Devin Townsend
Encyclopedia
Devin Garret Townsend is a Canadian musician
and record producer
. He was the founder, songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist
in extreme metal
band Strapping Young Lad
from 1994 to 2007 and has had an extensive career as a solo artist.
After performing in a number of metal
bands in high school
, Townsend was discovered by a record label in 1993 and was asked to perform lead vocals on Steve Vai
's album Sex & Religion. After recording and touring with Vai, Townsend was discouraged by what he found in the music industry, and vented his anger on a solo album
released under the pseudonym Strapping Young Lad. He soon assembled a band under the name, and released the critically acclaimed City
in 1997. Since then, he has released three more studio albums with Strapping Young Lad, along with solo material released under his own independent record label, HevyDevy Records. Townsend's solo albums, a diverse mix of hard rock
and progressive metal
, have featured a varying lineup of supporting musicians. In 2002 he formed The Devin Townsend Band, a dedicated lineup which recorded and toured for two of his solo releases.
In 2007, Townsend disbanded both Strapping Young Lad and The Devin Townsend Band, taking a break from touring to spend more time with his family. After a two-year hiatus, he began work on a four-album series called The Devin Townsend Project, with each album written in a different style. The first two entries in the series, Ki
and Addicted, were released in 2009. Townsend scheduled tours throughout Australia
and North America
in 2010 in support of the albums, and released the next two, Deconstruction
and Ghost
, in 2011.
Townsend's trademark production style, featuring a heavily multitracked wall of sound
, has been compared to the styles of Phil Spector
and Frank Zappa
. His versatile vocal delivery ranges from screaming
to an opera-esque singing, and his songwriting is similarly diverse. Townsend's musical style is rooted in metal, and his albums are written to express different aspects of his personality.
, on May 5, 1972. Townsend picked up the banjo when he was five, and began playing guitar when he was 12. He participated in several metal
bands while he was in high school
, and founded Grey Skies at the age of 19. Around the same time he joined a popular local group called Caustic Thought, replacing Jed Simon
on guitar and playing alongside bassist
Byron Stroud
, both of whom would later become members of Townsend's flagship band, Strapping Young Lad
. In 1993, Townsend began writing material under the name Noisescapes, a project he later described as "just as violent as Strapping Young Lad".
Townsend recorded a Noisescapes demo and sent copies to various record labels. Relativity Records
responded to Townsend with a record deal and Townsend began work on what was to be the first Noisescapes album, Promise. Shortly afterward, the label introduced him to musician Steve Vai
. Impressed with Townsend's vocal work, Vai offered him the role of the lead vocalist on his new album Sex and Religion. Townsend took the offer, unfamiliar with Vai's work and unaware of his acclaim in the music world. After recording Sex and Religion, Townsend accompanied Vai on a world tour in support of the album. Townsend soon landed a second touring gig, this time with the opening band of Vai's tour, The Wildhearts
. He played live with the band throughout half of 1994 in Europe
, and appeared as a guest musician on their single Urge
. Ginger
, the band's frontman, remained close friends with Townsend, later co-writing several songs on Infinity
and the Christeen + 4 Demos EP.
While on tour with The Wildhearts, Townsend formed a short-lived thrash metal
project with Metallica
's then-bassist
Jason Newsted
. The band, known as IR8, featured Newsted on vocals and bass, Townsend on guitar, and Tom Hunting
of Exodus
on drums. The group recorded a few songs together, although Townsend says that they never intended to go further than that. "People heard about it and thought we wanted to put out a CD, which is absolutely not true," he explains. "People took this project way too seriously." A demo tape was put together, but the material was not released until 2002, when Newsted published the IR8 vs. Sexoturica compilation.
Though Townsend was proud of what he had accomplished so early in his career, he was discouraged by his experience with the music industry. "I was becoming a product of somebody else's imagination, and it was mixing with my own personality," he later reflected. "This combination was appalling." He pushed to get his own projects off the ground. Despite getting notable touring gigs with other musicians, however, Townsend continued to face rejection of his own music. Relativity Records dropped Noisescapes from their label shortly after Townsend accepted Vai's offer, seeing no commercial appeal in Townsend's music. "I have a hunch they only offered me a deal to get me to sing with Steve," he mused. While touring with The Wildhearts, Townsend received a phone call from an A&R
representative for Roadrunner Records
, expressing an interest in his demos and an intention to sign him. The offer was ultimately rescinded by the head of Roadrunner, who regarded Townsend's recordings as "just noise".
and the 1995 album Hard Wired
by Vancouver industrial band Front Line Assembly
. Townsend began to record material under the pseudonym Strapping Young Lad
. He avoided using his real name at this point in career, looking for a fresh start after his high-profile Vai gig. "At the beginning, I wanted to avoid at all cost to use my name because I was known as the singer for Steve Vai and it wasn't the best publicity to have," he later explained. "I was playing somebody else's music and I was judged in respect to that music." Townsend produced and performed nearly all the instruments on the debut studio album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing
, which was released in April 1995.
Following the release of the record, Townsend and several other musician friends he knew in Vancouver recorded his first solo album in 1996 entitled Punky Brüster – Cooked on Phonics. Written and recorded in under a month, the album was produced as a parody of punk rock
bands and documents the act of selling out for mainstream success. Townsend founded his own independent record label, HevyDevy Records, to release the album. Townsend assembled a permanent lineup of Strapping Young Lad to record City
, including prolific metal drummer Gene Hoglan
, along with Townsend's former bandmates Jed Simon
on guitar and Byron Stroud
on bass. The industrial
-influenced album was released in 1997. To this day, the album is widely considered Strapping Young Lad's best work, with Metal Maniacs
calling it "groundbreaking" and Revolver
naming it "one of the greatest metal albums of all time". Townsend himself considers it the band's "ultimate" album. Later that year, Townsend released his second solo album, Ocean Machine: Biomech
. The album featured a mix of hard rock
, ambient
, and progressive rock
.
After the completion of City and Ocean Machine: Biomech, Townsend began to approach a mental breakdown. "I started to see human beings as little lonesome, water based, pink meat," he explained, "life forms pushing air through themselves and making noises that the other little pieces of meat seemed to understand." In 1997, he checked himself into a mental-health hospital, where he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder
. The diagnosis helped him understand where the two sides of his music were coming from; he felt his disorder "gave birth to the two extremes that are Strapping's City record and Ocean Machine: Biomech." After being discharged from the hospital, Townsend found that "everything just clicked" and he was able to write his third solo album, Infinity
, which he described as "the parent project" of City and Ocean Machine: Biomech, with music influenced by Broadway
. Townsend returned to the studio, accompanied by Hoglan, to work on the album, on which Townsend played most of the instruments. Infinity was released in October 1998. Later in his career, Townsend has cited Infinity as his favorite solo record.
With Infinity, Townsend began to label all albums outside of Strapping Young Lad under his own name, dropping the Ocean Machine moniker, to reduce confusion. He wanted to show that despite the highly varied nature of his projects, they are all simply aspects of his identity. The album Biomech was relabeled and redistributed as Ocean Machine: Biomech, under Townsend's name, to reflect the new arrangement. Townsend's bandmates began to play two sets at their shows, one as Strapping Young Lad, and one as The Devin Townsend Band, playing songs from Townsend's solo albums.
