Devin Townsend has recently shared his plans to take a short break from live shows after wrapping up his upcoming dates. During an interview with The Rockman Power Hour, he talked about the importance of live performances for musicians and went on to explain his decision to step away despite that by saying:
“That being said, just to contradict that, after this next round of touring, I’m gonna come off the road for a couple of years. And not because I won’t tour again; it’s just that I’ve got this project in mind that I’m going to write, and I have been writing, that I wanna focus on. Because it hasn’t been since maybe early 2000s that I’ve had actual time to focus on a project.”
Mentioning his work process, the singer added:
“It’s the cycle that we got caught up in pre-pandemic, is record-tour, record-tour, record-tour. And in order to do that, although I was happy with the majority of what I’ve done over the past 15 years, there’s some of it that I had to force, I had to be, like, ‘We need to have a record. So you have to write.'”
He continued:
“And again, I was satisfied with what I came out with, for the most part, but moving forward, I really wanna try and afford myself the luxury of doing it the way that I used to, ’cause I think I’ve got something really cool in the pipes that deserves that attention.”
Townsend released his latest recorded project in 2022. For the first time in his career, he worked with a producer – Garth Richardson – for the album called ‘Lightwork.’ Reflecting on the record and his experience with Richardson, the singer told Metal Hammer:
“Every record that I’ve ever done, I’ve produced myself. It’s kind of a vacuum, without anyone saying, ‘Hey, you might want to reconsider that’ or ‘Maybe that’s a little bit too far up your own ass.’ So, I’ve wanted to work with a producer for a long time, if for no other reason than to see what’d happen. It’s been intense because the person I’ve chosen to work with is a good friend of mine; he’s an incredible producer with a long history.”
Currently, Devin Townsend is on the road with Dream Theater and Animals as Leaders, promoting his 2022 album. His North American tour is set to continue until mid-August before he steps away for his planned hiatus.