That's right folks, its the return of
ADDICTED FRIDAY! The rules are simple: You listen to the DTP album Addicted on a Friday. If you do, you win. If you don't, you lose.
Don't lose.
The Devin Townsend Project - AddictedReleased November 17, 2009
Tracklisting:
1. Addicted!
2. Universe in a Ball!
3. Bend it Like Bender!
4. Supercrush!
5. Hyperdrive!
6. Resolve!
7. Ih-Ah!
8. The Way Home!
9. Numbered!
10. Awake!!Personnel:
Devin Townsend - Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards
Anneke van Giersbergen - Vocals
Ryan Van Poederooyen - Drums
Brian Waddell - Bass
Mark Cimino - Guitar
Additional Personnel:
Dave Young - Keyboards
Susanne Richter - Vocals (Ih-Ah!)
Rob Cunningham, Hugh Gilmartin, John Rafferty, Brian Johnson, Steve Lobmeie - Backup Vocals
Addicted is the second album from the DTP. Addicted represents the poppy, more accessible side of Dev’s music. A side that had been present in small doses on past albums with songs like Life, Christeen, Material, Stagnant, Slow Me Down, Sunshine and Happiness, and Hyperdrive. Addicted was inspired by commercial rock albums with big, heavy production, like Nickelback and Metallica’s Black Album.
Addicted was recorded The Factory in Vancouver and at Dev’s home studio. Dev once again put together a new band for this album. He brought back DTB drummer Ryan Van Poederooyen, as well as DTB guitarist Brian “Beav” Waddell, this time on bass. Mark Cimino, whom Dev met back in 1992 when he was recording the Vai album, joined the band as the second guitarist. Like on Ki, Dev wanted a female vocalist for the album. He wasn’t sure who to chose, when one day out of nowhere, Anneke Van Giersbergen emailed him
a clip of her singing Hyperdrive with her band, Agua de Annique. Dev was immediately impressed and asked her to sing on Addicted. Addicted would be the first of many collaborations between them.
Universe in a Ball was considered for the Ki album, but Dev had trouble adapting the song to the style of Ki.
A music video was made for Bend it Like Bender
https://youtu.be/FaCefwkz4HYThis version of Hyperdrive was recorded in Open C# tuning to accommodate Anneke’s voice. This is the only time Dev has ever used that tuning.
Resolve is an admitted ripoff of the Wildheart’s song Vanilla Radio.
Ih-Ah came to Dev in a dream. Susanne Richter sings backup vocals on it instead of Anneke.
The main riff to The Way Home was written by Beav.
Dinosaurs and Juno were intended for Addicted, but were ultimately left off and included in the Contain Us box set.
Some clips from the recording of the album…
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_AGVF5YuSPLM733auTbja2P9cqe4G2u3 Addicted was released November 17, 2009. Reception was generally positive, though I’ve seen some scathing reviews criticizing the poppy direction of this album. Addicted was the second Dev album I heard. Part of me wanted to hate it because I was a stupid teen obsessed with Dream Theater who thought “Pop=Bad”, but I can not hate this record. I do think he’s done this aspect of his sound better on future releases. I lent this album to a girl I dated back in high school. She broke up with me but refused to give me back the CD.
Dev returned to touring in 2010 under the Devin Townsend Project name, playing songs from Ki, Addicted, and past solo albums. The live lineup was similar to the Addicted band, but Mark and Anneke were unable to commit to touring, so Dave Young joined as the second guitarist and Anneke only performed with the band on special occasions. The band’s first tour was opening for Cynic and Between the Buried and Me.
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The Devin Townsend Project - Live in the USA 2010 EPRecorded February 1, 2010, released February 14, 2011
no album art for this one, enjoy this picture insteadTracklisting:
1. Supercrush!
2. Kingdom
3. Truth
4. OM
5. By Your CommandPersonnel:
Devin Townsend - Guitar, Vocals
Dave Young - Guitar
Brian “Beav” Waddell - Bass
Ryan Van Poederooyen - Drums
Macbook Pro - Background stuff
This EP was recorded in Baltimore, MD at “Sonar”, a (now closed) venue that looks like a parking garage with a stage attached. It was released as a free download(No longer available) as a promotion for a 2011 European tour. It contains most of the band’s set that night, excluding only the first song: Disruptr.
Some sources incorrectly refer to this EP as “Live in Europe”.
The EP was later included in the Contain Us box set.
Full show, including Disruptr:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAixNvR4LsM This was the second release I heard from Dev, so this was my first time hearing most of these songs. I think it's a solid performance, but looking back on it, Dev's humor and self-deprecation is a little much.