SOILWORK Drummer To Guest On THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT's 'Deconstruction'

Canadian musician/producer Devin Townsend (STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, STEVE VAI, LAMB OF GOD, DARKEST HOUR, GWAR) is hard at work on "Deconstruction" and "Ghost", the third and fourth in a series of albums to be made available under THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT moniker. According to Devin, "'Ghost' is the mellowest (by far) and prettiest record I've done so far" with a "very wonderful vibe." It will be released with "the shitstorm that is 'Deconstruction' simultaneously" — possibly in early April 2011. Townsend adds, "I contacted dozens of drummers to work on 'Deconstruction', but the reality of the budgets became apparent very quick. [So] I chose two dudes… [Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based band drummer] Ryan Van Poederooyen [TERROR SYNDROME, THE DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND] for the midtempo and proggy stuff, and Dirk Verbeuren [SOILWORK, SCARVE, ABORTED] for the grind. I will be working with hopefully all the others on other albums. I need to play 'Deconstruction' live as well, so I chose to do it this way."

In a May 2009 interview with Stream Of Consciousness, Townsend stated about "Deconstruction", "The whole idea of 'Deconstruction' is deconstructing why we're attached to heavy music.

"I put out [the first THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT album] 'Ki' and people want to listen to it and it's like this is a really good record. But there's a whole network of people that are like, 'No no no no no! We only want heavy music, we only want chaotic music, we only want devilish, horrible, destructive music,' and I'm like, 'Well, why? I'll do it for you, but just tell me why first.' 'Because we love it, because we love it.' 'Why do you love it? Ya know?' 'Fuck the world, fuck the world, fuck everything man, only heavy, only metal,' and I'm like, 'OK, I'll tell you what I'll make you that record, but I'm going to sing about why we're liking this music.'

"Honestly, at the root of it, I think humans are really terrified and I think a lot of people who really love heavy music love it because it's a way for them to protect themselves. If you put this thing forward and are like, 'I'm going to scare people with my music,' then no one's going to get to the root of the fact that maybe it's just you that are terrified and that's your way of protecting yourself, that's your defense mechanism. It's one thing to say, 'Oh I'm mad at God,' but maybe you're really just mad at your father, you know? And I think that all these themes... that's the thing that's really interesting to me about heavy music now it's like, yes, I love heavy music, absolutely, but, man, to think that's the only thing that I'm able to offer and that's the only thing that certain people are willing to accept from me…? You know, it's not like I'm pissed off about it, but it's kind of like — are you sure you really want to know why you really like this with the exclusion of everything else?"

Townsend performed his "Ziltoid The Omniscient" concept album in its entirety on July 2 at Tuska as a special one-off world-exclusive show. His DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT also played a set the following day at the festival, which featured additional appearances by TESTAMENT and OBITUARY, among many others.

"Addicted", the second in a series of albums from Townsend to be made available under the DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT moniker, came out in November 2009 and has become the fastest-selling solo record in Devin's career.

Quality fan-filmed live footage of THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT's January 31, 2010 performance at the Trocadero in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the group's North American tour with BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, CYNIC and SCALE THE SUMMIT can be viewed below (courtesy of "impaledonafence1").

(Thanks: Dylan Hardy)