HEVYDEVY RECORDS
PO Box 153, Maple Ridge, BC, V2X 7G1, Canada
Email: hevydevy@shaw.ca Web: http://www.hevydevy.com Fax: (604) 460-1263
Issue #71
Wow, how fast a year can speed by.
Since mid-August Devin has been busy recording the new Devin Townsend Band
album ‘Synchestra.’ He says “It has been a really enjoyable experience, a
great three months. The record has been work-intensive but relatively
stress-free. I am mixing, mastering and engineering this one, doing
practically everything with assistance from Dave and Mike [Young] and a
hotline to Shaun [Thingvold] ... There are 13 songs on this album and while
there is usually one big song on each record, like ‘Earth Day’ or ‘Deadhead,
’ this one has five or six… I have been mixing it while recording vocals,
both at home and it sounds really good. It is really nice to listen to, a
refreshing change from the catalogue while still being indicative of it. It
is very much like Ocean Machine and Terria, recorded in an Infinity kind of
way. It is as if Terria got wet.†Steve Vai is adding a guitar solo on the
song ‘Triumph’. In comment Devin says “It is really cool to have him
involved with it. It has been a long-time coming I think and an honour that
he agreed.â€Â
Devin has been working on a new instrumental electronic record called
‘Hummer’. “I started writing and recording Hummer at the end of the SYL
record when I was having trouble relaxing and sleeping. All of the music I
heard reminded me of something so the record is specifically designed to be
neutral, to make you fall asleep and keep you asleep. I have been working on
it at night after ‘Synchestra’ to cool down. The idea is to put it on before
you go to sleep and keep it on ‘repeat’.†Devin intends to finish Hummer
while on the next tour. We had hoped for a Christmas release seem unlikely
at this time. There is only so much he can do. When it is released it will
be mail-order only like DevLab and the Ass-Sordid Demos discs.
Late October Strapping Young Lad start a tour of USA & Canada with Soilwork,
Fear Factory and Darkane. Byron will be playing in both Fear Factory and SYL
shows each night. Following are the dates that are known at the time of
printing. There are likely to be changes, additions and possible
cancellations. Please remember that the band does not book the tours and
does not control where they go.
10/28 Granada, Lawrence, KS
10/29 Pop’s, Sauget, IL
10/30 House of Blues, Chicago, IL
10/31 Quest Club, Minneapolis, MN
11/01 Rave Bar, Milwaukee, WI
11/02 Intersection, Grand Rapids, MI
11/04 House of Blues, Cleveland, OH
11/05 Harpo’s Concert Th., Detroit, MI
11/06 Opera House, Toronto, ON
11/08 Irving Plaza, New York, NY
11/09 The Palladium, Worcester, MA
11/11 Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ
11/12 Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
11/13 Recher Theater, Towson, MD
11/14 The NorVa, Norfolk, VA
11/15 The Masquerade, Atlanta, GA
11/16 House of Blues, Lake Buena Vista, FL
11/18 Meridian, Houston, TX
11/21 Cain’s Ballroom – Tulsa, OK
11/22 Sunshine Theater, Albuquerque, NM
11/23 Ogden Theater, Denver, CO
11/25 House of Blues, Las Vegas, NV
11/26 Venue Scottsdale, Scottsdale, AZ
11/27 House of Blues, San Diego, CA
11/28 House of Blues, Anaheim, CA
11/30 House of Blues, Hollywood, CA
12/02 The Boardwalk, Orangevale, CA
12/01 The Pound, San Francisco, CA
12/03 Roseland Theater, Portland, OR
12/04 El Corazon, Seattle, WA
12/05 Croatian Cultural Centre, Vancouver, BC
Immediately following will be one week in the UK with Arch Enemy.
12/12 Cardiff, Coal Exchange
12/13 Manchester, Academy 2
12/14 Glasgow, QMU
12/15 London, Astoria
12/16 Wolverhampton, Wulfrun Hall
For the new year, Devin has been in discussions with the legendary Gwar
about producing their new album. He is delighted at the possibility of being
involved but nothing is confirmed yet. He also agreed to produce a band
called Reflux on Prosthetic Records as well as doing the album for Savannah,
a band whose EP he produced last year.
On October 9th Strapping recorded a video for “Zen†in Vancouver. It was
directed by Marcus Rogers who directed the “For Those Aboot to Rock†DVD and
the video for “Relentlessâ€Â.
Like Jon Miller from Devil Driver did for Strapping, Opeth needed a drummer
on the Sounds of the Underground tour and having filled in before, Gene was
the obvious choice. He completed the tour as well as filmed a video for “The
Grand Conjurationâ€Â.
