During a recent appearance on the Occupy The Void With Xtina and Tim podcast, Devin Townsend talked about how music helps his mental health.
When asked if his personality relates to his mental health, the musician replied:
“I would say it works in its favor. I think what I’ve been recognizing over all the years of doing this is how much the sense that participating in different emotional varieties on a creative level is indicative of some sort of disorder rather than the opposite.”
Townsend reflected on how he explains his sensitivity through music:
“For me, my sensitivity to my surroundings and to the world and my family and things in general, I’ve always been very hypersensitive to things, and that has manifested as something that feels a certain way, has a very distinct character. And my desire to represent that musically, I think, has helped my mental health in that it gives it the legitimacy.”
Emotions Are Part Of Human Experience
The rocker thinks all emotions are healthy for humans:
“If you feel that a certain emotion is off limits, for whatever reason, whether or not that’s anger or sadness or empathy, I think that’s much more of a detriment than just recognizing that this is just a part of the human experience.”
Devin sees creativity as a gift, not a choice. For him, feeling deeply is part of life, and expressing it through art is important for balance. He added:
“If you’re able to use that delusion and then create things from that, that allows people to hear something that provides a voice for something they’re maybe not able to articulate in a similar way, then you should fucking do it. It’s, like, you should make music if you’re able to, or you should make art if you’re able to. And to not do it, and this is what I realized by trying to stop it, it just comes out in counterproductive ways. So it gets oiled just by life gently poking at my naivety and saying, ‘Look, dude, you’re a a child. So get over it.’”
Townsend is set to join Myles Kennedy for a series of solo shows across the UK in November. He will perform rare acoustic sets during the tour. The trek kicks off on November 25 in Glasgow and ends on December 3 in London.
You can listen to the full podcast below.