No matter how much of the universe we figure out, we still have to stop to eat, sleep and poop.
It justs puts a ridiculous spin on it all…the most elequent universal truths are unfolded between potty breaks.
And it stinks, just to add insult to injury!
Oh well, I’m an idiot.- Devin Townsend
Ok…update. 
There’s two albums. One is an EP.
The first album is called ‘Ki’ and has 14 songs.
A Monday
Coast
Disruptr
Gato Negro
(Purge)tory
Stand
Waveform
Heavens End
Dinosaurs!
Lady Helen
Ki
Addicted
Quiet Riot
Demon League
It’s not a band thing. It’s the ‘me’ show, starring…me. I had talked to both Gene and Ryan about the drums, but decided in the end to go with someone totally different, style wise as well as scene wise. The dude’s name is Duris Maxwell.
Ki has a bit of everything… a real purge. Complete 72 minute disk.
The EP has been written at the same time and is just an absolute chaotic bizzare alien headfuck called ‘Deconstruction Of A Cheeseburger’ and is primarily electronic and guitar / Orchestra orieneted. (no drummer, not DFH tho…) I’m trying to get a grant to use a real orchestra and choir. It’s fucked and awesome. Based on Karl Jungs collective unconcious and how anything (a cheeseburger?) can be traced back to the source. It will probably be released on the web. We’re about to start working on a new site.
Been designing amps and guitars with dudes. I’ll let the cat out of the bag soon. Some cool stuff is on the horizon.
No more producing for a while 
Filming the whole process for a bonus disk, (editing myself with Final Cut express…ugly bastard) …taught by the Meatball.
Getting PT8 next week.
I’ll get you more info soon.’
d
I haven’t been keeping up with this blog because I had the feeling that if you are a DevHead you’ve already pretty much SEEN everything he has put out. I’m gonna start quoting stuff that he has put out on forums, and I’m really tryig to keep it at RARE findings and such, thanks for sticking around!
No release date, and Stravinsky is dead, so no worries!
Me on the other hand…thinking less, writing more, stopping lots, starting sometimes, on the verge of being pretty clear, but a strong wind could blow it in either direction.
Going to light a fire and think.
Analyzing addiction…every thing you get past opens up a ton of shit you hadn’t considered. Pain, there’s an interesting thing to be hung up on…it branches into places you hadn’t recognized.
That was a hell of a speech that man gave, whichever way you lean.
Still believe in Infinity as the metaphor for God, I’m not a Christian, although it was interesting coming to that conclusion…Neither am I a Satanist, and that was interesting too.
No matter how far you go in any direction, you’re still in the middle, you never move, time doesn’t exist, it’s a singularity for the observer that allows the flow to celebrate.
The whole hippy ethic and the rhetoric is true, but in a larger sense, is just seems like a stupid thing to focus on.
I had a dream about dimensions the other night, watching myself at every stage of life, observing the trials and it was kind of amusing. All stages occured simultaneously and were lessons as opposed to =true= experiences.
Cats are special.
Heard something strange on the top of a mountain the other day.
Designing a guitar and an amp…is it for commerce or for art? I think it’s a combination. Am I cool with that? So far…the guys at the company understand the music…(which is motivating.)
Dealing with other peoples perceptions of ‘me’ vs. the true me. The true me? Analytical, and very basic.
Issac Asimov had said that ours is a universe based on war and games. Other universes may be different, but that’s our deal. So there is no ‘Peace’, even choosing to abstain puts you on the offensive, so the best bet is to keep your eyes open and stay clear. Aikido is a cool concept.
Can’t quite quit coffee, I get a titanic headache.
I like construction.
Is it US or THEM?
I hate the teletubbies.
If I could make a good living doing something else, I’d consider it…
Karl Jung, The Collective Unconscious.
Watching friends with kids slide back into heroin… >:\
The music I’ve written vs. the music I play are very different. I think addiction comes into that as well. Addicted to image and power as opposed to having the balls to just do what is ‘right’…(that plus, I don’t have enough of that stuff to make a record) and have people say ‘he’s lost it’ when the truth might be that a) I never had it, or b) what I truly am isn’t that interesting to most folks.
I think Infinity and fractals, yet write subversive layers. Why? I suppose in some ways It makes me think I’m really clever, on another I feel I’m led and don’t trust the guide, on another I think I’m just being honest, and others interpretations of the intention I take to heart and lose the plot.
I’m trying to stop going to porn sites. I think they fuck up my perception.
