Devin Townsend v. Offer Your Posts

[PROGdrummer]

 

Did anyone else who bought DTP/BTBAM VIP tickets not receive the BTBAM ep in their email yet?

Haven't gotten mine either

 

Too much Dev? Not enough Dev?



That's almost 2.5 days of Devin's music. That's including SYL, Casualties, DTP and DTB.

Is it possible that Devin Townsend has the most recorded studio material out of any musician, ever? Like, seriously though. I wouldn't be surprised if that was a fact. Maybe he's rivaled by Mike Portnoy at this point but since Devin actually writes all of his material as opposed to just recording an instrument track for his projects.... who else has a back catalog that big?

[Mosh]

Did anyone else who bought DTP/BTBAM VIP tickets not receive the BTBAM ep in their email yet?

Haven't gotten mine either

 

Too much Dev? Not enough Dev?



That's almost 2.5 days of Devin's music. That's including SYL, Casualties, DTP and DTB.

Is it possible that Devin Townsend has the most recorded studio material out of any musician, ever? Like, seriously though. I wouldn't be surprised if that was a fact. Maybe he's rivaled by Mike Portnoy at this point but since Devin actually writes all of his material as opposed to just recording an instrument track for his projects.... who else has a back catalog that big?

Not even close. Frank Zappa and Buckethead immediately come to mind. Could probably think of many more.

[Metro]

Definitely Buckethead. He's probably released double that amount of music in the past 2 years alone.

[Mosh]

He had something insane like 50 albums last year alone.

You also have to take into account musicians who do a lot of session work and Jazz musicians who appeared on tons of albums.

Original material narrows it down a bit, but even then I don't think Dev comes close.

[PROGdrummer]

Oh yeah yeah I forgot about Buckethead lol. He's just ridiculous.

[Nel]

Plus, didn't Tangerine Dream release a million albums or something?

Terria finally went from $2000 to $5.60 so I scooped that up. 

[NunoTenniscourt]

Just got in from the Orlando show. Holy shit, that was a religious experience.

I also got to hang out with each member of the band individually for about a total of an hour. Devin was
the last. He was able to stand the whole show, but was on crutches when I talked to him.

I have to say, I have seen just about every band and their brother in my time, and met quite a few of them, but these guys were by far
the classiest and most gracious group of guys I've ever met. Every band out there could learn a thing or two about fan interaction from
them. I will also say Ryan just might be the most underrated drummer on the planet. Incredible chops.

[twosuitsluke]

Just got in from the Orlando show. Holy shit, that was a religious experience.

I also got to hang out with each member of the band individually for about a total of an hour. Devin was
the last. He was able to stand the whole show, but was on crutches when I talked to him.

I have to say, I have seen just about every band and their brother in my time, and met quite a few of them, but these guys were by far
the classiest and most gracious group of guys I've ever met. Every band out there could learn a thing or two about fan interaction from
them. I will also say Ryan just might be the most underrated drummer on the planet. Incredible chops.

That sounds amazing. March can't come quickly enough!!

I love the fact you described that as a religious experience. I've had a couple of experiences, whilst seeing bands live, that I can only describe as coming close to an out of body experience. It's only happened a couple of times but it's literally like the music and the atmosphere takes you to another place.

That is the live experience I crave.

I can totally imagine them being the nicest guys as well, I've been watching all the videos they've been posting recently. 0% rock star bullshit 

[NunoTenniscourt]

Just got in from the Orlando show. Holy shit, that was a religious experience.

I also got to hang out with each member of the band individually for about a total of an hour. Devin was
the last. He was able to stand the whole show, but was on crutches when I talked to him.

I have to say, I have seen just about every band and their brother in my time, and met quite a few of them, but these guys were by far
the classiest and most gracious group of guys I've ever met. Every band out there could learn a thing or two about fan interaction from
them. I will also say Ryan just might be the most underrated drummer on the planet. Incredible chops.

That sounds amazing. March can't come quickly enough!!

I love the fact you described that as a religious experience. I've had a couple of experiences, whilst seeing bands live, that I can only describe as coming close to an out of body experience. It's only happened a couple of times but it's literally like the music and the atmosphere takes you to another place.

That is the live experience I crave.

I can totally imagine them being the nicest guys as well, I've been watching all the videos they've been posting recently. 0% rock star bullshit 

Absolutely no egos whatsoever. It felt like I was hanging out with fellow music nerds. They all went beyond what could anyone could hope in terms of making sure *every* fan was taken care of in what they wanted, and Devin had a huge smile on his face with everyone he interacted with. He talked about how he liked our weather (which funny enough, I hate) and one of our restaurants they ate at when they arrived in town. It all just seemed so genuine.

As much as I liked "Failure" the first time I heard, hearing it live made me love the song even more. By the time he got through the first chorus, my eyes welled up a bit. It was that glorious.

[Metro]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmXgl9nLG4s

Part 6 of the Documentary

[KevShmev]

I also got to hang out with each member of the band individually for about a total of an hour. Devin was
the last. He was able to stand the whole show, but was on crutches when I talked to him.
 

Wait, what??

[NunoTenniscourt]

Yeah, when I first saw him, I didn't even recognize him at first glance because he had a sweater cap on (even though it was damn near 80 degrees and humid as hell at that time of night) and was on aluminum crutches. I knew he had injured his foot, but didn't think he would be on crutches after doing an entire show standing.

[seasonsinthesky]

This was covered in the tour documentary episodes. He sprained his foot lifting a 500lb tire at a gym. (Seriously!) He saw a physiotherapist, who obviously suggested keeping off the foot, so he's trying that as often as possible.

[nicmos]

There's so many good songs on Transcendence, but Gump is one of the best songs on either disc.  I am so into that song right now, it's tight, it's catchy, it's complex.  I can only assume it didn't make disc 1 because it didn't fit the theme somehow.  Let's hear it for Gump!

[Scorpion]

I've just completed my first listen of the Contain Us bonus disc, Stuff That Was Almost Stuff, and I have to say, it's pretty damn awesome. Traestorz isn't my thing, but many of the other songs (of which I previously only knew Synchronicity Freaks, Radial Highway and Watch You) are a really enjoyable listen, especially Juno, Ho Krll, Sticks and Stones and Dinosaurs.

I've been on a serious Devin kick lately. I might start doing a full discog listen sometime this week, that's something that I really want to do some time or another.

[Metro]

Concert last night was awesome I got Dev to sign my copies of Casualties, the Royal Albert Hall album, Addicted, the 2 Ass-Sordid demos, and the album he did with Steve Vai. The guys in BTBAM are cool guys too.

Dev played a shortened version of the setlist from earlier this tour No Supercrush or Grace   and no encore. Rejoice was fun but I would have preferred a song from Sky Blue that hasn't been played to death. The new songs are great live but I could barely hear Dev's solo in in Failure.
BTBAM sounded great. They played Coma Ecliptic in full with no encore. It was my first time listening to Coma all the way through and my god it is a killer album.
Fallujah sucked. Sorry, just not my cup of tea.

During Ih-Ah some jackass yelled out "Detox!", so in the middle of the song Dev did an impromptu acoustic version of it which was amazing

[cramx3]

On this co-headline tour, who has been the second band playing?  Has it been rotating, does anyone know?

[Metro]

Last night it was

Fallujah
BTBAM
DTP

I would assume that's order for every night.

[NunoTenniscourt]

Concert last night was awesome I got Dev to sign my copies of Casualties, the Royal Albert Hall album, Addicted, the 2 Ass-Sordid demos, and the album he did with Steve Vai. The guys in BTBAM are cool guys too.

Dev played a shortened version of the setlist from earlier this tour No Supercrush or Grace   and no encore. Rejoice was fun but I would have preferred a song from Sky Blue that hasn't been played to death. The new songs are great live but I could barely hear Dev's solo in in Failure.
BTBAM sounded great. They played Coma Ecliptic in full with no encore. It was my first time listening to Coma all the way through and my god it is a killer album.
Fallujah sucked. Sorry, just not my cup of tea.

