Devin Townsend first came into the public attention in 1993, when at the age of 19 he was picked by Steve Vai to be the Vocalist on his Sex and Religion album and the accompanying world tour. Previous to this Devin was playing the Vancouver metal scene with his band Noisescapes. Noisescapes recorded a demo, which was sent out to several labels including Relativity Records, the label on which Steve Vai was signed. Devin thought that a way to make this demo grab peoples' attention was to mail it wrapped in a pair of his old underwear. This tactic worked, because a copy wound up with Steve Vai, who was impressed with Devin's vocal abilities and decided to include him in his latest project.
Shortly after he finished touring with Vai in 1994 Devin landed a gig touring with The Wildhearts, beginning a long relationship with The Wildhearts' singer Ginger. Around this time Devin also contributed guitar parts to the Front Line Assembly records Millenium and Hard Wired.
Following this, in 1995, Devin began writing and recording his own music under the name of Stra...more