Townsend's next project took several years to come to fruition. After the creation of the IR8 demo tape, Townsend and Jason Newsted had begun work on a new project called Fizzicist, which they described as "heavier than Strapping Young Lad". When the IR8 tape was leaked, Newsted's Metallica bandmates James Hetfield
and Lars Ulrich
learned of the project. Hetfield was "fucking pissed" that Newsted was playing outside the band, and Newsted was prevented by his bandmates from working on any more side projects. With the project stalled, Townsend instead wrote the album himself, entitling it Physicist. Townsend assembled his Strapping Young Lad bandmates to record it, the only time this lineup was featured on a Devin Townsend album. The thrash
-influenced Physicist was released in June 2000, and is generally considered a low point in Townsend's career. Hoglan and the rest of the band were dissatisfied with the way the sound was mixed
, and Townsend considers it his worst album to date.
Feeling he had "ostracized a bunch of fans" with Physicist, Townsend felt he had the chance to make a more personal and honest record. Townsend was inspired one morning while driving across Canada with his band, and looked to write an "introspective" album dedicated to his homeland. He produced and recorded Terria
, a "highly illustrated stream-of-consciousness" album, with Gene Hoglan on drums, Craig McFarland on bass and Jamie Meyer on keyboards. Townsend cited Ween
's White Pepper
as an inspiration for the album. Terria was released in November 2001.
, as an emotional response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, in the United States
. "If the world's about to blow up," said Townsend, "let's write the soundtrack for it." The album's lyrics were based more around fear and insecurity than the "hostile" lyrics of City. Musically, Strapping Young Lad was less industrial
than City, and more reminiscent of death metal, with a "larger-than-life" rock
production style. Townsend cited Front Line Assembly
, Grotus
, and Samael
's Passage as influences. The self-titled album was released in February 2003. It received lukewarm reviews, with critics finding it inferior to City, but it was the band's first charting album, entering at 97th place on Billboard's Top Heatseekers
chart.
While Strapping Young Lad was being reunited, Townsend formed a new, permanent band "on par with Strapping" to record and tour for his solo releases. The Devin Townsend Band consisted of Brian Waddell on guitar
, Mike Young on bass
, Ryan Van Poederooyen
on drums, and Dave Young
on keyboards. Townsend performed guitar, vocals, and production, as he did in Strapping Young Lad. Townsend worked on the band's first album, Accelerated Evolution
, at the same time he was working on Strapping Young Lad, spending half the week on one and half on the other. Accelerated Evolution, named for the pace of putting a new band together in under a year, was released a month after Strapping Young Lad. Mike G. of Metal Maniacs
called it "the album of the year", praising it for "the hard-to-accomplish trick of being extreme yet accessible, simultaneously heavy 'n' rockin' yet majestic and beautiful." Prior to the formation of The Devin Townsend Band, Townsend had represented his solo releases live with the Strapping Young Lad lineup; the band would play one set of Strapping Young Lad songs and one set of Devin Townsend songs. After the release of Accelerated Evolution
, Townsend's two bands toured separately for their separate albums.
Strapping Young Lad began working on their next album, Alien
, in March 2004. Feeling that the band's previous album did not live up to expectations, Townsend decided to take his music to a new extreme. To prepare for the new album, Townsend stopped taking the medication prescribed to treat his bipolar disorder. "I think that as an artist, in order for me to get to the next plateau, I kind of feel the need to explore things and sometimes that exploration leads you to places that are a little crazy," he explains. "And Alien was no exception with that." Although Townsend considered the album an "impenetrable mass of technicality", it was well received on its release, selling 3,697 copies in its first week and appearing on several Billboard
charts.
Shortly thereafter Townsend began putting together the next Devin Townsend Band record, with the working title Human. Townsend intended the album as the more "pleasant" counterpart to Alien. "It's basically a record about coming back down to earth after being in space with Alien for a while." The album ended up being renamed Synchestra
and was released in January 2006. Townsend showcased a wide variety of musical styles in Synchestra, blending his trademark "pop metal" with influences from folk
, polka
, and Middle Eastern music
.
, releasing it exclusively on his website in November 2006.
In May 2007, Townsend released Ziltoid the Omniscient
, a tongue-in-cheek rock opera
about the eponymous fictional alien. This was truly a solo album; he programmed the drums using Drumkit from Hell
, a software drum machine
that uses MIDI samples recorded by Tomas Haake of Meshuggah
Shortly after the album's release, Townsend announced that he no longer planned to tour or make albums with Strapping Young Lad or The Devin Townsend Band. He explained that he was "burnt out on travelling, touring, and self promotion" and wished to do production work, write albums, and spend time with his family without the stress of interviews or touring.
In 2008, Townsend lent his voice to characters in several episodes of the Adult Swim
cartoon
Metalocalypse
(see Musician cameos in Metalocalypse for more). The original character design for Pickles the Drummer, one of the series' main characters, bore a striking resemblance to Townsend. The series' co-creator Brendan Small acknowledged the similarity, and altered the design before the series began. "We made sure he didn't look like Devin Townsend. We gave him the goatee and the dreadover so he wouldn't look like that."
Over two years, Townsend wrote over 60 songs, and found that they fit into "four distinct styles". In March 2009, Townsend announced his plans for a four-album series called The Devin Townsend Project, with the goal of clarifying his musical identity and being "accountable" for the persona he projects to the public. The project's concept includes a different "theme" and a different group of musicians on each album.
Ki
, the first album of The Devin Townsend Project, was written to "set the stage" for the subsequent albums. Townsend channeled his newfound control and sobriety into Ki, a "tense, quiet" album that contrasts with much of the music he had been known for. Ki was released in May 2009. The second entry, a "commercial, yet heavy" album called Addicted
, was released in November 2009.
Townsend returned to the stage in January 2010, touring North America
with headliner Between the Buried and Me
as well as Cynic
and Scale the Summit
. This was followed by a headlining tour in Australia
and a series of high-profile shows in Europe
(for example co-headlining the Brutal Assault
festival in Czech Republic
). He headlined a North American tour with UK label mates TesseracT
supporting, which began in October 2010, and toured in Europe with support from Aeon Zen
and Anneke van Giersbergen
.
The final albums in The Devin Townsend Project series, Deconstruction
and Ghost
, were released on June 21, 2011. Townsend is to perform all four of The Devin Townsend Project albums in the UK and record them for release in a special DVD to coincide with the release of The Devin Townsend Project boxset. The first two shows have been confirmed to be held at Union Chapel in Islington
on November 10 and November 13 where he will be playing the albums Ki and Ghost respectively. These four shows will each be entitled "An Evening With The Devin Townsend Project".
Since 2009, Townsend has discussed plans to expand the Ziltoid the Omniscient franchise. His ideas included a sequel album, a "full blown musical" with the title Z2, but the album appeared to have been scrapped, as Townsend stated in mid-June 2011, "I’m very rapidly realizing that humor and metal… it doesn’t really work." However, as of July 2011, he has stated on his Twitter
account that the album was still in the works, but was "vying for pole-position" as he works on other projects. He has expressed possible plans to begin a series of online videos, a series titled ZTV, instead, in which a Ziltoid hand puppet conducts interviews with various bands. A graphic novel
based on the Ziltoid character, and possibly performing the Ziltoid album as a staged musical, at least as a one-off, have also been considered. Townsend has stated on his Twitter that he is working on a new album, entitled "Epicloud". He described the album as "Big, heavy, romantic kind of melodic stuff. Pretty, ethereal and simple." Anneke Van Giersbergen
will take part in the album.
