Devin Townsend
Discussion
I first heard about this man from Vai doing Sex and Religion with him. He then dropped off my radar, but the March of the Poozers found me, since then I have slowly been finding out about other tracks.... Deadhead, Stormbender and Canada are just blowing me away.
What an amazing voice, the operatic structure and finally he actually comes across as a real dude.
Anyone else seen or heard of him?
What an amazing voice, the operatic structure and finally he actually comes across as a real dude.
Anyone else seen or heard of him?
He teamed up with Mooer pedals to create this:
http://www.mooeraudio.co.uk/p/mooer-ocean-machine
Many higher end pedals are 3 to 400 quid. At 200 or so this is great value. It brings together two delays, a reverb and a looper for hours and hours of creative fun.
http://www.mooeraudio.co.uk/p/mooer-ocean-machine
Many higher end pedals are 3 to 400 quid. At 200 or so this is great value. It brings together two delays, a reverb and a looper for hours and hours of creative fun.
I was his European tour manager on his 1998 tour, which, it has to be said, wasn’t a lot of fun. It was during this period that Devin was in poor health mentally, and was difficult and demanding. It didn’t help that there had been a screw up with the tour bus, so we were struggling for the first two weeks in an ancient minibus I’d borrowed from the record label, and an even older ex PO Freight Rover. As we were meant to be sleeping on the tour bus we didn’t have hotels booked either, so not the best situation for someone feeling fragile.
After two weeks the bus was available, and after dropping the band off at the Austrian border where the bus was waiting, I drove the minibus back to Dortmund and walked off the tour...
After two weeks the bus was available, and after dropping the band off at the Austrian border where the bus was waiting, I drove the minibus back to Dortmund and walked off the tour...
angusfaldo said:
He teamed up with Mooer pedals to create this:
http://www.mooeraudio.co.uk/p/mooer-ocean-machine
Many higher end pedals are 3 to 400 quid. At 200 or so this is great value. It brings together two delays, a reverb and a looper for hours and hours of creative fun.
I'm trying to shake the GAS for a Stormbender...http://www.mooeraudio.co.uk/p/mooer-ocean-machine
Many higher end pedals are 3 to 400 quid. At 200 or so this is great value. It brings together two delays, a reverb and a looper for hours and hours of creative fun.
The period where he went cold turkey on his meds was in the earlier part of the 00s, he wrote the Strapping Young Lad "Alien" album during this time.
I've come to think of him as a genius who is his own worst enemy. I came to his music in the mid 00s when he was coming off the back of Synchestra, which I think was the end of his golden era. From 1998 when he released Infinity, onto the Terria album, Accelerated Evolution (with the Devin Townsend Project) and then Synchestra, he was complete on fire. He knew seemed to be pulling glorious hooks left, right and centre. HIs voice was on top form and the songs were just incredible. His signature production style was working wonders for him too, more on that later. He also released the last and best Strapping Young Lad album in this period.
After those amazing albums (and the well-received Ziltoid, which I found to be too jokey and goofy to have any sincere musical value) something went terribly wrong and he released Ki, a album of weak, random songs with crap production and a poor band. He got rid of his usual studio set and hired blues musicians, which lends to the weak, flobby feel and the poor production doesn't help. He was experimenting with something new and it completely backfired, That's fine, sometimes it happens, but it seemed to break his flow and he lost the magic. He next came out with another DTP album, Addicted!, which was dross. He hired a female singer and tried to get back top the big, hooky style he used to have but seemed lost for ideas. It's a bad sign when you release a new album and one of the best tracks on it is simply a re-recording of a song off an old album (an actual main album track, not a B side or anything) with a new singer, and it's not a re-interpretation. There is one banger on that album called "The Way Home", which is worth hearing, but the rest is trash.