During Ih-Ah some jackass yelled out "Detox!", so in the middle of the song Dev did an impromptu acoustic version of it which was amazing

Fallujah didn't impress me, either. However, their drummer was amazing. No "Supercrush" or "Grace"? They did both here in Orlando. This was my first time seeing them live, so I'm glad they were included.

[Metro]

When DTP was setting up their stuff onstage Dave Young played the riff from Planet of the Apes. They didn't play it unfortunately but since they have BTBAM with them, it'd be a stupid missed opportunity if they didn't play that at least once on this tour.

[twosuitsluke]

I've just completed my first listen of the Contain Us bonus disc, Stuff That Was Almost Stuff, and I have to say, it's pretty damn awesome. Traestorz isn't my thing, but many of the other songs (of which I previously only knew Synchronicity Freaks, Radial Highway and Watch You) are a really enjoyable listen, especially Juno, Ho Krll, Sticks and Stones and Dinosaurs.

I've been on a serious Devin kick lately. I might start doing a full discog listen sometime this week, that's something that I really want to do some time or another.

Yea, I've actually just downloaded that today as well. I'm slowly filling in the blanks in his back catalogue. I also got the Live at the Royal Albert Hall album as well as it was cheap on iTunes. I've watched it on youtube before but listening through my stereo was amazing. It's really one of the best live albums I've ever heard. Dev's banter is on point, the drums sound huge and it's a cracking setlist. I think I prefer the live version of the Z2 album over the studio as it just sounds so huge. It's awesome.

[seasonsinthesky]

I've just completed my first listen of the Contain Us bonus disc, Stuff That Was Almost Stuff, and I have to say, it's pretty damn awesome. Traestorz isn't my thing, but many of the other songs (of which I previously only knew Synchronicity Freaks, Radial Highway and Watch You) are a really enjoyable listen, especially Juno, Ho Krll, Sticks and Stones and Dinosaurs.

I've been on a serious Devin kick lately. I might start doing a full discog listen sometime this week, that's something that I really want to do some time or another.

Yea, I've actually just downloaded that today as well. I'm slowly filling in the blanks in his back catalogue. I also got the Live at the Royal Albert Hall album as well as it was cheap on iTunes. I've watched it on youtube before but listening through my stereo was amazing. It's really one of the best live albums I've ever heard. Dev's banter is on point, the drums sound huge and it's a cracking setlist. I think I prefer the live version of the Z2 album over the studio as it just sounds so huge. It's awesome.

Totes agreed about STWAS. Despite being half finished and so on, it's a really great listen until "Traestorz" starts to drag out too long. I like the whole song, just need to be in the right frame of mind to get through it. Also, if you want more "Sticks and Stones," it's an excerpt from the "Oodles of Noodles/Ki Jam" that Dev released online for free, and it runs like 15 minutes.

[Sacul]

Listened to some of Transcendence today, surprised it was quite good. Feels quite closer to the classic sound of Devin while mixing a bit of the DTP era.

[Adami]

Did one listen through of Transcendence, so I need a lot more listens before I make any final judgments.

But the music is just god damn inspired. Really loved it. The playing by everyone, the mix, just fantastic. The only thing I felt lacking was the vocals. They were fine, never bad and sometimes good, but never really great. Dev is one of the most talented singers I've ever heard, but he really just seems to do the choir thing now a days way too much and it all blurs together. He also felt pretty low in the mix.

The bonus disk, however, was just insane. Some of those songs had great vocals. No idea why he didn't take that kind of approach to the main disk.

Over all, I really like this and will listen to it a lot more to get a better feel for it.

Oh, except Higher. Didn't like that one as much.

[Metro]

Cover of Accept's "Fast as a Shark" for Metal Hammer magazine featuring Dev on lead vocals

https://soundcloud.com/user-732842048/fast-as-a-shark-accept-cover

[KevShmev]

Did one listen through of Transcendence, so I need a lot more listens before I make any final judgments.

But the music is just god damn inspired. Really loved it. The playing by everyone, the mix, just fantastic. The only thing I felt lacking was the vocals. They were fine, never bad and sometimes good, but never really great. Dev is one of the most talented singers I've ever heard, but he really just seems to do the choir thing now a days way too much and it all blurs together. He also felt pretty low in the mix.

