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Devin Townsend: Quarantine Project


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Just because you can't go outside doesn't mean Devin has to stop making music. I guess he's doing Twitch streams too.

 

 

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Hello all, welcome to the first instalment of my 'Quarantine Project'

 

I want to be able to provide some relief during these coming times in the ways that I am able to. People have been supportive of me in my time of need with the GoFundMe campaign, as we lost a lot of revenue due to the current and foreseeable touring cycle, and want to make sure I can provide something that in some way begins to say 'thank you'. In the ways I'm able, I will provide as much content as I can during this period as its what I feel I can offer.

 

My company has a lot of people involved, and your support has saved us in so many ways. I know we are all affected by this and yes, I could look for another job during this period like so many others will have to, but I figure that the best thing I can do is focus on my work and hopefully provide some sort of relief doing what I'm best at. I want to give back as much as I can over the next while, and I hope that some of the work I can manage here will provide a bit of comfort during these troubled times for those who enjoy what I do.

 

This first song is just a melancholy sort of thing called ‘Quarantine’ to start the proceedings. The idea with this is that it may be many different styles, Twitch streams, concerts, perhaps a podcast... I have been kept afloat by the audience and wish to help in any way I can. (I am just learning how to do video and I will try to get more proficient at it as the time goes by).

 

I will do everything I can to help in the ways that I'm able to. On behalf of myself, Northern Music, HevyDevy Records, and the entire team that makes up my professional world, Thanks for supporting (saving) our business during this downturn. We realize the number of people that are suffering and don't take this lightly. I figure the best way I can express this is to simply get to work. I will make sure I provide for the people who donated especially.

 

I am working on lots of ideas to provide during this hard period. I truly can't express my gratitude enough.

 

Thank you.

 

 

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Ok, so this was the original version of ZTV we had done for the Z2 album cycle, but it was deemed ‘too gross’ by a mess of people (specifically those closest to me =) But it was fun as shit, and Im glad to have found it again. =)

 

This puppet was made by Violet Casselden, The editing was done by Mike StJean with some other folks Im afraid I cant remember the names of, Dave Young and myself controlled the puppet (I was the face, Dave was the arms) Roger Mowatt controlled the eyes, and Bill Courage did the voiceovers.

 

I love doing this sort of thing. Its a lot of work, but so cathartic. Sorry about the juvenile humor, I think stuff like this is funny. I dont mean to offend, Im just a child I guess.

 

More stuff coming soon.. =)

 

Keep the music coming with the Devin Townsend Support Team: gf.me/u/xra8an

 

 

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OK, so here's an unmixed version of this song (I'll mix it once I've got some video content) and I just threw together a dumb visual as a placeholder too…

 

The idea is: If you're bored or self Isolated right now, have some fun and make some video footage and send it to me on twitter, then I'll mix this and redo a compilation video.

 

This song features the fantastic Anneke Van Giersebergen in the chorus and the fantastic Che Aimee Dorval in the verse

 

Sorry to Jasper, who has told me for years not to post this, but man…desperate times require desperate actions…

 

The original song was by The Vengaboys

 

{Edit by Jasper: If the Vengaboys sue us we'll probably need another GoFundMe campaign.}

 

 

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Hey! Good morning, quarantine friends =) Today, its just an easy jam I did with my good friend Kat Epple, this is just something nice to drink your morning tea or coffee to =)

 

Take care, see you tomorrow.

 

Dev

 

 

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Good day!

 

So here we are at the start of another week that will undoubtedly be challenging and difficult to navigate.

 

So to provide some energy for our workload here's Quarantine Project part 5: Stampys Blaster! (If you watched the Twitch stream yesterday, you’ll know that Stampy is the name of the elephant that came up during the mix =)

 

‘I love you all, May your heart be filled by grace, let your hearts be filled with love’

 

 

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Hey there folks =) Another day, another Quarantine Project demo!

 

This one I've been mixing on the Twitch stream over the past few days, it's called ‘Honeybunch’ and is a melodic little oddity that gets stuck in my head.

 

A fortunate side effect of this Quarantine is that a lot of friends of mine are cooped up too, so for this, my buddy Che Aimee Dorval sang her parts in her living room at the same time as drummer Federico Paulovich recorded his drums in his =) Fortuitous! ...both of those artists are exceptionally talented.

 

Wayne Joyner offered to make a cool little video too, (which I added a few dumb faces too) and I think its kind of a decent little song. Thanks everyone involved =)

 

I hope you enjoy, and I wish you all strength during this trying time. I'll be doing a Twitch stream at noon if you're up for a guitar lesson

 

Your virtual friend, Dev.