After this, he lost his way big time. I remember a period of optimism in the metal community where it was believed that maybe Devin's solo career would get back on track. He then entered into a state of indecision where he worked on three albums at once and as you'd expect for someone juggling three things at once he dropped three turds instead of one blinder. Deconstruction, for a long time known as Deconstruction of a Cheeseburger. Ghost and Epicloud were just bland drudgery, by this point I think the magic was long gone and the flames of his creativity were completely doused.
He has seemed to always be juggling loads of things at once, perhaps a sign of his illness, but when I listen to some of the generic stuff he's pumped out over the years his busty work-rate surely cannot be because he has so many golden ideas that he has to get them all to tape, because there is so much filler on his post 2006 stuff. He seems to make a load of bad albums simultaneously in contrast to his earlier work where each project was discrete and the output was top notch.
As mentioned, he is a fantastic singer and way above the standard of most metal vocalists. I don't really consider him a metal musician, heavy prog would be more apt for his best works, but semantics aside his voice is superb and he is very, very good at doing those huge major key harmonies that resolve perfectly for maximum impact. He's not a particularly talented guitarist and freely admits that, with the majority of everything he does being based around a few shapes he uses in his C major tuning, but he is very, very good at using that limited musical vocabulary to say something very impactful. Some of his lead guitar work on his earlier albums is very memorable.
He is a fantastic producer too, with a unique style. He uses compression in a novel way with Strapping Young Lad and on some of his solo albums to create a very heavy sound, such as on the chorus of "Almost Again" by Strapping Young Lad where you can hear the compression coming in really hard creating a crushing effect akin to being underneath a collapsing building. He also likes to use big digital bass drum pad effects to create bass booms at important moments, which adds a real big hit to song when he uses it.
He did some production work for other bands too, notably Soilwork's "Natural Born Chaos", which is one of the best produced albums I've ever heard of any genre, it's incredibly crisp without being harsh and every instrument is crystal clear and sits perfectly in the mix, which is rarely achieved in metal music. The bass guitar is fully audible and sound superb which is without a doubt the hardest thing to achieve in producing metal albums. Devin is without a doubt supremely talented in this field.
As a side note, as a huge fan of Devin, I used to have a sphynx cat (the bald cat breed) named Devin.
I've come to think of him as a genius who is his own worst enemy. I came to his music in the mid 00s when he was coming off the back of Synchestra, which I think was the end of his golden era. From 1998 when he released Infinity, onto the Terria album, Accelerated Evolution (with the Devin Townsend Project) and then Synchestra, he was complete on fire. He knew seemed to be pulling glorious hooks left, right and centre. HIs voice was on top form and the songs were just incredible. His signature production style was working wonders for him too, more on that later. He also released the last and best Strapping Young Lad album in this period.
After those amazing albums (and the well-received Ziltoid, which I found to be too jokey and goofy to have any sincere musical value) something went terribly wrong and he released Ki, a album of weak, random songs with crap production and a poor band. He got rid of his usual studio set and hired blues musicians, which lends to the weak, flobby feel and the poor production doesn't help. He was experimenting with something new and it completely backfired, That's fine, sometimes it happens, but it seemed to break his flow and he lost the magic. He next came out with another DTP album, Addicted!, which was dross. He hired a female singer and tried to get back top the big, hooky style he used to have but seemed lost for ideas. It's a bad sign when you release a new album and one of the best tracks on it is simply a re-recording of a song off an old album (an actual main album track, not a B side or anything) with a new singer, and it's not a re-interpretation. There is one banger on that album called "The Way Home", which is worth hearing, but the rest is trash.
After this, he lost his way big time. I remember a period of optimism in the metal community where it was believed that maybe Devin's solo career would get back on track. He then entered into a state of indecision where he worked on three albums at once and as you'd expect for someone juggling three things at once he dropped three turds instead of one blinder. Deconstruction, for a long time known as Deconstruction of a Cheeseburger. Ghost and Epicloud were just bland drudgery, by this point I think the magic was long gone and the flames of his creativity were completely doused.
