InsideOut Music is very pleased to announce yet another DEVIN TOWNSEND ‘Quarantine Project’ live stream, this time Dev will perform his icon album ‘Ocean Machine: Biomech’ in its entirety via Single Music’s live stream platform.
The show will be live on May 1st, 12 noon PDT, 3pm EDST, 20:00 GST, 21:00 CEST, 5am AEST. All ticket buyers will have access to replays for up to 48 hours.
DEVIN TOWNSEND is currently working on new material for upcoming albums, and for a current lack of touring possibilities and encounters with fans on the road he decided to do a series of live albums, quarantine albums, and generally interesting projects that keep people entertained while he’s busy on his next larger releases.
Devin comments: “So we bring to you the ‘Devolution Series’: a grouping of oddities and interesting material that I would like people to hear, but don’t necessarily want to present as a ‘major release’. The series will include all the quarantine songs and concerts, as well as various live shows from the past few years.
The first release is a remixed and remastered version of the ‘Live in Leeds’ show that was originally on the ‘Empath’ Ultimate Edition. It was a cool acoustic show that deserves to be heard I think, so we can use this as an introduction to the series.
I’m am currently deep in the writing of my new projects and am very excited to be doing so. Thanks for facilitating my ability to do that, and I hope you enjoy the ‘Devolution Series’.”
The ‘Live in Leeds’ show has previously only been released in video format, and “Devolution Series #1 – Acoustically Inclined, Live in Leeds” now marks the audio release of said show. It will be released on March 19th 2021.
As a warm-up to this release, check out the ‘Hyperdrive (Live in Leeds 2019)’ video here:
“Devolution Series #1 – Acoustically Inclined, Live in Leeds” will be available as Ltd. CD Digipak, 180g Gatefold 2LP (incl. the album on CD) and as Digital Album and as of now it is up for pre-order, so make sure to grab a copy here: https://devin-townsend.lnk.to/DevolutionSeriesOne-LiveInLeedsQR
“Devolution Series #1 – Acoustically Inclined, Live in Leeds” track listing: 1. Intro (06:30) 2. Let it Roll (03:48) 3. Funeral (08:17) 4. Deadhead (07:51) 5. Ih-Ah! (04:44) 6. Love? (08:06) 7. Hyperdrive (04:27) 8. Terminal (04:58) 9. Coast (04:37) 10. Solar Winds (03:25) 11. Thing Beyond Things (04:34)
Devin Townsend will release ‘Order Of Magnitude – Empath Live Volume 1’ on the 23rd October 2020, a document of his Winter 2019 European tour that saw him taking on possibly his most ambitious live show to date.
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 line-up 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’ will be released 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.
The track-listing is as follows: 1. Borderlands 2. Evermore 3. War 4. Sprite 5. Gigpig Jam 6. Coast 7. Gato 8. Heavens End 9. Ain’t Never Gonna Win 10. Deadhead 11. Why? 12. Lucky Animals 13. Castaway/Genesis 14. Spirits Will Collide 15. Disco Inferno 16. Kingdom
Look out for the first clip and pre-order start on the 28th August.
In June, ‘Empath – The Ultimate Edition’ was released, the definitive version of his latest studio album. It features a glorious 5.1 surround mix with accompanying visuals, plus a host of bonus material including mixing lesson, documentary, as well as a live set filmed during his April 2019 acoustic tour.
The ‘Empath Live Volume 2’ tour would’ve started this year during the European summer festival run, followed by a club tour in November. Whereas Volume 1 is considered the more mellow/prog version, Empath Volume 2 encompasses the more ‘heavy songs’ from Devin’s long time career and these were selected by the fans last year though an online poll. This set list would’ve have been played at UK’s Bloodstock Festival, Finland’s Tuska Festival and at Hellfest in France but COVID-19 decided to put a stop to that. Instead Devin has now put in massive efforts to bring the show to his fans via an online stream.
EMPATH LIVE VOLUME 2 – BY REQUEST SET Saturday 5th September 1pm PDT / 4pm EDT / 21:00 BST / 22:00 CEST / 06:00 AEST Tickets on-sale NOW: https://www.stageit.com/Devin_Townsend
Setlist (in no particular order): Love (SYL) Kingdom Detox (SYL) Deadhead Velvet Kevorkian / All Hail the New Flesh (SYL) Hyperdrive Supercrush! Juular Aftermath (SYL) March of the Poozers Stormbending Almost Again (SYL) By Your Command Spirits Will Collide Grace
Devin explains best in his own words:
“So I was thrilled to announce my headlining of Bloodstock this year, and with an eye on doing my first ‘by request’ set that included my entire career, (including SYL and all the DTP albums), I know there were a lot of people that were really excited as well.
But then, as we all know, circumstances prevented that from happening, and that was disappointing as the show was meant to be a pivotal moment in my creative career. But every roadblock is an opportunity for something different so we have come up with a plan to bring you the show in a way I believe will be kind of revolutionary and damned exciting. We have been working tirelessly to bring you a ‘virtual’ concert of the by request set, with musicians playing together, yet all in different parts of the world.
However, I wanted to do something different, not the ‘brady bunch’ type split screen visuals filmed on smartphones, (they are cool, but also not really exciting in my opinion) instead, we have opted to make a full production, filming ourselves separately, playing our instruments live, on greenscreens, with 8 cameras each, (all at the same heights and distances for each of our remote shoots), and then combine these elements on a crazy virtual stage. Its ambitious, but I think the closest to a monster concert as can be achieved this summer =) Considering everyone is scattered throughout the land yet not wanting to ‘let the dream die’ we have stumbled upon something rather amazing I think.
The players are Samus Paulicelli on drums, Wes Hauch on guitar, and Liam Wilson on bass… They have been going crazy learning the material, and we are putting it all together on September 5th, for the most ambitious live stream I think I’ve heard of thus far. We have been dealing with Stageit to avoid any hiccups, and it poised to be rather awesome.
I will be live with it, and you, at this show, answering questions and talking to you throughout, to make it a totally interactive experience that acts not only as a cool way to spend a Saturday, but also as a potentially new way to do concerts entirely. The players I have hired have worked their butts off learning the material, and its going to be one of the coolest things I’ve done in recent memory.
So please consider coming to this, Stageit has allowed the show to be the full 85 minutes, so it will be the full Bloodstock/Tuska/Hellfest set. I can’t actually believe we’re managing to pull off something like this, and there’s a lot involved with it, but it’s worth it to me. It’s not just any ‘quarantine concert’ this one is a quantum leap of sound and visuals. I can’t wait for you to see this, hopefully you’ll consider it.” Dev
DEVIN TOWNSEND is set to release ‘Empath – The Ultimate Edition’ on the 5th June 2020, and today a brand new video for the track ‘Sprite’ has been launched. This video is part of some of the brand new visuals that make up the accompaniment to Devin’s stunning 5.1 mix that is contained on this new version of ‘Empath’, and was created by Crystal Spotlight. Watch it now here:
This comprehensive version of 2019’s acclaimed album contains the original record and bonus disc across 2 CD’s, plus 2 Blu-Ray discs. The first blu-ray contains the 5.1 Surround Sound mix by Devin, with visuals for the full record, plus a stereo visualiser.
The second blu-ray contains a raft of bonus material, including ‘Acoustically Inclined – Live in Leeds’, a recording from his April 2019 acoustic tour where he performed tracks including ‘Love?’, ‘Deadhead’, ‘Thing Beyond Things’ & more.
Devin has been hosting live concerts in his home studio this month, each one raising money for healthcare workers around the world. The second, which took place on 25th April sold 3420 tickets raising over £65,000 ($81,000) for the NHS in the UK.
For each show Devin has put together an impressive 4-camera rig, controlled using nothing more than an Xbox controller. Watch a recording of the NHS fundraiser show here: https://youtu.be/Qv4RqR0ud2g
The previous show in aid of Vancouver’s General Hospital sold close to 2000 tickets, and raised nearly $50,000. The third was in support of North Shore University Hospital in New York. In total he has raised around $186,000 in support of these charities.