SYL’s Jed Simon married Susanna Kramer October 2nd in New Jersey and Byron
plans to marry Laurie Bridger in Las Vegas November 24th.Congratulations to
all them for many happy years together.
Now, comes the unfortunate announcement of price increases. On request,
November 1st we are increasing the shirt prices to be more comparable with
the SYL website. As it stands there are extremely little profits on the HDR
site so that means that the band (and I) get very little for their efforts.
That’s not fair to them where in this day of downloading, bands do need to
make a living somehow. Furthermore, new postal policy changes and price
increases mean HDR can’t carry on as-is. Canada post has begun charging for
any packages that are returned. That means that if someone writes their
address wrong (happens several times monthly), I pay the postage there, as
well as the postage back. I apologise and feel for Australians in particular
whose dollar is low compared to the US dollar but we do have to think of the
future of the band. So, if you’ve been eyeing something in particular, get
it before the 1st. CD prices won’t be effected.
For last issue’s contest winners… It seems that some of you remember Devin’s
career better than Devin does sometimes. It turns out that there are two
correct answers to the trivia question which was: SYL has played shows in
the past with one of the bands on the Sounds of the Underground. Which one
was it? a) Lamb of God b) Opeth c) Devil Driver d) Unearth e) All
That Remains. The correct answer is then either Lamb of God or Opeth.
Winners are 1) Andrew, IL, USA 2) Simon, UK 3) Brian, WA, USA.
New contest… We have three SYL “Alien†promotional posters, SYL stickers and
guitar picks to give away. The trivia question is… Which of the following
songs does not have a video? a) Life b) Christeen c) S.Y.L. d)
Underneath the Waves e) Storm. Here’s the rules: All entries with a correct
answer to the trivia question will be added to the contest bucket for
lottery draw on December 15, 2005. Please send your answer along with your
mailing address –I cannot accept entries that do not include a mailing
address. You may enter as many times as you like but only one entry per
person allowed by email. Fax, email, and snail mail entries are permitted
but must be received by midnight December 14, 2005.
Special thanks to Guitar Player, Lollipop, Rock Sound, Brave Words and
Bloody Knuckles, Outburn, Metal Maniacs, Revolver, Metal Edge, Outburn, Rock
Hard, Terrorizer and many many others for their great support in recent
issues. See you next issue!
Tracy
PO Box 153, Maple Ridge, BC, V2X 7G1, Canada
Email: hevydevy@shaw.ca Web: http://www.hevydevy.com Fax: (604) 460-1263
Issue #71
Wow, how fast a year can speed by.
Since mid-August Devin has been busy recording the new Devin Townsend Band
album ‘Synchestra.’ He says “It has been a really enjoyable experience, a
great three months. The record has been work-intensive but relatively
stress-free. I am mixing, mastering and engineering this one, doing
practically everything with assistance from Dave and Mike [Young] and a
hotline to Shaun [Thingvold] ... There are 13 songs on this album and while
there is usually one big song on each record, like ‘Earth Day’ or ‘Deadhead,
’ this one has five or six… I have been mixing it while recording vocals,
both at home and it sounds really good. It is really nice to listen to, a
refreshing change from the catalogue while still being indicative of it. It
is very much like Ocean Machine and Terria, recorded in an Infinity kind of
way. It is as if Terria got wet.†Steve Vai is adding a guitar solo on the
song ‘Triumph’. In comment Devin says “It is really cool to have him
involved with it. It has been a long-time coming I think and an honour that
he agreed.â€Â
Devin has been working on a new instrumental electronic record called
‘Hummer’. “I started writing and recording Hummer at the end of the SYL
record when I was having trouble relaxing and sleeping. All of the music I
heard reminded me of something so the record is specifically designed to be
neutral, to make you fall asleep and keep you asleep. I have been working on
it at night after ‘Synchestra’ to cool down. The idea is to put it on before
you go to sleep and keep it on ‘repeat’.†Devin intends to finish Hummer
while on the next tour. We had hoped for a Christmas release seem unlikely
at this time. There is only so much he can do. When it is released it will
be mail-order only like DevLab and the Ass-Sordid Demos discs.
Late October Strapping Young Lad start a tour of USA & Canada with Soilwork,
Fear Factory and Darkane. Byron will be playing in both Fear Factory and SYL
shows each night. Following are the dates that are known at the time of
printing. There are likely to be changes, additions and possible
cancellations. Please remember that the band does not book the tours and
does not control where they go.
