It's always seemed like Steve had grown a great admiration for you from afar, so it's amazing to hear you two got together and really connected in a way you never had an opportunity to in the past; there's no time like the present.
I've seen a phrase that was originally coined on the internet as the programmer's credo but it feels appropriate for many things in my life at least - "We do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they were going to be easy"
I've watched every update every week, Thank you so much for sharing your process with us. I know the long hours, the struggle, the technical issues etc - Will be worth it in the end, because your product is always great, the music, the guitar, the lyrics - Thank you for sharing YOU, with us
The stuff on emotions was beautiful. Recently went through something very hard, and realized how I just intellectualized feelings instead of just sitting and properly physically feeling them was important. Really wise words.
Oh god...my heart just sank for a second hearing the words "swan song". 🤣 Please Dev, I don't want to ever hear those words come out of your mouth again!
like in the past, maybe it's a swan song for what he sees as a chapter in his life. he often has his music act as doors that provide closure or new opportunities to the next stage in life, so maybe this is what he is referring to? But yeah, i'd be sad af too if he called it quits after this!!
You are such a beautiful soul. Above everything like the anxiety, the stress and all the other complications you put yourself through, your gratitude for everything life has to give you is always your brightest, warmest and truest emotion. It's truly inspiring and I just want to say thank you Dev because I am forever grateful to you. Your music saved me and I will never forget that 🤘♥️🤘
I definitely feel that social media and engaging thing. It's about creating balance between work flow and then feedback, but not expecting too much or too little. Thanks for the good vibes Devin, as always
Powernerd thus far has really resonated with me even though I obviously have yet to hear it. Nothing I do creatively is done or complete without my full attention and passion. Simple ideas can get out of hand rather fast.
I agree with the early bed, early rise. Its the only time to get time for yourself. coffee, sunrise, even in the city its calm. Looking forward to the new album! i love these videos where you just talk. As I get ready for my 50's, I am searching for new ways to give myself inspiration to write and record again. My bitterness towards work is helping. lol. Been where I work for 25 years now. It bites into your energy!
Devin I have listened to you since SYL and the accelerated evolution album cycle but as soon as I heard them albums i delved into your back catalogue and absorbed everything. You have been an incredibly important artist in my life and I always look forward to hearing what you are creating next. I am a loyal fan and supporter of your vision 🤘
As much as it vicariously pains me to hear about your balls in a taffy puller, I can't wait to hear the resultant vocals. I am so thankful to you for creating the artistic catalog you have. Your journey, especially over these past 10 years, has really spoken to my own path in life. When you've musically changed directions, I've found those albums to be what I needed to hear. I wish you all the best with Power Nerd, the Moth and every other future thing you set your mind to.
Take care of yourself, Dev! We support you in all that you do, but you gotta make sure you put time aside for you. It's great you got together with Steve in person. Life is a trip indeed. Glad we get to go on it with you!
I truly think that this is my favorite update so far, regardless of being off the cuff. A lot of it resonated with a lot of people, I think. I know it did with me. Good luck on finishing the album and can't wait to listen to it when all is said and done! :D
Anyone else remember his updates back in the day, on the HevyDevy forums? This nail soup story strongly reminds me of Nail Broth, which was the working demo title for Gaia, off Synchestra (2006).
I just wanted to say that your vulnerability in these updates is beyond refreshing to hear. It's inspiring to see an artist as tenured as you are still experiencing growth and resonating with the work you're creating. Truly a labour of love. Onward & upward. Thanks Dev!
Was working on an IMCU/cardiology department as a registred nurse for five months .. team was toxic. Changing department was not an option and after I quit, it's exactly how I felt. This combinated lack of adrenaline, not being needed anymore and and resulting depression is exactly what happened. It was not my first job and it's always like that, afterwards. Sport and movement is what keeps me before falling down the spiral further, but it's SO hard to make a start alone, when there's 'nobody here' (Terria is usually on my playlist in those moments) I played a small gig two weeks after I quit. We advertised it at little and had a fun show. I can't imagine the pressure Devin and other musicians have to feel while playing every night, with this kind of adrenaline. I still felt like I could perform music forever. But musicians know, it's the 'things beyond things', which are preventing us to do so. A financial plan. The coorporate world of todays transnational music industry. It must have been a joy in medieval times to tour as a Lute player or whatever. Haha. Besides the law of the strongest, plague or horse carriages for touring, haha.
