Devin Townsend

[hag]

Canadian musician, songwriter, and record producer. Most famous for his work in extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad.

Over the course of Devin Townsend's storied career, a single constant has persevered: change. As far back as Steve Vai's Sex & Religion, which Townsend fronted, to 2001's landmark full-length Terria to the multi-instrumentalist's country rock outfit Casualties of Cool to his stunning new album Transcendence, the Canadian isn't too interested in keeping an even musical keel. To stay the proverbial course is, well, anathema. For certain, he's far too impatient to write the same Strapping Young Lad song over and over—which is why he folded the band in 2007—and it's likely there will never be a fourth or fifth Ziltoid album (a third if we're lucky) because by that point he'll be in a totally different frame of mind for galactic puppets gone awry. To understand why Townsend, consciously and subconsciously, favors change is to know the man and his music today.

"Music, in my opinion, is ideally the exhaust for whatever you're going through in life," says Townsend. "Rather than the focus, it should be the outcome. As such, each record just naturally leads to the next. If they’re done correctly, they become an accurate representation, like a snapshot of a particular frame of mind. Like this is where I was at when I was 23 [City]. This is where I was at when I was 29" [Terria]. At the age of 44 – I guess that's where I'm at? – to make this accurate requires all these new adjustments and analysis that end up propelling the themes that ultimately reveal themselves. The theme for the new record seems to have prevented itself as a form of surrender I think. Learning to integrate that became the process for Transcendence."

https://www.hevydevy.com/dtp/devin-townsend/

 

 

 

[khcs]

Devin Townsend - ISFJ - Dreiser

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[Memento Mori]

@Sol @vesstheastralsilky @Luminous Lynx  type opinions?

One of my favourite musicians ever

Watched tons of interviews, heard probably 90% of the stuff he's ever made. ENFP is what I always typed him in MBTI, but very interested to hear other's Socionics views. If You've seen how hypomanic he was in the 90s it's probably a safe bet he's a Juvenile type. I'd be amazed if he's not an Ne, and he seems very likely Fi. He's one of those very special artists that, should he be an entirely different type than You presume, You could develop a deeper appreciation of whatever type that may be - "If Devin Townsend is x they must be more wonderful than I realized"

[Desert Financial]

idek what he's talking about but man, i could listen to him for hours!

"I'm not a fan of options. Because the stuff is so dense and because the way that I write is so rooted in being guided toward a vision, in a certain way, I don't want to have to spend a lot of time with the minutia of these plugins." Then he later goes on about how he creates his music with a particular vision in mind.

Sounds Ni valuing. Also sounds like rational lead function.

He reminds me of my grandfather, who was an electrical engineer and operated in the merchant marines during WWII.

[Sol]

mb ILE

[Desert Financial]

ILE? say it aint so

Bi-Weekly PSA: Ignore Sol.

Bi-Weekly PSA: Ignore Sol.

[Memento Mori]

"I'm not a fan of options. Because the stuff is so dense and because the way that I write is so rooted in being guided toward a vision, in a certain way, I don't want to have to spend a lot of time with the minutia of these plugins." Then he later goes on about how he creates his music with a particular vision in mind.

Sounds Ni valuing. Also sounds like rational lead function.

Ohhhh shit, great catch, lad! I've not seen that interview of his before. Socionics often makes me wish I had never bothered with MBTI hahah. Devin is also notoriously difficult to work with cause he has a very stubborn and personal sense of vision, and dislikes deviating from it. He's not rude, he's a lovely guy, he just doesn't like diluting his intended goal by democratizing the music writing process. It actually took him a couple decades to let other band members co-write an album, and he described it as rather difficult for him to relinquish creative control - the album in question being Transcendence, from a couple years back.

I actually relate a good deal to that approach. I find alot of the best art is barely collaborative at all. Most of the 'greatest' bands of all times had a vast majority of their music written by one member; I think it creates a more undistilled product. For example, how would the statue David or the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel have been improved if someone other than Michelangelo butted in on its creation? Socionics is awesome.



@Karatos - I just remembered that in IE semantics water analogies are Ni related, allegedly, and he has a long history of water analogy and imagery. Some Ni semantics at play, from the song "Seventh Wave", the opening track to Devin's debut solo album, literally titled "Ocean Machine":

''O earth, what changes hast thou seen!
There where the long street roars, hath been
The stillness of the central sea.

The hills are shadows, and they flow
From form to form, and nothing stands;
Like clouds they shape themselves and go.''

"I'll wait for the Ocean to rise up
And meet me, as it rose up before
(I'll know the time...)
I'll wait for the Ocean to rise up
And greet me, as it rose up before
(I'll know the year...)"

