It's good that Devin shares so much with us, but yeah I do believe a certain degree of mystique is essential. Not only for Devin or other musicians or celebrities, but for all of us as human beings. It stops us from becoming boring.

[The Dev]

Ummmm...


I have a secret stash of star wars cards in my sock drawer?

Oh...and I talk to unicorns...shhhh!

People who say you are god actualy thinks you are god? When I say you are god simply it means I like your music a lot than P Diddy's:) (no shit sherlock..)... But I think your post made a good point and you are obviously not building a pyramid for when you are done on earth. Always nice to read your views on things!

People who say you are god actualy thinks you are god? When I say you are god simply it means I like your music a lot than P Diddy's:) (no shit sherlock..)...

Haha, the term "God" is used far too freely as an adjective. Surely God is a noun if such an entity exists at all.

It stops us from becoming boring.

I find it more interesting to know more about his life, to be honest. I'd prefer that he express his relationship with unicorns instead of pretending he has all these characteristics which are alien and unrealisic... actually wait, that was a bad example.

I have a secret stash of star wars cards in my sock drawer?

Oh have you collected this one yet!?

Dev......You talk to Unicorns????

I strongly recommend on that basis you either go on to youtube or filmcow.com and check out the Charley the Unicorn video, all 3 of them......

I am 100% certain that you will not be dissapointed, 1st time i watched i almost wet myself!!!!!

[swervedriver]

^^ Prexy, that's Star Trek...

*REPLACE identical facepalm picture here*

Charley the Unicorn video, all 3 of them......

I was forced to watch them at a house party. By the conclusion of the third one I still had the same opinion of them... Each to their own, but I just don't see why they're even remotely comedic... It's a rip-off of Saladfingers, and a really bad one.

^^ Prexy, that's Star Trek...

*REPLACE identical facepalm picture here*

I have a mental block on the fact that there's actually a difference between the two of those...

Maybe a picture of an awesome Irish actor will distract attention from a raging Irish failure. Plus he's owning the most annoying character in those films, or any films, ever.

sorry.. I'll try and stay 'relevant' next time...

I wasn't giving out, just curious as to what Mike Patton in a gas mask and your job had to do with the thread! Or did it have to do with the thread?

[The Dev]

Ok, lets wrap this one up...

Of course not 'god' in a literal sense, hyperbole.

And well...shit, even I don't know me too well.

And well...shit, even I don't know me too well.

^^It seems as though Ki and the albums to come are helping you figure that out then? That's the impression I've gotten from interviews and what not.

When I refer to Dev as being "godlike" or "kingly", it's exactly the same way I see someone like my tutor, who is also a well established artist with some very iconic work (not talking stuff in galleries, I'm talking skeksis from Dark Crystal, the snakes from Indiana Jones, Ludo from Labyrinth etc.), someone who is just doing what they love for no where near as much money as they deserve, with the main goal to make people happy.
Just pure respect for the guy, I hope he understands that the majority of us feel this way and isn't too warey due to bad experiences (I'd be scared too if someone moved to be closer to me frankly!)
I've been incredibly fortunate, I first met my favourite band in 2004, five years later I can safely say they're some of the most loyal friends I've ever had despite the age gap, but I also get to see freaky fans first hand, and what they'll do to get what they want. I've seen someone spread nasty rumours about a band member's girlfriend because she was jealous of her (actually had a room in her house pretty much wallpapered with photos of him and him and her. Fucking frightening.), one girl claiming she was pregnant with another band member's baby, someone running up a massive credit card debt after taking time off work to follow a band around a European tour, I've had my mobile stolen and "found" by the same person in order to take mobile numbers off me etc. The singer stopped posting on their forum after a girl wrote a seriously long-winded post about how utterly depressed she was because she was so in love with him but knew she could never have him etc. I mean, how is one supposed to react to that? The moment you make it clear that you're uncomfertable all of a sudden you're a bastard.

Keep to your guns Dev, ignore the yo-yoing fan/haters, and shoo away the weirdos with a big gnarly stick! You always make awesome tunes, that's all I care about And as far as I can see by your posts, you seem like a pretty safe guy! I really appreciate it when musicians go out of their way to communicate with their fans, to me it makes the music more personal when you've spoken to/met the person who created it, and less of a CD from a factory.

I'll have great times with someone who's gay if they're good people, but I tell you, the amount of 'this just made me jizz', 'I just got a boner' 'I just blew a load on my keyboard' comments kind of weird me out.

Haha, I'm sorry.

Don't feel guilty. Dev's the person who filled our screens with seven minutes of crotch after all.

As a fan of Devin's vast variety of work it is easy to understand that sense of mystery that there is when I discovered his music and attempted to gleam an insight into the mind that is responsible for it. Especially so when that music seems to fit very well into the scheme of what I like to hear. How many times have I looked through a CD liner trying to decipher the coherent elements and strings in order to figure out the artist a little better as if it might shed some light of the creative process or something? For me, I have played guitar, keyboards and been composing since 13 (I’m 38 now) and I was a Vai fan from the FZ and DLR days. That's when I first heard Devin and thought, "Wow, this guy sings awesome, with such an intense delivery and wide range." I remember reading SV saying something about Devin being an amazing guitarist as well but never I got to see a show. Then I met Terry Bozzio at a clinic and gained a little insight to the dischord in the band when he basically told me that what he originally thought is was going to be a "band thing" turned out to be all Steve all the time. One more track on Fire Garden and that was the last I heard from Devin Townsend, completely unaware that he was making music onward. Fast forward to 3 years ago, and my brother, a drummer who is way into death metal says, "You gotta’ hear Gene Hoglan" and gives me "For those about to rock" to watch. From that moment on I was hooked and bought every SYL and DT recording (although I still don't own Hummer or Punky Bruster) and I have listened to thousands of hours of Devin's music with great delight. I tiled my whole house while listening to the SYL catalogue over and over and over. To this day I can't even look at backerboard and grout without thinking SYL. But it was the solo stuff that really got me curious because it was much more similar to the style of music I have been writing and been into for years. That's when I found myself digging through old interviews online, analyzing the way Devin makes music, and waiting patiently for Ziltoid, which is awesome, by the way. I can't understand how anybody could not like Ziltoid, as I have read. Definitely a stand out recording, especially since I can appreciate trying to do it all yourself. And I must confess to spending time trying to figure out what makes him tick and maybe gain a bit of inspiration for my own musical endeavors.

But what I have ultimately figured out from reading the interviews and forum posts is that Devin seems like a regular person with a regular life and regular problems there is little to be gained or lost by knowing him well or not knowing him at all. If anything, I think that he is very generous to spend time sharing information and responding to foolish questions. As I see it, it’s best just to sit back and enjoy the ride with the hope that he continues to put out more music. Because that is what really matters – the music. His personal life is his own and while I enjoy following the twitter feeds and watching the stripped down persona in the videos (some of which are hilarious), I think that he should be able to live life without having to feel responsible to anyone and having people move to be closer to him – that’s just plain psychotic. I think it’s sad that people revolve their lives around their idols and take it personally when their uninformed expectations aren’t met. I think Ki is a great recording and look forward to whatever comes next but I try not to have any expectations and would rather be surprised than worry about being disappointed. So far so good. It seems that Devin is like fine wine, getting better with age although I take slight offense when he says he’s close to 40 because I am older than him and I would rather not think about that! Just kidding.

^Good post.

I personally think it's fantastic that we get to communicate a bit with Dev through the forum and see some of his views on things or whatever. This kinda brings him to "our level" (as opposed to being viewed as something super-human); it's just a guy making music and posting stuff on a forum just like all of us... Only difference being that this is his forum.