For me, music is a byproduct of this process - the human process - and the fact that I've managed to eke out a career with it is a happy accident more than any strategy.
— Devin Townsend
I really like female singers; I've got zero interest in working with male singers. Any male voice I need to do, I can do.
I think I've been playing bass for as long as I've played guitar, and I love them both.
When I make music, I tend to make music that are really over the top.
I think live stuff is certainly stuff I enjoy doing. I do like performing for people and bringing it to people.
People say, 'Well, why don't you talk about being vegetarian?' And I'm like, 'People will find out.' The people who are interested in what I do and why I do it, being a vegetarian is a big part of that.
I think, at the end of the day, that was really what the reward for production is for me, is being allowed to be a part of somebody else's musical vision for a while. Like Gwar. I got to do a Gwar record, right? That was great.
While I was recording 'Ziltoid,' the movie 'Mars Attacks' came on TV, I think, six times in one week. So I don't know if there's any direct references or anything, but the aesthetics of that movie was definitely around while I was creating the music, so I'd be lying if I said it wasn't part of it.
The bottom line is music, for me, is an exhaust port for life, and if I have a chaotic year, then I'm gonna write a chaotic record, and that's what happened with 'Ziltoid,' with 'Z2.'
What made Strapping Young Lad important, at least to me, was I was being honest about whatever was important to me at that time. In many ways, that musical process is there to resolve those issues, if you will.
I love Strapping Young Lad. I'm incredibly proud of that band; I'm incredibly proud of everything we did.
My lineage is partially Irish.
Luckily, my creative juices are pretty much on tap. If I'm compelled to do something, I can go for it and get it done.
I think that when I got to a certain age, it was important to me to sort of analyze my relationship with myself and my past.
It's really hard to foster self-love; it really is. I think a lot of people who claim that they do have a definite lack of self-loathing are either lying or just in a place that I don't relate to.
I'm just a perpetually confused and terrified person that is trying to be less so all the time, and music is the byproduct of that.
A lot of people are upset when you work out your anger issues, but there's a big industry for music which is furious and angry because, in my opinion, the world is looking for a justification to feel the same way.
I'm not a big fan of options, to be honest. The more options that I have, the less time that I spend actually completing things... ultimately, I think, if you have endless choices, I mean, the tendency to just choose endlessly is there, and that doesn't do anything for anybody, really.
I play keyboards and Pro Tools, if you want to look at it as an instrument.
I think a lot of the fun of making records, for me, is making each one of them a situation. For example, with 'Ghost,' I found a group of people that had an energy together, and we kind of did it in a cabin somewhere.
People are like, 'Nothing you've done is as good as you did when you were younger.' And I'm like, 'You may be right.'
Essentially, 'Z2' ended up feeling the way that it should, but it was through a considerable amount of trial and error that it took to get there.
The risk a lot of times, in my mind - and I may be incorrect - the risk of challenging people directly with their beliefs is that society is such that there's too many of us, so a direct challenge automatically engages people's defenses.
I have a real hard time with inter-personal relationships. I find it really taxing. Especially, like, friendships and being in bands.
I tend to find in my musical world people end up appearing, and I'm pretty good at being able to discern right away whether or not they are going to be appropriate based on their personality.
I like it when it rains; I like it when it snows. I like seasons. I like trees. I like mountains. I like rivers. And with that around me, I write.
There is no way I'll ever write an album for Avril Lavigne or Christina Aguilera. I just couldn't do it. There is no way I could ever do it because my musical process is about being directly involved with whatever I'm going through in life.
I think that the pivotal point of me in terms of the choral stuff is that I was involved in this provincial choir at 16 or 17. We went and played in churches and convention centres. The music we got to do was so inspiring for me.
Enya was a huge deal for me. That kind of woman vocals and how wide those productions were.
I don't think anything that I have done has been forced by commerce exclusively.
If you think meet-and-greets are fundamentally stupid, then you're never not gonna think that.
I spent a great deal of my career willingly ignoring the fact that people are participating in it, because it allows me to function without second-guessing it, without thinking, 'Oh, I wonder what people are gonna think of this,' or, 'I wonder what people aren't gonna think of this.'
If you're making music strictly to make money, you might as well find another job.
I have no interest in being told what to do.
The album 'Physicist,' I erased all the work that I had done halfway through. I think that's probably why that contributed to that album being sort of sub-par for me, just because by the time I had to go back and do it, I was just over it.
As a drummer, I'm rhythmically so disabled that it's hilarious.
I made 'Epicloud' for the people that have listened to what I've done because I really think that this style of music fits well into my personal daily life and hopefully others.
For me, music is about expressing the inexpressible, and as I get older, man, what I feel the need to express becomes less and less poignant to others.
For me, the one thing I've got going for me in terms of my attributes as a musician is vision.
I think that religion is incredibly cruel, and I think that my biggest problem with being vegetarian, usually, is other vegetarians.
I'll be the first to admit when I'm influenced by something.
I think that the world is full of really, really good musicians, but that's not necessarily my motivation for having people involved. It's more how they contribute to the scene as a person.
I like Canada for a number of reasons, politics and people and all that stuff aside. I was raised there, and I write music best when I'm in situations that I'm surrounded by nature, and when there's seasons.
The reason Strapping Young Lad was such a good band was we were honest about what we were doing.
My dad's side of the family were calm folk from England, but the other side just loved to party. Somewhere between those two factions is me.
I come from a blue collar background.
I don't have a lot of time for people who don't take care of their own problems. Everything that needs to be done takes effort.
The music industry is really difficult.
With 'Epicloud,' I wanted something catchy as the flu but with a sentiment that is romantic, positive, and beautiful. Spiritual without religion and set to heavy music.
I make music for people to hear it, so get it however you want!
