Trivium
Trivium are one of the ‘in’ metal bands for kids of the 21st century, but ahead of their slot on the Unholy Alliance tour alongside the likes of Slayer and Mastodon, I spoke to the enticing frontman Matt Heafy to find out about their new album, who he would put in his super group and getting threatened by fans wanting photographs.
How are you enjoying the UK?
I’m great, no complaints. It’s like a second home here for us. It never feels foreign here, we’ve headlined in the states once but we’ve toured there about 30 times but we’ve done about four or five headliners over here and supported Iron Maiden and Metallica so we’re very used to being over here and we love it.
That’s good then, we love having you here! Do you prefer it here in the North of England more than the South?
I have a lot of great memories in Manchester. I remember the first time we played here there were no barricades and a kid clamed onto the stage, grabbed my microphone and ripped a whole part of my face open and my lip was bleeding but I still played the whole show.
Then we got off stage and there was no bathroom backstage so I tried to walk to the public bathroom but guys kept stopping me for pictures and I was like; “I can’t my face is covered in blood!†so he got all mad and pushed me against the wall and tried to punch me but I ducked out and ran - he was three times my size!
Horrifying; I’m surprised you came back!
Yeah! Every time we came back we went from the tiny academy to the one bigger, then the biggest one, then here at the Apollo then the Arena twice and then here again. So it’s all good. We love this place. The MEN is really cool but the Apollo has a really cool vibe to it.
Should be awesome then! So today is the first date on the Unholy Alliance Tour here at the Manchester Apollo, what can fans expect from it?
Amon Amarth just tore it up and we amazing. Mastodon are just incredible and Slayer is amazing. People haven’t seen us in a while and from what I’ve heard, our shows are quite a bit more aggressive then they used to be so I’m guessing it will be cool and people might get pleasantly punched in the face.
Oh my god, I might go home, I don’t want to get punched! You’re so brave, was it your bravery that got you on the bill in the first place?
It was a joint thing really; Slayer was quite into what we were doing so when we heard there was an opportunity to play with Slayer we grabbed onto it.
What’s it like being asked to share a stage with someone like Slayer?
We’ve never toured with them before so I’m sure it’s going to be awesome. We’ve been very fortunate that we’ve been able to play with our favourites such as Metallica, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Testament and now Slayer so it’s amazing.
It’s always cool when our heroes give us the nod and say ‘good job.’
That must be an incredible feeling! So when you’re on stage, what’s your favourite song to sing live?
Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr always goes down great because it’s our biggest song. But lately it’s been Into The Mouth Of Hell We March off our new record which has been a lot of fun. It’s one of the hardest ones to play and sing which is a good thing; I like a challenge.
My guitar is super heavy with really thick strings which is kind of hard to play because I don’t like my guitar or the song to just roll over and take it. I want it to fight me back; I want to feel a little aggression.
Who are your musical influences?
Collectively its obviously Iron Maiden, Pantera, Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer and Testament but everyone ventures off into different directions depending on what points our lives are at. When we were doing The Crusade I was pretty much exclusively listening to Queen. When we were working on this Album I was exclusively listening to The Beatles and lately I’ve been sticking to Muse, Coldplay and Radiohead. Whatever is good I’ll listen to!
Which other bands would you love to head out on tour with?
We’ve pretty much toured with everyone so… but to tour with Queen would be killer and we’ve never toured with Megadeth and we haven’t done a full tour with Testament.
So tell me a little bit about your new album Shogun
It’s definitely the best Trivium record we’ve ever done for sure. It’s the be all and end all though; the next one will be even better. It captures everything we’ve ever done and mixes it all together - the past, present and future in one CD. It’s us finding ourselves and it’s not comparable to other bands; it’s just us starting to sound like Trivium.
Wonderful; so what was the inspiration behind the title?
It was our second or third Japanese tour and we were on a tour bus tour and they were explaining the Shogun rule over Japan - a Shogun is the highest ranking Japanese General of Ancient Japanese times.
We started writing writing the music for this record and we heard how epic and storytelling the music was before we’d even written the words so we knew we needed a title that exemplified that so when I told the guys they dug it!
Very fitting then; but when you are writing music, is there a certain process you go through?
Every one is different, this time everyone just started writing and then we all recorded demos separately on our computers and came up with 27 songs to start with. Then we narrowed it down to the best 20 and recorded them in our rehearsal studio then re recorded them until we narrowed it down to the 14 and then recorded it for real.
So it took extensive demoing and extensive re working.
So do you have a favourite track at the end of it all?
Shogun. It’s hard to pick typically but with that song it captures just about everything we do as a band. It has the cleanest, most simple, catchiest thing we’ve ever done and also some of the heaviest and fastest stuff and everything in between.
How different is it to your other albums?
I guess to each person it’s different. Some people think it’s vastly different and others say it sounds like a mixture of other albums. To me, after being involved in all of them, I would have to say that it sounds like little bits of everything we’ve ever done. So instead of just being what this fourth record would have been; it’s the fourth, plus one, two and three all in one record.
How did Trivium come about?
When I was about 13 I was playing No Leaf Clover by Metallica at my middle school talent show and afterwards a friend of mine’s older brother asked me to try out for his band because they were going to enter the high school Battle Of The Bands contest. I went along and auditioned and made it into the band, so Trivium was actually around for two weeks before I joined.
