Earlier this year, Metal Hammer magazine caught up with Devin Townsend just as he released his latest studio album Empath.
The Canadian musician took time to answer questions from fans, with reader Matthew Mills posing a question which has had us all wondering for a while: Was there any truth behind the rumour that Townsend’s extraterrestrial creation Ziltoid The Omniscient sported the musician’s old dreadlocks?
Townsend replied: “100% truth! When I was in Strapping Young Lad, I had shitty dreads because I’d never wash my hair. There’s images of me at the Download festival with snot in those dreads and I didn’t shower after that show – they were a petri dish of self-deprecation and biological horror.
“So when I cut my hair, I kept them all in a box and when I made Ziltoid, he clearly needed to have my hair. I remember telling my wife that I put my hair on him and she looked at me as if I was wearing her sweater, then we never spoke of it again.”
Continuing the Ziltoid theme, Townsend was also asked if he’d consider the idea of making a film based on the alien.
Townsend said: “Yes, but my role would be creative director so I could say what I wanted but not have to do the grind.
"I don’t enjoy making movies, acting or filming but I love seeing it. If anybody said they’d love to make a Ziltoid movie, I’d say, ‘Great, here are the ideas, let’s have a brainstorm about it and let me know when you’re shooting.’”
In November, it was confirmed that Townsend's By A Thread: Live In London 2011 is to be released on vinyl for the very first time.
Townsend will head back out on tour early in the new year, with his first performances set to take place onboard the 70000 Tons Of Metal Cruise, which departs from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on January 9.
