Devin Townsend: Ki Largo
© Demiline
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Musician,
composer and producer, Devin Townsend is always where you don’t expect him :
After ‘Ziltoïd’, written, played and recorded all by himself, he announces his
departure from the music live scene and industry. Devin, now a happy father, works
at home after getting rid of Strapping Young Lad and DT Band. And today, here
he is again, with not one but four albums, a new musical project called ‘The
new Devin Townsend Project’, the first one being ‘Ki’, with a bunch of new
collaborators. So what’s the Ki of all that? -Two years
ago, you surprised many people in declaring you were quitting the scene circuit
and music industry, after the release of ‘Ziltoid’: what happen to make you
take this decision? -DT: I
think the first primary change for me was to stop smoking marijuana and
drinking alcohol. Many decisions I made up this point were based on a kind of clouded
sense of what I was trying to do. So that cloud kind of left, it gave me a
couple of years to truly think about the direction I wanted to go in and, in
that couple of years, I realized I made the difference between the music I was
confident with and music that comes naturally to me, even if that sounds off of
sort, I was very happy to do that. Up to this point, I’ve doing a lot of things
that were contrary to my nature, based on a clouded frame of mine. -The fact
to wear a mask for ‘Ziltoid’, despise the fact he’s an alien, was it also
motivated because you were fed up of your image at the time? -DT: -Absolutely. The Ziltoid character was pretty
much a metaphor for where I was at that point. The story, at the end of the
record, the moral of the Ziltoid record was that Zilltoid actually didn’t
exist, it was a projection of somebody who’s powerless in his own life, and
need to create an image of himself that was more powerful than he actually was,
and I think that, as a metaphor, the Ziltoid character definitely relies to the
character I was portraying in terms of my life performances with Strapping
Young Lad. So I think Ziltoid was an important record for me, in order to like
almost realize that from myself. Ziltoid is not just an odd story, it’s very
much an observation of how things have progressed in my own career. -In the
meantime, you declared dead Strapping Young Lads as well as Devin Townsend
band: did you regret that decision, and do you think those bands are dead
forever? -DT: -No, there’s no point, really. The music that I
make is supposed to me, in my mind, a reflection of where I am at a current point
in time, and in the way I think my musical mind works, I tend to attache pieces of music subconsciously to advance in
my life, I’m looking for music that
illustrate that. And so, with that in mind, as a person, I’m constantly trying
to better myself or get from one stage to another. In the case of Strapping Young Lad maybe resolved
certain issues, of lot of work we did with that was a vital, musical entity;
back when it was created, it was very honest about that particular period of
time and, unfortunately for the people who would like to see it continue, that
particular period of time was for the most part, in my twenties, and now I have
kind of changed in a lot of ways, and became more, I guess, as an adult. The
idea of returning to those previously resolved issues doesn’t make a lot of
sense. The fact that the people want it to happen, eventually, previously,
people offered us a lot of money to reunite, and I think that I have to be
really conscious of the need for money versus the need for artistic
progression. Because SYL quits, and because the Devin Townsend Band was the
balance to that, I couldn’t choose one or the other, and they are both done. -You’re a
dad now, and you said you wanted to have more time with your family: so, how
the new Devin Townsend today? DT: -I feel
much better, God yeah, but again, I think that was the goal from the beginning:
I was never in a speed metal or trash metal bands without the intention of
resolving, whatever made me feel that, and, even when I was doing SYL, I would
thinking that, eventually, this would be
over. So it wasn’t necessarily my motivation, to do that that music, to think
that it’s cool or something that could contribute to something, it was just a
reaction against a certain period of time. Now, the fact I have a family and
feels a lot quieter as a person, I guess this goal is also determined by a lot
of things, including age: I’m 37 now, and, by the virtue of that age, there’s
much more headspace than when I was 24. To be honest, the energy that made SYL,
the vital and musical entity it was it the same energy and honesty that made
‘Ki’ the vital musical entity that it is: I couldn’t have done this album when
I was 23, I can do it now. -This year,
you announce the release of not one but four albums, under the banner of ‘The
New Devin Townsend Project’, the four of them being very different: how was
born this idea? DT: -As I
mentioned earlier about how the music seems to present itself, it just kind of
materializes, based on the personal events that occurred in my life. Those four
records were the result of me having gone through certain changes and, during
the time those changes were taking place, after the last time we talked, I
decided to not play for a while. But the problem to not play is I came to the
conclusion that the music is not a decision for me as much as an inevitable part of my world, so by stopping,
when I started again, I had a such a backlog of experiences, that ended up writing
a lot of music to document at that time, and I think the overwhelming lesson I
learned of that is you should probably keep writing, making a conscious
decision that perhaps to be a musician is not what you are because, maybe the
