Devin Townsend Podcast

People keep talking to me about NFTs...most people seem to hate them and hated that I was even mentioning them =). After I mentioned it on Twitter, Matt hit me up and offered to give me his perspective on them as his band is heavily involved. I watched videos sent to me about the downsides, and here is an example of the other side I suppose. This is just because I'm trying to wrap my head around it. I'm not planning to do NFTs, I just wanted to learn. Take with a grain of salt, and cheers to Matt for being a good sport =)

Heres the second re-do of the two podcasts I was too wrapped up in 'The Puzzle' to really talk about properly. We should be back on track now, so the next one will be 'By A Thread' - Dev

Heres the re-do for the Deconstruction album as I was sidetracked last year with the Puzzle and didn't give this enough effort. I feel its back on track now, so the podcast will continue with Ghost next, then Epicloud, Casulaties... etc etc etc... =)

Been away for a long time dealing with some personal things, so Im starting the podcast up again...but before I get into talking about the albums, here's me just talking a load of crap. Take it with a grain of salt, and thanks for the support. Album Podcasts back soon. - Dev

More o this!

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Social media

(5:33) – Art being intentional

(8:47) – Determining creative direction

(19:57) – Finding a narrative

(25:38) – The sound of The Puzzle

(28:54) – Offering solutions / The Film

(35:47) – We are not our thoughts

(39:33) – Accountability

(41:22) – Finding ways to move forward

(43:36) – Objectively viewing albums

(50:54) – How Dev’s friends and family viewed his mental state in 2020

(54:41) – Being compassionate to yourself / Creative obligation

(58:22) – Being single-minded / Giving back to fans

(1:00:39) – The idea behind Ghost

(1:04:23) – Kat Epple / New-age music

(1:12:15) – Katrina Natale / Personnel

(1:14:37) – Looking back on Ghost

(1:18:17) – How close the four DTP records were to Dev’s intention for them

(1:18:55) – Outro

Boo-yaw!

Timestamps:

(0:00) – The Puzzle / Movie

(35:17) – Snuggles

(40:14) – Working with a producer on the next album

(44:19) – The genesis of Deconstruction

(47:56) – The process of Deconstruction / Dirk Verbeuren

(51:56) – Psychologically preparing for Deconstruction

(53:25) – The narrative of Deconstruction

(1:01:04) – The fart / Cheeseburger

(1:06:48) – The continuing theme

(1:10:09) – Articulating music

Sorry this one took so long, been a weird month =)

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Being balanced

(5:44) – What was Addicted?

(15:43) – The commercial rock sound

(18:09) – Producing Addicted

(21:00) – Writing Addicted

(21:19) – Personnel / Anneke van Giersbergen

(27:57) – Mixing Addicted

(34:11) – Mastering

(35:52) – The end-product

(38:23) – The concept of Addicted

(47:00) – Meditation

(48:35) – Following your intuition / DTP

(50:35) – Reception of Addicted

(52:52) – Separating the styles of DTP

(54:11) – Bloodstock / Andy Farrow

(58:54) – Why Dev is continuing the podcast

(1:00:44) – Dev’s personal situation / Routines and deadlines

Not sure who still listens to these, if anyone, but heres the next one =)

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Dev’s creative process / The Puzzle

(18:52) – Chaos

(36:24) – Halloween Stream / Dev’s upcoming projects

(46:09) – The genesis of Ki

(50:30) – Moving away from drugs and alcohol

(52:27) – Not feeling comfortable expressing anger

(57:15) – A new setup for Ki

(1:02:49) – Personnel

(1:03:20) – Putting Ki together

(1:05:25) – Responsibilities / Peavey

(1:09:05) – The Devin Townsend Project

(1:16:04) – A summary of Ki

(1:18:03) – Linking Ki to the present / Outro

Aliens =)

Timestamps:

(0:00) – How the weather inspires Dev / Routines

(11:27) – Being a new parent

(21:34) – Dev’s mindset and lifestyle change

(29:33) – Writer’s block after The New Black / Accumulating gear

(35:41) – The inspiration for Ziltoid / Making a puppet

(43:43) – Writing Ziltoid The Omniscient

(46:51) – The meaning behind Ziltoid

(52:48) – The concept of Ziltoid

(58:51) – Recording alone

(1:04:24) – Finishing the album / Reception / Linking back to Info Dump

(1:13:43) – Tall Latte

(1:16:08) – A summary of Ziltoid

(1:18:42) – Dev’s next steps

Yay! ...Stuff!!

