Devin Townsend has revealed that his relationship of 36 years has ended, and said that heavy financial losses forced him back on the road only a year and a half after announcing an indefinite break from touring.
The Canadian musician spoke about both subjects on the “Sixty Scales And The Truth” podcast, hosted by Niels Guns, in an episode recorded on September 29 during his” Metamorphosis” solo acoustic tour of Europe.
Asked why he returned to live shows so soon, Townsend pointed to The Moth, his orchestral project first performed in March 2025 and released earlier this year. He said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Financial Armageddon. Yeah, we lost a ton of money off of The Moth show [Devin‘s ambitious, orchestral metal opus, which was performed in March 2025 and released earlier this year], for a number of reasons, which we’re still trying to remedy it, but it’s been over a year. But the company I did a lot of the work for it went bankrupt, and so we lost what our projected revenue was for that year. So I just found myself in a situation where the options for me to do other things for money just seemed limited. So I know it’s not a particularly romantic notion, but it’s the truth. But also, I will say that by coming out here again and having to do it in this shattered frame of mind, which I have been, it’s forced me into a perspective on the back catalog and on my work just by having to sort of show up every night. Like, if you see the show tonight, you’ll see that there’s no place to hide. It’s just a shattered human and an acoustic guitar. But it’s, like, to go back into the catalog and say, ‘Okay, so where are these patterns? Where were these emotional arcs and peaks and troughs that repeat?’ So that moving forward into the next phase of my life, I’m not just repeating those same things. And, yeah, as a result of that, it has been an emotionally very difficult run.”
Townsend went on to explain what has made the tour so hard: “My dog passed away. I split up with a partner of 36 years. I mean, it’s like all these things have been f**king devastating. And you’re up on stage. So I think that the one thing that I’ve recognized through this is it’s, like, well, I have to do this, just on a practical level. But on another level, it’s funny how these things force you into a, a position where you have to contend with yourself. And the fatigue of this run as well — we’re in a van, and I’m constantly at my capacity in terms of my emotional thresholds. And then the dog dying, and hearing about it secondhand and not being able to be there, and all these things. So every time you’re fatigued, you’re fatigued, you’re mental, and then you’re just on stage, and it’s naked. And I think that there’s the benefit of that, in a real practical way. We call this a ‘Metamorphosis‘ tour, and it really seems to be because I think that just as a result of having to do this, I’m different — good or bad, I don’t necessarily know if that distinction even matters. It’s just different. And I found that by putting myself into this, the fringe benefit of it is it seems to carry over to the audience to a certain degree. There’s a certain amount of — I don’t know if it’s vulnerability or just the raw nature of where I find myself as an entity right now. But you see a tangible reaction from the audience where it seems to be, like, ‘Okay, well that’s…’ I don’t know if it’s gratitude or if it’s just, like, ‘Okay, well, at least he’s not full of s**t,’ or whatever it is. And again, it’s, like, I need a job, and if I’m gonna have a job, I want it to help rather than hinder. And it seems to do that, so I’m grateful.”
When asked whether he was looking forward to returning home to British Columbia, Townsend revealed he plans to move: “No. No. It all changed back home. Yeah, I think I’m gonna relocate. I think I’m gonna be in Spain now. But at the end of it, it’s, like, in the same way that we’re following this path on a creative level, I think I’ve had to accept the following of my path on a personal level. And arguably, that’s been much harder, because it forces you to ask yourself very difficult questions. Sunk-cost fallacy. But the upside of this is for years I used to get to this point of the tour and be, like, ‘Nine more days, eight more days, seven more days.’ But I don’t feel that now. I’m just kind of, like, ‘Yeah, dude, whatever.’ And it’s funny, too, how that has changed, because I used to be in countries that weren’t mine. I used to be, like, ‘Oh, I’m Canadian. I’m used to trees and mountains and cold and rain and whatever.’ And then I’d be in a different country and I’d be, like, ‘Oh, I’m uncomfortable here because it’s not what I’m familiar with.’ But, dude, at this point it doesn’t matter. Wherever I end up, it’s just kind of, like, it doesn’t matter. And I react to it in a way that is really unfamiliar to me now. It’s almost like numb. But it’s not unfeeling. It’s not like I’m emotionally bankrupt and I’m not participating in it. No, it’s the opposite. I’m participating in it so much now that it neutralizes all reactions. But the benefit of that is, I was in a very strange part of Europe a couple of weeks back, I forget even where, and I was looking around, and I think a couple of years back I would’ve been, like, ‘Oh, this is so foreign for me that I don’t feel comfortable.’ But I was just kind of, like, ‘Eh.'”
Asked whether the end of the relationship had helped him see himself more clearly, he said: “Well, I’m in a transitional period right now because I think a lot of that, specifically after the amount of time that we were together, your identity gets so entwined that in absence of it, you don’t know who you are. And so I think that what has happened is the clarity that comes from it has been surprising to me as to where I find myself. And it comes with a lot of questions, like, ‘How long have I actually been here?’ And this is where things start to fall into alignment, because cognitive dissonance — you say one thing and you do another, do one thing and say another. For many years, I’ve always just thought there was some sort of dysfunction, but then I find myself in a scenario where I’m, like, accountable to different things, and I’m just, like, ‘Oh, the reason why there was dissonance there is because I wasn’t aware that I had changed many years ago.’ And now that I’m allowed — not even allowed, allowing myself to participate with those feelings, transitions, fears, whatever, I’m, like, ‘Oh, well, if I’ve been that for as long as I have, then my responsibility now is to be true to that in my speech, in my work, in my relationships, in my boundaries.’ And it just has been shifting my nature into something that, arguably, I’ve been all along. So that’s healthy in a sense, but it’s certainly a transition because it happens so quickly… And I’m grateful for it. It’s just the breadth of emotions are all so, so raw that I spend much of my energy just trying to navigate the energetic qualities of these new things. But, man, I gotta say, for all those dark moments that come from the fears being thrust upon me, on the other side of those fears are things that — I’m not saying better or worse, just different.”
Townsend announced an indefinite break from touring in 2025 after finishing a North American run. The “Metamorphosis” tour sees him performing alone with an acoustic guitar across Europe through September and October.
The former Strapping Young Lad frontman has released a long run of solo albums, including Ocean Machine (1997), Empath (2019) and Lightwork (2022).
