official site

MySpace

Band

Девин Тауншенд (Devin Townsend) — вокал, гитара, клавишные
Джед Саймон (Jed Simon) — гитара, бэк-вокал
Байрон Страуд (Byron Stroud) — бас, бэк-вокал
Джин Хоглан (Gene Hoglan) — ударные и перкуссия

Discography

Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing (1995)
City (1997)
No Sleep ‘Till Bedtime (Live in Melbourne) (1998)
S.Y.L. (2003)
Alien (2005)
The New Black (2006)

Канада, г. Ванкувер. Группа Strapping Young Lad была основана в 1995
году гитаристом и вокалистом Девином Тауншендом (Devin Townsend).
Первая пластинка, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing (1995), целиком и
полностью была записана Девином (в качестве ударных использовалась
драм-машина); состав группы стал полноценным в 1997 году, когда
Strapping Young Lad выпустили альбом City, и с тех пор не менялся, хотя
к записям привлекались сессионные музыканты. City, к слову, разошелся
очень хорошим тиражом.

В 2000-м Тауншенд основал сторонний проект The Devin Townsend
Band с составом, отличным от Strapping Young Lad. Третий альбом
команды, названный Strapping Young Lad (более известен как S.Y.L.)
(2003), был записан уже на студии Hevy Devy Records, которая была
основана самим Тауншендом и его женой Трейси. В 2003-04 гг. группа
усиленно гастролировала по Соединенным Штатам, Европе, Японии и
Австралии. Четвертый студийный альбом, Alien, вышел в марте 2005-го, и
весь оставшийся год группа ездила с выступлениями по Северной Америке и
Европе в поддержку этой записи.

Участники группы снова собрались в студии ровно через год,
чтобы записать очередной альбом, названный The New Black (релиз в июле
2006 г.). В июле-августе 2006-го Девин со товарищи согласился выступить
на Ozzfest (о чем впоследствии говорил с сожалением), где группа
собрала внушительную аудиторию…

Это группа, не похожая на другие, это феномен современной
музыкальной сцены. А начиналось всё довольно безобидно. Devin Townsend
имел свой собственный звукозаписывающий лэйбл, несколько музыкальных
проектов(включая Ocean Machine) и помогал музыкантам раскручиватся.

Его заметила английская компания Century Media и предложила
ему записать 2 альбома. Devin согласился. У него уже имелся некоторый
материал, поэтому за 7 дней он записал первы альбом. Townsend сам
записал все партии кроме ударных. Альбом вышел в 95 году и назывался
"Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing". Музыка была на редкость тяжёлой и
динамичной, в музыке чуствовалась какая-то злоба. Но это не был Death
Metal. Стиль Strapping Young Lad можно охарактеризовать как
Death/Industrial Metal. Альбом, очевидно, был предназначен для срывания
башки, потому что этих 45 минут хватало, чтобы окончательно офигеть, и
какой-нибудь поклонник "Five" мог бы умереть на месте.

Поэтому предупреждаю: Если вы, человек, не слушающий металл,
найдёте у своего родственника дома этот CD, то ни в коем случае не
включайте его! А если серьёзно, то "Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing"
получился немного "сыроватым". Но, в принципе,довольно рульно. После
записи диска Devin стал подбирать состав группы. Не буду перечислять
участников, потому что их было очень много, к тому же они все ушли из
группы. В постоянный состав вошёл барабанщик Gene Hoglan из Death,
басист Byron Stroud(старый знакомый Девина), соло гитарист (хотя лучше
его назвать просто вторым гитаристом) Jed Simon и синтезаторщик Matteo
Caratozzolo. В 1996 году, после многих туров, музыканты собрались в
студии для записи второго альбома. В 1997 этот альбом выходит под
названием "City".

Диск получился более обдуманным и музыкальным, нежели первый.
Музыка осталась тяжеленной, но стала немного мелодичнее. Strapping
Young Lad взяли стиль Fear Factory и превратили его в монстра, который,
ревя и скалясь, рвёт всех на куски. Короче, it really kicks ass! Чего
стоит один только double bass drumming!Профессионализм так и прёт из
музыкантов. Вскоре вышел live альбом группы "No Sleep Til' Bedtime". В
него вошли как уже известные песни, так и те, который никто ещё не
слышал. Сейчас Strapping Young Lad работают над новым альбомом, так что
будем ждать. Это не группа - это просто rulezz! Это способ Девина
выразить всю свою злобу и высказаться в музыке. Это явление
необыкновенное, которое непременно достойно внимания,
прослушивания(неоднократного) и восхищения.

english wikipedia.org

Strapping Young Lad was an influential progressive extreme metal
band from Canada, founded by Devin Townsend in 1995. The band's music
is a varied fusion of death metal, thrash metal, grindcore, industrial
metal, and progressive metal.