 

 

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Ok, So although no new song today , (im working on a bunch of really cool ones I think for the next few days), today is the VENGABUDS video, which is all the clips you guys sent to me on Twitter for this cover song =) I scoured Twitter to make sure I got them all, and I think I did, but let me know if I missed you. Thank you SO MUCH for participating during this crazy time… it provides a bit of hope amidst the chaos =) You guys are wonderful for sending these things in. I tried to edit it to the best of my ability

 

Im afraid I didn’t remix the song yet, but I got word today that all these Quarantine songs may see an actual release, so I figure Ill do it then…

 

Tomorrow is another new song, so I hope you’ll dig whats coming next (some really special stuff)  and THANK YOU for hanging in there.

 

See you tomorrow!

 

Your virtual pal, Dev

 

 

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So this song is a favorite of mine. And theres a bit of a story to it as well:

 

I had been suggested the album ‘The Slow Light’ on Spotify by an artist I had never heard of called ‘All India Radio’, and it became one of my favorite albums I had heard in ages. I just absolutely fell in love with it, and in particular, a song called ‘Can You Hear The Sound’ which defined a whole piece of the year it came out for me.

 

When I left DTP, I went to Sweden to just clear my head and spend some time with friends, and during which, I learned the chords and structure to ‘Can You Hear The Sound’ and began jamming it with Morgan. It ended up being a lovely moment in time for me which I then mixed with Mattias at his house while he laid down some cool melodies.

 

I contacted Martin (All India Radio) on Twitter this week and asked if he would mind if I released this for the Quarantine Project and he agreed, so I made a quick video for it and I hope you like it. the term ‘Call Of The Void’ was one that I heard referring to that sensation when your driving beside a cliff and have a strange fear that at any moment you may just hurl yourself over.

 

Please listen to ‘The Slow Light’ by All India Radio and hear the original song I took this inspiration from. The structure is verbatim for the most part, and I thank Martin for writing such a lovely song and such a meaningful record to me. Thank you for being cool enough to let me share this tribute to his song. It was really an important piece of music in my life. Can You Hear The Sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JxB640nytg

 

Some days are harder than others, I had a rough one yesterday, but we’re still holding on. Be well my friends, I wish you love and peace.

 

Dev

 

 

 

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Heres a heavier demo idea. I recorded the drums with Samus during the Empath sessions. Liam plays bass and Wes does a ripping solo. Its all about balance I guess, sometimes chill, sometimes frantic. This would be ‘frantic’ =)

 

I hope you have a good weekend. Please take care of yourself and your loved ones. Dont let the stress get you down, try to write some music or make some art maybe this weekend?

 

...or cookies? They're good too...

 

Dev

 

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Heyo, Dev here again…hope you're holding fast. This week starts with a song that was originally on the Sky Blue album, yet I was dissatisfied with the original mix back then, so I did a new mix of it on Twitch the other day. Here it is.

 

The song deals with loss. Mourning. It was written during a period of loss of some people in my world and a few close around me as well. Getting down to the intensity of it that I felt we missed the first time around was cathartic.

 

Another week ahead of us that is worth fighting for. Love to you and yours, stay strong.

 

Dev =)

 

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Hey all, so things are a little crazy over the next few days, Im working on some mixes and doing the streams, but Ive got a lot that has come up on a personal side. Therefore, today is not a new song, but instead of live recording.

 

Heres a little oddity I unearthed recently from when Che and I played a few Casualties Of Cool songs for the people at Warwick and Framus guitars in their booth at Namm 2018.

 

Its maybe a little rough around the edges, but its still a cool vibe. At this point we were playing to the reel to reel machines without a band, doing a demo for some gear. They had filmed it, but that footage seems nowhere to be found, so heres just the audio. We played ‘Daddy’ and ‘The Code’

 

If you haven’t heard the record, I would suggest trying to find it online or something? Its really good. The album came out in 2014 I think, and since that time we’ve written…well… one song. =) I like this project because its grimy, strange, and without pressure. Maybe when this virus takes a breather, we can try to write a few more…

 

Till then, enjoy todays Quarantine Project, and Ill see you tomorrow with some more goodies.

 

Dev

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah I only listened to the first so far, very good. I need to get around to the others. Also I should try and get my tickets to his virtual concerts, I tried when he first announced it but it was sold out but he kept adding tickets so I need to try again today. 

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1PM PST tomorrow. Be there or be square you  buttfaces! @Dodger

 

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Hey all, onward into the unknown, it’s time for preparation of the quarantine concert number 5, ‘Rarities By Request’ ...this one will be held on Saturday, October 31st, w/ special guest appearances from Steve Vai, Gene Hoglan and Anneke Van Giersbergen! It will be yet another experiment in trying to bring some live performance into your lives during these times :) for this one, I will be performing in a very interesting way, rare...

