DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT Announce 2017 Australia / New Zealand Tour
November 14, 2016, 8 years ago
Hevy Devy is returning to Australia and New Zealand and he is bringing Devin Townsend Project.
Devin Townsend Project is obviously the brainchild of frontman Devin Townsend - who released new album Transcendence in September 2016. To celebrate the success of the album, they are returning to Australia and New Zealand in May 2017, presented by MJR Presents. The album was the first ARIA charting album for Devin Townsend Project, coming in at #10 in its first week in the charts – all the more reason to celebrate!
Previously "down under" in 2015 on a string of sold-out shows in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne – this time Perth and Auckland (NZ) are getting some HevyDevy love. The guitar virtuoso is one of the most celebrated singer / songwriter / guitarists in heavy music and Devin Townsend Projects’ live show never fails to satisfy and amaze.
Ticket pre-sales begin November 16th, with general on-sale commencing November 18th; confirmed shows are as listed:
May
18 - Powerstation - Auckland, New Zealand
20 - The Triffid - Brisbane, Australia
22 - Enmore Theatre - Sydney, Australia
24 - 107 Russell - Melbourne, Australia
26 - Capitol - Perth, Australia
The man himself is not shy about talking about his process and his varied, long and always-interesting career. The Transcendence album was a different experience to most in the past and he is excited to bring the show to Australia. He muses about the album process this time around, “The Devin Townsend Project is still essentially a solo project,” he reminds. “One of several, but the difference is that I've had a dedicated team of talented folks here that really had great ideas. One of the ways I consciously stepped out of my comfort zone was to the solicit feedback from not only the band, but also to production and engineering. Opinions from people I trust at the management and label, and all with a sense of building a kind of archetype of the DTP sound that would not ostracize people who enjoy the style, but keeping it fresh for me as well.”
“One of the things I did was present my vision—which I’ve always done—and within that framework, I’d massage it with the team. For this record, in those sections, I’d bring it to the band and say, ‘Look guys, here’s what it’s supposed to do. This is how it’s supposed to make me feel. And how the audience is supposed to feel. This is how it interacts with the parts prior and after. That’s why it exists. It’s not complicated because we’re trying to jerk off here. It’s complicated because, in my mind, the emotional component of the section is complicated.”
Recorded at The Armoury Studios in Vancouver, BC with Townsend and Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood (Periphery, Animals As Leaders), Transcendence sounds absolutely massive. From the moment ‘Truth’—a re-work from the Infinity album—monstrously blends into the soul-stirring ‘Stormbending’ to the undulating cool of mid-point jam ‘Secret Sciences’ and Ween cover ‘Transdermal Celebration’, Townsend and crew have engineered a modern-day classic. The sheer scale of tracks like ‘Failure’, ‘Higher’, and the majestic title track is at once daunting and inviting. Transcendence pulls the listener in like a movie score. It has the emotional heft of Rosenman’s Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and the mega-riff power of Black-era Metallica.