History

Strapping Young Lad (usually abbreviated as SYL or Strapping)
began as a solo project by Canadian musician Devin Townsend. Once he
had completed his work as vocalist on Steve Vai's Sex and Religion and
that album's subsequent tour, he recorded the majority of the
instruments (except drums by Adrian White; excluding where drum machine
is used) on the debut album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing. Rather than
remain a solo project, additional members and the release of their
album City saw SYL secure their line-up permanently. City was released
to a huge response, prompting Kerrang! magazine to call it one of the
heaviest albums ever.

After recording several very successful solo albums, Townsend
founded The Devin Townsend Band in late 2002 as a separate entity with
a different line-up to that of SYL, and the two bands have since
existed in tandem; albeit with somewhat divergent musical directions.

SYL's third album, the self titled Strapping Young Lad, marked
the band's first new release on Devin's own label, Hevy Devy Records,
which was founded just after the release of City and is managed by
Devin and his wife Tracy. Strapping toured heavily throughout 2003 and
2004 making stops in the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia.

In early 2004, Devin advertised on the band's official forum
for fans to join SYL for a free show at the Commodore in Vancouver.
This show was filmed and released as the first DVD from SYL: For Those
Aboot to Rock: Live at the Commodore (the title being a pun on the
band's Canadian heritage and the anthemic song "For Those About to Rock
(We Salute You)" by AC/DC). Blame Canada, the infamous anti-Canadian
song from the South Park motion picture was played over the PA as intro
music at most SYL shows in 2003 and 2004.

Strapping Young Lad's fourth album, Alien was released March
22, 2005, to a mixture of reviews, mostly favouring the progressive
element Devin Townsend continues to bring to extreme metal. The band
spent a considerable part of 2005 touring North America and Europe in
support of the album. They entered the studio in March 2006 to record
their follow-up, titled The New Black - which was released in July
2006. In addition, Strapping Young Lad embarked on a short festival
tour of Europe in June (e.g., Download Festival at Castle Donington,
England), and were added to the bill of the prestigious Ozzfest, where
they played to some of their largest audiences thus far, in July and
August 2006.

Prior to embarking on Ozzfest 2006, Strapping Young Lad flew
into New York City to shoot a music video for the song "Wrong Side"
with director David Brodsky. The video can be seen at the My Good Eye
production company website (www.mgenyc.com ). Brodsky hired
professional ballerinas to enhance the "heaven" set up and to "flit
around Devin". A consummate professional and frontman, much of Devin's
moves were ad-libbed. Brodsky is quoted as saying that "there is
nothing I can tell him to do that he didn't already think to do, so I
just hit the playback button and watch him do his magic".
Interestingly, the majority of the band's outfits and gear were
"misplaced" by the airline prompting the band and production crew to
quickly gather formal-wear and instruments on the day of shoot, which
happened to be the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend 2006. However, the
airline managed to recover and deliver the band's gear in time for the
final set-up of the day, hence the different guitars and bass guitar
from the "heaven" set to the "hell" set. Long-time Brodsky
collaborator, Mike Milia, co-produced and was the Director of
Photography. The video aired numerous times on MTV2's HeadBanger's Ball
during the summer of 2006 as well as collecting tens of thousands of
internet views on popular websites such as YouTube and MySpace.

"Wrong Side" was nominated for Best Video of 2006 on MTV2's Headbanger's Ball.

Devin's comments about the album and 2006 live shows: "The
recording process went amazingly well, and STRAPPING as a whole is
really excited about this effort. We were very inspired with the idea
of doing Ozzfest, and the concept we are running with on this record is
really based around abhorring the current music scene, yet being a part
of it in some weird way. SYL is ready to be a subversive product for
the unwitting 14-year-olds to scream along with. We also intend to
sprinkle a little ugly around all the pretty bands this year. You can
think of us as the proverbial pubic hair in the cheesecake of this
year's festival. We are ugly, large and angry. We have also been around
longer as a band than 90% the other bands. Most of all, we're just
really excited to be a part of Ozzfest and this summer is going to be
crazy."

Future

Strapping Young Lad's future is currently somewhat uncertain,

as Devin has recently commented that he's tired of it all.

At the end of the day, man, I'm just tired, and old, and bald,
and fat, and grouchy, and bored. You know? So I was just like, I'm
going to make this record, and do this stupid Ozzfest thing, and tell a
bunch of stupid jokes in front of a lot of people at Download, then I'm
just going to fuck off for a while. The bigger this gets, the less I
care, to the point where I just need to go spend some time with my
family. I don't wanna bastardise Strapping and all these other projects
by doing it for the money. Strapping was about the big middle finger,
and it still is, but I don't think it needs to go any further than
this.