I had no idea how much I needed to hear these thoughts untill I did,. Thank you 💖 Devin as always you are an Equalizer to my own essence of creativity, a harmonizer you could say ❤🤘🤘
It's funny to know someone for decades and having spent a lot of time with them, even in some depth, you still one day learn that they had a whole new side to them that is very impressive to you. And almost unbelievable that it has been in the friend you knew so well, all the time and you didn't see it or know it. Here the nail soup story is a stone soup. Probably German fairy tale or something, like Grimm's stories and others.
@dvntownsend thanks again, and always for your time. For sharing your thoughts and giving us a glimpse in to your orbit. As always, take care of yourself man. More power to your arm. 💪
Cheers Devy. Greatly appreciate these insights. It never comes off as self aggrandizing either. It's just human, and a perspective in the mind of a diverse creative!
Art becomes all the more miraculous when we can see the human behind it. It becomes near transcendent when that human is such a down to earth and relatable person.
I don’t know if it’s because I was born May 4- ten years after you dev but I’ve always felt that we were on a similar path and you’ve been leading the way. Thank you 🙏
Hey Dev, I hope you see this. I've had a life-changing couple of years as well and I just wanted to say your words at 33:23 really resonated with me and I wanted to let you know: Me too, man.
I definitely relate to that thing about running everything wide-open redline and then when there is no demand for that, you start looking for conflict elsewhere. It’s a huge problem for me with my ADHD. Dopa-mining
Exercise is now my biggest challenge and never thought that would be a thing. Dealing with trauma is like playing the game superhot, where your adversary moves every time you do, only always three steps ahead. Trauma brings not wanting to be here and I used every drug I could find to dance with deletion. Now my drug is feeling my life force slip away. Its the most exhausting experience facing the unrealized demon that fed every bad experience in life.
Hey Dev! You should try martial arts. It creates very similar pathways in the brain that guitar does. Precise movements, repeated in training. Combine that with stretches and exercise, great for the brain chemistry!
Hey Dev, I really cannot wait to hear The moth! I imagine the album starting with the bare bones (nail and water) an all of your friends coming along and adding ingredients as the album goes, until it climaxes with this huge meal (Last Supper) that’s delicious beyond comprehension. If I’m right then contact me, I have ingredients in abundance ❤
Ironically, I was thinking "I've heard Dev say this before" just as you said that we've probably heard this before... You seem to be on the same creative treadmill with each record, not to make light of the lessons you learn each time, but it's a familiar comfort for you that is becoming uncomfortable. I heard this wise man that looks just like you say "The fastest way out is to go straight through". Go through.
Strong deja vu here, might have said this before. My hospice-moms cat who now stays with me insists on sitting on the laptop speakers when you're speaking. If that's an issue in Sweden, you must have severe cat distraction problems in BC. Depending on the mindset, all can be the good hearted kids they want to be and used to be. It's not for everyone, might be for the slightly autistic, works like a charm over here, whatever floats your toad 🙌 onto the rest of the video.
Sorry to post a question that I know has a very findable answer, but: do any of you know if Dev is writing Powernerd with Atmos? I know he talked about this a bunch of times in previous updates, but for the life of me, I can´t remember if he´s only using it for The Moth or no.
Pretty much one of the biggest badasses of the 80's. Lol. It's amazing the guy you search from "Strapping Young Lad" turned into such a nice looking dude.
Excited to see what Steve Vai and you did if any of that is for others consumption. I loved seing the video I'm linking showing the "joint shifting" technique four years ago and seeing how the guy is still rapidly advancing. He's been the "guitar god" as long as I have memories. One thing about the thought of not being young any longer is that everyone else is getting older with you. We are all just leaves floating down the river in the current. czcams.com/video/Ks0EeVGtQCM/video.html
I love that idea that it was designed to just be simple and straight ahead... And it's apparently turned out less so. Aren't so many things in life like that?
Damn man, stop thinking so much! Record a rhythm guitar track, a lead guitar track, a drum track, a bass track, put a lead vocal on it, add a harmony vocal. DONE! I'll bet the easiest thing you can write will still be amazing and better than most anything out there. All those layers can hide the true beauty of your music, just let it go and free your burden!
not a fan of the ambience that is created by the guitar provided by a company. its just annoying noice... not emotional sounds, situational sounds, or whatever... just effects on top of effects, deployed by a stupid guitar..... distracting from what is the topic...... anyway.... love all of the music
Actually glasses slide down less if they are more secured behind the ears. There are some models that are more shaped downwards at the end piece that goes behind your ears. It really makes a difference. :) also I don't like models that don't have those rubber nose pieces, they never stop to slide. I don't know why they are so fashionable nowadays, they are chunky too
Nail Soup. The tale is the same that I grew up with, but it was stone soup instead of a nail. Very cool.
