Devin Townsend: “I never want to lose sight of how grateful I am to be on this path.”
Devin Townsend talks gratitude and creating his new album PowerNerd
In a new interview with United Rock Nations, Canadian singer, songwriter and producer Devin Townsend discussed the inspiration behind the song Gratitude taken from his next album PowerNerdscheduled for release on October 25. “Gratitude is an interesting song to me, because it was such a depressing time when I was making this album, one of the most depressing times of my life. And I wrote Gratitude to try to remind myself that even though it’s sad, even though it’s overwhelming, we have to keep in mind how lucky we are to live this life and have these experiences.he explains. Townsend wanted to remind us that it is important to never lose sight of how beautiful life can be, even through times of pain.
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From pop to power PowerNerd
When the interviewer noted that Gratitude seemed more “pop” than the other tracks on the album, Devin responded: “Yes, well, from the beginning I’ve been writing this type of music. Life by Ocean Machine or Stagnant by Terria, it’s just part of my DNA, this slightly Hysteria sound of Def Leppard.”. Devin also described PowerNerd as a manifesto on the management of the problems that one may encounter in life. The idea behind the term “PowerNerd” is to transform character traits that society might judge as weaknesses, such as hypersensitivity, into superpowers.
PowerNerd marks the beginning of a new era in the prolific career of Townsend, a multi-faceted artist, from frontman of Strapping Young Lad to his solo projects including Devin Townsend Project and Casualties Of Cool. Recorded in just 11 days, the album explores themes of strength, healing and self-acceptance, with a combination of both aggressive and delicate tracks.
