Devin Townsend

Devin Garrett Townsend (born May 5, 1972) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also had an extensive solo career and has released a total of 28 albums across all of his projects as of 2022.

After performing in a number of heavy metal bands in high school, Townsend was discovered in 1993 by a record label who asked him to perform lead vocals on Steve Vai's album ''Sex & Religion''. After recording and touring with Vai, he was discouraged by what he found in the music industry and vented his anger on his 1995 solo album ''Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing'', which he released under the pseudonym Strapping Young Lad. He soon assembled a band of the same name, with whom he released the critically acclaimed album ''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 HevyDevy Records label.

Townsend's solo albums have featured a varying lineup of supporting musicians and are a mix of hard rock, progressive metal, ambient, and new-age. In 2002, he formed the Devin Townsend Band, which recorded and toured for two of his solo releases. In 2007, he 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 recording again and soon announced the formation of the Devin Townsend Project. This band began with a series of four albums, released from 2009 to 2011 and each written in a different genre. Townsend continued to record and tour under the new moniker until January 2018.

Across all his bands and solo projects, Townsend has released 23 studio albums and four live albums. His trademark production style, featuring a heavily multi-tracked wall of sound, has been compared to the styles of Robert Fripp and Frank Zappa. His vocal delivery ranges from screaming to an opera-esque singing, while his musical style is rooted in metal and his albums are written to express different aspects of his personality.

Biography

Early musical career (1972–1994)

Devin Garrett Townsend was born in New Westminster on May 5, 1972. He picked up the banjo when he was five and began playing guitar when he was 12."Devin Townsend Overview" ''AllMusic''. Retrieved June 8, 2009. As a young teenager, he befriended Brian "Beav" Waddell, who would later play guitars as part of the Devin Townsend Band and bass on the Devin Townsend Project. 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.Profile: Jed Simon
" ''Zimmers Hole'' (official site). 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 & Religion''. After recording ''Sex & Religion'', Townsend accompanied Vai on a world tour in support of the album. Townsend soon landed a second tour, 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 touring 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 Monte Conner, then- A&R representative for Roadrunner Records, expressing an interest in his demos and an intention to sign him. After being briefly signed by the label, the offer was ultimately rescinded by Cees Wessels, the owner 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 ''Millennium'' 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 a rock opera in 1996 entitled '' Punky Brüster – Cooked on Phonics''. Written and recorded in under a month, the album tells the fictional story of a death metal band from Poland that sells out becoming a punk rock band to achieve 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.
Dating back to the ''Sex and Religion'' tour, Townsend had been writing solo material for a project called Ocean Machine. The album, initially entitled ''Biomech'', was recorded in 1995 and originally queued for release later that year in December on HevyDevy Records, a label created by Townsend solely for material he releases on his own. Due to unknown reasons, ''Ocean Machine: Biomech'' was put off for release until late 1996, but when the time came to finally release it Townsend had become unsatisfied with the recordings, rerecorded the entire album, and finally released in Japan on July 21, 1997.

During this period, Townsend was also asked to audition for the lead vocalist spot in Judas Priest after Rob Halford's departure. Though a fan of the band, he turned down the offer, explaining that: "No one would want to see Devin Townsend singing for Judas Priest. I mean, it's ridiculous."

After the completion of ''City'' and ''Ocean Machine: Biomech'', Townsend began to approach a mental breakdown. He explained, "I started to see human beings as little lonesome, water based, pink meat life forms pushing air through themselves and making noises that the other little pieces of meat seemed to understand." In December 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.

''Physicist'' and ''Terria'' (1999–2001)

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, although Townsend would later downplay Metallica's role in Newsted's unavailability. 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.

''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 Lad'', 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 "Beav" 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.Smit, Jackie (March 10, 2005).
Fury & passion in extremis
." '' Chronicles of Chaos''. During the process of writing and recording the new album, Townsend stopped taking the medication prescribed to treat his bipolar disorder because he began expressing doubt about the initial diagnosis, and decided to stop taking the medication, but continued with his substance abuse, and he eventually "flipped out" during the process, and later called the resulting album "toxic" and "psychologically very unhealthy". 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. Around this time, Townsend also contributed to the soundtrack of the video game '' Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel''.

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.
The final Strapping Young Lad album, ''The New Black'', was released later in 2006.

''Ziltoid the Omniscient'' and hiatus (2006–2008)

Townsend withdrew from touring to spend time with his family. From home, Townsend completed his second solo ambient album, ''The Hummer'', 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 samples recorded by Tomas Haake of Meshuggah and played all other instruments himself. 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 Brendon 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."

Creation of the Devin Townsend Project (2008–2012)

After removing himself from the music industry, Townsend cut his trademark hair offGenghis & Ragman (May 10, 2009).
Podcast #80 – Idol
." ''The Right to Rock''. 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"Raven, Paul Graham (April 11, 2009).
Interview: Devin Townsend
." ''The Dreaded Press''. Retrieved April 14, 2009. where he learned "how to create without drugs".Blabbermouth.net (March 20, 2009).
Devin Townsend to return this summer with ''Ki''
." Retrieved April 12, 2009.

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 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 tetralogy was written to "set the stage" for the subsequent albums. Townsend channeled his new-found control and sobriety into ''Ki'', a "tense, quiet" album, which contrasts with much of the music he had been known for. Additional female vocals were provided by Ché Aimee Dorval ( Casualties of Cool). ''Ki'' was released in May 2009.

The second entry, a "commercial, yet heavy" album called '' Addicted'', was released in November 2009 and features lead vocals from Townsend and Dutch singer Anneke van Giersbergen. Brian "Beav" Waddell was recruited from the Devin Townsend Band to play bass.

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.Devin Townsend to Perform Entire ''Ziltoid'' Album at Finland's TUSKA Festival
." Blabbermouth.net. February 12, 2010. Retrieved February 14, 2010.

The third and fourth albums in the Devin Townsend Project series, '' Deconstruction'' and '' Ghost'', were released simultaneously on June 21, 2011. In December 2011 all four Devin Townsend Project albums with additional material were released as the ''Contain Us'' box set. Townsend performed all four of Devin Townsend Project albums in London and recorded them for a DVD box set called '' By a Thread: Live in London 2011'' that was released on June 18, 2012. The first three shows were held at the University of London Union, November 10–12, 2011. ''Ki'', ''Addicted'', and ''Deconstruction'' were each performed on one night, respectively. The show for ''Ghost'' was held at the Union Chapel, Islington on November 13, 2011. These four shows were each entitled "An Evening with the Devin Townsend Project".

Despite the Devin Townsend Project being originally a four-album series, Townsend decided to continue working under the moniker and released the fifth album, ''Epicloud'' on September 18, 2012. Again featuring Anneke van Giersbergen on vocals, ''Epicloud'' appeared on several European charts, peaking at number 8 in Finland. On October 27, 2012, Townsend performed a one-off show covering his musical career called ''The Retinal Circus

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