When I talked to Devin at Ozzfest, he said his first favorite band was Meshuggah, second favorite was Opeth, and third favorite was Mastodon.

I'm not EXACTLY sure on Mastodon, but I do know 1 and 2.

His tastes change all the time.

I remember when he pouring out the human mayo for Samael, The Young Gods, King's X.

Then again, Everybody should be into those three bands

In a resent HevyDevy newsletter they reprinted an article in Terrorizer mag playing sound bites for Devy to see if he recognized the tune and had any comments.Loved Meshugga,Opeth, Young Gods,FEAR FACTORY, The Melvins,Mastodon, Judas Priest.The only thing he kinda huft at was the Who 'Tommy'. He said respect and all but didn't dig the vocals that much.Also said loved Zepplin except for vocals.
When you listen to Devins stuff you hear so many things you recognise from Golden Earing to George Harrison to Yello to George Gershwin...
That mans not afraid of any music

to George Gershwin...

where the hell do you hear George Gershwin in his music? just wondering..

well the Gershwin influence is quite notable in Infinity and Synchestra, not so much hook or sound wise but more in the structure of the songs. Show tune sensabilities. I love this kind of music expression since it creates strong mental imagry as it goes. The music is telling the story as strongly as the lyrics are.This quality is often lacking in metal where reguardless of the lyric,content or sentiment the music is just continually kicking your face in.Not that there's anything wrong with that

well the Gershwin influence is quite notable in Infinity and Synchestra, not so much hook or sound wise but more in the structure of the songs. Show tune sensabilities. I love this kind of music expression since it creates strong mental imagry as it goes.

wow I never thought of it this way. With this explanation I think the comparison is rather valid. I'm no expert on George Gershwin by any means, I had the chance to witness some of his stuff played live by an awesome orchestra and then decided to delve a little bit into it...it's fantastic music, but not something I'd listen to every day.

May be we should ask the Dev if he knows/likes/is influenced by George Gershwin?

[JuZ]

I remember an interview from many moons ago where Dev talked about listening to all sorts of music growing up, and he mentioned show tunes/big band stuff as being an influence.

I mean... Bad Devil!

Oh yeah, I would be curious,too. Another thing I admire about Devins musical language is that these influences are sincere yet uniquely expressed.Often when I hear nods to other musical styles in metal they are used without much genuine feel.Classical music is a good example. I hear classical music in metal alot yet it is ham handed and without emotion. In Ocean Machine after Voices in the fan there is a choral bit that I love so much, you guys know the part I mean. That interlude can stand alone as a classical choral masterpiece. Usually classical music stand in as a stuffy emotionless bit to juxtapose the emotional content /aggresion of the guitar. Maybe that's one reason Devy likes Opeth. They use classical music in a very advanced way for a metal band. Frank Zappa is considered by academi as a modern american classical composer.

I'd buy some Meshuggah, but I never goto the mall and when I did they wanted $23 for Destroy, Erase, Improve

http://shopping.theendrecords.com

If they don't have it, they'll get it. Free shipping if you choose First Class (at least I think it's that choice; there's at least six different shipping methods to choose, but I believe if you pick the first choice, it's free shipping, unless they've changed it the last couple months). They have damn near everything. I don't bother with stores anymore. The End Records = metal for all.

That's sweet. Opeth, Ulver and Mastodon are all excellent. However, when I asked him what some of his favorites were at the Dragonforce show last year, he didn't mention any bands in particular.

Some interview I saw around the time Synchestra came out he mentioned he couldn't stop listening to Catch 33, or something to that effect...

I hold both artists in incredibly high regard, great to see the love coming from Devin.

Oh, and my most prized poster is Meshuggah with special guests: Strapping Young Lad!

[djskrimp]

Some interview I saw around the time Synchestra came out he mentioned he couldn't stop listening to Catch 33, or something to that effect...

I hold both artists in incredibly high regard, great to see the love coming from Devin.

Oh, and my most prized poster is Meshuggah with special guests: Strapping Young Lad!

Your name is a pain in the ass to type...I hope you have auto login.

Welcome to the forums.

I know it's old news now but I just read this bio/interview on Devy at http://www.mindphaser.com that reveals some cool obscure Devia. In this bit he sights Slade, Judas Priest and Andrew LLoyd Weber as influences(and I said Gershwin)He says his dream band would concist of singer from Krokus, guitarist from Britanny Fox, bass player from DAD and Weasley Willis on drums.And if I'm reading it right it was the 'Monkeys' that inspired him originally to pick up the axe. Amazing but True

I try, and I try, and I try.... I just can't get into Meshuggah. *cries*

He had good things to say about Opeth when DTB toured with them last year. I believe he's a fan.