Each show saw the people who donated the most receive generous prizes from Fishman, Toontrack, Dunlop, Planet Waves & D’Addario, KSR, Line 6, Darkglass, Fractal, Mooer & Omerch. A big thanks goes out to all these companies who supplied prizes, as well as to all the people who watched the shows and donated money.
Music fans across the world are missing the thrill of going to live concerts, and DEVIN TOWNSEND is here to help. Devin is hosting live concerts in his home studio this month, each one raising money for healthcare workers around the world. The first took place this past weekend in support of Vancouver’s General Hospital, selling close to 2000 tickets, and raising nearly 50,000 dollars. Devin has put together an impressive 4-camera rig for these streams, controlled using nothing more than an Xbox controller. You can watch a recording here:
The second will be in support of the NHS in the UK, and the third will be in support of hotspot hospitals in New York. Shows will last around 50 minutes, with different setlists each time. The top donors for each show will receive signed merchandise from Omerch, album goodies from InsideOut as well as several high-end products from a number of Devin’s gear companies such as Mooer, Fractal, Toontrack, Dunlop and Fishman to name a few. All ticket buyers will also receive a (somewhat tidied-up) remixed version of the show’s audio recording.
The release of ‘Empath – The Ultimate Edition’ was recently announced for the 5th June 2020. This comprehensive version of 2019’s acclaimed album contains the original record and bonus disc across 2 CD’s, plus 2 Blu-Ray discs. The first blu-ray contains the 5.1 Surround Sound mix by Devin, with visuals for the full record, plus a stereo visualiser. You will be familiar with some of the visuals including the stunning video for the uplifting single ‘Spirits Will Collide’: https://youtu.be/AdHJurX0yVA
The second blu-ray contains a raft of bonus material, including ‘Acoustically Inclined – Live in Leeds’, a recording from his April 2019 acoustic tour where he performed tracks including ‘Love?’, ‘Deadhead’, ‘Thing Beyond Things’ & more.
It also features the full Empath Documentary, a ‘Genesis 5.1 Mixing Lesson’, a full album commentary & more. The four discs sit inside a beautiful art-book that contains new liner notes and images from the making of the album.
DEVIN TOWNSEND is pleased to announce the release of ‘Empath – The Ultimate Edition’ on 5th June 2020. This comprehensive version of 2019’s acclaimed album contains the original record and bonus disc across 2 CD’s, plus 2 Blu-Ray discs. The first blu-ray contains the 5.1 Surround Sound mix by Devin, with visuals for the full record, plus a stereo visualiser. The second blu-ray contains a raft of bonus material, including ‘Acoustically Inclined – Live in Leeds’, a recording from his April 2019 acoustic tour where he performed tracks including ‘Love?’, ‘Deadhead’, ‘Thing Beyond Things’ & more.
It also features the full Empath Documentary, a ‘Genesis 5.1 Mixing Lesson’, a full album commentary & more. The four discs sit inside a beautiful art-book that contains new liner notes and images from the making of the album.
Devin comments of the new 5.1 surround sound mix:
“On a technical level, I guess I have always been dissatisfied with the basic ‘stereo’ format in which the type of music I make gets presented in. Whether its headphones, computer speakers, stereos (or basically anything currently), I have had to figure out ways to get the work to function through TWO speakers. I hear things in a particularly orchestrated way, and with the amount of information that typically gets recorded per song, the result has been the dubious ‘wall of sound’ that I keep ending up with. But my intention has never been to make an oppressive experience, but rather something that is immersive and vast.
Making it work in two speakers just simply doesn’t quite work for the vision. Although I’ve managed to get the point across, (to varying degrees), things always have to compromise to make it all fit. Making the drums speak at the same time as orchestra, cymbals, guitars, choirs, synths etc.…all with my voice on top, ends up with every conceivable frequency fighting for breathing space between those two speakers.
Therefore, I asked the powers that be in my business world, to tolerate one more ‘kick at the can’ when it came to Empath. I wanted to attempt a surround mix and follow the original vision of it being an immersive, multimedia experience for people in the ways I could best achieve at this stage. And although it’s still pretty ‘dense’, with four more sources for the sound to come from, I feel its significantly closer to the original vision here.”
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