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SMN News: When can we expect the Devin Townsend Band DVD?
 
Devin: It’s going to come out as a bonus disc for the new Devin Townsend Band record, which I start recording in August, and it’s really pretty. All the horrible feelings that “Alien” makes me feel, the DT band makes me feel the opposite, it brings balance back. Anyone who got weirded out by “Alien” will be happily soothed by the next DT album, it’s just beautiful, it’s music to make you feel good… for once. I mean, “Alien” was specifically designed to fucking weird you out, but it’s kind of the same point as DTB just from a different point of view, but the DTB just brings the balance back, it could just as well be called “Human”, but I think I’m going to call it “Syncastra”, like an orchestra in sync with itself, it’s beautiful, it gives me the fucking chills, it goes straight for the fucking heart.
 
SMN News: Can you reveal anything that’s going to be on the DVD?
 
Devin: Yea, it’s gonna be like 9 or 10 songs like “Earth Day”, “Seventh Wave”, “Storm”, “Regulator”, “Away”, “Deep Peace”, all that sort of shit. And then the “Syncastra” is like one song, but it’s like 70 minutes long. It’s fucking cool, it makes me happy.
 
Kuulostaa kohtalokkaalta.

Tässäpä se koko haastattelu:
 
SMN News Interview With Devin Townsend of Strapping Young Lad/The Devin Townsend Band - 04/17/05 - B.B. King Blues Club - New York, NY
By: Mike Solomon, Rod Breslau
 
SMN News: What made you choose “Alien” as the title for your latest album?
 
Devin: More than anything else, I think it was the frame of mind that I felt myself in after making it, kind of felt like I was weird. I think some people say that Strapping is a real hate-filled band and we’re really not, more of the impression I wanted to get with this record is what you would feel like if you were taken from your bedroom and all of a sudden placed in the middle of infinite space, what it would do to your brain, and I think it would probably explode, so that’s what we try to do, to just have that explosion. And so “Alien” sort of refers to that frame of mind, it’s like sometimes you think to yourself ‘oh man, aliens would come pick me up and show me all this beautiful stuff’ but I don’t think so, I think you’d be so fuckin’ weirded out that you’d just feel terrified. That’s the impression we wanted to get with this record, to weird people out.
 
SMN News: What was the songwriting process like for “Alien”?
 
Devin: Well, I just wrote a bunch of songs and brought them to Gene and then we put them together as a unit, but Gene and I spent a lot of time jamming. Jed and Byron were away, Byron was out with Fear Factory and Jed was living in Philadelphia, so when they came back we showed them some demos and told them ‘these are the songs’, and then we recorded them.
 
SMN News: How long did it take to record the whole album?
 
Devin: About three months.
 
SMN News: Who came up with the idea for the “Love?” video?
 
Devin: I think I did, along with the director. Whenever you turn on MTV or whatever it’s just a bunch of depressing shit, so we just figured we might as well have a little fun.
 
SMN News: Is “The Making of Alien” ever going to be released on DVD or is it online only?
 
Devin: It got released in Europe as the bonus disc, so I’m sure if people want to get it, there are places you can download it or something.
 
SMN News: What made you decide to scrap the Tom Jones cover?
 
Devin: Once we finished the record, it felt like a real complete thought, and then putting “What’s New Pussycat?” at the end seemed a little ridiculous. We have the drum tracks and the guitar tracks for it though, so eventually it’ll come up.
 
SMN News: How did you guys land a spot on the Sounds of the Underground tour?
 
Devin: Your guess is as good as mine, I guess they decided to take pity on the old guys.
 
SMN News: What’s the story behind “Info Dump”?
 
Devin: “Info Dump” is supposed to summarize the record. It’s all Morse code and stuff and it’s supposed to just relay these crazy messages over and over again. The record is supposed to be about finding personal limits, see how far you can go before you break, and then at the end of “Zen”, when it stops, “Info Dump” is supposed to be the message that ‘you don’t know, and you’re an idiot, and you’ll never know, and you’re just a human, so fucking shut up’.
 
SMN News: What was the filming like for The Osbournes advertisements?
 
Devin: Fun. But I just found out a couple of ours ago that the director died, diabetic coma. It really bummed me out because he was just 30 years old, so rest in peace Roddy.
 
SMN News: Have you heard the new Steve Vai record?
 
Devin: Yea, I got it, it’s great. Steve’s great, he’s a ripping guitar player, he’s got cool stuff going on, it’s great.
 
SMN News: What was the recording process for the Ayreon album like?
 
Devin: He sent me a bunch of songs that I originally said I didn’t want to do, and then he just kept insisting, so I said okay, but I’m going to do my own lyrics and my own melodies and my own… everything for it. And then I just procrastinated ‘til the last week, I had the tapes for like six months, but I couldn’t think of anything to put on top of it, so I finally just committed to going to the studio and seeing what would happen and I was just like ‘ahh, fuck it, we’ll put a ton of vocals on there and see what happens’. It turned out okay, I think he likes it.
 
SMN News: Have you finished producing the Darkest Hour album?
 
Devin: Yea.
 
SMN News: How’d that go?
 
Devin: Awesome, Darkest Hour are great, they’re killer.
 
SMN News: Do you plan on producing any other bands?
 
Devin: Oh yea, I’m gonna produce the shit out of everybody.
 
SMN News: Anyone you can name?
 