Literally the entire song "Hide Nowhere":

"Cold blue waves
Cold dead sky
See in the sea what I need to be
Cold blue waves


Cold blue mind... (hear them talk about)
Cold dead mind


See in the sea what is and what will be


Every dream I have wants me to stay
Every night I try to find a way


I hide nowhere
They hide in my world
I have nowhere to go
Dreams come as they...
Sleep comes as it...
Dreams come as they do"

From the track "3 A.M.":

"Time will be on my side
No looking back this time
All that I've known is gone
Time to be moving on..."

I'm definitely seeing what @hag means by Ne Demonstrative, and what @Karatos means by Ni valuing.

[Memento Mori]

ive tentatively had him @ LIE-D for a while now, iirc D boosts demonstrative fxn ---> accentuated Ne (in LIE) which justifies the resemblance to IEE, for me anyway. he seems too edgy for Ne/Si imo

i think hes a pretty good example of an LIE-Ni actually. hes kinda awkward but he makes it funny + good w/ talking technical + 'solid' dynamic Ej energy and whatever

I'm totally down with that, and Devy is Your top Husbando, so I get the duality appeal, but I really don't think he's a T at all. It's of course possible that the emotional nature of his music, the emotional focus of his lyrics, and his overall tone is Fi seeking but that might be a bit of a stretch. Furthermore, I've seen hours of him in interview and listened to nearly all his content. If a Thinker can write stuff this emotionally resonant I really need to rethink some typings, cause that's amazing if true.

In an interview he says he doesn't think in discrete 'notes' when he writes and plays the guitar, but rather in "waves" of sound. Mature, focused Devy is a matter of age, as he's only quite recently calmed down lol. For a majority of his life he was well known for how animate and energetic he is, like, even moreso than Steve Vai--whom he sang and played with for years on Steve's most overtly emotional album to date, literally titled "Sex and Religion"--and being rather over-the-top in both body language and humor. An important feature of Devin is that he's a Manic-Depressive (Bipolar), and AFAIK he's medicated now (whereas in the 90s he wasn't medicated, was very hypomanic, attention seeking, and generally over-the-top). I think this factors into his appearance tremendously. My mother is a medicated Bipolar and it makes her a great deal more calm and steady looking. She's an ESE and I've seen her off her medication, a very different appearance to say the least. Again, if LIEs are known for being crowd-working theatrical frontmen of bands, that's awesome, but it'd be news to me.

Quotes that really stood out in the video:

"I was very fortunate when I was 19, to hook up with Steve Vai, and I played with him and sang with him for several years. Steve's an incredible guitar player, fascinating musician and.... incredibly... theoretically proficient. Ya know? Like, he really knows his instrument, he knows his notes, he knows what he's playing, he knows why he's playing it. That was never actually me. I have no idea what I'm doing, and I think in alot of ways that's been very liberating for me, because there's nothing, there's no 'rules' to break if there are no rules, right? So what I found, after a while of playing with people who were better than me, and who really knew what they wanted to play, I found that I became tired of 'technique' and incessant sort of practicing to come along with it....

I think that that's the interesting part of the instrument as well, is, when You... when You're interested in it, the 'notes' come easily to You, in terms of lead play, and when You're disinterested in it, it becomes strictly a song writing tool...."

[On why he prefers Open C tuning] "Because it's pretty simple, compared to standard tuning" - He also prefers the simplest tunings so that he can focus on singing.

[On Music Theory] "I don't really know theory, like, at all. In fact, when we were doing the orchestral stuff, they were like: "Was that a C#?" and I was like: "Well.... it's the seventh fret" sooo... yeah, that didn't really help."

He doesn't know music theory (music in written form, and how to compose), doesn't find practice stimulating, doesn't like to play in notes and strict systems or formulas, is self taught, his inspiration is a matter of interest, and says that other people he's worked with know their instrument and the theory far more than he ever has. He's nearly 47 years old, has had over 20 years and dozens of albums to learn music theory and still neglects to, despite literally having worked with orchestras where it would've been efficient. He's also not proficient at making money, nor does he focus on it, as he's joked that for most of his career he's struggled to simply not be broke. He does not seem like a Te program at all to me. He's disregarded nearly all technical music convention, and has had to learn his equipment along the way as a consequence of wanting to figure out doing his own thing. If an LIE is the person responsible for the album "Ghost" then I love LIEs, but it seems rather unlikely. Hell, his newest album coming out is called "EMPATH"

A hilarious, true story from his young days where he was far more undone and attention-seeking:

"Devin Townsend first came into the public attention in 1993, when at the age of 19 he was picked by Steve Vai to be the Vocalist on his "Sex and Religion" album and the accompanying world tour. Previous to this Devin was playing the Vancouver metal scene with his band Noisescapes. Noisescapes recorded a demo, which was sent out to several labels including Relativity Records, the label on which Steve Vai was signed. Devin thought that a way to make this demo grab peoples' attention was to mail it wrapped in a pair of his old underwear."

