“Whatever compulsion I feel to get back in the studio again is not healthy” – Devin Townsend opens up about taking a break from touring

In a new interview with the American Musical Supply, Devin Townsend covered a lot of topics, including pizza, songwriting, and his recent announcement of taking a break from live shows. Interviewer Ryan thought that if he weren’t composing, it would be exhausting. As transcribed by us, here’s what he said about this:

I think the only reason why that would be exhausting is if I hadn’t settled into the truth of why I do the things that I do. I think that there’s really no fatigue if I’m coming at my life from a perspective of emotional equilibrium. And anytime I do stop and I feel like fear and I wanna start composing or writing or whatever again, I mean, that’s more of an indicator of like some sort of imbalance, I think. And the reason for taking a break from touring has to do with my parents are older. My dad’s going through a bunch of shit. My dog’s in his last year. Son’s moving away. My wife and I have been together for so long that we’re having to reestablish the parameters of our relationship. And with that in mind, whatever compulsion I feel to get back in the studio again is probably not healthy. And of course that’s gonna happen. And of course I’m gonna slip, but making peace with the fact that that’s inevitable because I’m not like enlightened, you know what I mean? I’m like, I’m a wrong show. So it’s like the fact that I’m gonna be going up and down is not something I should be feeling critical of myself, but rather that’s part of the process. And so when I get back, yeah, I’m expecting that there’s gonna be lots of things. Gosh, I saw my dad retire and go bananas for a while or two, right?

But sometimes the job can take away so much of the important things in life.

Yeah, and the thing that is more important now than anything else is really like having some compassion for myself because I think I’ve been so critical, like unless I’m perfect, this is all childhood shit, right? And I’m like, now that I’m at a point where of course those things come up, but when they do come up, it’s much more like it’s easier to identify what the root of that is. So as opposed to trying to solve whatever comes up, it’s more like, okay, well, maybe what it requires is time.