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October 27, 2009
Bend It Like Bender!
Oh ok...here it is. 'Bend It Like Bender'
(You! ...in the Nasum shirt! ...look away!!!)
I know...I know...it's a pretty bippy-boppy-Euro-type dance track, but you know? guilty as charged when it comes to loving that stuff. I remember hearing The Vengaboys 'We Like To Party' back when it came out and it nearly brought me to tears (I was cutting onions at the time...) something about EASY, FUN music that takes very little effort to enjoy...or detest as the case may well end up being .
So yeah, I wrote a song like that. ppppttthhhhhhhhhpppppppphhhhhhhh.....
I'm working on album three of the DTP quartet right now, Deconstruction. And it's such brained out, complicated nonsense, that while I was writing it (all 4 albums were written during the same period) I remember just finishing the track 'Traestorz' (Deconstruction) and my brain was reeling. Super complicated metal madness, and I was like, 'ENOUGH!!!' and threw my lube down in revulsion and laid into Bender with a 'phat ass beat' y'all.
'We are one and we have found they only wanted you around
To hold it down, so hold your ground,
We won't be here forever!
We are young and we have fun and all we've found in being around is 'All and all' and 'Holy cows'
While things keep getting heavy!
Hang on to your man and
Hang on to your woman and
HANG ON!!!'
Whats it about? Ah, indeed young knave, gather ye round and I shall despense the benevolent meaning of this cosmic connundrum upon thee:
ready..?
It's a play on the title 'Bend It Like Beckham' and the robot from Futurama named 'Bender', because he's into partying, and the records called 'Addicted'. Yup. Oh...and 'Bender' and 'Bekham' both start with the letter 'B'.
Anneke VanGeirbergen ladies and Germs...Anneke VanGeirbergen. Did I mention I love Abba as well? Well I do. AND we're still metal.
Again, all 4 records were written together...which was good for me, because when I would get all antsy with Ki, I would unload with Deconstruction, then get offended by my own pretension and rock some good vibes with Addicted, then when I would feel like it was ALL stupid, I'd write for Ghost, and make some dead country voices.
So yeah, enjoy. Or don't. I do.
Lastly, There's a time and a place for fat, shirtless men with head tattoos to bump into each other and yell, and a time and a place for women to move like the beautiful creatures they are.
...just sayin'
dev.
September 30, 2009
MUSIC!!!
Hail Stravinsky! Hail Behemoth, hail Enya, Tom Waits, Grotus, Kings X, The Clancy Brothers...and YOUR BAND. Passion is the key, I have NO CLUE what life is about.
Every day we wake up is a good day. The ups and downs is what brings the beauty to light. We all want to rock, don't we? I mean...I know the music I make doesn't appeal to everyone, but it's from the heart. Enjoy as part of a complete breakfast.
Addicted is record 2 in the 4 part 'Devin Townsend Project'. It's made for people to enjoy. Simple as that. I've always had a soft spot for 'easy' music, and part 2 of the story is about the need for that.
The people I assembled for this one were for very specific reasons. 2 of my oldest friends, Mark Cimino and Brian Waddell, my awesome drummer buddy Ryan VanPoederooyen, and one of my favorite singers ever to run the feminine side of our program, Anneke Van Giersbergen of Agua De Annique.
We are all around 40 years old, 3 of us have kids, and we're all on a similar page. Addicted isn't irony, it isn't a judgement, it's not a religious record, in fact, I don't even know what the songs really mean...but the words in the sequence they're in make me feel GOOD, and I can use a bit of that right now.
When I dance, I look like a mosquito on a hot piece of steel, but it feels GOOD to express things physically, to sing, to grieve, to be
angry, to love, to pontificate, to forgive, to scream, to build, to deconstruct, to reconnect.
I don't know what else to say...this is the next record in a long line of records, I'm working on record 3 now. Be well, forgive
yourself...see you on tour.
Respect,
Dev.
Tracklisting:
ADDICTED!
UNIVERSE IN A BALL!
BEND IT LIKE BENDER!
SUPERCRUSH!
HYPERDRIVE!
RESOLVE!
IH-AH!
THE WAY HOME!
NUMBERED!
AWAKE!
August 17, 2009
Hey folks, Dev here with the update for the second instalment of the DTP (Devin Townsend Project).
We are just readying the release of album 2, Addicted so here’s a few brief words:
With Ki, I kind of strode out in uncharted territories for myself musically, and loved the experience. But during the course of writing this 4 record project, it was inevitable that I would end up writing a selection of tunes that were very much in line with my back catalogue. This group of songs is the second record in the series, and it is called ADDICTED.
Musically, Addicted is along the lines of the big, wall of sound hard rock / heavy metal of Ocean Machine and Accelerated Evolution (even Physicist at points). It is a very direct and ‘to the point’ album with an emphasis on groove and the chorus. In the past, lots of my records end up taking a kind of Pink Floyd-ish route (between song meandering etc.) … Addicted is really simple: 11 rocking songs and no bullshit.
I wanted to make a record that was heavy, without being dark or depressing. When I got into metal it was for the energy behind it, but somewhere along the way that energy started getting really negative. In music right now, there’s a ton of heavy bands that are really depressing to listen to loudly. I wanted to make a record without any real deep metaphor on the surface. Something that sounds good, has a good beat, and a positive feeling. It is still heavy as-all-get-out, but I think there’s a differentiation to be made between being ‘peaceful’, and being peaceful but wanting to celebrate loud, crushing music.
The vocal duties on this record are handled by myself and Anneke van Giersbergen. (I wanted to have male and female vocals kind of ‘tell the story’ so to speak). It’s an honour to work with her and she has a lovely, lovely energy. The other musicians on this record are Ryan Van Poederooyen on drums, Brian Waddell on bass, and Mark Cimino on guitars.
I love this record, it affects me in a way that I wasn’t prepared for. It’s a fully rocking album of optimism. If you just want to ‘play it loud’ without any crazy metaphor, this album might be for you!
On other notes:
I have been rehearsing with a new band, and we will start touring in early 2010, representing all the back catalogue of solo material, from Ki, Addicted, Physicist, Ziltoid, Terria, Ocean Machine, dtb, Infinity etc… I have some big plans for this and rehearsals are sounding amazing. The touring entity will be called ‘Devin Townsend’ and is essentially a way for me to get out there and interact again and showcase 15 years of music that never really got it’s fair shake. We look forward to seeing you out there!
I will start the work on the fourth record Deconstruction in Los Angeles in October, some great plans for that… (and btw, THAT is a heavy record with a lot of metaphor…) news on that as it comes!
So I hope you will enjoy Addicted, in the theme of the dtp, the reason Addicted exists is maybe a little deeper than what the record sounds like up front. But up front, it kind of states: ‘Life is tough, the world can be an ugly place…so lets forget about the dramas and ROCK – here’s some heavy guitars, big choruses and killer beats’
Devin.
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