Same in Swedish, we have the nail soup story too, "koka soppa på en spik" 😊
Same. Heard it as stone soup but it's essentially the same story.
Is that a reference to the song 'Gaia' from Synchestra? That songs working title was originally 'Nailbroth'.
Same in Portugal. Stone soup, "sopa da pedra", is a power house of a meal.
@@nymla "Å koke suppe på en spiker" in Norwegian.
It's always seemed like Steve had grown a great admiration for you from afar, so it's amazing to hear you two got together and really connected in a way you never had an opportunity to in the past; there's no time like the present.
I've seen a phrase that was originally coined on the internet as the programmer's credo but it feels appropriate for many things in my life at least - "We do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they were going to be easy"
I've watched every update every week, Thank you so much for sharing your process with us. I know the long hours, the struggle, the technical issues etc - Will be worth it in the end, because your product is always great, the music, the guitar, the lyrics - Thank you for sharing YOU, with us
The stuff on emotions was beautiful. Recently went through something very hard, and realized how I just intellectualized feelings instead of just sitting and properly physically feeling them was important. Really wise words.
Love ya, Dev. You always help me in my darkest times.
Oh god...my heart just sank for a second hearing the words "swan song". 🤣 Please Dev, I don't want to ever hear those words come out of your mouth again!
like in the past, maybe it's a swan song for what he sees as a chapter in his life. he often has his music act as doors that provide closure or new opportunities to the next stage in life, so maybe this is what he is referring to? But yeah, i'd be sad af too if he called it quits after this!!
You are such a beautiful soul. Above everything like the anxiety, the stress and all the other complications you put yourself through, your gratitude for everything life has to give you is always your brightest, warmest and truest emotion. It's truly inspiring and I just want to say thank you Dev because I am forever grateful to you. Your music saved me and I will never forget that 🤘♥️🤘
Hey Devy thank you for another awesome update and it's good to hear you laugh . looking forward till next week xx
I definitely feel that social media and engaging thing. It's about creating balance between work flow and then feedback, but not expecting too much or too little. Thanks for the good vibes Devin, as always
Your ambient music is awesome.. my favourite, to be honest.. and I love ALL your work!
Powernerd thus far has really resonated with me even though I obviously have yet to hear it. Nothing I do creatively is done or complete without my full attention and passion. Simple ideas can get out of hand rather fast.
"oh, I see you now."
what a beautiful moment & reconnection for you both. thank you, always, for sharing with us 🩷
I agree with the early bed, early rise. Its the only time to get time for yourself. coffee, sunrise, even in the city its calm. Looking forward to the new album! i love these videos where you just talk. As I get ready for my 50's, I am searching for new ways to give myself inspiration to write and record again. My bitterness towards work is helping. lol. Been where I work for 25 years now. It bites into your energy!
Iknow i speak for many who find comfort and motivation through your music Devin!
Devin I have listened to you since SYL and the accelerated evolution album cycle but as soon as I heard them albums i delved into your back catalogue and absorbed everything. You have been an incredibly important artist in my life and I always look forward to hearing what you are creating next. I am a loyal fan and supporter of your vision 🤘
As much as it vicariously pains me to hear about your balls in a taffy puller, I can't wait to hear the resultant vocals.
I am so thankful to you for creating the artistic catalog you have. Your journey, especially over these past 10 years, has really spoken to my own path in life. When you've musically changed directions, I've found those albums to be what I needed to hear. I wish you all the best with Power Nerd, the Moth and every other future thing you set your mind to.
Take care of yourself, Dev! We support you in all that you do, but you gotta make sure you put time aside for you. It's great you got together with Steve in person. Life is a trip indeed. Glad we get to go on it with you!
I truly think that this is my favorite update so far, regardless of being off the cuff. A lot of it resonated with a lot of people, I think. I know it did with me. Good luck on finishing the album and can't wait to listen to it when all is said and done! :D
this the most unburdened i've seen devin
Anyone else remember his updates back in the day, on the HevyDevy forums? This nail soup story strongly reminds me of Nail Broth, which was the working demo title for Gaia, off Synchestra (2006).