Devin: Not yet. A lot of the fun of being out on the road is that you get to meet bands, and being part of a production for a record I think involves being really tight with a band, so who knows, I might end up doing Reflux or Agony Scene, I’ve already done Misery Signals. It’s like, whoever you meet, if things go well you end up producing them.
 
SMN News: When can we expect the Devin Townsend Band DVD?
 
Devin: It’s going to come out as a bonus disc for the new Devin Townsend Band record, which I start recording in August, and it’s really pretty. All the horrible feelings that “Alien” makes me feel, the DT band makes me feel the opposite, it brings balance back. Anyone who got weirded out by “Alien” will be happily soothed by the next DT album, it’s just beautiful, it’s music to make you feel good… for once. I mean, “Alien” was specifically designed to fucking weird you out, but it’s kind of the same point as DTB just from a different point of view, but the DTB just brings the balance back, it could just as well be called “Human”, but I think I’m going to call it “Syncastra”, like an orchestra in sync with itself, it’s beautiful, it gives me the fucking chills, it goes straight for the fucking heart.
 
SMN News: Can you reveal anything that’s going to be on the DVD?
 
Devin: Yea, it’s gonna be like 9 or 10 songs like “Earth Day”, “Seventh Wave”, “Storm”, “Regulator”, “Away”, “Deep Peace”, all that sort of shit. And then the “Syncastra” is like one song, but it’s like 70 minutes long. It’s fucking cool, it makes me happy.
 
SMN News: Speaking of DVDs… what ever happened to the naked cheerleaders on the SYL DVD?
 
Devin: Oh you didn’t see ‘em? Oh well, they’re somewhere on there, you just gotta look closer… It’s Byron, that’s our euphemism. We just didn’t have much material to put on it, but it was a cheap thing, so we just said ‘ahh fuck yea, and there’s naked cheerleaders and… free bottle of booze with every one ordered’.
 
SMN News: Well it’s still one of the best DVDs I’ve ever seen, it was shot really well.
 
Devin: Yea, it’s full metal.
 
SMN News: Now that pop-punk is gaying things up yet again, can we expect another Punky Bruster record?
 
Devin: I’m hoping for a Funky Bruster record. Like an R&B record. I’d be fuckin’ Master D, ‘yo, yo, yo, representin’.
 
SMN News: You gotta have the chains on, and gotta get a tour!
 
Devin: Totally, I gotta have one of those, uh… Crunk chalice, one of those big goblets with the diamonds on it. That would be me, man.
 
SMN News: Are there any real lyrics to “Far Beyond Metal”?
 
Devin: They change every night, most of the time its just the first verse over and over again.
 
SMN News: What about the GWAR verse?
 
Devin: Oh yea, and the GWAR verse.
 
SMN News: So since you took a hiatus from weed, have you been doing any other drugs?
 
Devin: Nah, I’m getting too old. I’ve never been a big drughead, granted I’ve smoked my weight worth of weed, and I did a bit of acid and a bit of mushrooms, until that started making real life seem a little less… real, and then I was just like, maybe I should start doing something with my brain that’s a little more constructive, so I got really into coffee for a while, black coffee is great. But I don’t know, I’m not an advocate of drugs because it really fucked me up, I mean, I got some great records out of it so that’s cool, but I mean at the same time if somebody asked me if they should start, I’d say no fucking way, keep your brain pure man, you’re probably best of that way. But for my polluted self, I’ve been there a few times.
 
SMN News: What are your feelings about piracy and downloading?
 
Devin: Download the fuck out of it, just buy a t-shirt afterward. It’s meant to be heard ultimately, it sucks if you can’t make a living doing something that’s really hard to do. I download shit too, but if I like something I usually buy it, and I’m pretty much into buying what ever new metal records come out to support the scene, because it’s not really a huge, huge scene. But I mean, I don’t really mind.
 
SMN News: Is there anything planned for Strapping after Sounds of the Underground?
 
Devin: My heart would like to say no, but my brain tells me there are probably a few things. It’s hard to be all metal for fuckin’ years on end, it makes you tired as hell. People say there aren’t many characters in the metal scene, and in five years you could be a character, but I’m going ‘yea, but fuck, then you’ll never be able to be anything else except for craaazy Dev’. And I’m actually not that crazy… at all.
 
SMN News: Does metal get tiring to you?
 
Devin: Totally, all the time, every day, because you’re constantly surrounded by an environment that’s just sex, drugs, and rock and roll, and I’m not down with pretty much any of it. So with that in mind, it’s like, here’s another day, another club, screaming my balls off again. But its cool, I love making the music, and that’s ultimately why I keep coming back and doing this shit. But it doesn’t provide you with much peace. Unless you live for it… like, I’d see someone who’s into coke being a great metalhead, because its just constant stimulus, you know. But for those of us who want to watch TV and sleep… fuck. It’s like another dude ‘Bro, fuckin’ blah blah blah, my bands touring and all this shit’ and ‘what’s your soundscan bro??”…fuck. I think at the end of the day it’s a choice you make, life leads me to scream, so here I am screamin’.
 
SMN News: Thanks for your time Dev.
 
Devin: I really appreciate it, thanks..

No harmi. Eli nyt jää vaan boonukseksi eikä konaiseksi tuotteeksi? No varmasti siltikin helvetin kova!

Jeah, SYListä en ole koskaan oikein innostunut, mutta Devinin omat sooloprojektit kaikessa jylhyydessää maittavat kyllä erinomaisesti. Mielenkiinnolla odottelen.