DEVIN TOWNSEND Opens Up About End Of His 36-Year Relationship, 'Financial Armageddon' That Led To His Return To Live Stage

On September 29, Canadian singer, songwriter and producer Devin Townsend recorded an appearance on the Sixty Scales And The Truth podcast, hosted by Niels Guns, in which he addressed his return to live activity with a lengthy solo tour of Europe throughout September and October. The trek, dubbed "Metamorphosis", is taking place a year and a half after Devin announced he would take an "indefinite" break from touring following a North American run. Regarding what led up to his decision to play live again so soon after saying he was pausing his touring operations, Devin said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Financial Armageddon. Yeah, we lost a ton of money off of 'The Moth' show [Devin's ambitious, orchestral metal opus, which was performed in March 2025 and released earlier this year], for a number of reasons, which we're still trying to remedy it, but it's been over a year. But the company I did a lot of the work for it went bankrupt, and so we lost what our projected revenue was for that year. So I just found myself in a situation where the options for me to do other things for money just seemed limited. So I know it's not a particularly romantic notion, but it's the truth. But also, I will say that by coming out here again and having to do it in this shattered frame of mind, which I have been, it's forced me into a perspective on the back catalog and on my work just by having to sort of show up every night. Like, if you see the show tonight, you'll see that there's no place to hide. It's just a shattered human and an acoustic guitar. But it's, like, to go back into the catalog and say, 'Okay, so where are these patterns? Where were these emotional arcs and peaks and troughs that repeat?' So that moving forward into the next phase of my life, I'm not just repeating those same things. And, yeah, as a result of that, it has been an emotionally very difficult run."

Elaborating on some of the issues which have made his latest tour particularly challenging, Devin said: "My dog passed away. I split up with a partner of 36 years. I mean, it's like all these things have been fucking devastating. And you're up on stage. So I think that the one thing that I've recognized through this is it's, like, well, I have to do this, just on a practical level. But on another level, it's funny how these things force you into a, a position where you have to contend with yourself. And the fatigue of this run as well — we're in a van, and I'm constantly at my capacity in terms of my emotional thresholds. And then the dog dying, and hearing about it secondhand and not being able to be there, and all these things. So every time you're fatigued, you're fatigued, you're mental, and then you're just on stage, and it's naked. And I think that there's the benefit of that, in a real practical way. We call this a 'Metamorphosis' tour, and it really seems to be because I think that just as a result of having to do this, I'm different — good or bad, I don't necessarily know if that distinction even matters. It's just different. And I found that by putting myself into this, the fringe benefit of it is it seems to carry over to the audience to a certain degree. There's a certain amount of — I don't know if it's vulnerability or just the raw nature of where I find myself as an entity right now. But you see a tangible reaction from the audience where it seems to be, like, 'Okay, well that's...' I don't know if it's gratitude or if it's just, like, 'Okay, well, at least he's not full of shit,' or whatever it is. And again, it's, like, I need a job, and if I'm gonna have a job, I want it to help rather than hinder. And it seems to do that, so I'm grateful."

Asked if he was looking forward to going home to British Columbia after being on the road for more than a month, Devin said: "No. No. It all changed back home. Yeah, I think I'm gonna relocate. I think I'm gonna be in Spain now. But at the end of it, it's, like, in the same way that we're following this path on a creative level, I think I've had to accept the following of my path on a personal level. And arguably, that's been much harder, because it forces you to ask yourself very difficult questions. Sunk-cost fallacy. But the upside of this is for years I used to get to this point of the tour and be, like, 'Nine more days, eight more days, seven more days.' But I don't feel that now. I'm just kind of, like, 'Yeah, dude, whatever.' And it's funny, too, how that has changed, because I used to be in countries that weren't mine. I used to be, like, 'Oh, I'm Canadian. I'm used to trees and mountains and cold and rain and whatever.' And then I'd be in a different country and I'd be, like, 'Oh, I'm uncomfortable here because it's not what I'm familiar with.' But, dude, at this point it doesn't matter. Wherever I end up, it's just kind of, like, it doesn't matter. And I react to it in a way that is really unfamiliar to me now. It's almost like numb. But it's not unfeeling. It's not like I'm emotionally bankrupt and I'm not participating in it. No, it's the opposite. I'm participating in it so much now that it neutralizes all reactions. But the benefit of that is, I was in a very strange part of Europe a couple of weeks back, I forget even where, and I was looking around, and I think a couple of years back I would've been, like, 'Oh, this is so foreign for me that I don't feel comfortable.' But I was just kind of, like, 'Eh.'"