10/28 Granada, Lawrence, KS
10/29 Pop’s, Sauget, IL
10/30 House of Blues, Chicago, IL
10/31 Quest Club, Minneapolis, MN
11/01 Rave Bar, Milwaukee, WI
11/02 Intersection, Grand Rapids, MI
11/04 House of Blues, Cleveland, OH
11/05 Harpo’s Concert Th., Detroit, MI
11/06 Opera House, Toronto, ON
11/08 Irving Plaza, New York, NY
11/09 The Palladium, Worcester, MA
11/11 Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ
11/12 Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
11/13 Recher Theater, Towson, MD
11/14 The NorVa, Norfolk, VA
11/15 The Masquerade, Atlanta, GA
11/16 House of Blues, Lake Buena Vista, FL
11/18 Meridian, Houston, TX
11/21 Cain’s Ballroom – Tulsa, OK
11/22 Sunshine Theater, Albuquerque, NM
11/23 Ogden Theater, Denver, CO
11/25 House of Blues, Las Vegas, NV
11/26 Venue Scottsdale, Scottsdale, AZ
11/27 House of Blues, San Diego, CA
11/28 House of Blues, Anaheim, CA
11/30 House of Blues, Hollywood, CA
12/02 The Boardwalk, Orangevale, CA
12/01 The Pound, San Francisco, CA
12/03 Roseland Theater, Portland, OR
12/04 El Corazon, Seattle, WA
12/05 Croatian Cultural Centre, Vancouver, BC
Immediately following will be one week in the UK with Arch Enemy.
12/12 Cardiff, Coal Exchange
12/13 Manchester, Academy 2
12/14 Glasgow, QMU
12/15 London, Astoria
12/16 Wolverhampton, Wulfrun Hall
For the new year, Devin has been in discussions with the legendary Gwar
about producing their new album. He is delighted at the possibility of being
involved but nothing is confirmed yet. He also agreed to produce a band
called Reflux on Prosthetic Records as well as doing the album for Savannah,
a band whose EP he produced last year.
On October 9th Strapping recorded a video for “Zen†in Vancouver. It was
directed by Marcus Rogers who directed the “For Those Aboot to Rock†DVD and
the video for “Relentlessâ€Â.
Like Jon Miller from Devil Driver did for Strapping, Opeth needed a drummer
on the Sounds of the Underground tour and having filled in before, Gene was
the obvious choice. He completed the tour as well as filmed a video for “The
Grand Conjurationâ€Â.
SYL’s Jed Simon married Susanna Kramer October 2nd in New Jersey and Byron
plans to marry Laurie Bridger in Las Vegas November 24th.Congratulations to
all them for many happy years together.
Now, comes the unfortunate announcement of price increases. On request,
November 1st we are increasing the shirt prices to be more comparable with
the SYL website. As it stands there are extremely little profits on the HDR
site so that means that the band (and I) get very little for their efforts.
That’s not fair to them where in this day of downloading, bands do need to
make a living somehow. Furthermore, new postal policy changes and price
increases mean HDR can’t carry on as-is. Canada post has begun charging for
any packages that are returned. That means that if someone writes their
address wrong (happens several times monthly), I pay the postage there, as
well as the postage back. I apologise and feel for Australians in particular
whose dollar is low compared to the US dollar but we do have to think of the
future of the band. So, if you’ve been eyeing something in particular, get
it before the 1st. CD prices won’t be effected.
For last issue’s contest winners… It seems that some of you remember Devin’s
career better than Devin does sometimes. It turns out that there are two
correct answers to the trivia question which was: SYL has played shows in
the past with one of the bands on the Sounds of the Underground. Which one
was it? a) Lamb of God b) Opeth c) Devil Driver d) Unearth e) All
That Remains. The correct answer is then either Lamb of God or Opeth.
Winners are 1) Andrew, IL, USA 2) Simon, UK 3) Brian, WA, USA.
New contest… We have three SYL “Alien†promotional posters, SYL stickers and
guitar picks to give away. The trivia question is… Which of the following
songs does not have a video? a) Life b) Christeen c) S.Y.L. d)
Underneath the Waves e) Storm. Here’s the rules: All entries with a correct
answer to the trivia question will be added to the contest bucket for
lottery draw on December 15, 2005. Please send your answer along with your
mailing address –I cannot accept entries that do not include a mailing
address. You may enter as many times as you like but only one entry per
person allowed by email. Fax, email, and snail mail entries are permitted
but must be received by midnight December 14, 2005.
Special thanks to Guitar Player, Lollipop, Rock Sound, Brave Words and
Bloody Knuckles, Outburn, Metal Maniacs, Revolver, Metal Edge, Outburn, Rock
Hard, Terrorizer and many many others for their great support in recent
issues. See you next issue!
Tracy
thanks!!
...though I got a printed version in the mail today from Tracy with my goodies!
As if I weren´t anticipating this release enough!
