Never one to remain fixed to the one sound, style or direction
for any great length of time, Canadian multi-instrumentalist/producer/artist
Devin Townsend has managed to cover almost every conceivable aspect
of heavy music throughout his fifteen years on the music scene, earning
himself a reputation as somewhat of a musical chameleon.
After releasing no less than three albums over the course
of 2006 ('The New Black' from his extreme outfit Strapping Young Lad,
'Synchestra' from his progressive rock outfit The Devin Townsend Band
and Townsend's own ambient instrumental release 'Hummer'), Townsend
announced his decision to disbanding both Strapping Young Lad and his
own solo band The Devin Townsend Band in May, and spend more time with
his newly extended family (Devin's wife Tracy gave birth to Reyner Liam
Johnstan Townsend in October 2006).
After a six-month leave of absence, Townsend has finally
returned with a new album (one that has been billed as his first true
solo effort, with the entire album written, performed (vocals, guitars,
bass, keyboards, samples and drums created using the 'Drumkit From Hell'
program), mixed and produced solely by Townsend, apart from some guest
character voices provided by former The Devin Townsend Band guitarist
Brian Waddell and keyboardist Dave Young) in the conceptually based
'Ziltoid The Omniscient' (centred around the all-knowing fourth dimensional
Ziltoid who travels to Earth in search of the ultimate cup of coffee).
Taking a break from his home studio, I caught up with
Devin Townsend to talk about his dislike for making puppets, the endless
possibilities and directions presented following the demise of Strapping
Young Lad and The Devin Townsend Band, Townsend's involvement with a
planned best of compilation and the direct connection between the character
Ziltoid The Omniscient and Townsend himself.
"Ziltoid, the central character of the album is basically
a parody of myself. In a lot of ways, I feel the way I project myself
into the metal media is kind of like the character Ziltoid. He's this
sort of zany dude that expounds and speaks about a lot of stuff, but
in truth is not anywhere near as clever as he thinks he is! (Laughs)
On some levels, 'Ziltoid The Omniscient' is very serious, but on the
surface, it's just supposed to be a fun album. It's very much like a
sci-fi movie, but it's also very real piece of self-parody. While making
the album, I realised a whole bunch of things about both my work/home
environments and myself. I think I needed to make this album to find
out those things. So I think the album works on several different levels."
Although 'Ziltoid The Omniscient' is based around Ziltoid's
search for the ultimate cup of coffee, it isn't until the final track
'Tall Latte' that it's revealed that the story is nothing more than
a café worker's elaborate daydream.
"Some people have been kind of critical of the ending
of the album, saying that it blows away the fantasy of it all. But in
a sense, that's what makes it an important album for me. The crux of
the story is the ending. I think if I had finished the story at Ziltoid's
attempt to take over the universe, and his eventual realisation that
he's a puppet, I think that would have given the album an air of pretentiousness
about it. That was not my intention. The whole concept of the story
is based around this absurd story that just ends up being an elaborate
fantasy in the mind of somebody who maybe feels a little powerless with
his situation. Maybe he needs that kind of excitement to get past the
fact that he's just a normal dude, with normal problems. And at the
end of the day, he has work that needs to get done, and he has to get
onto it. In a lot of ways, I think that being in a rock band, playing
on big stages and all of that kind of stuff makes it quite easy for
some people to get sucked into that kind of fantasy world. After living
in that fantasy world, and having woken up from that, I realised that
it was just a fantasy. I think it takes a life changing experience to
be able to put that into perspective and move on from there. For me,
I felt that it was really time to move on from a number of things because
I had either outgrown them, or they had simply overstayed their welcome.
In the end, I think this album was important for me in order to just
purge a lot of ideas and thoughts, as well as a way for me to start
anew."
Although Ziltoid was conceived (and put together by hand
by Townsend himself) primarily for a series of puppet shows, Ziltoid
took on a whole new life when a theme tune presented itself late one
night.
"I originally started making the puppet out of clay.
That was my main project that I was working on at the time. But then
one night when I was working on him, all of a sudden I started hearing
this huge chorus of 'Ziltoid! The om-ni-sci-ent!' (which is otherwise
known as 'ZTO', the opening track on the album). I initially thought
that could be a theme song for him. So I started writing the theme song,
and as things progressed, it became a concept, and then the concept
eventually became an album. By the end of it all, I think it all became
wrapped up around the same time, meaning the concept, the album and
the puppet. Everything came together at the same time. It was a really
creative period for me because I did everything myself from the ground
up. It was entirely up to me which direction I wanted the album to go
in, so I ended up taking the music in several directions at once, and
wrapping it all up as 'Ziltoid The Omniscient'."
Like many of Townsend's other works, 'Ziltoid The Omniscient!'
has been praised and criticised by fans. But as far as Townsend is concerned,
not only did the album turn out exactly how he envisioned it, but it's
also one of his strongest albums in a lot of ways.
"There's been some people that just don't get the
album, and who think that 'Ziltoid The Omniscient!' is a really poor
addition to my catalogue. But to me, I think this album is one of the
strongest in a lot of ways. It's really complicated in a way that I
find really satisfying. It's also heavy and dark in a way that Strapping
Young Lad is, but in a way that doesn't invade in on my mental state
in the way that Strapping Young Lad always did. And then it's also melodic
enough in parts for me to want to be able to sing along to.
'Ziltoid The Omniscient!' is not necessarily supposed
to fit into my catalogue anywhere. It's almost supposed to be a footnote.
