Page 23 - Metal Hammer Issue 334 - UK (May 2020)
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STRAPPING YOUNG LAD
“No!” He immediately shoots back “For the majority of my time in that the band playing in a cabin similar to
when asked if he saw the song as band, I really wrote music to stop people the one from the movie and being
a gateway to huge arenas and a lavish paying attention to Strapping Young pursued by a supernatural force. It’s
rockstar lifestyle. “Before that I had Lad,” Devin shrugs. “And when you a great, fun video, one that perfectly
Ocean Machine and Infinity; there are far listen to that record, Alien… dude, it’s suits the song and, bearing in mind the
more songs that are ‘commercial- a heavy, brutal, dark, angry record. link between heavy metal and horror
sounding’ on those records than Love? Songs like Skeksis, Shit Storm, Info Dump… movies, makes a great deal of sense.
There seems to be this common those aren’t nice songs. So, it’s kinda But, if Devin had his way…
misconception of my career that I’m fun to have Love? on there and, truly, “I have a really hard time with horror
trying to achieve this commercial the only reason it turned out like that movies,”he says. “I have a horrible time
success by writing commercial songs. was because I walked into the studio with sadism and guts and gore. I just
The truth is that I just love Def Leppard, one day with that chorus in my head.” don’t know why people invest their
I just love Enya, I just loved The time making art like that? But, weirdly,
Eurythmics and Broadway musicals “I WAS JUST I really like Evil Dead, particularly the
and pop. In fact, it’s been much to the third one, Army Of Darkness. I thought
label’s chagrin when they say, ‘Oh, why SURROUNDED BY that was great. It got proposed to do
don’t you do that again’, and I tell them a version of that. But I hated the whole
that I’ve done it so I’m going to go and LOTS OF DRUGS AND shoot. I did not get on with the director,
write a record about a cheeseburger.” and it all just felt a little too Los Angeles,
STUPID PEOPLE” a little too artsty and self-important.
SO, IT WAS more a happy accident I looked around and thought, ‘What
than by design when Alien was released DEVIN TOWNSEND am I doing here?”
on the March 22, 2005 and became There was one moment in the video
SYL’s best-performing record Another contributing factor for the shoot that Devin does admit to
commercially, peaking at No.32 on the song’s success was its video, which took enjoying, though…
Billboard Heatseekers Chart. Much of inspiration from Sam Raimi’s classic “I had this absolutely horrible hair at
its success was down to its lead single. 1983 video nasty The Evil Dead, and saw the time,” he laughs. “They hired
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