Canadian vocalist/guitarist/producer Devin Townsend (DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT, ex-STRAPPING YOUNG LAD) is featured in a new interview with Songfacts.com. An excerpt is available below:

Songfacts: From what I understand, you're currently working on a few projects, CASUALTIES OF COOL and Z2, the sequel to Ziltoid, right?

Devin Townsend: "That's correct. Yeah."

Songfacts: So if you could just maybe talk a little bit about those two projects and what people can expect from them, and also when you think they'll be out.

Devin: "Yeah. Casualties is something I've been working on slowly for about three years now. There's always so much going on in my world musically and creatively that I enjoy a great deal. But there are also a lot of parameters on what I do, just by nature of having to represent it live, or the expectation of what I do versus the prior record, or any number of things. So, Casualties is this project that I've been working on relatively quietly and just for myself, and it's the first time I've actually made a record for myself in 20 some odd years. It's probably the first one. It's following up the last record that we did, which was really bombastic and with a commercial slant. Casualties is something that's really important to me to represent the fact that I still love music and I still am doing this for myself, which is also rare at the stage that I'm at.

But also, there's been no pressure on it. No one's been asking for it. No one's been funding it. It's just been this thing. I guess the best way to describe it would be this really quiet, really dark, really folky sort of outer space JOHNNY CASH vibe. And there's a lady singing on it, a friend of mine from Vancouver who's got this unbelievably detached sort of bluesy voice. And the drummer on it is this Swedish cat named Morgan Ågren, who had played with Fredrik Thordendal and Zappa and a bunch of things. So his technical prowess is just so far above and beyond what this type of music requires that what he's managed to come up with is just really, really creative.

I leave on Sunday to go to Sweden to mix it, and then it's finished. I don't know how and when it will be coming out, but to have done it has just been a real pleasure for me on a bunch of levels.

And then Z2, the Ziltoid sequel, if you will, is a real long term project - what I've been plotting in some way or another for many years. Because the last record we did, Epicloud, did OK for us, it's important for me to make sure that everything about the Ziltoid project is thought out. So currently we've got it in two ways before the record comes out, one of which is a radio show. I've got 42 episodes of this Ziltoid radio thing, that I start tracking on Sunday for Team Rock Radio over in the UK. It's an hour-long crazy thing that could potentially be really cool. And then there's Ziltoid TV, which is something that I've been working for about a year now. Ziltoid TV has this puppet that has caused me an immense amount of money to make, but he's this three-person operated animatronic alien that essentially serves as this talk show host for guests and musicians. It's this variety show thing that I'm making three pilots for that will hopefully preface the record.

The record comes out in about a year and a half. That's interesting, in my opinion: a multimedia project that is rooted in heavy metal, but also a real campy trip. Then we plan to take it live. It's pretty epic, right?"

Go to this location for the complete interview.

After releasing their extensive CD/DVD set, The Retinal Circus, last week, the Devin Townsend Project is now premiering a video clip of 'Kingdom' taken from the DVD.

The Retinal Circus is available as a 2 DVD/2 CD digipack set with the following imports available at CM Distro:

- standard 2-disc DVD
- standard 1-disc Blu-Ray
- standard 2-CD audio
- special edition 2-DVD/1-Blu Ray/2-CD box set
- diehard deluxe fan box incl. 2-DVD/1-Blu Ray/2-CD

Filmed in fall 2012, the Retinal Circus takes place at London's historic Roundhouse venue and includes a three hour plus performance that spans Devin Townsend's entire career. With a full choir and theatrical cast, visual and aural enhancements unlike any show Devin has done to date, several special guests, circus performances and more, this CD/DVD set is a must-have for any Hevy Devy fan! For another preview of Retinal Circus, click here for a live clip of "Grace" (featuring frequent collaborator Anneke Van Giersbergen).

For more details visit Hevydevy.com.

'War':