After Guns asked Townsend if the end of his nearly four-decade relationship helped him to be able to see himself more clearly, the musician responded: "Well, I'm in a transitional period right now because I think a lot of that, specifically after the amount of time that we were together, your identity gets so entwined that in absence of it, you don't know who you are. And so I think that what has happened is the clarity that comes from it has been surprising to me as to where I find myself. And it comes with a lot of questions, like, 'How long have I actually been here?' And this is where things start to fall into alignment, because cognitive dissonance — you say one thing and you do another, do one thing and say another. For many years, I've always just thought there was some sort of dysfunction, but then I find myself in a scenario where I'm, like, accountable to different things, and I'm just, like, 'Oh, the reason why there was dissonance there is because I wasn't aware that I had changed many years ago.' And now that I'm allowed — not even allowed, allowing myself to participate with those feelings, transitions, fears, whatever, I'm, like, 'Oh, well, if I've been that for as long as I have, then my responsibility now is to be true to that in my speech, in my work, in my relationships, in my boundaries.' And it just has been shifting my nature into something that, arguably, I've been all along. So that's healthy in a sense, but it's certainly a transition because it happens so quickly… And I'm grateful for it. It's just the breadth of emotions are all so, so raw that I spend much of my energy just trying to navigate the energetic qualities of these new things. But, man, I gotta say, for all those dark moments that come from the fears being thrust upon me, on the other side of those fears are things that — I'm not saying better or worse, just different."

Devin added: "If you consciously work to manifest something in your life, and not in a esoteric way, but just in, like, 'I'm gonna put my energies on these things. I'm not gonna put my energy on that' consistently. Exercise, meditation, health, whatever. And then when it starts to happen, the ego just doesn't accept it. It's, like, 'I'm not worthy. This is a dream. This shouldn't be happening.' All these things. And so this is what I was saying earlier with the layer of the onion. It's like your next step is, like, 'Okay, here's your new work. Accept that you deserve this. You deserve to be happy. You deserve to enjoy the things that you've created for yourself. You deserve that.' And it's in opposition to so much of the character that I've been for so many years that it's easy to, again, just think of all these gifts as being somehow fundamentally subversive when in fact it's, like, 'No, no, this is what you've been working for. This is what you've been asking for. This is what you've been meditating on. This is what you've been changing your own internal dialogue from, 'I'm an idiot,' to, 'I love you.'' When these things start happening, believing in myself all of a sudden creates this whole new reality. And at that point you just gotta beat that ego down or at least just let it natter away. So, fascinating. And where I'm at with it right now is the beginning stages, so we'll see where we go."

Townsend is a visionary musician, producer, and multi-instrumentalist whose career spans extreme metal, ambient music, and orchestral rock. From his early days as the frontman of STRAPPING YOUNG LAD to his expansive solo career, Townsend's work is known for its grandeur, humor, and emotional intensity. Albums like "Ocean Machine" (1997),"Empath" (2019) and "Lightwork" (2022) showcase his ability to shift between brutal heaviness and ethereal beauty. Townsend's sonic experiments and powerful live performances have earned him a devoted fanbase, cementing him as one of progressive metal's most unique voices.

The "Metamorphosis" solo tour offers a rare unfiltered opportunity to see Devin back on stage, performing solo at 23 shows across 10 different countries in Europe. The tour gives his fans a chance to watch Devin perform a range of tracks from his 31-strong studio album discography across a range of different artist projects, including PUNKY BRÜSTER, CASUALTIES OF COOL, DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT and the genre-defining STRAPPING YOUNG LAD.

"The Moth" came out in May via InsideOut Music. This 24-track record began as a vague vision more than a decade ago. It existed in the back of Townsend's mind as his "life's work". Then, about six years ago, after an acoustic show in Amsterdam, Townsend was approached by the head of the Noord Nederlands Orkest (North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra) with an offer: bring orchestral grandeur to Devin's extensive discography.