biggest lesson I’ve learned over the past three years is that it is what I am
and what I do, and stop again only seemed to result in a lot of work at the end
to catch up. -What is
the concept of ‘Ki’? -DT: -Well,
I think, in terms of concept, it’s a loose concept, but I would say I’m not t a
particularly good at writing stories, so it’s not like a Pink Floyd-ish concept
or something like that. The general idea is not necessarily a conscious one,
reflects certain periods of my progression. I think there’s a line that goes
through it, and I think that the story, if you want to call it that, basically
revolves around that: when I wrote the first song and the last song of the
record, it’s different periods of time. So, lyrically, it seems to follow a
kind of loose progression that I guess mirrors my own development or regression
or whatever at that time -The
project will conclude by the release of a box set with eight records and a DVD:
what can be found on it? -DT:-There
will be four albums, and a bonus disc for each album, and a DVD. For each
record, it will have some remixes, some isolated vocals: during the process, I
wrote about sixty songs, and only forty five songs are actually on the records,
so theirs is a backlog of material that is good, but maybe not appropriate for
the actual release, so we’ll find them on the bonus disc: the point is to say
that all this happen to me during that period, that makes sense and so then I
can move forward to my next project. For the DVD, I’ve got a camera all the
time, for example when we did a show in L.A, on this promo tour, or when I was
myself in a constant interview, so theirs is, not necessarily a documentary,
but rather a diary. -Your
worked alone for ‘Ziltoid’: how is it to work with a band again? -DT:-It was
a ceremony of offices, because, on one level, doing music on my own is very
isolating, lonely in a way, and so being back with people was nice to
reconnect, but also, I quickly realized why Ziltoid was such a release for me,
because the interpersonal relationships
that comes from being in a band, like married for seventeen years, and that’s
hard work, but all of a sudden, getting into a new relationship with four men,
it’s hard work without any benefits! My all relationship with them was a
learning process, in that situation, the drummer and the bass player were twenty
years older than me. So, in a way, it was great to have that perspective on the
music, but, on the other way, many times, I told myself I didn’t
want to have a long discussion about this process, just record it and have it
done. I recognize that, me being a musician, musicians are asking to themselves
some questions, like lack of self esteem at some level, to make them feel that
they need to share this with the world. And when you put five new musicians
together, suddenly, all their motivations needs to be discussed, and, I
definitely discussed it too, but sometimes, I just wanted to go home! So, it
was good, but also tiring. -You said
you’ll perform some selected shows: is it a chance to see you in -DT:-Yes,
but the live shows I was doing were very disappointing to me in the way I was
doing it was because that was something I didn’t want to do. So, because that’s
not the case, I live surely play live. But apart of that, people are talking
about downloading the music when they have any questions about the music. I say
ok, but, if you want to see me live, that’s how I make a living, so if I don’t
sell records, there’s absolutely no way I can play. So, if the records sell, I
will, and if it doesn’t, then, I can’t. -And if you
do, how will you choose the musicians who will be on stage with you? Will you
bring all of them? -DT: Oh,
that would be great, but I can’t afford to do that! At this point, nothing has
been decided, but there as discussions about each territory the records do the
best, we could play there, and ‘Ki’’s the first. But I could also assemble a
band for people capable to do it all, but again, the motivation for playing
live at this point is tenuous because I wanna make sure that it would be for
all of us financially viable, because, for years I toured losing money, due to
poor decisions from myself and management and label and else. Times have
changed, and so I can’t afford to do that anymore. But, also, if it’s gonna be
done, it will be done in a way that it worth it
for the audience, and it’s a kind
of balance that hasn’t been determined yet. -And about
production: will you continue this activity? DT:-we’ll
see! Production is a hard job, because it became a day job, and a day job I
couldn’t leave! At the end of the night I was carrying the interpersonal
relationships of these young bands
home with me, and especially considering I stopped partying, and being
surrounded by a bunch of twenty three years old kids wanting to party all
night, I could slit my wrists! But, at the same time, this has definitely a
side effect on producing which allow me now to take a deep breath on things that
maybe previously affected me, everything happen with a reason. -Now you
have a happy personal life, how do you see your artistic future? -DT:-I
don’t know! All my music incorporates all I do from the really quiet orchestral
thing up to the really chaotic heavy things, and I could evolve to soundtrack
works or symphonies. I’m not spending to much time organizing my future yet,
because if I start to think about the future at this point, then this records
will be much harder to finish because I’m still tenuously holding on to the reason why they were made,
and so I would kind of like focus on those reasons distracted by being bored
yet! -Something
to add? -DT: -Yes,
the cover sleeve is three-dimensional; you have to get special glasses to see
it. That’s all. Interview made in
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