Ableton Live is great, but annoyingly gimmicky in some ways. Logic studio is getting closer but the audio editing is a joke. I FLY on Protools, but some of it is just dinosaur technology. (8 looks nice though).
Things lately that haven’t totally offended me:
First song on Frengers by Mew.
An older Afghan Whigs song
‘Sights And Sounds’ new record.
Some new song by Air
Paul Horn
Ravi Shankar
Rapoon - Darker By Light (8 times today already…15 yesterday.)
Some things that have:
Hinder
Gear Salesmen
A lie from a friend
WHERE IS THE PERFECT AMP?
…we’ll see. An old Superbass 100? An original ‘59 Bassman (or twin) A Komet? A Dumble? A Trainwreck? A Peavey? A Mesa? A Wizard? A Crate? A Hand-sheened zippozappo 900 watt plus with tungsten-dipped-kaffufflebuffers?
You can’t have it all, so choose a style and commit. THERES the 100k question. I’m a metalhead! …no I want to compose! Ambient! Trance! Humor! 50’s! Hard Rock! Pop! Fuck it, let’s go to the beach, the ocean is at LEAST 50x heavier than job for a cowboy.
Producing bands is a HELL of a job. I’ve aged more in three years than I ever have. I have, officially made the shittiest sounding metal record ever, polished some turds till they fucking GLEAMED, and have been offended mortally by several ideologies.
Got a flu shot today, feels like I was kicked in the bicep by a mule.
My least favorite ‘emoticon’ - 
Oh well, I’ll stop hijacking Devins posts now, thanks for listening!
Nived Dnesnwot.
Very cool guys!
Yeah no ‘check out net’ makes things pretty raw. But in some ways, way more intense and visceral. I think if music operates on multiple levels, drugs tend to make you unaware of some things youre saying . Once you realize it, it’s already done and you can feel ‘duped’ and kind of stupid…
Sober is much harder I believe, the highs are fleeting, but raw and furious. It takes alot more to crack the interest open…when I was smoking lots, I could get excited about almost anything and brain out for an hour on a riff…you could see something like laminate flooring, and bring it back metaphorically to it’s source, and then get really caught up in your own cleverness and write something cool. Now it’s like…’well, it’s a fucking FLOOR, call me when there’s something interesting to write about’ (as an example of course)
I sit in the studio for days with NOTHING, then start rueing the fact that I’m sober, and that I’m out of ideas…and then, as I’m not thinking about it, something cool and literal presents itself in a bright, raw, and crazy way, that you have to be READY to capture, or you’ll lose interest…the benefit is being in control of what the music represnts on ALL levels…and have the ability to mold that, and not be led by it.
I have been thinking that anything I need drugs to be ‘great’ at, maybe I’m not very good at to begin with and should look elsewhere. And if my ego is so ‘attatched’ to how I appear under the influence, and I KNOW (for me) that it’s no good for my mental state to do so, I guess the time comes to get over it and just be honest. For better or for worse in the audiences eyes.
Who knows? It may even be better.
But again, is it a cop out to say ‘do what you will?’ I guess everybody is so different, and no one has the answers, so I think experience allows you to give advice based on it, but there’s always people smarter and dumber than you that don’t agree.
I have 30 songs as of today! oi…
dev
I think that it is an important step to becoming an established musician. You gotta get that ass fucking over with early. Once you get that out of the way…it is like establishing your relationship with a girl. A lot of bands are in this fantasy. Once you get that fantasy out of the way, life gets a lot easier. I did the Steve Vai project when I was 19. My introduction to the music world was profoundly negative. How much of that was personal perception? The experience I had with [Steve] Vai has defined me in many ways and we are better friends now than we have ever been. I really reacted to him negatively in a lot of ways and made things difficult for him at the time because of my perception of the reality. My connection to the labels…you talk about me retaining the control, I have always been a control freak. That retaining the control has allowed me to make the music I do on some levels and on other levels it has not allowed me to progress. There is an element of jumping into the abyss that is needed for you to know whether you have got the balls to handle it. What I am trying to do now is jump into the abyss. I have never taken that plunge because I have been afraid of losing that control. Not the creative control, but that sense that everything is under my power. I think there are trust issues that go along with that as well. Now we are distributed by Century Media. I had a 15 year long relationship with them that was soured in a lot of ways by not only my perceptions from the Vai days, but also drugs; smoking a lot of weed and doing lots of acid. There are some people that are predisposed to mental instability and if you add drugs to that equation you get paranoid, aggressive and distrust issues. What this four album project chronicles is a period of personal growth in which I quit everything. I quit the drugs, quit the booze, quit the band, had a baby, moved, cut my hair off…a lot of things that typically are not elements in my personality that I would chose to engage in. Having it in a way forced upon me made me reevaluate my connection to labels. What I came to the conclusion of is that a lot of the things I was paranoid and afraid of are just reflections of my own insecurity. Now that I have a more clear head, I am able to compartmentalize things a little better and ask myself what I want to do with the rest of my life. I really enjoy making music and enjoy performing for people. The fact that I am able to eek out a living performing for people is a blessing. I have taken it fore granted for so long. All everyone is really trying to do is feed their family. So I went back to Century Media a couple months back and I sat down with them and realized that they are friends in a lot of ways and people I have known for years. Everyone is the same and trying to feed their families and express their creativity in some way. So I suggested we just play ball together and asked them what about me has been difficult in our relationship. Now with the labels that I am with, it is a new world in a lot of ways. Have I missed the boat? Who knows. I am able to make a living so I am satisfied while being able to make music. I am thrilled with Inside Out and Century Media. I am so honored that after 15 years, to some degree, people are willing to listen to what I have to say. I am thrilled that people will give my new album a listen or two. You have to recognize the people in your life you need to keep.