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Social media

(24:09) – Advertising

(31:12) – The genesis of The New Black

(35:56) – The artwork

(40:51) – The production / Recording

(47:10) – Writing The New Black / The performances

(52:23) – Lyrical themes / The songs

(1:01:48) – Summarising The New Black

(1:03:58) – Download 2006 / Dissolving SYL

(1:12:01) – Looking back on The New Black

More of this sort of thing if youre interested...

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Synchestra as a reaction to Alien

(6:53) – Themes of Synchestra

(8:39) – Studio techniques

(11:53) – Notes from Africa

(12:48) – Reactions to Dev’s work

(24:54) – The mission of Synchestra

(27:46) – Vampira

(29:45) – Mental Tan

(36:58) – Judgement

(42:05) – A Simple Lullaby

(45:10) – Sunset

(46:20) – Personnel / Writing Synchestra

(52:15) – Recording

(1:15:06) – The Hummer

(1:18:43) – Devlab

(1:25:14) – Concept of The Hummer

(1:27:35) – Dev’s mindset in this era

(1:30:31) – Triumph

(1:32:33) – Baby Song

(1:34:42) – Writing themes

(1:36:25) – The name / Imagery

(1:40:25) – Relationships between albums

Sorry for the delay =)

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Looking back at the podcast / Self-help

(16:06) – The genesis of Alien

(27:42) – Self-sabotage during Alien / Anti-psychotics

(35:19) – The warehouse

(37:15) – Writing Alien

(44:10) – The meaning of Alien

(48:51) – Dev’s mindset during Alien

(52:21) – Info Dump

(1:01:25) – Dev’s relationship with the members of Strapping Young Lad

(1:04:28) – Lyrics

(1:06:16) – Sensitivity

(1:14:18) – Negativity / Vulnerability / Attention

(1:26:22) – Self-defence

(1:31:17) – Finding the next step / Lockdown

Heres more of this, if you fancy... this one is about the two records Accelerated Evolution and SYL. Yay!

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Uncomfortable truths

(15:00) – Writer’s block / Acceptance

(30:06) – Starting the Devin Townsend Band

(40:12) – Two albums at once

(48:02) – What is SYL?

(52:09) – Rape song / Accountability

(1:00:15) – Promoting SYL and Accelerated Evolution

(1:04:09) – Project Echo / Recording / Dev’s overall opinion of SYL and AE

(1:11:30) – The lessons of SYL and AE

(1:22:09) – The image of SYL

(1:27:02) – Intention

(1:32:44) – Identity / Getting out of your head

(1:41:49) – Writer’s block cont. / Making choices / Failure

Well, heres yet another one of these. I assume if youre listening to it, you want to be…so I should probably stop worrying about the rambling nature of it. If youre listening to it simply because it annoys you, well…thats super weird. Anyways, this is episode 5, loosely based on the 2001 album Terria. Hope youre groovy - Dev

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Dev’s mixed feelings about the podcast / Accountability

(26:06) – Validation

(42:43) – The genesis of Terria / Bipolar

(57:28) – The aesthetic of Terria / Mountain

(1:06:10) – Olives

(1:07:27) – Earth Day

(1:09:43) – Deep Peace

(1:28:36) – Canada

(1:30:51) – Down and Under

(1:31:35) – The Fluke

(1:32:14) – Nobody’s Here

(1:41:05) – Tiny Tears

(1:43:11) – Stagnant / Humble

So Ive been hearing that you folks have been enjoying this enough that I should continue? Im happy to do so, but its certainly odd. I'll just keep plugging through them and I hope they dont veer into crazy levels of pretentiousness, especially as I let my gaurd down. Maybe thats part of this whole process in the long run though so...have at er. Heres another one: 'Physicist' released in 2000

Timestamps:

(0:00) – The aftermath of Infinity / House problems

(7:07) – The basement studio / The first recording of Physicist

(10:22) – The intention behind Physicist

(15:20) – Inside Out Records / Panic attacks / Ween

(20:30) – Getting back to Strapping Young Lad

(27:27) – What was Physicist?

(30:28) – Depression

(36:31) – The aesthetic of Physicist / The second recording

(45:52) – Jason Newstead

(48:09) – Artwork / Balls

(56:18) – Lyrics

(58:32) – Namaste

(1:01:42) – Victim

(1:08:24) – Material

(1:12:15) – Kingdom

(1:20:03) – Death

(1:22:26) – Devoid

(1:24:07) – The Complex

(1:29:58) – Irish Maiden

(1:35:10) – Jupiter

(1:38:21) – Planet Rain / Forgotten

So this is episode 3, about the album 'Infinity' (which followed City and Ocean Machine). I warn you going into this: I am confusing in the ways i explain this one. Theres so many things I would like to say and honestly, Im barely able to be coherant about it all here. Once it gets going it makes a bit more sense, but it takes a while to warm up... and really, fair play. This was a hard thing to record and discuss, and in reviewing it, I still didnt find myself able to even scratch the surface. Regardless, Infinity was exactly where I was at the time, so I have no 'regrets', but you know...yikes. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this as in any case, I tried to at least be honest...(maybe a bit hard on myself, but honest nonetheless). Take care- Dev

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Dev’s difficult relationship with Infinity

(10:40) – Psychedelics

(17:32) – The genesis of Infinity

(25:18) – The concept / Writing Truth

(43:42) – Recording Infinity / Cause and effect

(1:10:25) – The spider dream / The lesson of Infinity

(1:13:22) – Dev’s obsession with Infinity

(1:17:28) – Artistic accountability / The psychiatric institution

(1:21:14) – The album cover

(1:24:27) – Truth

(1:26:38) – Christeen

(1:27:41) – Bad Devil

(1:29:11) – War

(1:30:55) – Soul Driven Cadillac

(1:32:04) – Ants

(1:33:12) – Colonial Boy

(1:34:46) – Dynamics

(1:35:48) – Unity

(1:41:41) – Moving on from Infinity

This is episode 2, about the second Strapping Young Lad album, CITY. I figured instead of doing Terria next, Id do them in order (though Ive still ignored HAARHT and Punky thus far, but I'll get to them) and City was done simultaneously to Ocean Machine and best keeps the momentum going.

It took less time to do this than I thought, so I may wait a day before starting Infinity, but if you're bored...heres another rambling slab of...well..me.

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Intro

(2:10) – An overview of City

(5:09) – Fear Factory

(14:20) – The intention behind City

(18:39) – Producing Stuck Mojo / Daniel Bergstrand

(21:17) – Writing City / Influences

(31:24) – Dev’s extracurricular activities / Mindset during City

(33:47) – Artwork

(34:53) – Moving to LA / Frontline Assembly / Being broke

(41:17) – Writing City cont. / Meeting Gene Hoglan

(45:57) – Forming the band / Recording City at Steve Vai’s studio

(59:12) – Working and writing with Gene Hoglan

(1:01:33) – The identity of City

(1:03:26) – The finishing touches / Digging for samples

(1:13:29) – Summing up City

(1:16:41) – Velvet Kevorkian

(1:22:00) – All Hail The New Flesh

(1:25:51) – Oh My Fucking God

(1:28:18) – Dev’s vocals on City

(1:31:14) – Detox

(1:32:10) – Home Nucleonics

(1:32:47) – AAA

(1:35:24) – Underneath the Waves

(1:37:43) – Room 429

(1:40:52) – Spirituality

(1:41:33) – Closing thoughts

This is the inaugural episode, and I figure the best way to dip my toes into this format is to use it as an opportunity to discuss all the albums in depth. This one gets into my album  'Ocean Machine' as a decent starting point.

Enjoy! =)

Timestamps:

(0:00) – Intro

(1:07) – Quarantine

(4:14) – The ‘Noisescapes’ demo / Steve Vai

(12:26) – Starting from scratch / Label shopping

(19:56) – Landing a deal / Daniel Bergstrand

(25:18) – The Ocean Machine band / Rob Halford

(30:33) – Recording Ocean Machine

(33:20) – The Spanish studio

(39:34) – Assembling Ocean Machine

(42:21) – Releasing Ocean Machine

(47:16) – The aftermath

(48:13) – Looking back at Ocean Machine / Personnel

(53:40) – Seventh Wave

(56:19) – Life

(1:00:31) – Night

(1:03:06) – Hide Nowhere

(1:10:08) – Sister

(1:11:19) – 3 A.M.

(1:14:22) – Voices in the Fan

(1:22:31) – Greetings

(1:23:03) – Regulator

(1:28:31) – Funeral

(1:30:38) – Bastard

(1:36:27) – The Death of Music

(1:39:20) – Thing Beyond Things

(1:41:16) – Defining Ocean Machine / Closing thoughts