He has seemed to always be juggling loads of things at once, perhaps a sign of his illness, but when I listen to some of the generic stuff he's pumped out over the years his busty work-rate surely cannot be because he has so many golden ideas that he has to get them all to tape, because there is so much filler on his post 2006 stuff. He seems to make a load of bad albums simultaneously in contrast to his earlier work where each project was discrete and the output was top notch.
As mentioned, he is a fantastic singer and way above the standard of most metal vocalists. I don't really consider him a metal musician, heavy prog would be more apt for his best works, but semantics aside his voice is superb and he is very, very good at doing those huge major key harmonies that resolve perfectly for maximum impact. He's not a particularly talented guitarist and freely admits that, with the majority of everything he does being based around a few shapes he uses in his C major tuning, but he is very, very good at using that limited musical vocabulary to say something very impactful. Some of his lead guitar work on his earlier albums is very memorable.
He is a fantastic producer too, with a unique style. He uses compression in a novel way with Strapping Young Lad and on some of his solo albums to create a very heavy sound, such as on the chorus of "Almost Again" by Strapping Young Lad where you can hear the compression coming in really hard creating a crushing effect akin to being underneath a collapsing building. He also likes to use big digital bass drum pad effects to create bass booms at important moments, which adds a real big hit to song when he uses it.
He did some production work for other bands too, notably Soilwork's "Natural Born Chaos", which is one of the best produced albums I've ever heard of any genre, it's incredibly crisp without being harsh and every instrument is crystal clear and sits perfectly in the mix, which is rarely achieved in metal music. The bass guitar is fully audible and sound superb which is without a doubt the hardest thing to achieve in producing metal albums. Devin is without a doubt supremely talented in this field.
As a side note, as a huge fan of Devin, I used to have a sphynx cat (the bald cat breed) named Devin.
Don1 said:
Oh wow - was that the time he decided to go cold turkey off the anti-psychotics but continue with the drink/weed? (He's spoken about it on video).
Can't say I blame you for that - interesting story. (Who else have you looked after?)
Worked for Peaceville Records, toured with a few of their bands, My Dying Bride, Anathema, At The Gates, as well as a few bands on the sister label Dreamtime, including the Dutch band Kong, who used four stages and a quadraphonic PA system.Can't say I blame you for that - interesting story. (Who else have you looked after?)
It wasn’t all metal, I toured with Black Star Liner, who were an Asian influenced dub rock band, they were critically acclaimed, but never made the sales, and were dropped by their label, and Blue Amazon, who did alright in the dance scene, as well as the punk band Instigators.
Feels like a long time ago now, been out of the industry since 2001...
angusfaldo said:
He teamed up with Mooer pedals to create this:
http://www.mooeraudio.co.uk/p/mooer-ocean-machine
Many higher end pedals are 3 to 400 quid. At 200 or so this is great value. It brings together two delays, a reverb and a looper for hours and hours of creative fun.
It was through a review of this pedal on Anderton's 'tube channel that I discovered DT, and it was pretty eye opening.http://www.mooeraudio.co.uk/p/mooer-ocean-machine
Many higher end pedals are 3 to 400 quid. At 200 or so this is great value. It brings together two delays, a reverb and a looper for hours and hours of creative fun.
His vocals are eye-wateringly good with an enormous range, and although he plays his guitar in open C tuning (very odd, but good for "crunchy" metal type riffs) his technique is accomplished and his spade-sized hands allow him to play some really complex chords.
This is one of favourite DT tunes:-
Kingdom
and
Awake
Don1 said:
I first heard about this man from Vai doing Sex and Religion with him. He then dropped off my radar, but the March of the Poozers found me, since then I have slowly been finding out about other tracks.... Deadhead, Stormbender and Canada are just blowing me away.
What an amazing voice, the operatic structure and finally he actually comes across as a real dude.
