Despite news earlier this year to the contrary, Canadian nut-job Devin Townsend has confirmed to the Quietus that plans for Z², a full blown musical based around his Ziltoid The Omniscient character, is indeed in the works. Speaking to the Quietus at last weekend's Bloodstock festival, Townsend revealed: "Ultimately where I want things to lead in three to five years is to really epic performances, so that's where it's going: Broadway! And Z² is the name of it!

"Everything is a work in progress and I think there's some people that are concerned by that, but at the end of the day I've been doing this 20 years and everything I've done has been like a very public work in progress.

"It takes public failure as well – if you can't roll with those punches man, then you're doomed if you ever what to do something like a big musical because shit happens right?"

In less positive news though, Townsend has categorically put paid to any talk of reforming the heavy-as-a-really-heavy-thing extreme industrial project that was Strapping Young Lad, saying: "When I was doing Strapping I was in my 20s and I was doing a lot of drugs. Now I'm almost 40 and I don't do drugs anymore, and really the things that made that work for me are just not a part of my life any more. People say 'well, go back on drugs!' and I'm like 'fuck you, you go back on drugs!'

"People often think, 'oh, he has problems with Strapping, or he doesn't like Strapping'... I fucking love Strapping man, it was me, sitting in my bedroom! But the thing is for me to continue to do something that I love when my hearts not in it isn't doing anyone any favours.

"Who knows what'll happen in the future? Shit, I didn't even know we were leaving at 4am this morning to go to Holland, but to the best of my knowledge, shit is a lot different to what it was."