Townsend designed his two main projects, the aggressive Strapping Young Lad
and his more melodic solo material, as counterparts. Strapping Young Lad's music was a diverse mix of extreme metal
genres; death metal
, thrash metal
, black metal
and industrial metal. Townsend's solo material blends many genres and influences, with elements of atmospheric ambient music
, hard rock
and progressive rock
, along with pop
metal
and arena rock
. Despite Strapping Young Lad's greater mainstream acceptance, Townsend identifies more with his solo material, and has never intended Strapping Young Lad to be the focus of his music.
", Townsend has developed a trademark production style featuring an atmospheric, layered "wall of sound". Townsend has drawn critical praise for his productions, which "are always marked by a sense of adventure, intrigue, chaotic atmospherics and overall aural pyrotechnics", according to Mike G. of Metal Maniacs
. Townsend mainly uses Pro Tools
to produce his music, alongside other software suites such as Steinberg Cubase
, Ableton Live
, and Logic Pro
. Townsend's musical ideas and production style have drawn comparisons to Phil Spector
and Frank Zappa
. Townsend has carried out the mixing and mastering for most of his solo work himself. He has also mixed and remixed work for other artists such as Rammstein, August Burns Red
and Misery Signals
.
for both six and seven string guitar. He now also uses Open B tuning and Open B flat tuning (Open C tuning tuned a half and a whole step down respectively) on his six string guitars. Townsend's technique varies from fingerpicking
, power chord
s and polychords to sweep-picked arpeggios
and tapping
techniques. He is also known for his heavy use of reverb and delay
effects. He has expressed that he has no taste for shred guitar
, saying that "Musically it doesn't do anything for me" and that he only solos when he thinks that he can within the context of the song. Townsend himself has stated, "Yeah it's played on the...Fourth fret, E string, Eighth fret, A string...", and has remarked, "I have no idea what notes they are, I have people who do that".
. Townsend has cited, among others, Judas Priest
, W.A.S.P.
, Frank Zappa
, Broadway musicals
, Abba
, new age music
, Zoviet France
, King's X
, Morbid Angel
, Barkmarket
, Grotus
, Jane's Addiction
, Metallica
, Cop Shoot Cop
and Fear Factory
as his influences, and has also expressed his admiration for Meshuggah
on several occasions, calling them "the best metal band on the planet". City
was influenced by bands such as Foetus
and Cop Shoot Cop
, and The New Black
s influences were Meshuggah, and "more traditional metal" like Metallica. He is also influenced by classical composers such as Igor Stravinsky
.
, live album
s, compilation album
s, and collaborations under a variety of monikers, and has produced
several albums for other artists.
Solo albums
Strapping Young Lad
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. He was the founder, songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
in extreme metal
Extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. The term usually refers to a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal,...
band Strapping Young Lad
Strapping Young Lad
Strapping Young Lad was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing...
from 1994 to 2007 and has had an extensive career as a solo artist.
After performing in a number of metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
bands in high school
Education in Canada
Education in Canada is for the most part provided publicly, funded and overseen by federal, provincial, and local governments. Education is within provincial jurisdiction and the curriculum is overseen by the province. Education in Canada is generally divided into primary education, followed by...
, Townsend was discovered by a record label in 1993 and was asked to perform lead vocals on Steve Vai
Steve Vai
Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....
's album Sex & Religion. After recording and touring with Vai, Townsend was discouraged by what he found in the music industry, and vented his anger on a solo album
Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing
-Credits:*Devin Townsend – guitar, vocals, keyboards, programming, mixing, editing, production, arrangements, art direction -Additional musicians:*Adrian White – drums*Jed Simon – additional guitar *Chris Byes – drums...
released under the pseudonym Strapping Young Lad. He soon assembled a band under the name, and released the critically acclaimed City
City (Strapping Young Lad album)
City is the second album by Canadian extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on February 11, 1997. The album was re-released in 2007 with several bonus tracks and altered cover art...
in 1997. Since then, he has released three more studio albums with Strapping Young Lad, along with solo material released under his own independent record label, HevyDevy Records. Townsend's solo albums, a diverse mix of hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
and progressive metal
Progressive metal
Progressive metal is a subgenre of heavy metal originating in the United Kingdom and North America in the late 1980s...
, have featured a varying lineup of supporting musicians. In 2002 he formed The Devin Townsend Band, a dedicated lineup which recorded and toured for two of his solo releases.
In 2007, Townsend disbanded both Strapping Young Lad and The Devin Townsend Band, taking a break from touring to spend more time with his family. After a two-year hiatus, he began work on a four-album series called The Devin Townsend Project, with each album written in a different style. The first two entries in the series, Ki
Ki (album)
Ki is the eleventh studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the first of four albums in The Devin Townsend Project series. The album was released in May 2009 on his independent record label HevyDevy Records....
and Addicted, were released in 2009. Townsend scheduled tours throughout Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
in 2010 in support of the albums, and released the next two, Deconstruction
Deconstruction (The Devin Townsend Project album)
Deconstruction is the thirteenth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the third album in the Devin Townsend Project series...
and Ghost
Ghost (The Devin Townsend Project album)
Ghost is the fourteenth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the final of four planned albums in The Devin Townsend Project series. It was released on June 20, 2011...
, in 2011.
Townsend's trademark production style, featuring a heavily multitracked wall of sound
Wall of Sound
The Wall of Sound is a music production technique for pop and rock music recordings developed by record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, California, during the early 1960s...
, has been compared to the styles of Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
and Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
. His versatile vocal delivery ranges from screaming
Screaming (music)
Screaming is a vocal technique that is most popular in subgenres of heavy metal, punk and hard rock, including metalcore, deathcore, post-hardcore, groove metal, black metal, and grindcore...
to an opera-esque singing, and his songwriting is similarly diverse. Townsend's musical style is rooted in metal, and his albums are written to express different aspects of his personality.
Early musical career (1972–1994)
Devin Townsend was born in New Westminster, British ColumbiaNew Westminster, British Columbia
New Westminster is an historically important city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and is a member municipality of the Greater Vancouver Regional District. It was founded as the capital of the Colony of British Columbia ....
, on May 5, 1972. Townsend picked up the banjo when he was five, and began playing guitar when he was 12. He participated in several metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
bands while he was in high school
Education in Canada
Education in Canada is for the most part provided publicly, funded and overseen by federal, provincial, and local governments. Education is within provincial jurisdiction and the curriculum is overseen by the province. Education in Canada is generally divided into primary education, followed by...
, and founded Grey Skies at the age of 19. Around the same time he joined a popular local group called Caustic Thought, replacing Jed Simon
Jed Simon
Jed Simon is a Canadian musician. He has been a member of numerous metal bands, including Front Line Assembly, Strapping Young Lad, Zimmers Hole, and TENET.-Biography:...
on guitar and playing alongside bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Byron Stroud
Byron Stroud
Byron Stroud is the bassist for metal bands Fear Factory, City of Fire and Zimmers Hole and the defunct band Strapping Young Lad.-Biography:...
, both of whom would later become members of Townsend's flagship band, Strapping Young Lad
Strapping Young Lad
Strapping Young Lad was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing...
. In 1993, Townsend began writing material under the name Noisescapes, a project he later described as "just as violent as Strapping Young Lad".