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
26 minutes ago, Dodger said:

I can probably do that one, though boo on acoustics. I’m bummed I missed the Labor Day one, though I still paid for it to support him.

 

He tweeted he's considering putting all the quarantine concerts on DVD so that will be your chance or like I said some people have put the stream up on youtube so you could check it out that way. It was pretty fun, you should at least catch a glimpse!

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  • 5 weeks later...

@Dodger Today at 1pm pst!

 

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Hey all, As this year grinds to a chaotic close, I think it would be nice to do a more chilled out show for the holidays. If any of you caught the acoustic tours I had been doing over the past few years, I would like to do something like that for this stream... it has been five Quarantine Concerts so far this year, and I'm wanting to bring this one back to the vibe of the first few. I know it's a trying time lately and it's easy to let the...

 

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  • 7 months later...

 

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So what is 'The Puzzle'? ...well, its not technically my 'new record', its more a collaborative, multimedia art project that acts as a stopgap between Empath and the next record, 'Lightwork' (Due out in March of next year on Inside Out Records) The Puzzle includes 2 'soundtracks' of sorts, (the highly orchestrated 'Puzzle' and the very chill 'Snuggles') along with a film, graphic novel, novel, and a huge amount of multimedia. It includes many artists (upwards of 50) that participated via Zoom during the pandemic and the experience gave me a chance to purge and be completely creatively free. As such, it is a stream of conscious, and very abstract collection of music that includes a narrative (in the form of a film) and is meant to be a documentation of what the pandemic felt like to me.

 

Im very proud of it, and I will be uploading some of Snuggles next. Note: it is *not* meant to be considered a normal 'album', it is truly a sprawling, complex, multimedia cathartic release that was inspired by the events of the last year and a half. Lightwork is much more in line with what Ive done in the past (Transcendence, Empath, Addicted, Ocean Machine etc) but Puzzle is very near to my heart. It includes so many of my friends and peers, and it has zero limits on it... its almost like 'Puzzle and Snuggle' are like a modern day 'Devlab and Hummer' (2 old albums of mine) but the difference being the levels of complexity this project included. Mixing it alone was a nightmare, let alone the film, the books, the box sets etc. (The box set is a hand numbered and signed piece of work that is limited to 1000 pieces).

 

Im sure this won't be everybody's cup of tea, and I would imagine the listeners who are more interested in 'Kingdom' or 'Deadhead' would be better suited to wait for Lightwork, (and I can appreciate that very much...) however, 'The Puzzle' has been my soundtrack for the last year and a half, and in keeping with the idea of making sure that what I am writing is authentic to what Im feeling, The Puzzle is essentially my documentation of the Pandemic and the world around it. It has been a very intense time, as Im sure you'd agree...

 

The other record, 'Snuggles' is meant to be something you listen to in order to feel better... Puzzle is chaos, Snuggles is calm. The whole project is meant to express that I think there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel we've been through. Keeping ourselves and our loved ones together during it all became the whole point.

 

Thank you for allowing me to continue to make uncompromised work during a time that may be arguably wiser not to =)

 

Dev

 

 

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...And here's a bit of 'Snuggles' ... the idea for this was that when things were at their darkest and most chaotic last winter, I felt like myself and lots of people I knew were struggling to keep balanced, so while Puzzle was meant to purge the chaos, Snuggles is meant as something that gets played during times of trauma or unhappiness. Finding some beauty amidst all the ugly became very important to me, and it took going through the dark of the whole Pandemic to find this.

 

It was done with the same wonderful group of people who did 'Puzzle' with me.

 

Thanks again for listening and thanks for not giving up.

 

Dev

 

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I can't remember if I've posted it here, but my favorite Townsend thing was when he did an interview for Loudwire or whatever and they asked him his favorite metal riffs to play, everything he played was from the 80's, and he was like "honestly I've been playing exclusively in open C for the last 25 years, I can't really play standard tuning anymore. I just played for your every riff I still remember how to play "

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For reference, standard tuning is EADGBE, open C is CGCGCG. It's really hard to transpose anything between the two, and it's a weird way to play guitar. Devin townsend is the only musician I know that does it regularly. Most metal musicians play in either 6-string standard, 6-string drop (so either DADGBE or CADGBE) or seven string with the lowest string tuned to whatever and the other six tuned to standard. Jinjer, for example, iirc they play in drop A#, so it's only the lowest string that's different, the other strings are tuned normal. I can't remember if their guitarist plays with a six or seven, but if he plays a seven, the higher six will be tuned standard.

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