– Devin Townsend, 2006 Terrorizer interview

Meanwhile, SYL drummer Gene Hoglan contradicts Devin to a degree with his comment,

"SYL is alive and kicking and is merely taking a break so they

can invest some time home and recharge their batteries."

Hevy Devy Record's official website posted a press release which
blamed a hectic touring and interview schedule for Devin's negative
attitude, as well as his reluctance to embark on major tours and record
label pressures. It also drew attention to the fact that Devin himself
tends to think in extremes and what is decided one minute may well
change the next. As of late 2006, Devin has retreated from the public
eye to concentrate on his family and several non-SYL projects, so the
band is currently on hiatus.

Two new releases will still be offered in 2007. "The first is
the remastered 10th-anniversary edition of SYL's classic City. It
includes the 1996 demos of 'Home Nucleonics,' 'Detox,' and 'AAA';
Japanese bonus track 'Centipede'; the hilarious, previously unreleased
'Headrhoid (Gunt demo)'; the video for 'Detox' and humorous, insightful
liner notes. The second (and possibly the final) SYL album will be a
best-of. The Century Media compilation includes music from the band’s
entire catalog, all of its videos and a performance from the 2006
Download Festival. Townsend says he didn’t have much of a hand in the
remastered 'City,' but he was heavily involved in the best-of package."

Devin also noted in the above interview (with blistering.com)
that the future of SYL is still unclear. "I’m not sure if I am
technically finished with Strapping Young Lad or not or if I’ll ever
see that band play again,” he muses. "But either way, it was still a
really big part of my career, and I love it for what it is."

Lyrics

Contrary to the musical intensity, SYL songs also contain a hint
of humour, self-parody, and is usually tongue-in-cheek. This can be
seen in the either album titles (Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing, No
Sleep 'Till Bedtime), song titles (Oh My Fucking God, Happy Camper,
Satan's Ice Cream Truck) and lyrics ("I'll do anything to get some
fucking sleep tonight" - Shitstorm), ("Love is a way of feeling less
alone / So what's all the fuss about?!?" - Love?) However, since Devin
himself has said on multiple occasions that Strapping Young Lad
functions also as a conduit to pour out his "darker side" (as he has
been diagnosed with bipolar disorder), it is sometimes hard to
distinguish which lyrics are written as tongue-in-cheek. For example,
he himself said that in order to get the mood for the Alien record, he
stopped taking his medication for the disorder for a length of time,
and the lyrics on that record are supposedly a reflection of some of
his feelings during that time. A common theme in Townsend's lyrics is
tackling serious personal or political issues with his morbid sense of
humor.

Guitar Leads

For all of Strapping Young Lad's musical complexity, they have
been known and sometimes criticized for not having guitar solos, even
going so far as to contain an instrumental spot in the song where a
solo might normally be found, but with no leads. However on Alien,
"Shitstorm" and "Skeksis" contained brief leads, but "We Ride" featured
a prominent, wailing guitar solo. On The New Black solos became even
more prominent.

Discography

Studio albums

Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing

• Released: April 4, 1995
  
• Label: Century Media
  
• Producer: Devin Townsend
  
• Singles: "S.Y.L."
  

City

• Released: February 11, 1997
  
• Label: Century Media
  
• Producer: Devin Townsend
  
• Singles: "Detox"
  

Strapping Young Lad

• Released: February 11, 2003
  
• Label: Century Media
  
• Producer: Devin Townsend
  
• Singles: "Relentless"
  

Alien

• Released: March 22, 2005
  
• Label: Century Media
  
• Producer: Devin Townsend
  
• Chart position: #32 (Top Heatseekers), #35 (Top Independent Albums)
  
• Singles: "Love?"
  

The New Black

• Released: July 11, 2006
  
• Label: Century Media
  
• Producer: Devin Townsend
  
• Chart position: #200 (Billboard 200), #8 (Top Heatseekers), #15 (Top Independent Albums)
  
• Singles: "Wrong Side"
  

Other releases

No Sleep 'till Bedtime

• Released: June 2, 1998
  
• Label: Century Media
  
• Producer: Devin Townsend
  

For Those Aboot to Rock: Live at the Commodore

• Released: November 2, 2004
  
• Label: Century Media
  
• Producer: Devin Townsend
  

Compilations

• Tribute to Judas Priest (1996,contributes cover of "Exciter")
  
• Tribute to Judas Priest, Vol.2 (1996, contributes cover of "Sinner")
  
• We Reach: The Music of the Melvins (2005, contributes cover of "Zodiac")
  
• The Best of Taste of Chaos Two. (2007, contributes "Wrong Side")
  

Music videos

• "S.Y.L." from Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing (1995)
  
• "Detox" from City (1997)
  
• "Relentless" from Strapping Young Lad (2003)
  
• "Love?" from Alien (2005)
  
• "Zen" from Alien (2005)
  
• "Wrong Side" from The New Black (2006)
  

video