Friday afternoon. London hustles and, occasionally, bustles. St James’s church peeks from the Piccadilly landscape, but inside its hallowed confines is something strange. Something different.
Devin Townsend, musical mastermind and puppet enthusiast, is gearing up for a sold-out acoustic show. Devin Townsend. A man who, only four years ago, penned a sixteen minute song called The Mighty Masturbator.
A man who, in April, sold out the Royal Albert Hall and brought several giant farting ballsacks along for the ride. In 2014 he released a country album, a depressive, prog-tinged pop masterpiece and a concept album about aliens. He’s been having a crack at this music malarkey for over 20 years, but the twists keep coming.
“I’m not in this to make a million dollars, I just want to pay my bills,” he says. He’s attentive, while his legs dart up and down like a wind-up toy. “As long as I can do what I do, just download it. But you end up obliged to one another, and as a result, the audience and I both grow a little extra and as a result of that it keeps going. That’s all I ask for.”
Townsend is not a facetious man. He isn’t trying to be down with the kids while whispering in their ears: “If you don’t pay for my music, I will use your bladder as a basketball.” He’s an advocate of trying before buying, and that has, completely unintentionally, expanded his reach to espadrille-wearing types who spend their money on overpriced ‘coffee’ rather than on albums. He often releases bits and pieces for free but, when it comes down to it, Townsend can push a product like no other man on the planet.
His latest release is set to be a leviathan. It’s ‘Ziltoid Live At The Royal Albert Hall’ and it’s going to smash your telly into bits. That April night was something truly special. Sacred, even. A progressive metal musician, in his 40s, playing to a sold-out audience without the help of radio or a major record label. That’s surely got to be up there as a career highlight, right?
“The Royal Albert was certainly one,” he says. “We did another Ziltoid thing in Finland a few years back [Tuska Open Air Metal Festival, 2010] and that was a lot of fun. I’ve kinda got this goldfish thing going on lately – I wonder if it’s intentional – where a lot of personal effort goes into forgetting the things I’ve done. So writing the book was a pain in the sack, because you have to go back and look at it all. But if you let it go, it’s kind of easier to just proceed with the same intention you’ve always had.”
Ah, yes. The book. It’s called Only Half There and, amid various stories, photos and other titbits, a bonus acoustic CD will be included. As the title suggests, Townsend’s autobiography is written from a midway point, not an ending. Townsend is nowhere near finished.
“The romantic version is: ‘I thought people would really benefit from this book and I’ve got loads of experience I can impart on people.’ But really, I just got asked to write a book,” he says, laughing at the pool of word vomit he’s just expunged. “I’m on the final edit. I sent it off and they did an initial edit. I have to get OKs from everybody, so that means contacting all these people I haven’t talked to for years.
“Then I show them the manuscript and it opens up this whole others can of worms with loved ones and it’s like, holy shit, right? Now I’m separating the paragraphs and making it readable and grammatically correct. It’s funny how an adjective or the way you word something can make this small twist in tone that can imply something totally different. A lot of people I know are almost quasi-threateningly saying: ‘Can’t wait to read it!’ But the pictures, artwork, CD and manuscript are done and I’m just separating the paragraphs now.
“When I was contacting people for the book, a few of them asked me to do some things. I did a song for Ginger Wildheart’s new record and I’m singing a song on a re-release of a Steve Vai record. I played bass with Wolf Hoffmann and did another bass project with a couple of guys, but I don’t think they want it to be known yet. I did a tonne of shit. It piles up. There’s something really liberating about just slamming through it so it’s no longer on my mind.”
These projects were all tied up before heading to the UK for these intimate, acoustic shindigs. At St James’s, he saunters on stage to a bout of applause even the Pope would hear and think: “Fuck me, I’ve got competition.” Strapping Young Lad classic Love? is hilariously softened, but it’s still perfect. Townsend’s written some great songs and it doesn’t matter if Gene Hoglan isn’t sending blastbeats searing down your spinal column. But he is human. He messes up certain passages of songs, he jumbles his words and, at one point, is outdone by an overexcited motorbike outside.
Rarer tunes like Slow Me Down and Let It Roll make welcome appearances and it becomes apparent that Townsend could do this forever, basically. When, Lemmy forbid, he deems himself too decrepit and wrinkly to go on stage and convincingly sing about a coffee-hunting alien, he’s still got two decades’ worth of material to strip into an acoustic setting. It’s no better or worse than a regular Devin Townsend show. He doesn’t sacrifice anything by going acoustic. It suits him.
“Some people are critical of the fact I talk too much on stage but, y’know, I just do,” he finishes. “I can’t try and be anything for anybody. It’s just not gonna work. If anyone’s pissed off at me for just being me – how many bands are out there that want your support? Go listen to them! I can’t adapt to what other people want so I just have to play it by ear every night.”
If this is what playing it by ear sounds like, just wait until you see that Royal Albert Hall film. Unadulterated, orchestrated madness. Devin Townsend, please never stop.
Devin Townsend Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Mon October 12 2015 - GLASGOW Cottiers
Tue October 13 2015 - MANCHESTER Cathedral
Wed October 14 2015 - SALISBURY Arts Centre
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