Here's some news that may or may not get you freaking out with excitement - the metal mastermind Devin Townsend has let slip in an Aussie podcast called Everblack that he's planning on revisiting a bunch of his earlier material throughout his tours next year, including Strapping Young Lad!
It's slightly surprising given how vocal Devy has previously been about wanting to distance himself from that era of his career, but speaking on the podcast, he said:
“I’m doing a tour in November that’s gonna be a very selfish tour for me - a ton of people onstage, playing a bunch of stuff that I’ve wanted to play for years, a lot of improv, a lot of really interesting things.
But starting next year, I’m gonna be touring everything, and that includes the Strapping stuff. I’m gonna be doing what equates to… like, what’s a ‘best of’ what I’ve done over the past few years. Let’s make this live venture for me the best it can possibly be and learn from your past and come back out.”
Townsend then goes on to elaborate about his relationship with metal, and how he's starting to fall back in love with the genre again:
“I think there’s a lot of musicians that fall away from metal. But I kind of fell back in love with it recently. But in no way does that mean that it’s taking over.
It’s a big part of what I do and it’s a big part of who I am, and I think I’ve denied that for a certain amount of time. But it’s everything, man. It’s like Empath was for me - the metal part of it is just as big a part of my trip as the mellow part of it. It’s not one over the other; it’s just who I am.
I don’t wanna get rid of it. I love it. It has to play ball with the other stuff, and that stuff has to play ball with the other stuff. It’s healthy for me to recognize that it’s a part of my nature as opposed to denying it.”
Unfortunately, that probably means you won't be seeing any of it in Australia (although being an acoustic tour that would be kind of ridiculous), but who knows - the madman might circle back through in 2020!
You can listen to the full episode below:
DevilDriver frontman Dez Fafara also recently began to embrace his past by revisiting some old Coal Chamber classics on DevilDriver's current tour. Hey, we're not complaining about this nostalgia wave!
Listen to Devin Townsend now.
