Accelerated evolution

Artist:

Accelerated Evolution Devin Townsend

Recorded at the same time as SYL, I frankly was about a thousand times more interested in this project than SYL. I naively put together a group of unknown local musicians with an arrogant need to prove that ‘anybody who was decent could make a great band’.

I hired Mike and Dave Young, who were in their early 20s at a music store I frequented. I then auditioned a few drummers until I came across Ryan Van Poederooyen, who was in a local band that people were very complimentary of in terms of the drums. My old friend Brian Waddell had come back into my life, and it seemed like a way for me to work with people and ‘teach’ them what I had ‘learned’ in my experiences touring and being in bands. As such, the name ‘Accelerated Evolution’ seemed appropriate.

This record was written after a trip to Korea had led me to complications of the heart, and a need to make direct music about relationships and the problems I had with them. It was mixed by Shaun as well, (although I was much more involved with it than SYL). It’s a simple record that I don’t think has aged particularly well in terms of mix and production, but there are some songs on there like ‘Deadhead’ and ‘Sunday Afternoon’ etc that are really strong to this day IMO. We toured this as ‘The Devin Townsend Band’ but I soon realized that getting a great band together is not as easy as I had assumed it would be. We played some decent shows, but ultimately… I don’t think the DTB was ever really ‘ready’.

Tracklisting

1.“Depth Charge”6:04
2.“Storm”4:39
3.“Random Analysis”5:59
4.“Deadhead”8:05
5.“Suicide”6:45
6.“Traveller”4:13
7.“Away”7:49
8.“Sunday Afternoon”6:20
9.“Slow Me Down”4:35