Strapping Young Lad

Strapping Young Lad
Strapping Young Lad
Background information
Origin	Canada
Years active	1994 – present
Members	Devin Townsend; Jed Simon; Byron Stroud; Gene Hoglan

Strapping Young Lad (aka SYL) is a Canadian metal band, started by Devin Townsend in the mid-1990s. Their sound is generally described as Death/Thrash metal with Symphonic synth-melodies and influences from industrial music, although this differs from album to album.

Current lineup

Devin Townsend - Vocals, guitars, and keyboards
Jed Simon - Guitars, Backing Vocals
Byron Stroud - Bass, Backing Vocals
Gene Hoglan - Drums, and Percussion

In live performances, SYL also recruit a keyboardist which usually changes on every tour. Their latest keyboardist is once again Will Campagna who previously handled keyboard duties. Previous keyboardists have been Munesh Sami and John Paul Morgan.

History

Strapping Young Lad (usually abbreviated as SYL) began as 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) 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, the Devin Townsend band was formed, who, when touring, played SYL songs as well as songs from Devin's solo projects.

This changed on the release of their 3rd album, the self titled Strapping Young Lad. SYL now play separately from The Devin Townsend Band (or DTB) as this band has been populated with new members to create two separate bands. This eponymous album also marked the first new Strapping Young Lad release on Devin's own label, Hevy Devy Records. Devin started this label just after City was released and manages it with 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 on 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 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, and entered the studio in March 2006 to record their follow-up, titled The New Black - which is due for release in July 2006. In addition, Strapping Young Lad will undertake a short festival tour of Europe in June (eg. Download Festival at Castle Donington, England), and have been added to the bill of the prestigious Ozzfest, scheduled for July and August 2006.

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." [Source: Blabbermouth][1]

Style

SYL is one of the loudest and most intense specimens of the industrial metal genre. Songs often escalate into blast beats and tremolo picking, but nevertheless, for an experienced ear, the sound can reveal often unheard richness, multiple synthesizer layers or backing vocals.

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 hard to discertain 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.

Tenet

Tenet is heavy metal band started by Simon and Hoglan.

They have released only a demo due to their members' commitment to Strapping Young Lad.

Discography

Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing – (1995)
City – (1997)
No Sleep 'Till Bedtime (Live in Melbourne) – (1998)
Strapping Young Lad – (2003)
For Those Aboot To Rock: Live at the Commodore (DVD) – (2004)
Alien – (2005)
The New Black – (2006) Due in July

Music videos

"S.Y.L." from Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing
"Detox" from City
"Relentless" from Strapping Young Lad
"Love?" from Alien
"Zen" from Alien
"Wrong Side" from The New Black (In Production)

External links