Townsend recorded a Noisescapes demo and sent copies to various record labels. Relativity Records
Relativity Records
Relativity Records, often branded just Relativity, is an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his company, Important Record Distribution in metro New York. Early on, as an indie label, Relativity released music in a variety of styles, including dance, jazz, punk, and...
responded to Townsend with a record deal and Townsend began work on what was to be the first Noisescapes album, Promise. Shortly afterward, the label introduced him to musician Steve Vai
Steve Vai
Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....
. Impressed with Townsend's vocal work, Vai offered him the role of the lead vocalist on his new album Sex and Religion. Townsend took the offer, unfamiliar with Vai's work and unaware of his acclaim in the music world. After recording Sex and Religion, Townsend accompanied Vai on a world tour in support of the album. Townsend soon landed a second touring gig, this time with the opening band of Vai's tour, The Wildhearts
The Wildhearts
The Wildhearts are a British rock group originally formed in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The band's sound is a mixture of hard rock and melodic pop music, often described in the music press as combining influences as diverse as The Beatles and 1980s-era Metallica...
. He played live with the band throughout half of 1994 in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and appeared as a guest musician on their single Urge
Urge (Wildhearts)
"Urge" is the second single from the album Endless Nameless by The Wildhearts. The single was released in three different formats featuring different B-sides. Former guitarist Devin Townsend sings backing vocals on the CD1 B-side "Kill Me To Death". "Genius Penis" was written by drummer Ritch...
. Ginger
Ginger (singer)
Ginger is a rock guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known for his band The Wildhearts.-Early career:...
, the band's frontman, remained close friends with Townsend, later co-writing several songs on Infinity
Infinity (Devin Townsend album)
Infinity is the third solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. The album was released in October 1998 on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records.-Background:...
and the Christeen + 4 Demos EP.
While on tour with The Wildhearts, Townsend formed a short-lived thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
project with Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
's then-bassist
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
Jason Newsted
Jason Newsted
Jason Curtis Newsted is an American bassist known for his work with Metallica, Voivod and Flotsam and Jetsam. Joining Metallica in 1986 after Cliff Burton's death, Newsted remained a member until 2001, making him the band's longest-serving bassist...
. The band, known as IR8, featured Newsted on vocals and bass, Townsend on guitar, and Tom Hunting
Tom Hunting
Tom Hunting is an American drummer, famous for his work with the band Exodus. He played on their first three albums, Bonded by Blood, Pleasures of the Flesh, and Fabulous Disaster...
of Exodus
Exodus (band)
Exodus is an American thrash metal band formed in 1980 in Richmond, California. Spanning a career of over 30 years, Exodus has gone through numerous lineup changes, two extended hiatuses, and the deaths of two former band members. Guitarist Gary Holt remains the only constant member of the band,...
on drums. The group recorded a few songs together, although Townsend says that they never intended to go further than that. "People heard about it and thought we wanted to put out a CD, which is absolutely not true," he explains. "People took this project way too seriously." A demo tape was put together, but the material was not released until 2002, when Newsted published the IR8 vs. Sexoturica compilation.
Though Townsend was proud of what he had accomplished so early in his career, he was discouraged by his experience with the music industry. "I was becoming a product of somebody else's imagination, and it was mixing with my own personality," he later reflected. "This combination was appalling." He pushed to get his own projects off the ground. Despite getting notable touring gigs with other musicians, however, Townsend continued to face rejection of his own music. Relativity Records dropped Noisescapes from their label shortly after Townsend accepted Vai's offer, seeing no commercial appeal in Townsend's music. "I have a hunch they only offered me a deal to get me to sing with Steve," he mused. While touring with The Wildhearts, Townsend received a phone call from an A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
representative for Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records is an American record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal bands. It is currently a subsidiary of Warner Music Group.-History:...
, expressing an interest in his demos and an intention to sign him. The offer was ultimately rescinded by the head of Roadrunner, who regarded Townsend's recordings as "just noise".
Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing through Infinity (1994–1998)
In 1994, Century Media Records offered Townsend a contract to make "some extreme albums". He agreed to a five-album deal with the record label, and also provided much of the guitar work on the 1994 album MillenniumMillennium (Front Line Assembly album)
-Personnel:*Bill Leeb – programming, vocals*Rhys Fulber – programming*Devin Townsend – guitars *Don Harrison – guitars *Che the Minister of Defense – vocals...
and the 1995 album Hard Wired
Hard Wired
Hard Wired is an album by Front Line Assembly, released in 1995. It makes extensive use of audio-clips from the 1995 film In the Mouth of Madness, especially in the track "Mortal." The album includes artwork by David McKean....
by Vancouver industrial band Front Line Assembly
Front Line Assembly
Front Line Assembly is a Canadian electro-industrial band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy. Influenced by early Industrial acts such as Cabaret Voltaire, Portion Control, D.A.F., Test Dept, SPK, and Severed Heads, FLA has developed its own unique sound while combining...
. Townsend began to record material under the pseudonym Strapping Young Lad
Strapping Young Lad
Strapping Young Lad was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing...
. He avoided using his real name at this point in career, looking for a fresh start after his high-profile Vai gig. "At the beginning, I wanted to avoid at all cost to use my name because I was known as the singer for Steve Vai and it wasn't the best publicity to have," he later explained. "I was playing somebody else's music and I was judged in respect to that music." Townsend produced and performed nearly all the instruments on the debut studio album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing
Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing
-Credits:*Devin Townsend – guitar, vocals, keyboards, programming, mixing, editing, production, arrangements, art direction -Additional musicians:*Adrian White – drums*Jed Simon – additional guitar *Chris Byes – drums...
, which was released in April 1995.
Following the release of the record, Townsend and several other musician friends he knew in Vancouver recorded his first solo album in 1996 entitled Punky Brüster – Cooked on Phonics. Written and recorded in under a month, the album was produced as a parody of punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
bands and documents the act of selling out for mainstream success. Townsend founded his own independent record label, HevyDevy Records, to release the album. Townsend assembled a permanent lineup of Strapping Young Lad to record City
City (Strapping Young Lad album)
City is the second album by Canadian extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on February 11, 1997. The album was re-released in 2007 with several bonus tracks and altered cover art...
, including prolific metal drummer Gene Hoglan
Gene Hoglan
Eugene "Gene" Victor Hoglan II is an American drummer. He is acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including usage of odd devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms...
, along with Townsend's former bandmates Jed Simon
Jed Simon
Jed Simon is a Canadian musician. He has been a member of numerous metal bands, including Front Line Assembly, Strapping Young Lad, Zimmers Hole, and TENET.-Biography:...
on guitar and Byron Stroud
Byron Stroud
Byron Stroud is the bassist for metal bands Fear Factory, City of Fire and Zimmers Hole and the defunct band Strapping Young Lad.-Biography:...
on bass. The industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
-influenced album was released in 1997. To this day, the album is widely considered Strapping Young Lad's best work, with Metal Maniacs
Metal Maniacs
Metal Maniacs was a heavy metal magazine founded in 1989 by Mike G. and Katherine Ludwig of Metal Shop. It was focused largely on covering extreme metal, with emphasis on the black and death metal genres...
calling it "groundbreaking" and Revolver
Revolver (magazine)
Revolver is a bi-monthly rock and heavy metal magazine published by Future US. Before covering heavy metal, rock & hard rock solely, it was a more mainstream oriented magazine. The magazine is structured in a manner similar to publications such as Spin while covering many avenues within the heavy...
naming it "one of the greatest metal albums of all time". Townsend himself considers it the band's "ultimate" album. Later that year, Townsend released his second solo album, Ocean Machine: Biomech
Ocean Machine: Biomech
Ocean Machine: Biomech is the second studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. The album was released in July 1997 on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records.-Background:...