@Karatos, You're more experienced with Socionics than I - Does this really sound like am LxE thing to do!? Also, as You can see in this post, and as I generally operate, I find saying what something is not is easier than saying certainly what something is. Is this a confirmation of Negativism in the dichotomies?

I strongly agree with @hag that he has strong Ne, and that it may very well be unconscious. I think part of my confusion when translating over into Socionics is that, those who are strong in one ego function also have the corresponding opposite IE as a strong unconscious feature as well, ie. a strong Intuitive also has the other Intuitive IE, making typing a more discerning matter. This of course is a credit to Socionics. Two things I'm almost certain of is that he's an Extrovert and that he's an F. There are a shitload of Ts in the history of music, I just don't think he's one of them.

Finally, to reinforce what @Karatos said, a positive sign of Devin being a Rational-leading type is that he married young and has been happily faithful to his wife (despite extensive touring and time away) for multiple decades now. In the song "Deadhead" (imo his greatest work) when he says "You are my Sun Goddess" he's talking about his wife, Tracy. In an industry where many marriages don't last long and infidelity is all too easy on the road, I think that's remarkably commendable. He's happily married and seems a good father (one of his sons appears in the video below). No way is he an Introvert:


@Cyber are You familiar with Devin Townsend? There are several great songs in this thread worth checking out!

[vesstheastralsilky]

@hag I'm honestly not sure at all about his type. There are a few types I'm not used to recognizing compared to others I know well. I will keep him in mind and share an opinion if enough worthy evidence comes forward. Ne lead seems possible but I'm not sure about that.

[MrsTortilla]

I can cite more than one LIE frontperson (one female, one male). This guy strikes me as LIE too. That said I’m basically going on vibes since I know less than nothing about him. ;-)

[Adam Strange]

@Luminous Lynx if he does turn out to be IEE then smack my ass and call me SLI

i get it, LIE doesnt seem like the band frontman type but i dont actually think its that absurd, maybe bcus i dont pay attention to type descriptions that much. imo apparent behavior has more to do w/ DCNH and im inclined to go by my personal experience w/ types over what theory says. and i dont have a lot of experience w/ LIE so yeah idk. anyway ill concede that IEE is a strong possibility

@vesstheastralsilky sure ty for looking into it

Not true, @hag. I have a LIE buddy who fronted for the band Mason Proper. They recorded an album in my house 'cause they liked the acoustics.

My buddy's in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTCTPTFhG4c

He's a financial advisor now. Spot the LIE.

[Memento Mori]

@Luminous Lynx if he does turn out to be IEE then smack my ass and call me SLI

i get it, LIE doesnt seem like the band frontman type but i dont actually think its that absurd, maybe bcus i dont pay attention to type descriptions that much. imo apparent behavior has more to do w/ DCNH and im inclined to go by my personal experience w/ types over what theory says. and i dont have a lot of experience w/ LIE so yeah idk. anyway ill concede that IEE is a strong possibility

@vesstheastralsilky sure ty for looking into it

What hahah, I edited multiple posts. I actually agree he's Ne Demo like You said and Ni valuing like Karatos said. I don't think it's absurd at all to sing in a band as an LIE, the point is his history, behaviour, and onstage presence and such, the manner of it and not the fact that he happens to sing in a band or whatever. I'm just not seeing the Program Te is all. Btw IIRC Dominant in DCNH doesn't strengthen Demo, as Demo is tied to Creative function. The Ignoring function is tied to the Program function. I could totally buy Devin as a Creative subtype in DCNH tho. I'm not sure what typing from experience to the neglect of theory amounts to, as I'm not sure how You go about doing that and what a given type means to You, but I don't think Devy is an IEE. LIE is possible, I just wasn't able to see it.

[Memento Mori]

yea i have this feeling that gamma NTs are actually quite prolific in metal

Well I've met plenty of ILIs that are way into Black Metal, and it seems like a strongly Ni ego genre in general. I think that's more than likely as well.

[vesstheastralsilky]

You know @hag he could be LIE perhaps because an ESI I knew really got into Midnight Oil and this guy reminds me of Peter Garrett the lead singer and politician. That's all I've got to go on though. I'm trying to fill in the blanks on my recognition of male ESIs and LIEs.