STRAPPING YOUNG LAD Guitarist To Focus On Solo Project TENET

STRAPPING YOUNG LAD has emerged from this year's Ozzfest as one of the festival's most-talked-about acts primarily due to the sheer abrasiveness and intensity of their live performances. The group will now take a short break as frontman Devin Townsend (vocals, guitars) welcomes his first child into the world. SYL will be back on a major world tour this spring and until then the other members of the band will continue on with their other projects.

Jed Simon (guitars) checks in with the following report: "Ozzfest is all over, and wow, what a ride. Again, I'm amazed at the tolerance the fans have shown for being able to withstand the heat and show their fave bands some love. We salute you all, and thanks so much for being there for us all. There are many people to thank, but that's a long list so I'll just say thanks to all and you know who you are. Everyone on the second stage was a pleasure to work with. EVERYONE. There were some very cool people on the main stage too and again, you know who you are and we love ya!

"For the last week or two, we had James MacDonough (ex-ICED EARTH, MEGADETH) playing bass for us filling in for Byron Stroud. He is a real class act, and was a pleasure to have on the tour. Thank you, James! It's kinda strange to be in mid-song and look over and see someone other than Byron totally rocking out, but it's awesome that he came out to give us a hand.

"We have all made our respective journeys home, and it's nice to be able to relax for a bit. Now we await the arrival of baby Dev. I'm sure he and his wife Tracy will have much on their hands in the coming months, and we wish them the very best.

"With SYL on hiatus until next year I'm finally going to be getting to work on my 'solo' thing. Solo is not a cool word, but I guess that's what it is. So watch for that next year sometime on Century Media. For those of you who don't know, it's called TENET, and will be some good old-fashioned metal without those goddamn-fucking keyboards. There is also some rumor that Byron and I will do a new ZIMMERS HOLE album. If we can work it out that would be cool. The other dudes will be busy with their respective side stuff too, Byron with FEAR FACTORY, Gene with HURT and PUNCHDRUNK and Devin with his new baby. So, we'll all be busy in some way. We came, we 'Stormed With Menace' and now we're home. So good people, you all rock, and we'll see you, in one form or another, soon."

STRAPPING YOUNG LAD's latest album, "The New Black", debuted at No. 200 on the Billboard chart. The group's new video for the track "Wrong Side" was directed by renowned director David Brodsky (GOD FORBID, THE RED CHORD). Check it out at this location.