I think a lot of what ended up happening for me was the honesty I talk about goes into interviews as well. I didn’t do any drugs or drink until I was 24. At that point your reality is set and things are pretty much what they are. A lot of kids do acid at 12 or 15 and it becomes integrated into their emotional and spiritual growth. But if you are already settled and then introduce something like acid which is a whole different perception of reality, you end up reacting to it. It is like you are on a mission to represent these metaphors that are new and conflicting with a predisposition to reality. I did a bunch of acid at an age that a lot of people were already over it. Then I did interviews while I was high or after the fact and I just rambled on endlessly. You mix that in with the genetic predisposition or a weakness on some levels and you start gaining this reputation through the music or interviews as being crazy. If what you do for a living allows you to pay your bills and pay for your hydro is being a crazy guy, then let’s fine tune that. Then the hair becomes a definition of that. Not only was the music kind of random and the interviews incoherent but the images I was portraying made me look like an unhinged person. When I finally started ridding the drugs from my system, I realized that I lot of that was a misappropriated verbal dialogue about something that I was either confused about or not very knowledgeable about. A lot of things I said were a result of this self inflicted paranoia. My first reaction was being embarrassed but I was accountable for it. Everything I have done in the past, I don’t regret as it led me to be who I am. But I realized if you want people to take you seriously as an artist then the first thing to do is get rid of the hair. So I cut it off, but the thing that I am leading to is the project I did with Ziltoid: On the surface it is a coffee drinking alien puppet. A lot of people didn’t get that. Interviews are important for me to clarify that though. Ziltoid was the projection of that attitude I wore in Strapping Young Lad; that quest for power, control and chaos. That whole element of what I represented. What I tried to do with Ziltoid was seperate it and objectify it with the character. After I do these four records, I will be doing a new Ziltoid record. I kept the hair. I have the dreads in a box and the new Ziltoid puppet will get that hair. In a lot of ways, it is a great artistic avenue for me to represent some things I am still very interested in but with a little more sober head space and how it is presented. If I present it as an exploration of concepts I am interested in, Ziltoid becomes an awesome avenue for me to do that with. .
Synchronicity Freaks- Devin Townsend Project. I couldn’t see this fitting in with Ki, but it is a fantastic song nonetheless, I hope to hear more from the Ki project musicians, or I could just wait patiently for Ghost.
“Friends”- Led Zeppelin cover (By Devin Townsend with Noisescapes)
The song that inspired Devin to play in Open C
Hey! Bright lights, they’re almost blinding,
black night, Hey, I’m tellin’ ya it still is by.
I can’t stop, I just keep on climbing.
I’m just looking for what I used to know.
Hey I Had a friend, and I tell ya, she once told me,
“Buddy, you got love, you ain’t lonely,”
But hey! She left me alone, and now I’m only!
looking for what I knew, man! I can tell you that right fer sure.
Hey! Hoo! I’m tellin’ you now!
The greatest thing, you ever could do now!
Trade a smile with someone who’s blue now
IT’S SOOO EASYY!
Met a man on the roadside crying,
without a friend, I’m just afraid there’s no denying,
You’re incomplete, they’ll be no finding
looking for what you knew.
So anytime somebody needs you,
don’t let them down,
although it grieves you,
because some day you’ll need someone like they do,
looking for what you knew…