The bonus disk, however, was just insane. Some of those songs had great vocals. No idea why he didn't take that kind of approach to the main disk.

Over all, I really like this and will listen to it a lot more to get a better feel for it.

Oh, except Higher. Didn't like that one as much.

Hmmm, well, I love Higher, but I agree that some of the songs on the bonus disc are fantastic.  I already cannot get enough of Celestial Signals and Time Overload. 

I see what you mean about the vocals, but as long as the songs are great, it doesn't bother me if he doesn't go for the stratosphere with the vocals a lot.  I was a bit surprised that Anneke wasn't used in a lead vocal role more, but I would rather he use her where she fits rather than forcing songs just for her sake.  The combination of their two voices together is still magic, regardless.

[WebRaider]

First I want to say that I think Transcendence is absolutely great, probably my favorite from Dev and company since at least Deconstruction and maybe even Addicted!.  Having said that.....

Dev is one of the most talented singers I've ever heard, but he really just seems to do the choir thing now a days way too much and it all blurs together.

I've been meaning to come here and post this exact thought. I get what Devin is going for with the use of the choir/choral thing but he's sort of leaning on it at the moment. It sounds -fine- but he doesn't need it and its really just distracting in a lot of the songs now for me.

We know how Devin is and I wonder if for some reason he's not confident in his vocals at this time for some reason? For me he doesn't need all that additional on top of his vocals. His range from growls to operatic and just his midway-regular voice is perfect for his music. I wish he'd strip it back some and just do something like Ocean Machine again personally.

And Higher is a great song IMO... you just have to get past that choir stuff.



...........................

Also got to see the DTP in concert in Charlotte on 9/12!!! He (along with Dream Theater) seem averse to coming even this far south so I am so thrilled to have finally caught him live. They sold out and had an awesome crowd. It was Between the Buried and Me's -hometown show- so along with DTP it was hugely successful.

Even though Devin is struggling with his injury he didn't show it once on stage all night. He was a beast and the band was great. Have to agree with Metropolis; I was blown away by BTBM's show as well... With so much going on in their music I was curious how they would perform live and they were absolutely fantastic.  (I happened to enjoy Fallujah as well and thought they were tight too). Excellent show all around for me!

[cramx3]

Im with both of you guys on the choir usage.  It's a large reason why Higher and Grace are rated much lower for me than the general DT fans.  Neither are bad songs, but the choir parts really bring them down for me.

[jakepriest]

Higher is probably my least favourite from the album. Don't get what all the fuss is about.

[ChuckSteak]

Higher is probably my least favourite from the album. Don't get what all the fuss is about.

+1.

[Metro]

It's got some great sections but as a whole it's an unorganized jumble of riffs and it goes on too long.

[cramx3]

The build up and scream are amazing, definitely a highlight of the album for me, but the song as a whole just has good parts but not a great song IMO.

[Adami]

I remember reading that it wasn't well regarded before I heard it. Then it came on, with the acoustic or whatever intro and I was like "The hell are those guys on? This is awesome!" then the rest of the song continued, and I understood the criticism. Calling it a jumbled collection of good and bad ideas is spot on.

[Metro]

I did notice that the vocal melody for the intro to Higher is very similar to the verses for Canada from Terria.
Probably not intentional, but you never know with Dev.

[twosuitsluke]

Ok, since Transcendence came out I have been in full Devin Townsend mode. I can't stop listening to all his albums and I've picked up some other demos and things that I hadn't heard before.

I really love the majority of his albums but no matter how many times I listen to Ghost and Casualties of Cool they just don't do it for me like his other albums.

I don't mind his more mellow, restrained side ( I really like Ki for instance) but a whole album in the style of Ghost/CoC I just find boring. If I'm in the mood to listen to chilled music then Devin isn't exactly what springs to mind. Those albums wash over me or just fade into the background, which is fine I guess, but compare it to how I feel when I listen to Ocean Machine or Epicloud then it's really no contest.

Maybe one day I'll come to appreciate them more but at this point they just move me the least out of all the albums I've heard by him.