I just wanted to say that your vulnerability in these updates is beyond refreshing to hear. It's inspiring to see an artist as tenured as you are still experiencing growth and resonating with the work you're creating. Truly a labour of love. Onward & upward. Thanks Dev!
Always love seeing these updates, Dev! ❤
Was working on an IMCU/cardiology department as a registred nurse for five months .. team was toxic. Changing department was not an option and after I quit, it's exactly how I felt. This combinated lack of adrenaline, not being needed anymore and and resulting depression is exactly what happened. It was not my first job and it's always like that, afterwards. Sport and movement is what keeps me before falling down the spiral further, but it's SO hard to make a start alone, when there's 'nobody here' (Terria is usually on my playlist in those moments)
I played a small gig two weeks after I quit. We advertised it at little and had a fun show. I can't imagine the pressure Devin and other musicians have to feel while playing every night, with this kind of adrenaline. I still felt like I could perform music forever. But musicians know, it's the 'things beyond things', which are preventing us to do so. A financial plan. The coorporate world of todays transnational music industry. It must have been a joy in medieval times to tour as a Lute player or whatever. Haha. Besides the law of the strongest, plague or horse carriages for touring, haha.
This is very deep insight. Thank you.
I had no idea how much I needed to hear these thoughts untill I did,. Thank you 💖 Devin as always you are an Equalizer to my own essence of creativity, a harmonizer you could say ❤🤘🤘
It's funny to know someone for decades and having spent a lot of time with them, even in some depth, you still one day learn that they had a whole new side to them that is very impressive to you. And almost unbelievable that it has been in the friend you knew so well, all the time and you didn't see it or know it.
Here the nail soup story is a stone soup. Probably German fairy tale or something, like Grimm's stories and others.
@dvntownsend thanks again, and always for your time. For sharing your thoughts and giving us a glimpse in to your orbit. As always, take care of yourself man. More power to your arm. 💪
Your an inspiration to those of us whom have been touched by your soul all of these years that we have followed your journey..
Thank you sir for all you have provided this world. We appreciate you
Great update, Dev. Looking forward to the final product of all you’ve invested yourself-in. Been such a long and fascinating journey, following yours.
you are amazing dev. cannot wait for the new music and cannot wait for the book to come out. thank you for everything you do.
Cheers Devy. Greatly appreciate these insights. It never comes off as self aggrandizing either. It's just human, and a perspective in the mind of a diverse creative!
Go Def! Woah, I loved this episode. So good to see you in this mood! Thanks for recording these!
Art becomes all the more miraculous when we can see the human behind it. It becomes near transcendent when that human is such a down to earth and relatable person.
Sounds like you're in a much better place this week. I'm in the "Maybe swearing will help" phase this week with my project. 😁
I don’t know if it’s because I was born May 4- ten years after you dev but I’ve always felt that we were on a similar path and you’ve been leading the way. Thank you 🙏
Hey Dev, I hope you see this. I've had a life-changing couple of years as well and I just wanted to say your words at 33:23 really resonated with me and I wanted to let you know:
Me too, man.
Peace.
I like the prospect of a new day.. 🙏
nice ambient music, i also love ambient and drone
I definitely relate to that thing about running everything wide-open redline and then when there is no demand for that, you start looking for conflict elsewhere. It’s a huge problem for me with my ADHD. Dopa-mining
"You must always strive to be the best, but you must never believe that you are." JM Fangio
We’ll love it as we always do ❤
Preparation is great for the stagnations of open thought and freedom of the mind!
"It's a Dev record." That's all we need to know
Wombat soup is a variation. Put a rock in the pot with wombat meat, slow boil until the rick is soft, throw away the wombat meat and enjoy.
Exercise is now my biggest challenge and never thought that would be a thing. Dealing with trauma is like playing the game superhot, where your adversary moves every time you do, only always three steps ahead. Trauma brings not wanting to be here and I used every drug I could find to dance with deletion. Now my drug is feeling my life force slip away. Its the most exhausting experience facing the unrealized demon that fed every bad experience in life.
Hey Dev! You should try martial arts. It creates very similar pathways in the brain that guitar does. Precise movements, repeated in training. Combine that with stretches and exercise, great for the brain chemistry!