. The album featured a mix of hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
, ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
, and progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
.
After the completion of City and Ocean Machine: Biomech, Townsend began to approach a mental breakdown. "I started to see human beings as little lonesome, water based, pink meat," he explained, "life forms pushing air through themselves and making noises that the other little pieces of meat seemed to understand." In 1997, he checked himself into a mental-health hospital, where he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
. The diagnosis helped him understand where the two sides of his music were coming from; he felt his disorder "gave birth to the two extremes that are Strapping's City record and Ocean Machine: Biomech." After being discharged from the hospital, Townsend found that "everything just clicked" and he was able to write his third solo album, Infinity
Infinity (Devin Townsend album)
Infinity is the third solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. The album was released in October 1998 on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records.-Background:...
, which he described as "the parent project" of City and Ocean Machine: Biomech, with music influenced by Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. Townsend returned to the studio, accompanied by Hoglan, to work on the album, on which Townsend played most of the instruments. Infinity was released in October 1998. Later in his career, Townsend has cited Infinity as his favorite solo record.
With Infinity, Townsend began to label all albums outside of Strapping Young Lad under his own name, dropping the Ocean Machine moniker, to reduce confusion. He wanted to show that despite the highly varied nature of his projects, they are all simply aspects of his identity. The album Biomech was relabeled and redistributed as Ocean Machine: Biomech, under Townsend's name, to reflect the new arrangement. Townsend's bandmates began to play two sets at their shows, one as Strapping Young Lad, and one as The Devin Townsend Band, playing songs from Townsend's solo albums.
Physicist and Terria (1999–2001)
James Hetfield
James Alan Hetfield is the rhythm guitarist, co-founder, main songwriter, and lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Metallica. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering a classified advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler,...
and Lars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich is a Danish drummer, and one of the founding members of the American thrash metal band Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to an upper-middle class family. A tennis player in his youth, Ulrich moved to Los Angeles, California at age sixteen to pursue his training; though rather...
learned of the project. Hetfield was "fucking pissed" that Newsted was playing outside the band, and Newsted was prevented by his bandmates from working on any more side projects. With the project stalled, Townsend instead wrote the album himself, entitling it Physicist. Townsend assembled his Strapping Young Lad bandmates to record it, the only time this lineup was featured on a Devin Townsend album. The thrash
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
-influenced Physicist was released in June 2000, and is generally considered a low point in Townsend's career. Hoglan and the rest of the band were dissatisfied with the way the sound was mixed
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
, and Townsend considers it his worst album to date.
Feeling he had "ostracized a bunch of fans" with Physicist, Townsend felt he had the chance to make a more personal and honest record. Townsend was inspired one morning while driving across Canada with his band, and looked to write an "introspective" album dedicated to his homeland. He produced and recorded Terria
Terria
Terria is the fifth solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. The album was released in November 2001 on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records.-Background:...
, a "highly illustrated stream-of-consciousness" album, with Gene Hoglan on drums, Craig McFarland on bass and Jamie Meyer on keyboards. Townsend cited Ween
Ween
Ween is an American alternative rock group. They formed in 1984 in New Hope, Pennsylvania when central members Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo met in an eighth grade typing class. Ween has a large cult underground fanbase despite being generally unknown in American pop music...
's White Pepper
White Pepper
-Singles:* "Even If You Don't" was released as a single on Mushroom Records with the B-side "Cornbread Red".* "Stay Forever" was released as a single on Mushroom Records with "The Grobe" and "Who Dat?"-Musicians featured on the record:* Dean Ween* Gene Ween...
as an inspiration for the album. Terria was released in November 2001.
Strapping Young Lad through Synchestra (2003–2006)
Townsend's solo run lasted until 2002. After a five-year break from recording, Strapping Young Lad reunited to record a new album. Townsend credits the album, Strapping Young LadStrapping Young Lad (album)
Strapping Young Lad is the eponymous third album by Canadian heavy metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on February 11, 2003.-Background:...
, as an emotional response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. "If the world's about to blow up," said Townsend, "let's write the soundtrack for it." The album's lyrics were based more around fear and insecurity than the "hostile" lyrics of City. Musically, Strapping Young Lad was less industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
than City, and more reminiscent of death metal, with a "larger-than-life" rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
production style. Townsend cited Front Line Assembly
Front Line Assembly
Front Line Assembly is a Canadian electro-industrial band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy. Influenced by early Industrial acts such as Cabaret Voltaire, Portion Control, D.A.F., Test Dept, SPK, and Severed Heads, FLA has developed its own unique sound while combining...
, Grotus
Grotus
Grotus was an experimental, politically charged rock band from San Francisco, California, active from 1989 to 1996. Their unique sound incorporated industrial rock, sampled ethnic instruments, two drummers, two bassists, and angry but humorous lyrics...
, and Samael
Samael (band)
Samael is a industrial black metal band formed in 1987 in Sion, Switzerland.-Biography:Although much of their music from the mid-1990s onwards has incorporated electronic sounds which would best define their genre as industrial metal, they are an early 2nd Wave black metal band and an innovator for...
's Passage as influences. The self-titled album was released in February 2003. It received lukewarm reviews, with critics finding it inferior to City, but it was the band's first charting album, entering at 97th place on Billboard's Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...
chart.
While Strapping Young Lad was being reunited, Townsend formed a new, permanent band "on par with Strapping" to record and tour for his solo releases. The Devin Townsend Band consisted of Brian Waddell on guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, Mike Young on bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, Ryan Van Poederooyen
Ryan Van Poederooyen
Ryan Joost Van Poederooyen is a Canadian drummer. He gained "international recognition" as a member of progressive metal groups The Devin Townsend Band and The Devin Townsend Project...
on drums, and Dave Young
Dave Young (musician)
Dave Young is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist. He has been a member of several notable groups, including The Devin Townsend Band, Ten Ways from Sunday, Terror Syndrome, and The Matinée. He has also played on the albums Ki and Ghost by Devin Townsend and Alien by Strapping Young Lad...
on keyboards. Townsend performed guitar, vocals, and production, as he did in Strapping Young Lad. Townsend worked on the band's first album, Accelerated Evolution
Accelerated Evolution
Accelerated Evolution is the sixth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. The album, written and produced by Townsend, was a mix of musical styles from alternative and hard rock to progressive metal...
, at the same time he was working on Strapping Young Lad, spending half the week on one and half on the other. Accelerated Evolution, named for the pace of putting a new band together in under a year, was released a month after Strapping Young Lad. Mike G. of Metal Maniacs
Metal Maniacs
Metal Maniacs was a heavy metal magazine founded in 1989 by Mike G. and Katherine Ludwig of Metal Shop. It was focused largely on covering extreme metal, with emphasis on the black and death metal genres...
called it "the album of the year", praising it for "the hard-to-accomplish trick of being extreme yet accessible, simultaneously heavy 'n' rockin' yet majestic and beautiful." Prior to the formation of The Devin Townsend Band, Townsend had represented his solo releases live with the Strapping Young Lad lineup; the band would play one set of Strapping Young Lad songs and one set of Devin Townsend songs. After the release of Accelerated Evolution
Accelerated Evolution
Accelerated Evolution is the sixth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. The album, written and produced by Townsend, was a mix of musical styles from alternative and hard rock to progressive metal...
