Strapping Young Lad
City (Century Media)
An interview with Devin Townsend
by Scott Hefflon
Devin Townsend don’t need no stinkin’ introduction.
But here’s one anyway. Devin’s accomplishments read like the yearbook photo caption of that smug, over-achieving prick in high school who you always wanted to kick in the teeth. Devin did vocals for Vai, guitar work for Frontline Assembly, had something to do with Jason Newstead’s IR8, the Wildhearts, and Geezer Butler’s G/Z/R, produced Pigwalk for Stuck Mojo, contributed a track to A Tribute to Judas Priest, and made appearances on the Rush tribute and Testament guitarist James Murphy’s solo record. And now he’s got a new album City (Century Media).
Now that you’re an aging protégé bastard child, are we supposed to call you a post-protégé?
I don’t think protégé ever came up. I still have no money. I mean, I make money, but it all goes back into a label I’m starting for the Ocean Machine project. All the money gets munched up, so I guess I can still complain about it.
Do you create your own sounds or build your own equipment?
Any of the sounds I create that are considered original are usually the by-product of fucking up a cord input or not plugging something in all the way. I don’t have the technical know-how to put together my own synths, but the gear I use is not really supposed to be put together in the particular string I use. Most of my song structures are pretty basic. I could take a Warrant song and do crazy shit when recording the instruments and people would think it’s a new kind of music. Warrant-core.
“Detox” is total powermetal cheese, but it’s forgivable. How’d you do it?
Why deny the roots? I’m storming the castle with my sword in hand, hacking people up left and right. But I’ve got so many projects going on right now. Some of the noisier stuff from the first Strapping record has evolved into a different project called Hell. There’s no guitar, just bass and drums and crap. It all turns into a wall of poo. I just want to get it out. City just came out the way it did. Everyone else in the band is an old metalhead, so I figured I’d write a song and let them have at it.
Your line-up still has Jed on guitar and Byron on bass, but now you’ve got Gene Hoglan on drums?
Yup. He’s recording a record for Testament right now, but then he’s going with us to Europe, and then coming up to Vancouver to do a video for the powermetal song, and some shows.
How old is old?
Jed’s 32, Byron’s 28, Gene’s 28, I’m 24.
Gene’s only 28?
Crazy, isn’t it? He was only 15 or so when he was in Dark Angel. He’s a big guy, as you know. It’s like watching a circus. I think one of the reasons he wanted to be involved with this project was that we haven’t been around forever. The projects Gene tends to be in are staple metal groups. He’s got the name and everyone knows him, but he wanted to be involved in something a little newer, with younger people and more enthusiasm. The big bands lose their fire after a while, living in a bus and eating shit food. Gene’s fully into it. I was really surprised. I would’ve thought he’d be jaded and bitter by now.
How’d you hook up with him?
We were introduced at a show in LA and he said he wanted to work on something a little more modern-sounding. I said, “Well, ironically enough, if you’re into the stuff I do, I need a drummer.” We got together, jammed a couple of times, rehearsed the album for five days, then recorded it in three.
Did you do all the sequencing prior to going into the studio?
No, I write everything in my head in such a way that we go into the studio and piss around, experimenting with different things, then throw it against the wall and keep what we like. There were a few bits of sequencing I’d done at home, but I like the vibe of the studio. Just seeing what happens.
I really like what you did with Stuck Mojo’s album.
Bonz was great. We made him cry, we pushed him until it sounded good. We also gave him a hand-held mic. I mean, he does rap, he’s used to walking around the stage. Suddenly, he’s forced to stand in front of this big dildo hanging from the roof and told to rock out within a one foot radius. We gave him a hand-held mic and said fuck it if it doesn’t sound as good as the big ones, we’ll distort it and it’ll be cool.
Your vocals sound wild – you have the distortion and high end cranked. Every breath, every click in your throat, every nuance of enunciation is blown out of proportion.
Totally. They’re all conscious decisions. I’m not the world’s greatest singer by a long shot, but I’d like to think I have an ear for what sounds cheesy and what sounds good. I’m more confident about what I can do, I can salvage a poor guitar track and make it sound good. It’s a strange profession, honestly. I have so much music going on inside of me that having to sit there and almost babysit musicians… I just feel like, “Give me that fucking guitar. I’ll play the part.” And trying to teach a bassist that, in heavy music, the best thing to do is pick hard. And drummers, I’m like, “OK, you want to be in a heavy rock band, but you’re tapping your drums like a jazz player, don’t do that. Hit hard.” I get frustrated.
City seems to have fewer random, humorous tidbits mixed in.
That was definitely a conscious decision. I had sort of a dark year, know what I mean? Back when I did the first album, I threw up all the crazy shit, just kinda whipped my ass out in public. Then I realized this whole music thing isn’t worth whoring yourself out for a laugh. The personality hasn’t changed, what I chose to write about changed. There was a lot more residual shit from coming out of the situation with Vai than I thought at the time. I was really young at the time, and it had more affect on me than I gave it credit. I was used to denying what I didn’t like because I thought it was all part of the game. And the game is an unadulterated sack of shit. You’ve got to go out and do what you’ve got to do, because it’s not worth it otherwise. Whether City is more this or more that doesn’t matter to me, it says what I needed to say.
