Devin Townsend is one of the most eccentric and underappreciated musicians around today. This claim can easily be seen through the way Townsend acts toward the crowd and with his fellow band mates. It is also very noticeable through the complex music that he writes and his ability to reach across different musical genres to find the right sound. It’s easy to say that yes Townsend does fit this claim, but so do many other musicians. Mike Patton for example, is an incredibly gifted songwriter and has remained in the underground music scene for many years. The only difference between these two in this claim is that Mike Patton has been heard by the mass public. Listen to any alternative radio station and the song “Epic” from Faith-No-Mores’ 89 release “The Real Thing” usually plays about once every three hours. Devin Townsend has never been played on the radio or any of his music videos on Mtv.
Townsend is one of the few musicians out today that adds humor to a normally serious style of music. He makes no attempt to alter his image to be more pleasing to the public eye. The most obvious example of this is that Townsend sports a skullet. A skullet is a hair style in which the person has long hair even though the top of their head is balding. Many musicians have long hair, but none of them even attempt to pull off a skullet. Another example is in a Townsend video called “Vampira”. Townsend is dressed up as a funny looking devil character complete with a red cape and a matching guitar. He even has a drawn on moustache to complete the ridiculous ensemble.
Townsend’s ability to make a crowd cheer is in a class all to itself. Townsend will walk out on stage and promptly tell the crowd that they suck. During the finale SYL tour, Townsend had a shark hand puppet that he would talk to in between songs. These conversations usually were about the crowd and how much the shark hated them but would sometimes include random facts about Townsends’ life and how the crowd was to blame for his misfortune. Instead of getting the crowd angry and booing Townsend offstage, they would actually cheer louder and attempt to shout their own funny insults back. On the SYL live DVD called “For those aboot to rock” [sic] Townsend puts on an extremely oversized bright blue cowboy hat that a fan had thrown up onto the stage. Townsend makes an attempt to “rock out” with the hat on but fails miserably. Much of Townsends’ humor comes from his ability to not take himself seriously. Besides Townsen
ds physical humor, his lyrics can be something to laugh at too. Townsend will often forget about metaphors or trying to take an artistic approach with lyrics and just scream about whatever is on his mind. During an interview with Chad Bowar, Townsend had this to say about the song called “U SUCK”.
Bowar: Is there anybody in particular the song "U Suck" is aimed at?Townsend: It could be you, me, the band down the street, the record company, everybody. Humans are pretty sick, really. Maybe one on one we're different, but in the big picture we all suck. I figured with this record we could get a bit more attention on it and might as well make it a sing-along so everybody can say "U Suck!"
Although Townsend has a very obscure and original sense of humor, his music is no laughing matter. Townsends’ writing style is incomparable to any other musician out today. His songs can be incredibly vast and complex, with layers upon layers of overdubbed sounds. Some of them can only be described as angry, giving the listener a major dose of adrenaline. The way that Townsends refuses to stick to a style of music makes him very original. Every album contains a mix of music that could catch the ear of even the hardest of critics. All of them show that Devin Townsend possesses all the necessary skills to be considered a serious musician.
Townsend has written, recorded and produced all of SYLs’ earlier works. Not many musicians can claim to have that much knowledge of a recording studio. The fact that he was handpicked by Steve Vai at an early age gives him a head start ahead of most musicians. But even with this head start, Devin Townsend has just started to crack the surface of mainstream music. Townsend has released twenty albums in the last ten years; most musicians don’t get ten albums in twenty years. The fact that Devin is not on a major label may be the case for his solo music not taking off. The only way to get a Devin Townsend Band album is to order it off his website. His heavier band, SYL is signed to Century Media, a better known metal label, but even those albums are rare to be seen at any major retail store.
SYL’s last tour was with the Ozzfest festival. They played at 9:00 in the morning for twenty minutes. There is no better proof that Devin Townsend is unappreciated in the music business than giving him the first slot at a daylong music festival. Still Devin played to the crowd, and when he was done he saluted the crowd and told them to suck it.
Townsend is one of the few musicians out today that adds humor to a normally serious style of music. He makes no attempt to alter his image to be more pleasing to the public eye. The most obvious example of this is that Townsend sports a skullet. A skullet is a hair style in which the person has long hair even though the top of their head is balding. Many musicians have long hair, but none of them even attempt to pull off a skullet. Another example is in a Townsend video called “Vampira”. Townsend is dressed up as a funny looking devil character complete with a red cape and a matching guitar. He even has a drawn on moustache to complete the ridiculous ensemble.
Townsend’s ability to make a crowd cheer is in a class all to itself. Townsend will walk out on stage and promptly tell the crowd that they suck. During the finale SYL tour, Townsend had a shark hand puppet that he would talk to in between songs. These conversations usually were about the crowd and how much the shark hated them but would sometimes include random facts about Townsends’ life and how the crowd was to blame for his misfortune. Instead of getting the crowd angry and booing Townsend offstage, they would actually cheer louder and attempt to shout their own funny insults back. On the SYL live DVD called “For those aboot to rock” [sic] Townsend puts on an extremely oversized bright blue cowboy hat that a fan had thrown up onto the stage. Townsend makes an attempt to “rock out” with the hat on but fails miserably. Much of Townsends’ humor comes from his ability to not take himself seriously. Besides Townsen
ds physical humor, his lyrics can be something to laugh at too. Townsend will often forget about metaphors or trying to take an artistic approach with lyrics and just scream about whatever is on his mind. During an interview with Chad Bowar, Townsend had this to say about the song called “U SUCK”.Bowar: Is there anybody in particular the song "U Suck" is aimed at?Townsend: It could be you, me, the band down the street, the record company, everybody. Humans are pretty sick, really. Maybe one on one we're different, but in the big picture we all suck. I figured with this record we could get a bit more attention on it and might as well make it a sing-along so everybody can say "U Suck!"
Although Townsend has a very obscure and original sense of humor, his music is no laughing matter. Townsends’ writing style is incomparable to any other musician out today. His songs can be incredibly vast and complex, with layers upon layers of overdubbed sounds. Some of them can only be described as angry, giving the listener a major dose of adrenaline. The way that Townsends refuses to stick to a style of music makes him very original. Every album contains a mix of music that could catch the ear of even the hardest of critics. All of them show that Devin Townsend possesses all the necessary skills to be considered a serious musician.
Townsend has written, recorded and produced all of SYLs’ earlier works. Not many musicians can claim to have that much knowledge of a recording studio. The fact that he was handpicked by Steve Vai at an early age gives him a head start ahead of most musicians. But even with this head start, Devin Townsend has just started to crack the surface of mainstream music. Townsend has released twenty albums in the last ten years; most musicians don’t get ten albums in twenty years. The fact that Devin is not on a major label may be the case for his solo music not taking off. The only way to get a Devin Townsend Band album is to order it off his website. His heavier band, SYL is signed to Century Media, a better known metal label, but even those albums are rare to be seen at any major retail store.
SYL’s last tour was with the Ozzfest festival. They played at 9:00 in the morning for twenty minutes. There is no better proof that Devin Townsend is unappreciated in the music business than giving him the first slot at a daylong music festival. Still Devin played to the crowd, and when he was done he saluted the crowd and told them to suck it.
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