BraveWords caught up with Devin Townsend to discuss his new live package, Order Of Magnitude - Empath Live Volume 1, and the in-depth interview will be featured on BraveWords in the coming days. Townsend discusses a host of topics including the shows and recordings he's done over the course of the pandemic since March, working with a new band on the Empath tour, his current approach towards social media, and more. Following is an excerpt from the chat. 

Devin: "The show, and the Order Of Magnitude DVD, it's a visual thing with all the costume changes and vibe changes. Backstage with all the costume changes on the tour, it was like The Gong Show (laughs). The show is meant to be seen, so I don't know what the experience is like audio-wise when you listen to it on CD. It's not that I don't care how the people react; that is somewhere in there, but I think I gave ample warning to the fans (laughs). When it was being advertised I went out of my way to say, 'Hey, it's gonna be weird, so if you're on the fence about it just don't go.' People came up to me and said 'I went and it was weird...' (laughs) but the tour did really well. I enjoyed."

"On one level, being an idealistic artist has its place, but I think it's folly - at least for me - to not take into consideration that I wouldn't be here without the audience. So, for every tour that I do like that, it's good for me to say 'Okay, now what do you want to hear?' It's like, I'll do a Casualties Of Cool for me, and a Deconstruction for you; just go back and forth with it."

Watch for the full story, coming soon.

Townsend released Order Of Magnitude - Empath Live Volume 1 on October 23, a document of his Winter 2019 European tour that saw him taking on possibly his most ambitious live show to date.

Watch a new clip of the band performing the track "Why?", taken from his latest album Empath, below.

Devin comments: “So once upon a time, in a land not much different than the one we're living in now, there used to be things called 'concerts' where a bunch of human beings would assemble to watch awkward performances and get shitfaced on overpriced beer. Tour managers would solve problems while simultaneously hitting on women, and musicians would complain about not being home (until getting home, where they would then complain about not being on tour). During one of these 'tours', I myself assembled 10 brilliant people, confident enough to play challenging material, while simultaneously acting like goofs with me onstage. This is from the upcoming Order Of Magnitude DVD, and the song is called 'Why?'. Kudos to Diego for being able to pull off a full symphony with only 4 limbs, and the rest of the band for not batting an eye when I presented the ideas I had for this show. Che, Samantha, Anne and Arabella came to me and said 'look, if we have to wear this stuff, you have to as well...' so my Tutu was a show of solidarity with band members, but as the saying goes 'I've seen better legs hanging out of a nest'. I look forward to a time where we get to do this again, but if that’s not meant to be, I loved this, so thanks to everyone involved.”

Recorded in December 2019 in London, UK on the penultimate night of the tour in support of his latest album Empath, this run of shows saw Devin joined by an incredible lineup of musicians. The band was made up of guitarists Mike Kenneally (ex-Frank Zappa) and Markus Reuter (Stick Men, The Crimson Project), drummer Morgen Agren (Kaipa, Mats & Morgan, Frank Zappa), bassist Nathan Navarro, Haken keyboard player Diego Tejeida, and guitarist/vocalist Ché Aimee Dorval, as well as vocalists Samantha & Anne Preis and Arabella Packford.

Devin’s plan for the Empath touring cycle was to divide it up into three ‘Volumes’, and this was Volume 1. The idea behind the shows was a simple one: none of the backing tapes or click tracks that had long been necessary to bring the kaleidoscopic cacophony in his head and on his records to life in the flesh. This would just be Devin Townsend and a band of genius-level musicians getting up there and trying to keep it from spinning off into outer space. Or maybe just letting it spin-off into outer space for the sheer hell of it.

“The whole objective was that I wanted to make that statement: This is by the seat our pants,” he says. “Because it's important to me to represent this hyper anal-retentive music that I've made over the years, but in a human way. Rather than it just being, ‘Well, here it is, perfectly done.’”

“I was overwhelmed by the fact that all these brilliant people that I have so much respect for were willing to come together and play this weird shit with me,” says Devin. “I had these unique players and this interesting instrumentation that allowed us to interpret the music in different ways. It was clear to me that I could just have fun and be me and know that they would be effortlessly be able to follow that.”

That sense of fun and freedom was evident to anyone who was there on the night. Visually, it was an assault on the senses in the best possible way. A digital screen projected vivid images throughout the show. A giant gleaming mirrorball hung from the ceiling. There were multiple costume changes and a tiki bar onstage (a tiki bar!).

Order Of Magnitude - Empath Live Volume 1 is available as a Limited Deluxe 2CD+Blu-Ray+DVD Artbook (including expanded artwork & photos), Limited 2CD+DVD Digipak, Standalone Blu-Ray, Gatefold 3LP+2CD vinyl box-set & as a Digital Album. The Blu-Ray disc includes a bonus behind the scenes documentary, and both DVD & Blu-Ray feature a 5.1 surround sound mix.

Tracklisting:

"Borderlands"
"Evermore"
"War"
"Sprite"
"Gigpig Jam"
"Coast"
"Gato"
"Heavens End"
"Ain’t Never Gonna Win"
"Deadhead"
"Why?"
"Lucky Animals"
"Castaway/Genesis"
"Spirits Will Collide"
"Disco Inferno"
"Kingdom"

"War" video: