EXCLUSIVE: BEHIND THE BOARDS – Devin Townsend (Issue 14 Preview)
November 7th, 2009 Filed under: 21 & Under With... by admin
(Photo -Scott Alexander)
Following a 3-year hiatus from touring which saw Devin rack up some serious production credits, quit smoking and drinking and do a fairly serious overhaul on his musical direction, he’s back and wasting no time. Straight out the gate with the new Devin Townsend Project, he’s on the musical warpath again this time with a four-part series. ABORT Magazine’s Alxs Ness sat down with Devin to discuss his upcoming release ‘Addicted’, his experience behind the boards and his views on the music industry.
Alxs Ness: This is Alxs Ness for ABORT Magazine, we’re here speaking with Vancouver’s own Devin Townsend. How are you doing today?
Devin Townsend: I’m good. I am excellent.
ABORT: Good to hear. So you’re currently working on completing the last half of your four part series for the Devin Townsend Project. Can you tell us where you’re at in that right now?
DT: Well, like I say about 2 years ago I wrote a series of records that kind of documented this period of personal change, you know, a lot of things happened at one time – I quit the band, had a baby, quit smoking pot and drinking booze and everything- and so it’s been 3 years of just basically cleaning my head out. During that time, the process, the way I write music tends to be pretty cathartic so whatever’s currently the state of my life always ends up translating some way or another into the music and so that personal period of time ended up being 60-some-odd songs, 40 of which were worth listening to and 4 very distinct styles. So the chronology of the records end up illustrating that period and the second one’s just finished and working on the third one.
ABORT: You’re in the recording process right now for Deconstruction?
DT: Yeah. I mean my process is a little convoluted because I’ve got a home studio; I start with a demo and that usually ends up being the final session. So from moment one it’s kind of in the process and I’ve got so many songs that I’ve been working on that this whole thing seems to be just the ongoing thing. I’ve got so many records that I’ve done that here’s the next one right? (laughs)
ABORT: I know you’ve been saying for each album you have a distinct band- a different group of musicians for each one- I was wondering, how does that work? Are they bringing something to the table as well or do you have it mapped out beforehand, how it’s going to go?
DT: There’s wiggle room but there’s certain elements of it that have no wiggle room because they ultimately affect the albums later on. For example there’s certain parts [where] it’s not going to bother the structure if the drummer has his way with the fills or the bass player plays it up an octave or whatever. For the most part I’ve got really solid vision of what I want and without trying to be a total Nazi about it I tend to, you know…. If I find that my personal relationships suffer because an album needs to be a really specific way I tend to just do it all myself.
ABORT: I gotcha. And I guess the players are aware of that before they sign on anyhow right?
DT: To a certain extent but in all honesty the personal relationships are more important than any record really so sometimes it may start and we may find that our relationship’s suffering because I am so specific about it and then we just leave it and I end up playing the parts myself or something. More then anything else the reason why I do involve so many different people is that it allows me to engage in a social life that I might otherwise not have because all I do is work. Having a ton of musicians in my world is really cool.
READ THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW IN ISSUE 14 of ABORT – December ‘09
By Alxs Ness
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