Devin Townsend- The Man and His Music
Canadian Devin Townsend first heard the call of music at the age of five when he picked up his first instrument. The call has never stopped since then. Aside from now being a respected musician, he is also credited for being a talented songwriter and vocalist. His popularity is made obvious by the many fans who continue to buy Devin Townsend Project merch. His actual work is so extensive that he has compositions that fall under several different genres.
Today, Townsend is most notably cited as a solo artist with a distinct brand of music and the genius behind the Devin Townsend Project. Those however who have closely followed his career know that he began playing music with others first. Townsend saw his first real break when he was tapped to lend his vocal prowess to Steve Vai’s album Sex and Religion. Although this might have proven to be a breakthrough for the artist, his association with Vai also proved disadvantageous. He found that both fans and labels identified him strongly with someone else’s music. This was made apparent with the rejections that he received for the definitive music that he tried to push out separate from Vai.
To give himself another chance for acceptance as an artist on his own, he took on the alias Strapping Young Lad. This was the name he used in the 90s when Century Media Records offered him a contract for five albums. Townsend later decided to come up with a permanent band complement for Strapping Young Lad. With his own set of musicians, he recorded City. With more people beginning to respect his talents, he began using his name again starting with Infinity.
In 2002, Strapping Young Lad came together to perform in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks. It was also around this time however when Devin Townsend put together another band that was named after him. It was then that he released Accelerated Evolution. Townsend played with both bands on different occasions.
Weariness finally overtook the artist in 2007. He publicly declared his intention to no longer perform with his bands, opting instead to just write music and spend time with his family. As with all artists however, Townsend could not shake off the desire to return to the limelight.
The artist did take steps towards a new beginning in 2008. He marked this with a transformation that included having his locks cut and a new determination to stay away from drinking, smoking and composing with the help of drugs. After two years, Townsend generated sixty songs that fit into four categories. This was to be the beginning of the Devin Townsend Project, a four album venture. Each set would cover a specific theme and would be played by four different sets of session players.
Ki was the very first album to come out for the project in 2009. The album is noticeably more restrained than Townsend’s other releases. Following this release are Addicted and Deconstruction. The final album, Ghost is set for release in 2011 and is said to carry ambient type of music.
You truly can’t put a good artist down. Townsend surely can’t be made to just sit down on the sidelines. After the Devin Townsend Project, he has already made plans for more creative work. Fans can therefore look forward to even more related merch and music tees.