Devin Townsend couldn't make it any clearer that he will not reunite Strapping Young Lad, yet people keep asking him. He said it twice in 2022 and he's saying it again in 2024 thanks to an interview with Teraz Rock.
In the interview, Townsend said he's a completely different guy than he was back when Strapping Young Lad existed (between 1994 and 2007) and has no interest in bringing it back. It also doesn't help that Townsend hasn't spoken to any of his former Strapping Young Lad bandmates in a while.
"I don't think so," said Townsend. "I don't talk to anybody in the band anymore. And the person that I am 25 years past that is just I'm a different person. And I don't want to. I think that's my answer. And it's a hard one because that's tinged with guilt because I know other people want it. But if there's anything I've learned over the past couple of years is that I have to pay attention to my own needs, and I just don't want to at all."
Townsend later elaborated that trying to make everyone happy only results in burnout, and that in his eyes it's not in-line with being true to himself artistically. And really, does anyone want a Strapping Young Lad reunion if Townsend's heart isn't in it?
"I think there's a lot of other people who want to please everybody, and for many years my whole personality was based on people pleasing. Like, I just wanna make everybody happy — I wanna make the audience happy, I wanna make my family happy, I wanna make kids happy, I wanna make management happy, I wanna make the label happy — and so you're always kind of dancing for people.
"But then, after a certain amount of time when you hit a wall and you get burnt out and you fucking crash, like I did, I was, like, who the fuck are you doing this for? Why are you so insecure that your needs are to make everybody like you? It's not the way forward artistically and it's not the way forward as a person. And so I do what is right for me now. And it'll appeal to less people in some way, but it's what I choose, man, because it's, like, life is short, and that's what I want."
