~INTERVIEWS~
Devin Townsend
LOVING A SHOW TUNE
"There's no reason, I just don't have an image," Devin Townsend excuses himself. He knows he is a bit dull as far as metal masterminds go. Despite changing the name of his "band" from record to record - he is Strapping Young Lad and he is Ocean Machine, new album Infinity being the first released under his actual name - Townsend has remained that same skinny, balding, normal guy. Not only does he not try to act metal, he doesn't act anything. "I tried to have an image for a while, but there's just no image there," he shrugs. "It's just me you know, I do my thing and people either like it or they don't. Those who don't - I urge you to go and buy something that you do like and leave me alone."
Devin's record company would not be so likely to shoo away his market share, however. Townsend's past projects have achieved significant praise in many quarters. He is routinely referred to as unique and amazing and incredible. He has, on occasion, been called a genius. These are all fine selling points. But the man's music is inescapably, mercilessly metal, so the pitch just won't make sense if Devin is all normal like. To sell Devin Townsend, they must make him as metal as his music. And so his bio extravagantly refers to him as "a volcanic young man" or, when being more overtly ridiculous, as an "insomniac innovator hell-bent to stand down the crucifixion of his soul on the road to the Promised Land". These are not descriptions that fit in with the fella I'm speaking to - he doesn't think so either. In fact, when I read them out to him, Devin has quite a giggle.
"Really? It's so easy to say things, people need to hype something so they use catch phrases like volcanic and all those sorts of things. I'm not the issue here, but that's what the record company is all about," he says, resigned. "Don't talk about me, leave me alone. Talk about the music, focus on the music, tell me what you think about the music. Is the music volcanic?" Is the bio embarrassing? But what do you say? He laughs out loud. "Oh it's brutally embarrassing! But what do you say? The only thing you can do is say 'Well, hey, you know? Sorry!'."
Townsend started playing guitar when he was eight, but he can't remember why. He does not recall inspiration from a particular musician , or even an aimless desire to be famous. Somehow he has happened across it though - his own burgeoning fame, and also close encounters with fame of a higher degree. Seven years ago, aged 19, Devin toured as lead singer with Steve Vai's band, an experience which he says gave him insight to what success in the music biz means.
"It's uprooting your life from being this total shmoe in Vancouver to being this supposed cheese in Los Angeles and having to go to parties and having to impress people," is his plain summation. "By seeing guys like Steve Vai, you see it. It's a two edged sword. You get paid to be a servant. You get paid well to be a servant for people. You sort of become a performing monkey if you're not careful. I sort of fell into that, a little head over heels, because I was so desperate for attention, but I think ultimately what that did for me was it made me lose my idealism, and I think that was a good thing for me. It was easier to proceed when I had nothing to lose."
The early influence of artists like Vai is still evident on the Infinity album. Townsend is definitely a bit daggy, proudly indulging his somewhat unfashionable tastes. Commonly, a record is most easily described with reference to other albums of the same genre. While Infinity is, without question a heavy metal record and similarities to bands like Fear Factory are easily seen, one can just as easily draw points of reference to cock rock like Vai or Joe Satriani, keyboard metal ala Judas Priest, or production line pop. And you wouldn't need much convincing to think that the intro to Bad Devil was lifted from Phantom Of The Opera. At times, it goes awfully close to over the top. It is at the very least, dramatic. Devin admits that "there may be a certain amount of homage there," recalling his nondescript musical tastes growing up.
"Just kept changing. Fan of music." he sighs, aware that his answer meant nothing. "I was always into musicals when I was younger. Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats and Fiddler On The Roof and all that." Would you still go to see these shows on stage? "Yeah, I went to a couple. A lot of the time those shows are made for the average shmoe who likes to go out and have a nice night with his wife and kids or whatever, so they're really obvious, really dramatic and overstated and I'm not into the over dramatic type of performance." Devin says this in all seriousness. "I'd prefer to see something that was more like... I mean the movie for Jesus Christ Superstar was like the coolest thing ever! The guys that were in it were doing it because they loved it, man. It was rad."
By Greg Cormack
INPRESS, February 10, 1999