all these elements of his personality to try and find the element of himself that he’s most confident with, and the exaggerated version of that. You know, childish things, and stupid things, and biological things, and I like the irony of philosophy versus your body having to do bodily things, right? I think that’s really funny. A lot of times people who get upset by these things get really hung up on their philosophical elitism right? I mean, I can relate. Musical elitism, I can relate. It’s nice to think that humans are more clever than we actually are, I mean, it’s romantic right? But my gut has always told me that we’re very simple creatures and we’ve only got a handful of emotional responses to profound things and they’re always coupled with the problems of being a physical entity. So I’ve tried to make a record that just went in every direction, stream of conscience, and not concerned about songs and not concerned about what’s right or what’s wrong, or what’s stupid and what’s not. So the ultimate result of that is yeah, you get a very complicated record that is sometimes stupid and sometimes not, right? But the point of it I think, is that when the character finally sort of uncovers the fact that he’s been spinning his wheels, it allows the last song to transition into Ghost in a way that without all those puerile elements, I don’t know if it would’ve had the same meaning to me, personally. So it’s one of those things where I just had to put it out and I’m like, “Well I’m gonna get shit for this, but it’s supposed to be this way, so there it is, right?”
MR: Exactly. And I know you’re working on Ghost 2 right now and there’s plans for Z2 and all that stuff.Are you thinking that you’re going to take some time off and then put out another four-album concept or…
DT: It won’t be a four-album concept. I mean it could be, but I think I’ve managed to purge the need to make a statement like that. But we’ll see. There’s never any tried or true method to how the music ends up getting written. It always seems to be automatic, and the themes and the ideas that become important to me, to really put my heart and soul into, are very often not clear until sometimes after the record’s done, right? So there’s a current batch of music and three or four vibes…that are kind of vying for pole position as to which one gets my attention. One of them is the Zed Squared thing, which will happen eventually…Whether or not it’s next, I don’t know. There’s Epicloud, which is very epic, sort of commercial, sort of anthemic, really heavy lullabies with Anneke [van Giersbergen] and myself again. And then there’s a complicated sort of dark thing with clean guitar and very subtle…Then there’s something that sounds like beach music. So there’s a bunch of things and I just keep recording it and listening to the demos. The Epicloud thing seems to want to be the next thing, right? And Ghost 2 is not even really involved with that because it’s almost done in all honesty. That’s just a driving at night sort of record, that’s just a version of Ghost that is more “ghostly” right?
MR: Ghost is already the most gentle thing I’ve ever heard from you.
DT: This is not as gentle, for sure. I mean, some of the songs that’ll be onthere will be like “Radial Highway” and “Watch You”, and the things that have been released already. But I’ve written several other things for it, and whenever I find a second I’d love to get in there and record it. I mean, I could finish that one this week if I had sufficient energy, resources, and time, right? Which none of those things I currently have so, [laughs] it might be spread out for a longer period of time than is welcome.
MR: [Laughs] What’s something that you’ve learned in your career, because you’ve been at this since you were twenty years old…What’s something you’ve learned that you wish you knew back then?
DT: Well, maybe the person that I was then is the same person that I am now. I don’t know…I don’t know if I can even put it into those terms because every mistake that I’ve made has allowed me to grow in a way that, without those mistakes, I don’t think I would end up being the person that I think is important for me to be, and is inevitable for me to be. I mean, I’m happy. I think I’m a decent dude and I think my life’s pretty good…And without all those mistakes and albums and things that I was proud of, or regret, or whatever, I would not be the person I am now, so…Hooray!
MR: That’s a very Zen way of looking at it.
DT: Well either that or just, you rationalize in being a person now that…[Laughs] It’s nice to be able to be happy with who you are as opposed to just being like, “Man I wish I was somebody else…If I’d only done this in the past I would be flying from gig to gig in a special bat-shaped helicopter or something, right?
MR: [Laughs] Yeah, self-loathing is not really the way to go.
DT: It’s a lot of effort, right? And it’s like, I’ve got a lot of things to put that effort on right now, that I have to put it on, so if I’m spending it on something I can avoid, let’s try and not, right?
MR: Exactly. I have to ask, is that actually coffee?
DT: Yes ma’am.
MR: Is it the universe’s ultimate cup of coffee?
DT: It’s been so many years since I’ve done drugs or drank, and I went for two years drinking nothing but green tea…And I found my life was missing certain things. I mean, I definitely craved drinking, I definitely craved smoking, but I knew that those things were going to lead to places emotionally for me…That I was going to make poor creative decisions that I was going to regret in other ways. Coffee though? I don’t think coffee is good for you. But in a way it’s good for me because I was asleep half an hour ago, and like…asleep, right? My job is very public, and a lot of times if you wake up out of a dead sleep and do a series of interviews, those are going to be the ones you regret. So to a certain extent having a half a cup or a cup of coffee a day…and that allows me to prevent myself from not being able to grab on to the concept I’m trying to represent to people and really articulate it…It’s probably not the best bet, right? So, is it good for me? No. But is it good for my personal life right now? Probably a little bit, right? [Laughs]
MR: I think on the grand scale of things, this is not too bad.
DT: I really like it, too.
MR: It’s good stuff! I think we’re out of time, but thank you so much for talking with me, and I’m looking forward to the show later tonight.
DT: Thank you, it’s good to talk to you as well!
