~INTERVIEWS~
INTENSITY IN TEN CITIES
"Jeremy, Devin Townsend's on the phone!"
It's not often you get to hear that phrase, and I probably won't again. Although with this erratic genius you never can tell.
So Devin, how are you?
"Do you want the truth"
Yeah, why not?
"It's three thirty in the morning, I am standing on
the side of a freeway in the middle of Kansas about 100 yards from our
Econoline van. There's six grown men crammed inside the van and we just
played a show to about 100 rednecks and a smattering of our fans."
I think you deserve better than that on the strength
of your records.
"Well, thanks, but that's why we're doing this," he
says, "so people can hear our music."
That's the question. Given the things you've done in
your career - Steve Vai, the Wildhearts, covers of guitar magazines - why
are you doing it like this?
"There was a point in my life where I lost the idealism
I had towards the music industry and a lot of the idols I had when I was
a kid. At that point in my life I decided I could either continue along
that path of whoring myself out, doing whatever was expected and making
a certain amount of money, or do whatever the hell I wanted to and not
answer to anybody. That's what it came down to. I spent the beginning of
my career watching people try and turn my career into a commodity, to mould
it into something it wasn't. 'It's gotta be more like Machine Head', or
'it's gotta be more like Steve Vai! No," he demands, "it's gotta be more
like what the fuck I want it to be."
"I'm sorry if I'm babbling man, it's been so fucking
long since I slept."
That's fine, but it doesn't sound like this is gonna
stop for you. You've got five more weeks on tour in the US and then you
come to Australia.
"I know," he says excitedly, "and that's just the
best. Oh my God, it's like every word that comes out of my mouth I can't
remember saying it."
"I cannot wait to come to Australia," he giggles.
"I am familiar with the culture and the climate, it's the place where I've
always wanted to go."
Does it bother you that, Livid Festival aside, you
are not playing in large halls?
"No that's great because I've spent my time in the
rock 'n' roll penitentiary and there's no balls in it, no passion unless
you're right there with the people that are buying your records. I think
that one of the greatest mistakes people make in the music industry is
separating themselves from the people who buy their records. When you're
up on stage in an arena you don't see anybody, you don't see shit. We are
going to a place we have never been and there is gonna be a certain amount
of respect everywhere we play because we've come there to play for people
who like our music. It's gonna be fucking great."
Not everyone likes your music though, even alleged
hardcore music lovers. As readers of Loudmouth know, some people
can't find any solace in the last SYL release City, some people
can't understand it at all. (note: City received a low rating review
in Loudmouth by Jeremy Chunn who could not seem to understand the album
at all)
"I'm gonna send that guy a postcard. That's just as
important in a certain sense because the opposite dynamic is what makes
the shit go around. If you've got something everyone loves it's not gonna
happen, you need people not to understand your stuff so that the people
have something to go by."
What kind of fans are you attracting at the moment?
"Luckily, and I don't think anyone could hope for
anything more, generally we are attracting fairly intelligent kids. Not
the rednecks, not the homophobes, not the violent types but ones that are
interested in learning and people who can relate to what we are saying.
And that is infinitely more satisfying than anything I've done so far."
How does City translate live?
"Well, we have a keyboard player when we play live.
His name is John (Morgan) and he's just finished playing with Fear Factory,
he almost became a traitor to them, but came back to the metal. A lotta
people scorn technology, but whatever helps you make the sound in your
head, how can that be wrong? Every generation scorns the next and tries
to stay close to what they know, and that it wrong. You have to move forward..."
That's right, so start moving towards the Strapping Young Lad gig near you.
By Jeremy Sheaffe, Loudmouth magazine 1997