Anyone else seen or heard of him?
Like you he dropped off my radar after his work with Vai, I saw them together on the sex and religion tour. I recently revisited that album and watched a few of his videos on YouTube. Certainly a unique voice.What an amazing voice, the operatic structure and finally he actually comes across as a real dude.
Anyone else seen or heard of him?
I'd been aware of him for a while but never really took the time to listen to his work. Then I ended up at Rock City last year to see Leprous who were supporting him along with Tesseract - I was absolutely blown away with the live performance and have since been working through the somewhat extensive back catalogue. As said above it's not all fantastic but a "best of" playlist does the trick.
Youtube offered up this gem as well - stunning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTW0Uf-34BA
A very different take from him.
(As an aside, I love the humour at the beginning of 'Dirty Black Hole' "you want me to deprive my brain of oxygen?")
A very different take from him.
(As an aside, I love the humour at the beginning of 'Dirty Black Hole' "you want me to deprive my brain of oxygen?")
Mastodon2 said:
After this, he lost his way big time. I remember a period of optimism in the metal community where it was believed that maybe Devin's solo career would get back on track. He then entered into a state of indecision where he worked on three albums at once and as you'd expect for someone juggling three things at once he dropped three turds instead of one blinder. Deconstruction, for a long time known as Deconstruction of a Cheeseburger. Ghost and Epicloud were just bland drudgery, by this point I think the magic was long gone and the flames of his creativity were completely doused.
I was with you until Epicloud, which was THE album of 2012 for me. I know music is very subjective, but I can't see how anyone could describe it as bland.The Retinal Circus show at The Roundhouse would also indicate that his creativity was in full effect, at this time. Wish I could have been there; the 5-DVD box goes part-way to making amends.
Absolutely love this track...having Anneke van Giersbergen on board certainly didn't hurt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1Gwtep2oXw
Don1 said:
Youtube offered up this gem as well - stunning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTW0Uf-34BA
WowSo over the last couple of day's I have been catching up with what Devin has been doing since I first experienced him with Steve Vai 25 years ago. There's a fairly extensive back catalogue to go through and I have started with epicloud and transendance which are both excellent. Any other recommendations?
AdeTuono said:
Mastodon2 said:
After this, he lost his way big time. I remember a period of optimism in the metal community where it was believed that maybe Devin's solo career would get back on track. He then entered into a state of indecision where he worked on three albums at once and as you'd expect for someone juggling three things at once he dropped three turds instead of one blinder. Deconstruction, for a long time known as Deconstruction of a Cheeseburger. Ghost and Epicloud were just bland drudgery, by this point I think the magic was long gone and the flames of his creativity were completely doused.
I was with you until Epicloud, which was THE album of 2012 for me. I know music is very subjective, but I can't see how anyone could describe it as bland.The Retinal Circus show at The Roundhouse would also indicate that his creativity was in full effect, at this time. Wish I could have been there; the 5-DVD box goes part-way to making amends.
Absolutely love this track...having Anneke van Giersbergen on board certainly didn't hurt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1Gwtep2oXw
Huge heavy devy fan.
Been hooked since SYL at download festival in 2006 ( I think). Gig is on YouTube in full.
As stated above though, you need to be selective. He has about 20 albums, and probably 3-4 albums worth of great music IMO. You have to sift a bit.
I also own a Devin Townsend signature ocean machine delay pedal. If you play, you have to get one. I use it as a really high quality reverb and delay as part of my rig, but combined with a looper it’s just nuts.
Been hooked since SYL at download festival in 2006 ( I think). Gig is on YouTube in full.
As stated above though, you need to be selective. He has about 20 albums, and probably 3-4 albums worth of great music IMO. You have to sift a bit.
I also own a Devin Townsend signature ocean machine delay pedal. If you play, you have to get one. I use it as a really high quality reverb and delay as part of my rig, but combined with a looper it’s just nuts.
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