, Townsend's two bands toured separately for their separate albums.
Strapping Young Lad began working on their next album, Alien
Alien (album)
Alien is the fourth album by Canadian extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on March 22, 2005. The album was written by Devin Townsend and Gene Hoglan over a 6 month time period....
, in March 2004. Feeling that the band's previous album did not live up to expectations, Townsend decided to take his music to a new extreme. To prepare for the new album, Townsend stopped taking the medication prescribed to treat his bipolar disorder. "I think that as an artist, in order for me to get to the next plateau, I kind of feel the need to explore things and sometimes that exploration leads you to places that are a little crazy," he explains. "And Alien was no exception with that." Although Townsend considered the album an "impenetrable mass of technicality", it was well received on its release, selling 3,697 copies in its first week and appearing on several Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
charts.
Shortly thereafter Townsend began putting together the next Devin Townsend Band record, with the working title Human. Townsend intended the album as the more "pleasant" counterpart to Alien. "It's basically a record about coming back down to earth after being in space with Alien for a while." The album ended up being renamed Synchestra
Synchestra
Synchestra is the eighth solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the second album he recorded with The Devin Townsend Band. The album was released in January 2006 on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records.-Background:...
and was released in January 2006. Townsend showcased a wide variety of musical styles in Synchestra, blending his trademark "pop metal" with influences from folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
, and Middle Eastern music
Middle Eastern music
The music of Western Asia and North Africa spans across a vast region, from Morocco to Afghanistan, and its influences can be felt even further afield. Middle Eastern music influenced the music of India, as well as Central Asia, Spain, Southern Italy, the Caucasus and the Balkans, as in chalga...
.
Ziltoid the Omniscient and hiatus (2006–2008)
Townsend's wife, Tracy Turner, gave birth to their first son, Reyner Liam Johnstan Townsend, on October 4, 2006. Around this time, Townsend withdrew from touring to spend time with his family. From home, Townsend completed his second solo ambient album, The HummerThe Hummer
The Hummer is the ninth solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and his second ambient album. It was released on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records, on November 15, 2006.-Music:...
, releasing it exclusively on his website in November 2006.
In May 2007, Townsend released Ziltoid the Omniscient
Ziltoid the Omniscient
Ziltoid the Omniscient is the tenth studio album by the Canadian metal musician Devin Townsend, released on his own label HevyDevy Records in May 2007 and distributed in America and Europe by InsideOut Music....
, a tongue-in-cheek rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
about the eponymous fictional alien. This was truly a solo album; he programmed the drums using Drumkit from Hell
Drumkit from Hell
Drumkit from Hell is a sample based drum software synthesizer developed by Toontrack. It features heavy sounds well suited for heavy metal music....
, a software drum machine
Drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
that uses MIDI samples recorded by Tomas Haake of Meshuggah
Meshuggah
Meshuggah is an extreme metal band from Umeå, Sweden, formed in 1987. Meshuggah's line-up has primarily consisted of founding members vocalist Jens Kidman and lead guitarist Fredrik Thordendal, drummer Tomas Haake, who joined in 1990, and rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström, who joined in 1992...
Shortly after the album's release, Townsend announced that he no longer planned to tour or make albums with Strapping Young Lad or The Devin Townsend Band. He explained that he was "burnt out on travelling, touring, and self promotion" and wished to do production work, write albums, and spend time with his family without the stress of interviews or touring.
In 2008, Townsend lent his voice to characters in several episodes of the Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
Metalocalypse
Metalocalypse
Metalocalypse is an American animated television series, created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha, which premiered on August 6, 2006 on Adult Swim...
(see Musician cameos in Metalocalypse for more). The original character design for Pickles the Drummer, one of the series' main characters, bore a striking resemblance to Townsend. The series' co-creator Brendan Small acknowledged the similarity, and altered the design before the series began. "We made sure he didn't look like Devin Townsend. We gave him the goatee and the dreadover so he wouldn't look like that."
The Devin Townsend Project (2008–present)
After removing himself from the music industry, Townsend cut his trademark hair off and gave up drinking and smoking. Townsend found it "disconcerting" that he had difficulty writing music without drugs, and that he had trouble identifying his purpose as a musician. He spent a year producing albums in absence of writing, but found it unrewarding and decided to "pick up the guitar and just write". This began a period of "self discovery" where he learned "how to create without drugs".Over two years, Townsend wrote over 60 songs, and found that they fit into "four distinct styles". In March 2009, Townsend announced his plans for a four-album series called The Devin Townsend Project, with the goal of clarifying his musical identity and being "accountable" for the persona he projects to the public. The project's concept includes a different "theme" and a different group of musicians on each album.
Ki
Ki (album)
Ki is the eleventh studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the first of four albums in The Devin Townsend Project series. The album was released in May 2009 on his independent record label HevyDevy Records....
, the first album of The Devin Townsend Project, was written to "set the stage" for the subsequent albums. Townsend channeled his newfound control and sobriety into Ki, a "tense, quiet" album that contrasts with much of the music he had been known for. Ki was released in May 2009. The second entry, a "commercial, yet heavy" album called Addicted
Addicted (Devin Townsend album)
Addicted is the twelfth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the second of four albums in The Devin Townsend Project series. The album was released on November 17, 2009 on Townsend's independent record label HevyDevy Records...
, was released in November 2009.
Townsend returned to the stage in January 2010, touring North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
with headliner Between the Buried and Me
Between the Buried and Me
Between the Buried and Me is an American heavy metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina. They have released a total of five studio albums, as well as a cover album, an EP and a live DVD/CD...
as well as Cynic
Cynic (band)
Cynic is an American progressive rock band, incorporating experimental music, alternative, metal and jazz fusion elements, founded in Miami, Florida and currently based in Los Angeles, California. Their first album, Focus, released on September 14, 1993, is widely regarded as a landmark release of...
and Scale the Summit
Scale the Summit
Scale the Summit is an American instrumental metal band based out of Houston, Texas. It formed in 2004 and signed to Prosthetic Records.The band draws influences from other progressive acts such as Cynic and Dream Theater. However, unlike most other progressive metal bands, they have no vocalist...
. This was followed by a headlining tour in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and a series of high-profile shows in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
(for example co-headlining the Brutal Assault
Brutal assault
Brutal Assault is an extreme metal open-air music festival taking place in the 18th century army Fortress Josefov in Jaroměř, Czech Republic. It takes place each August traditionally on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the beginning of the month. The festival was started in 1995 featuring mostly...
festival in Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
). He headlined a North American tour with UK label mates TesseracT
TesseracT (band)
TesseracT are a British progressive metal band formed in 2003. They are currently signed to Century Media Records.-History:Tesseract started out back in 2003 as a personal side project, to Fellsilent, in the then-teenage Acle Kahney's bedroom...
supporting, which began in October 2010, and toured in Europe with support from Aeon Zen
Aeon Zen
Aeon Zen are a progressive rock/metal band formed in 2008, led by the only permanent member, vocalist, guitarist, bassist and keyboard player Rich Hinks...
and Anneke van Giersbergen
Anneke van Giersbergen
Anneke van Giersbergen is the former lead singer of the Dutch progressive/alternative rock band The Gathering which she departed in August 2007. Since then, she has been involved in a solo project called Agua de Annique which also included her husband & drummer of the band, Rob Snijders...
.
