Speaking with Ultimate Guitar, Devin Townsend Project frontman and namesake Devin Townsend opened up about sharing the songwriting for the band's Trasscendence album with his bandmates. Following is an excerpt from the interview.

Devin: "The work for 'Transcendence' was much less about the practical realities of the band suggesting things but more how we all reacted to it and specifically me. It's challenging for all of us. I spent most of the process going, 'I've got to curb the way I interact with people.'

Because I'm so vision-oriented and because what I do comes from a place where I see it finished, it's more about the inter-personal relationships because, dude, it gets super weird (laughs). It wasn't a normal band situation and to be perfectly frank, I found that inspiring and that's what contributed to the lyrics. As soon as that weird energy started happening, I thought, 'OK, now I have something to write about.'

Any path to Rome I'll take and the result was a really cool record and a positive experience. I care a lot about those guys.

I think everything I've done over the past five or six years has been some sort of experiment and trying to get over myself and trying to transcend - as pretentious as that is - myself and this was a real pinnacle of that. Because this was a situation that was never meant to be anything other than a vehicle for solo work, right? So having them interpret solo work was two things: One, it was difficult for me but two, they did it really well because who else is gonna know the stuff as intimately?

Credit where credit is due, they are talented and patient guys. I love the guys in that band and they put in so much effort but it was fuckin' hard, dude. It was a crazy experience."

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The clip below is pro-shot footage of the Devin Townsend Project live at Summer Breeze 2017 featuring Anneke Van Giersbergen on guest vocals. They performed on August 17th.

The setlist was as follows:

"Rejoice"
"Stormbending"
"Failure"
"Deadhead"
"Supercrush!"
"March of the Poozers"
"Kingdom"
"Grace"
"Higher"

The Devin Townsend Project is confirmed to play a very special show at the Ancient Roman Amphitheater in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on September 22nd. Supported by the Orchestra of Plovidv State Opera, the DTP will play a By Request Set followed by a full playback of the Ocean Machine: Biomech album, celebrating 20 years since the record was released.

Says Devin: "I chose a certain group of songs for you guys to select from, I had to limit it from the catalog for the sake of time, the parameters of what the orchestra can pull off with the rehearsal they have, and the learning curve of the band. I tried to do a relatively comprehensive list, and I need your help in choosing the 10 or so tracks we'll be playing. Please help!"

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In the clip below, Townsend offers a sneak peek of Ancient Theatre in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

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