DEVIN TOWNSEND: 'I'm In This Weird Position Right Now That Kind Of Condemns Me To Obscurity'

Darren Cowan of Blistering.com recently conducted an interview with acclaimed Canadian musician/producer Devin Townsend (STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, STEVE VAI, LAMB OF GOD, DARKEST HOUR, GWAR). A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

Blistering.com: Lately, I've talked to a lot of friends who didn't know you folded up STRAPPING YOUNG LAD. Why did you disband?

Devin Townsend: STRAPPING YOUNG LAD started when I was 23 years old, and I'm closing in on 40 now. I love STRAPPING YOUNG LAD. I'm incredibly proud of that band; I'm incredibly proud of everything we did. The reason STRAPPING YOUNG LAD was such a good band was we were honest about what we were doing. There is no way I'll ever write an album for AVRIL LAVIGNE or CHRISTINA AGUILERA. I just couldn't do it. There is no way I could ever do it because my musical process is about being directly involved with whatever I'm going through in life. What made STRAPPING YOUNG LAD important, at least to me, was I was being honest about whatever was important to me at that time. In many ways, that musical process is there to resolve those issues, if you will. I'm over, in a lot of ways, the things that I was passionate about when I was 24. In order for me to go back and do that, no matter how much money is involved, there is no way that I can. The thing that I like about heavy music, when done well, it comes from the heart. You can always tell heavy music that comes from the heart and the balls. If I were to go back to something that was based upon a 24-year-old mindset that has been resolved in way or another, not only would I be a discredit to what STRAPPING YOUNG LAD was in the past, it would also be a parody. I think any STRAPPING YOUNG LAD fan would see that. That being said, I signed a five-album deal for STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, and in all honesty, the last two records were very hard for me to do because I was trying to reconnect to what it was like to be STRAPPING YOUNG LAD. By doing that, I did a lot of drugs, I did a lot of drinking — I did a lot of things that weren't emotionally healthy for me. The original energy that was like a middle finger to the music industry slowly shifted towards a sense of paranoia. I was able to hang onto it to the very end — through Ozzfest, through Download. To summarize this conversation, the thing that made STRAPPING YOUNG LAD a vital musical entity is the same thing that makes "Ki" vitals is that I'm being honest about who I am right now!

Blistering.com: You cut your hair off, so no more bullet/forced skullet anymore?

Townsend: No, no, my head looks like a Macadamian nut now. I kept the hair, though, it's in a box somewhere. I could sell it by the ounce on eBay, maybe make enough to buy myself lunch. After a while, I thought to myself, "What am I projecting? What am I trying to represent? I've done a lot of things, and do I want to spend the rest of my life as this clown from STRAPPING YOUNG LAD?" Again, I really love STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, but in the end, it became just that. I remember watching live footage of STRAPPING and thinking "Dude, is that me?" It's not like I get off stage with STRAPPING, put on [MORBID ANGEL's] "Altars of Madness", thrash around and do some lines. My whole world is based in that kind of dynamic. That kind of STRAPPING energy, which I'm capable and enjoy doing, that shit requires a certain dynamic in my musical scope, as opposed to doing everything else. Once it does exclude doing everything else, I become very dissatisfied. All these other things that I want to represent, and if I feel, I need to represent, are becoming overshadowed by this ironic, angry thing. In a way, the fact that STRAPPING got so popular was almost to its detriment, and it became very difficult for me to continue it. Every time I did anything with that band; I was gone for 11 months telling people to fuck off. I had other music that I wanted to work on, but that was the one that made everybody money, so go for it. To me, that whole irony became preposterous toward the end.

Blistering.com: STRAPPING YOUNG LAD brought you some commercial success, but it seemed a bit too heavy for many people. Do you think the end of that band and your descent into this series represents the beginning of your rock stardom?

Townsend: If the public is ready for a bald guy with teeth you could eat a piece of corn through a picket fence, then sure. Honestly, I'm just doing my thing. There is really no preconceived anything at this point….sure man. Pushing it into the mainstream wouldn't work, even if I tried to do that. I think what I'm doing right now the general public is not that into, whether I'm coming too early or too late. I'm in this weird position right now that kind of condemns me to obscurity. Also, I have this weird honesty with mainstream music that doesn't align me with any of these bands. I have a hard time sucking up. If someone asks me about a certain band, I would say, "They FUCKING suck, dude!" Their motivation for doing that is based on their penis. Then all of a sudden you're not invited to that club, either. It's like the conversation between fate and free will, I believe in both. Whatever happens to me, as far as my career goes, is supposed to happen.

Read the entire interview at Blistering.com.

Rock Sound TV recently conducted an interview with Devin Townsend. Watch the chat below.