The final albums in The Devin Townsend Project series, Deconstruction
Deconstruction (The Devin Townsend Project album)
Deconstruction is the thirteenth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the third album in the Devin Townsend Project series...
and Ghost
Ghost (The Devin Townsend Project album)
Ghost is the fourteenth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the final of four planned albums in The Devin Townsend Project series. It was released on June 20, 2011...
, were released on June 21, 2011. Townsend is to perform all four of The Devin Townsend Project albums in the UK and record them for release in a special DVD to coincide with the release of The Devin Townsend Project boxset. The first two shows have been confirmed to be held at Union Chapel in Islington
Union Chapel, Islington
The Union Chapel is a Grade II* listed church and music venue in Islington, North London, England, located on Compton Terrace.An example of Victorian gothic architecture, it was designed by James Cubitt, and constructed between 1874 and 1877, with further additions 1877-90, providing an ambitious...
on November 10 and November 13 where he will be playing the albums Ki and Ghost respectively. These four shows will each be entitled "An Evening With The Devin Townsend Project".
Since 2009, Townsend has discussed plans to expand the Ziltoid the Omniscient franchise. His ideas included a sequel album, a "full blown musical" with the title Z2, but the album appeared to have been scrapped, as Townsend stated in mid-June 2011, "I’m very rapidly realizing that humor and metal… it doesn’t really work." However, as of July 2011, he has stated on his Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
account that the album was still in the works, but was "vying for pole-position" as he works on other projects. He has expressed possible plans to begin a series of online videos, a series titled ZTV, instead, in which a Ziltoid hand puppet conducts interviews with various bands. A graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
based on the Ziltoid character, and possibly performing the Ziltoid album as a staged musical, at least as a one-off, have also been considered. Townsend has stated on his Twitter that he is working on a new album, entitled "Epicloud". He described the album as "Big, heavy, romantic kind of melodic stuff. Pretty, ethereal and simple." Anneke Van Giersbergen
Anneke van Giersbergen
Anneke van Giersbergen is the former lead singer of the Dutch progressive/alternative rock band The Gathering which she departed in August 2007. Since then, she has been involved in a solo project called Agua de Annique which also included her husband & drummer of the band, Rob Snijders...
will take part in the album.
Projects
Strapping Young Lad
Strapping Young Lad was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing...
and his more melodic solo material, as counterparts. Strapping Young Lad's music was a diverse mix of extreme metal
Extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. The term usually refers to a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal,...
genres; death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
, thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
, black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
and industrial metal. Townsend's solo material blends many genres and influences, with elements of atmospheric ambient music
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
, hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
and progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, along with pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
and arena rock
Arena rock
Arena rock is a term used to describe rock music that utilised large arena venues, particularly sports venues, for concerts or series of concerts linked in tours...
. Despite Strapping Young Lad's greater mainstream acceptance, Townsend identifies more with his solo material, and has never intended Strapping Young Lad to be the focus of his music.
Production style
As a self-proclaimed "fan of multitrackingMultitrack recording
Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...
", Townsend has developed a trademark production style featuring an atmospheric, layered "wall of sound". Townsend has drawn critical praise for his productions, which "are always marked by a sense of adventure, intrigue, chaotic atmospherics and overall aural pyrotechnics", according to Mike G. of Metal Maniacs
Metal Maniacs
Metal Maniacs was a heavy metal magazine founded in 1989 by Mike G. and Katherine Ludwig of Metal Shop. It was focused largely on covering extreme metal, with emphasis on the black and death metal genres...
. Townsend mainly uses Pro Tools
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...
to produce his music, alongside other software suites such as Steinberg Cubase
Steinberg Cubase
Cubase is a music software product developed by Steinberg for music recording, arranging and editing as part of a Digital Audio Workstation. It is one of the oldest DAWs to still enjoy widespread use...
, Ableton Live
Ableton Live
Ableton Live is a loop-based software music sequencer and DAW for Mac OS and Windows by Ableton. The latest major release of Live, Version 8, was released in April 2009. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool for...
, and Logic Pro
Logic Pro
Logic Pro is a hybrid 32 / 64 bit digital audio workstation and MIDI sequencer software application for the Mac OS X platform. Originally created by German software developer Emagic, Logic Pro became an Apple product when Apple bought Emagic in 2002...
. Townsend's musical ideas and production style have drawn comparisons to Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
and Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
. Townsend has carried out the mixing and mastering for most of his solo work himself. He has also mixed and remixed work for other artists such as Rammstein, August Burns Red
August Burns Red
August Burns Red is an American metal band, from Manheim, Pennsylvania. Formed in 2003, the group began their first performances while a majority of the members were attending their senior year of high school, and soon began playing shows around Lancaster, before being signed to CI Records, and...
and Misery Signals
Misery Signals
Misery Signals is an American metalcore band formed in Wisconsin in 2002. The sound of their music is defined by bright melodies backed up by odd time signatures, chugging riffs, and breakdowns.-Formation :...
.
Playing style
Townsend mainly uses Open C tuningOpen C tuning
Open C Tuning is an open tuning for guitar. The open string notes in this tuning are CGCGCE. It uses the three notes that form the triad of a C major chord: C, the root note; G, the perfect fifth; and E the major third....
for both six and seven string guitar. He now also uses Open B tuning and Open B flat tuning (Open C tuning tuned a half and a whole step down respectively) on his six string guitars. Townsend's technique varies from fingerpicking
Fingerstyle guitar
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking ....
, power chord
Power chord
In music, a power chord is a chord consisting of only the root note of the chord and the fifth interval, usually played on electric guitar, and typically through an amplification process that imparts distortion...
s and polychords to sweep-picked arpeggios
Sweep-picking
Sweep picking is a guitar playing technique in which a 'sweeping' motion of the pick is combined with a matching fret hand technique in order to produce a specific series of notes which are fast and fluid in sound. Despite being commonly known as sweep picking, both hands essentially perform an...
and tapping
Tapping
Tapping is a guitar playing technique, where a string is fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion of being pushed onto the fretboard, as opposed to the standard technique being fretted with one hand and picked with the other...
techniques. He is also known for his heavy use of reverb and delay
Delay
- Law :*To delay payment of a debt, a crime in the United Kingdom- Telecommunications and broadcasting:*Broadcast delay, a practice of time-shifting transmissions*Delay encoding, a radio transmission technique...
effects. He has expressed that he has no taste for shred guitar
Shred guitar
Shred guitar or shredding is lead electric guitar playing that relies heavily on fast guitar solos. While some critics argue that shred guitar is associated with "... sweep-picked arpeggios, diminished and harmonic minor scales, finger-tapping and ... whammy-bar abuse", several guitar...
, saying that "Musically it doesn't do anything for me" and that he only solos when he thinks that he can within the context of the song. Townsend himself has stated, "Yeah it's played on the...Fourth fret, E string, Eighth fret, A string...", and has remarked, "I have no idea what notes they are, I have people who do that".
Influences
Townsend draws influence from a wide range of music genres, most prominently heavy metalHeavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
. Townsend has cited, among others, Judas Priest
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...
, W.A.S.P.
W.A.S.P.
W.A.S.P. is an American heavy metal band formed in 1982. They emerged from the same Los Angeles scene that spawned Mötley Crüe, Ratt, Quiet Riot and others. The band's popularity peaked in the 1980s, yet they continue to record and tour, making them one of the most enduring of the West Coast heavy...
, Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, Broadway musicals
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, Abba
Abba
ABBA is the name of a former Swedish pop music group.Abba may also refer to:* ABBA , a self-titled album by the Swedish pop music group ABBA* "Abba ", a song by Christian pop and rock artist, Rebecca St...
, new age music
New Age music
New Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often...
, Zoviet France
Zoviet France
Zoviet France is a prolific music group from Newcastle upon Tyne in north east England. While often dissonant and made of industrial textures, their music also falls into the ambient music category...
, King's X
King's X
King's X is an American hard rock band that combines progressive metal, funk and soul with vocal arrangements influenced by gospel, blues, and British Invasion rock groups. The band's lyrics are largely based on the members' struggles with religion and self-acceptance...
, Morbid Angel
Morbid Angel
Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida. UK music magazine Terrorizer ranked one Morbid Angel album in its “Top 40 greatest death metal albums”, with their 1989 debut Altars of Madness appearing at number 1...
, Barkmarket
Barkmarket
Barkmarket was a rock music group formed in New York City in 1987. Personnel were singer/guitarist and main songwriter Dave Sardy, bass guitarist John Nowlin and drummer Rock Savage....
, Grotus
Grotus
Grotus was an experimental, politically charged rock band from San Francisco, California, active from 1989 to 1996. Their unique sound incorporated industrial rock, sampled ethnic instruments, two drummers, two bassists, and angry but humorous lyrics...
, Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction is an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985. The band's original line-up featured Perry Farrell , Dave Navarro , Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins . After breaking up in 1991, Jane's Addiction briefly reunited in 1997 and again in 2001, both times...
, Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
, Cop Shoot Cop
Cop Shoot Cop
Cop Shoot Cop was a rock music group founded in New York City in 1987. They disbanded in 1996. The band were frequently classified as industrial rock, but were often quite different from many bands so dubbed, with a distinctive instrumental lineup that encompassed twin bass guitars, found metal...
and Fear Factory
Fear Factory
Fear Factory is an American industrial metal band. Formed in 1989, they have released seven full-length albums and a number of singles and remixes. Over the course of their career they have evolved from a succession of styles, as well as steadily pioneered a combination of the styles death metal,...
as his influences, and has also expressed his admiration for Meshuggah
Meshuggah
Meshuggah is an extreme metal band from Umeå, Sweden, formed in 1987. Meshuggah's line-up has primarily consisted of founding members vocalist Jens Kidman and lead guitarist Fredrik Thordendal, drummer Tomas Haake, who joined in 1990, and rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström, who joined in 1992...
on several occasions, calling them "the best metal band on the planet". City
City (Strapping Young Lad album)
City is the second album by Canadian extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on February 11, 1997. The album was re-released in 2007 with several bonus tracks and altered cover art...
was influenced by bands such as Foetus
Foetus (band)
Foetus is the primary musical outlet of industrial music pioneer J. G. Thirlwell. Until 1995 the band underwent various name changes, all including the word foetus. Monikers adopted at different times include Foetus Under Glass, You've Got Foetus On Your Breath and Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel...
and Cop Shoot Cop
Cop Shoot Cop
Cop Shoot Cop was a rock music group founded in New York City in 1987. They disbanded in 1996. The band were frequently classified as industrial rock, but were often quite different from many bands so dubbed, with a distinctive instrumental lineup that encompassed twin bass guitars, found metal...
, and The New Black
The New Black
The New Black is the fifth and final album by Canadian heavy metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on July 11, 2006, debuting at #200 on the Billboard charts...
s influences were Meshuggah, and "more traditional metal" like Metallica. He is also influenced by classical composers such as Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
.
Discography
Townsend has released fourteen solo studio albums and five studio albums with Strapping Young Lad. He has also released numerous EPsExtended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
s, compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
s, and collaborations under a variety of monikers, and has produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
several albums for other artists.
Solo albums
| Title | Release date | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Punky Brüster – Cooked on Phonics | March 19, 1996 | HevyDevy |
| Ocean Machine: Biomech Ocean Machine: Biomech Ocean Machine: Biomech is the second studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. The album was released in July 1997 on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records.-Background:... |
July 21, 1997 | |
| Infinity Infinity (Devin Townsend album) Infinity is the third solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. The album was released in October 1998 on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records.-Background:... |
June 17, 1998 | |
| Physicist | June 26, 2000 | |
| Terria Terria Terria is the fifth solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. The album was released in November 2001 on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records.-Background:... |
November 6, 2001 | |
| Accelerated Evolution Accelerated Evolution Accelerated Evolution is the sixth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. The album, written and produced by Townsend, was a mix of musical styles from alternative and hard rock to progressive metal... |
March 31, 2003 | |
| Devlab Devlab Devlab is the seventh solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and his first ambient album. It was released on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records, on December 4, 2004... |
December 4, 2004 | |
| Synchestra Synchestra Synchestra is the eighth solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the second album he recorded with The Devin Townsend Band. The album was released in January 2006 on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records.-Background:... |
January 30, 2006 | |
| The Hummer The Hummer The Hummer is the ninth solo album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and his second ambient album. It was released on Townsend's label, HevyDevy Records, on November 15, 2006.-Music:... |
November 15, 2006 | |
| Ziltoid the Omniscient Ziltoid the Omniscient Ziltoid the Omniscient is the tenth studio album by the Canadian metal musician Devin Townsend, released on his own label HevyDevy Records in May 2007 and distributed in America and Europe by InsideOut Music.... |
May 27, 2007 | |
| Ki Ki (album) Ki is the eleventh studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the first of four albums in The Devin Townsend Project series. The album was released in May 2009 on his independent record label HevyDevy Records.... |
May 22, 2009 | |
| Addicted | November 17, 2009 | |
| Deconstruction Deconstruction (The Devin Townsend Project album) Deconstruction is the thirteenth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the third album in the Devin Townsend Project series... |
June 20, 2011 | |
| Ghost Ghost (The Devin Townsend Project album) Ghost is the fourteenth studio album by Canadian musician Devin Townsend, and the final of four planned albums in The Devin Townsend Project series. It was released on June 20, 2011... |
June 20, 2011 | |
| Ghost 2 | ? | |
| Epicloud | 2012 | |
Strapping Young Lad
Strapping Young Lad
Strapping Young Lad was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing...
| Title | Release date | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing -Credits:*Devin Townsend – guitar, vocals, keyboards, programming, mixing, editing, production, arrangements, art direction -Additional musicians:*Adrian White – drums*Jed Simon – additional guitar *Chris Byes – drums... |
April 4, 1995 | Century Media Century Media Records Century Media Records is an Independent record label with offices in the United States, Germany, Australia, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom.- Background :... |
| City City (Strapping Young Lad album) City is the second album by Canadian extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on February 11, 1997. The album was re-released in 2007 with several bonus tracks and altered cover art... |
February 11, 1997 | |
| Strapping Young Lad Strapping Young Lad (album) Strapping Young Lad is the eponymous third album by Canadian heavy metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on February 11, 2003.-Background:... |
February 11, 2003 | |
| Alien Alien (album) Alien is the fourth album by Canadian extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on March 22, 2005. The album was written by Devin Townsend and Gene Hoglan over a 6 month time period.... |
March 22, 2005 | |
| The New Black The New Black The New Black is the fifth and final album by Canadian heavy metal band Strapping Young Lad. It was released on July 11, 2006, debuting at #200 on the Billboard charts... |
July 11, 2006 | |
External links
- HevyDevy Records
- Devin Townsend at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....