Hey Dev, I really cannot wait to hear The moth! I imagine the album starting with the bare bones (nail and water) an all of your friends coming along and adding ingredients as the album goes, until it climaxes with this huge meal (Last Supper) that’s delicious beyond comprehension. If I’m right then contact me, I have ingredients in abundance ❤
If you ever want to do the ambient album on the beach Let me know, I live in the most beautiful beach side town on earth! ❤
"...the prospect of a new day."
The prospect of a brand, new day. The older I get, the harder it hits.
Ironically, I was thinking "I've heard Dev say this before" just as you said that we've probably heard this before... You seem to be on the same creative treadmill with each record, not to make light of the lessons you learn each time, but it's a familiar comfort for you that is becoming uncomfortable. I heard this wise man that looks just like you say "The fastest way out is to go straight through". Go through.
Steve Vai and Devin Townsend. Wish I could hear it on Kingdom.
"What have we learned from this wee exercise?"
Listen to: Stars of the Lid - And their refinement of the decline
I remember nail soup story. Also heard it as stone/rock soup
Strong deja vu here, might have said this before. My hospice-moms cat who now stays with me insists on sitting on the laptop speakers when you're speaking. If that's an issue in Sweden, you must have severe cat distraction problems in BC. Depending on the mindset, all can be the good hearted kids they want to be and used to be. It's not for everyone, might be for the slightly autistic, works like a charm over here, whatever floats your toad 🙌 onto the rest of the video.
Is that Brain Beller (The Aristocrats) in the thumbnail for the powernerd? :^0 Looking forward to this.
🎶✨💖✨🎶
This one time, at band camp...
🙏🏻
We had stone soup not nail soup in Australia ❤
First time since 2007 that Dev looks like he's high.
Good morning ❤
❤❤❤
With two weeks to go I am
Hoping the cliche of life begins at 40 is true 😂
Get ready for everything to hurt all the time
Sorry to post a question that I know has a very findable answer, but: do any of you know if Dev is writing Powernerd with Atmos? I know he talked about this a bunch of times in previous updates, but for the life of me, I can´t remember if he´s only using it for The Moth or no.
GEEETAR!
You look like you're morphing into a younger Bruce Willis. Can't be bad! \m/
Pretty much one of the biggest badasses of the 80's. Lol. It's amazing the guy you search from "Strapping Young Lad" turned into such a nice looking dude.
@@funkingitup1805 Yeah, Bruce was definitely a badass. Yippee-ki-yay motherf*cker!
What's the name of the third project?
Excited to see what Steve Vai and you did if any of that is for others consumption. I loved seing the video I'm linking showing the "joint shifting" technique four years ago and seeing how the guy is still rapidly advancing. He's been the "guitar god" as long as I have memories. One thing about the thought of not being young any longer is that everyone else is getting older with you. We are all just leaves floating down the river in the current. czcams.com/video/Ks0EeVGtQCM/video.html
I love that idea that it was designed to just be simple and straight ahead... And it's apparently turned out less so. Aren't so many things in life like that?
Stone soup: czcams.com/video/WeZTllDf4J8/video.htmlsi=x9RiK4EpXeyOlr4t
666 likes as of right now. Let's keep it!
🫂🐉❤️🔥💖❤️🔥🤟🏻
life is a constant cycle of misery and desire, just make music if you are a musician
Damn man, stop thinking so much! Record a rhythm guitar track, a lead guitar track, a drum track, a bass track, put a lead vocal on it, add a harmony vocal. DONE! I'll bet the easiest thing you can write will still be amazing and better than most anything out there. All those layers can hide the true beauty of your music, just let it go and free your burden!
You don't write music, do you? Lol. It's never this easy.
Just stick to cycling dude
🤦
you are a tourist to this world. sit down.
not a fan of the ambience that is created by the guitar provided by a company.
its just annoying noice... not emotional sounds, situational sounds, or whatever... just effects on top of effects, deployed by a stupid guitar..... distracting from what is the topic......
anyway.... love all of the music
Bla bla bla.....
Note to Dev: switch your eyeglass nose pieces to the little round soft rubber ones, your glasses will slide down your nose less :)
Actually glasses slide down less if they are more secured behind the ears. There are some models that are more shaped downwards at the end piece that goes behind your ears. It really makes a difference. :) also I don't like models that don't have those rubber nose pieces, they never stop to slide. I don't know why they are so fashionable nowadays, they are chunky too