Originally published in Sonic Perspectives YT channel · October 2024
Devin Townsend interview (excerpt)
Interview2 min read
Rodrigo Altaf: I can’t not ask you about the DreamSonic tour which you did with Dream Theater and Animals As Leaders, I think it was last year that it ended. What was that experience like?
Devin Townsend: Brilliant. And comfortable and easy. It was a great group of people. Not that I wasn’t a fan, I just never listened to Dream Theater; it never found its way into my life really, so I wasn’t too familiar with the band. But of course I know of them and I know of their success, and I’ve met some of the people prior to the tours. But I guess I went into it thinking that they were gonna be arrogant, like they were going to be difficult people, and the opposite was the case; they were really wonderful people, and they were really well-spoken, intelligent, casual, and good people to spend time with. And Animals As Leaders I’ve toured with on several occasions, and I’ve known Tosin since he was in Reflux. I love those guys, I love Javier, and Tosin’s brilliant – I love his company. So the combination of it all was a nice tour. I did two long tours with Dream Theater, and the first one was just myself and Dream Theater, and that was even easier! [laughs]
RA: I spoke with Mike Mangini right after the last show of that tour, and what’s crazy is that we were doing an interview to promote his solo album. Days after that he left the band and Mike Portnoy came back. Was there any indication during that tour of something brewing that this would happen or...?
DT: Absolutely, but it’s not for me really to talk about. But it was definitely brewing, for sure. I mean it wasn’t brewing in the sense of like they were angry at each other; it just seemed like they were separate from each other. There was nobody that was talking to me about any nefarious plans, and no one was talking to each other behind their back. But as an observer, you watch the dynamic between people and Mike was usually on his own, and I remember thinking that that seemed like there may have been some discontent between them, but what that discontent was, I don’t know. But I could see that they were separate towards the end.