DEVIN TOWNSEND Says He Landed In A 'Weird Kind Of Existential Quandary' After Completing 'The Moth'

In a new interview with Loud & Clear With Belgian Jasper, Canadian metal maverick Devin Townsend was asked what he is planning to do next, creatively speaking, following the release of his ambitious, orchestral metal opus "The Moth" on May 29 via InsideOut Music. He responded  (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "There's a grace period that exists upon the completion of a record every time. You can't sustain that amount of adrenaline and that amount of dopamine for so long, and then it's over, and then just be, like, 'Oh, I'm good now.' You crash. It's just what happens. But 37 records into it now, I factor that in. Sometimes I forget, but I do factor it in now. And another reason why 'The Moth' was such a good metaphor for me is because you burn it up. It's, like, gone. 'The Moth', for me, the process that went into integrating my own whatever trip, the logistical challenges, the chaos of it, the theme, as soon as I concluded it, listened to it and recognized that it did what it was supposed to do, I never listen to it again, ever. Unless I have to learn it for live, it's done. So as soon as 'The Moth' was finished and I was, like, 'Yes, it does the thing.' I listened to it from beginning to end, and it fucked me up, and I was really, really emotional at the end, and I felt the catharsis. Then I was, like, 'Okay, good. Done.' And then I start moving on to something else, and 'Moth' is no longer a part of my trip other than interviews and things like that."

He continued: "Where do I go from here? Well, I can only tell you what I can report from this nebulous spot that is the fallout after the making of a record. That's the only thing I can do. History suggests that in two months' to three months' time I'll be making some other crazy fucking thing. But right now, where I landed after 'The Moth' is this really weird kind of existential quandary, where the recognition of what motivated a lot of the work in the past — need for validation, fear of not being accepted, having my identity so heavily tied to my work that in absence of it I don't exist, so productivity becomes like a fetish in a way — upon recognition of those things, all of which inadvertently 'The Moth' addressed, I'm in a weird place because a part of me feels like a tangible expression for the gratitude that I feel for the beauty that is the universe and the shocking awe that I feel about just this in general leads me to think that there's an unending, unyielding stream of creative momentum, that by articulating with a group of empathetic people, you are — I don't know — doing your dharma, so to speak. But there's another part of me that's just, like, 'Nah, fuck it. I just wanna play ambient music and go to the beach. And I think the one thing that I would say that is an indicator that that's a ways off, that second option, is I've got a lot of dependents. [Laughs] I've got family, staff, label, management, merch company. And if I'd have said, 'Fuck it,' and went to the beach and played ambient music, all these people that have had my back for so long would be out of a job. So it's this weird period here that I'm in where, again, in two months I'll probably be, like, 'Hey, I got 'Ziltoid 3' going'," a reference to his concept album about an extraterrestrial being named Ziltoid from the planet Ziltoidia 9, "and it's this crazy Marvel universe full of existential weirdos But if you're asking me right now, which you are, I'm kind of like, I just kind of wanna go to the beach and play floaty guitar. [Laughs]"

Devin added: "With that, that pressure — revenue streams, staff and all this stuff — is also compounded by the fact that I'm not playing pop music. You listen to 'The Moth', and is the world and the demographic at large that funds artists indefinitely clawing and chomping at the bit for like fucked up heavy metal operas? Nope. So with that, I've also got to have a plan, or else I'm just gonna endlessly be doing what I've been doing and just kind of, like, 'We're breaking even, we're breaking even, we're breaking even.' So what I've been trying to do over the past couple years at the same time, in addition to 'The Moth', is find different revenue streams as well, find ways for me to do whatever I want with full creative freedom, whenever I want, with whomever I want. And when I first started talking about this to management, to label, and everyone's, like, 'Well, you can't do that, at least not to the extent that you're wanting to with something like 'Moth'.' But I guess my belligerent nature also takes that as a challenge. And maybe my impetus to continue indefinitely is just that belligerence. Maybe in absence of that belligerence, I would just be on a beach playing ambient music. So for the sake of the people in my world that want me to continue, like, hooray belligerence. [Laughs]"

Earlier this month, Devin announced a return to live activity, with a European solo tour set to take place in September and October 2026. Townsend will 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 "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. In typical Townsend fashion, expect the unexpected with a varied setlist that will doubtless change night by night, and, of course, a few (bizarre) surprises along the way.

Photo credit: Tom Hawkins