I don't think 'Ziltoid The Omniscient' is a definitive part of my catalogue.
It's more a piece that sits on the side, and it caps off a particular
part of my career."
As Townsend puts it, 'Ziltoid The Omniscient' pretty much
signals an end of an era in terms in musical direction. But where he
intends to go from here is still very much a mystery.
"I'm deep in an identity crisis at the moment! (Laughs)
I would like to assume that the best is yet to come after putting in
ten years of practice and learning the different extremes. I mean on
the one hand, you have extremes albums such as 'City' (1997) and 'Alien'
(2005), and then at the other extreme you have albums like 'Hummer'
(2006), or an album like 'Terria' (2001). The polar opposites are things
that I've explored in a lot of ways, but I don't think that I can comfortably
live in either extreme without pining for the other one any more. I
think knowing how to navigate my way through these extremes will serve
me well in the future, because I will be able to draw from those experiences.
I know how to do extreme music, and I know how to do mellow music, so
now I just need to put them together into a new format, whether that's
soundtrack, instrumental, orchestral work or something else. I think
I still need some time to figure out just what it is that I want to
achieve musically. In the meantime, I'm playing guitar three or four
hours a day, so I'm always coming up with music. But unlike in the past,
where I felt this burning need to use these ideas and run with them
immediately, I'm in a position now where I'll spend my time producing
and mixing some bands, and then allow these ideas I have the time to
fully flower. That way, when the time comes for me to go for it again,
I have a real wealth of material to draw from that's really, really
strong. Where I can see my music going in the future is these big seventy-two
minute chunks of stream of consciousness music that goes through every
extremity possible, and perhaps being a lot less vocal orientated. Conceptually,
there won't be any definite distinction between releases, like here's
the 'Water' album, here's the 'Earth' album and here's the 'Alien' album.
I see myself just making really elaborate, really overly structured
chunks of music with all different degrees of intensity that are maybe
primarily instrumental. What you feel for the music is what it's about,
as opposed to singing really loudly 'This song is about this!' I would
like to see the albums come with a cool bit of artwork, and be accompanied
by simple titles, like one, two or three. That would be something I
would love to do, but finding people to fund that's a little difficult!
(Laughs)"
Aside from 'Ziltoid The Omniscient', another two Townsend
releases will emerge this year, with the first being the remastered
tenth anniversary edition of Strapping Young Lad's classic 'City' (which
includes the 1996 demo recordings of 'Home Nucleonics', 'Detox' and
'AAA', the Japanese bonus track 'Centipede', a previously unreleased
'Grunt' demo of 'Headrhoid', the promotional video clip for 'Detox'
and some hilarious and insightful liner notes).
"I haven't even seen a copy of that yet! (Laughs)
I had less involvement in that than I did with the reissue of 'Heavy
As A Really Heavy Thing' (which was originally released in 1995, and
reissued in 2006 with three bonus tracks and the promotional video clip
for 'S.Y.L.'). I think I provided them with the track that appeared
on the Japanese version of the album when it first came out, along with
some additional demo recordings. Oh yeah, and then there's 'Headrhoid'!
(Laughs) I tend to record everything when I'm in the studio, and that
was one of the songs that I had lying around! (Laughs) Basically I put
the demo recordings for every album I make together by myself. With
the Strapping Young Lad demos, I put together the guitars, bass and
drums, and make these kind of elaborate songs. But I would always stop
myself because I wanted to complete them properly. I guess you could
say that 'Ziltoid The Omniscient' is almost like a glorified version
of that in a lot of ways. But with 'Ziltoid The Omniscient', I didn't
stop myself at the demo stage. I just kept going right up until it was
completed. It was definitely an interesting way to do an album."
The second (and quite possibly the final) Strapping Young
Lad album to be released this year will be a best of.
"Century Media Records are currently putting together
a best of Strapping Young Lad compilation, which will have music from
all the albums, all the videos, a big concert from the 2006 Download
festival the band did and a whole bunch of other stuff. That's something
that I had quite a heavy hand in. I'm not sure if I am technically finished
with Strapping Young Lad or not, or if I'll ever see that band play
again. But either way, it was still a really big part of my career,
and I love it for what it is. So I definitely wanted to have a hand
in when it came to putting together this release. I've got to have all
the parts I'm involved with in by two weeks, so I would say it should
be released by the end of the year at the latest."
While Townsend's future musical direction remains uncertain,
and the likelihood of Strapping Young Lad and The Devin Townsend Band
being reactivated very unlikely, Townsend insists that he'll continue
to make music in some shape or form for some time yet.
"I tried making puppets, and I have to admit that
it wasn't a lot of fun! So I won't be making any more puppets! (Laughs)
I think in a lot of ways I'm a hippie, and there's a part of me that
wants to connect with nature and that kind of assertoric thing that
I've always been into. That might take me a while to come to terms with.
I may have to go find myself in some hippie dippy way, like running
around in the bushes with my underpants on! (Laughs) But in terms of
doing anything else, I really don't have many interests man other than
playing my guitar, and working on Pro Tools. It's not like I play soccer,
scuba dive or anything like that. I'm pretty much a one trick pony.
I'm just Mr. Music. I'm going to find some other things in life that
will maybe help me along my route that I'm taking, and just take things
day by day."
I would like to thank Devin Townsend for his generous
time and Andrew Haug at Century Media Records for making the interview
possible.
For more information on Devin Townsend, check out - http://www.hevydevy.com
© Justin Donnelly - justindonnelly@ozemail.com.au
