Devin Townsend – Devin Townsend Project

Devin Townsend is a name that is synonymous with metal. There is nothing he cannot do! From being a musical extraordinaire to theatrical live shows to massive crowd-funding campaigns, he is without a doubt one of the most talented and respected musicians in the world and it was an honour to say the least having a chat with him on behalf of Metal Obsession. We spoke about his upcoming guitar clinic in Australia, latest double album to be released end of October and a bunch of other things!

This is going to be Devin’s very first guitar clinic tour which he will conduct in five cities. We spoke about why Devin chose Australia for his clinics and what musicians and fans alike can expect from them. “I’m really excited! To be honest I’ve done so many records, and made so much music, I think it’s important to share experiences with other people; and I really want to provide my perspective on things. I hope to be able to do that, not only with demos but also touch upon the vocal, production and technical side of things. Being my first ever guitar clinic, I’m doing it on a trial and error basis but I that I want to connect with people and answer their questions. I’ve seen people do guitar clinics, and it isn’t really something that would be my first choice to participate in. But at the same time I do think it is important to share whatever knowledge I have gained over the years. There’s no real agenda per se, I’ll just be discussing techniques that I use, my gear, things like that, even add in some play-alongs! It’ll be fun! I feel I am at a position where I have so much experience that I can advice people and give them insight into how I work and what methods I use when I compose music. I love Australia, especially when I was there last year for a tour, it was amazing! I’ve been there many, many times so naturally I wanted to come back there. Let’s see how things go!

Devin’s a multi-tasker and has a new double album on the way while also enjoying the massive success that is his debut album with Casualties of Cool. I asked him to give us some insight into how the idea for a completely different musical project came about. “It is something that I hold very close to me and give a lot of importance to. I wanted to do something completely different than what I do with the Devin Townsend Project and what I’ve done in the past – something that was artsy and unique. Also with me, I think it’s just a direct reaction to the thing that came prior to it; before Deconstruction I did ghost, after Ghost came Epicloud and then I started on Casualties. I took my time with it and gave put in a lot of thought working without any time constraint. It’s dark, weird, quiet and is based on my love for the blues. I love it! It was a pleasure working with Che again, she has one of the most soothing voices I’ve heard!”

Casualties of Cool saw the release of debut album this year and which hit 546% of the initial target courtesy of a massively successful crowd-funding campaign! “ I was overwhelmed with the response man. It was unbelievable how supportive people are and how much the fans and people who love what you do back you up and want to be a part of it. Even today, I find it hard to process and really, it still hasn’t actually sunk in but it does mean so much to me. More than anything I was humbled by the fact that this project was getting so much support. At one point there was just so much going on because I had Z2 happening at the exact same time but I made sure that each and every person that contributed knew how grateful I was!”

Z² is released locally via Century Media on October 31

Devin, the busy multitasking genius that he is has a new double album to be released at the end of this month – a Ziltoid album and one by DTP. He shared his feelings about the new record and just how insane he thinks it is! “I think that the whole nature of how I write music is based on following where it leads directly. It depends on my state of mind and how life is at a given point in time.At first when I listened to it, I thought to myself ‘holy shit this is crazy! What have we made here!’ but then by the 40^th listen I was genuinely excited! I feel good about the album now as compared to before. There’s just so much work and so much effort that went into the making of Z2; puppet shows, comic books, massive records, super weird outer space things! It’s like a whole new world altogether. The basic concept is that you’re in a battle against yourself in someway; here it’s Ziltoid against the world! He’s become an entity of his own! It is a lot of work I think ,to listen to the whole thing but I can assure you that it definitely worth it! Good luck with it *laughs*. At which point, I told him that I had and that he was a bloody genius!

Devin has worked with the likes of Opeth, Gojira, the Dillinger Escape Plan and many other favourites that we know and love. When asking him if he had any other such plans for collaborations, he gave me the most hilarious reply, we both ended up giggling! “Well, at the moment I’ve got a scheduled collaboration with some kids at the park next week but that’s about it! That’s the plan! When it comes to music, I just follow where it leads, and go with it. I like having that flexibility; it allows me as an artist to entertain people while also expressing what I feel through my music. So as of now, no direct plans really but you never know!”

Devin has one last message to his Australian fans! “ The reason I want to do this clinic is because of the support and love I’ve had from Australia, and I’m really excited to be coming back there again! Looking forward to it and thank you all for your support!”

Don’t miss the mighty Devin Townsend on his guitar clinic tour of Australia, sharing his ingenuity and imparting musical wisdom on the following dates:

Monday, October 20 – 7.30pm – Princess Theatre, Brisbane
Tuesday, October 21 – 7.30pm – Paddington Town Hall, Sydney
Wednesday October 22 – 7.30pm – St Kilda Town Hall, Melbourne
Thursday, October 23 – 7.30pm – The Gov, Adelaide
Saturday, October 25 – 12pm – John Inverarity Theatre, Hale School, Perth

Tickets available from Thump Music

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