I made it into the band as the lead guitar player as there was a different singer for about two months and then we pretty much played from the end of 1999. 2000 was the first show with Trivium and we just played all the time until we got signed in 2003 and then again in 2004 when we started touring. We went through a couple of line-up changes until 2004 but ever since then it’s just been us guys.
Wow, what a story. So obviously you’re a band with real talent, but did you find it difficult to break into the music industry to begin with?
None of it was ever really on purpose. We did a demo and someone gave it to Lifeforce records which is how we ended up getting signed to them in the first place and they just liked it and signed us and then Monty (who is now our A and R guy) heard it on a magazine sampler and called us. It was just a little bit of luck and a lot of hard work.
Did you ever think you’d become as successful as you have done?
It was always my goal. When I was 12 and I’d put on the TV and Metallica were on I always thought; “That’s what I want to do when I grow up!†I never really thought whether it would or wouldn’t happen; I just thought; “This is what I want to do with my life.â€
What is left on your musical ‘to do’ list?
So much more. Someone has asked me this before and when they asked me I had just finished watching the Muse DVD H.A.A.R.P and I said; “75, 000 people two nights in a row.†We get excited for a few thousand people and muse play to 75,000 TWICE!
We get excited whether it’s to five, 500, or 5,000 people so as long as people continue to rock out and enjoy it then that’s good enough for me.
If you could make a super group who would you put in it?
Anybody ever?
Yep.
To be in or listen to?
To listen to
Freddie Mercury on vocals, Dimebag Darrell on guitar, Paul McCartney on Bass and John Lennon on Bass.
It’s going to be The Beatles now.
Okay, let me start over. Paul McCartney on Bass, Freddie Mercury on vocals, Dimebag Darrell on guitar, John Bonham on drums and Kurt Cobain on guitar. But then I should move out Paul McCartney because he’s still living. Oh I don’t know!
The Cancer Bats want to know if you prefer AC/DC’s new album or Metallica’s?
Given that I’ve only heard 30 seconds of AC/DC’s new album and that I would always, by default, say “Metallica Wins!†and that I went out and bought Death Magnetic on the first day it came out and it’s amazing.
Can you come up with a question for the next person I interview please?
Who is it?
Atreyu
No Way! Those guys are my buddies, especially Mark.
Nah, it’s Alex I’m afraid.
Oh ask him how he would solve the current economic crisis in the US if he had all the resources in the world to do it.
Oh dear, were going to be there all night!!
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison
Trivium are one of the ‘in’ metal bands for kids of the 21st century, but ahead of their slot on the Unholy Alliance tour alongside the likes of Slayer and Mastodon, I spoke to the enticing frontman Matt Heafy to find out about their new album, who he would put in his super group and getting threatened by fans wanting photographs.
How are you enjoying the UK?
I’m great, no complaints. It’s like a second home here for us. It never feels foreign here, we’ve headlined in the states once but we’ve toured there about 30 times but we’ve done about four or five headliners over here and supported Iron Maiden and Metallica so we’re very used to being over here and we love it.
That’s good then, we love having you here! Do you prefer it here in the North of England more than the South?
I have a lot of great memories in Manchester. I remember the first time we played here there were no barricades and a kid clamed onto the stage, grabbed my microphone and ripped a whole part of my face open and my lip was bleeding but I still played the whole show.
Then we got off stage and there was no bathroom backstage so I tried to walk to the public bathroom but guys kept stopping me for pictures and I was like; “I can’t my face is covered in blood!†so he got all mad and pushed me against the wall and tried to punch me but I ducked out and ran - he was three times my size!
Horrifying; I’m surprised you came back!
Yeah! Every time we came back we went from the tiny academy to the one bigger, then the biggest one, then here at the Apollo then the Arena twice and then here again. So it’s all good. We love this place. The MEN is really cool but the Apollo has a really cool vibe to it.
Should be awesome then! So today is the first date on the Unholy Alliance Tour here at the Manchester Apollo, what can fans expect from it?
Amon Amarth just tore it up and we amazing. Mastodon are just incredible and Slayer is amazing. People haven’t seen us in a while and from what I’ve heard, our shows are quite a bit more aggressive then they used to be so I’m guessing it will be cool and people might get pleasantly punched in the face.
Oh my god, I might go home, I don’t want to get punched! You’re so brave, was it your bravery that got you on the bill in the first place?
It was a joint thing really; Slayer was quite into what we were doing so when we heard there was an opportunity to play with Slayer we grabbed onto it.
What’s it like being asked to share a stage with someone like Slayer?
We’ve never toured with them before so I’m sure it’s going to be awesome. We’ve been very fortunate that we’ve been able to play with our favourites such as Metallica, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Testament and now Slayer so it’s amazing.
It’s always cool when our heroes give us the nod and say ‘good job.’
That must be an incredible feeling! So when you’re on stage, what’s your favourite song to sing live?
Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr always goes down great because it’s our biggest song. But lately it’s been Into The Mouth Of Hell We March off our new record which has been a lot of fun. It’s one of the hardest ones to play and sing which is a good thing; I like a challenge.
My guitar is super heavy with really thick strings which is kind of hard to play because I don’t like my guitar or the song to just roll over and take it. I want it to fight me back; I want to feel a little aggression.
Who are your musical influences?
Collectively its obviously Iron Maiden, Pantera, Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer and Testament but everyone ventures off into different directions depending on what points our lives are at. When we were doing The Crusade I was pretty much exclusively listening to Queen. When we were working on this Album I was exclusively listening to The Beatles and lately I’ve been sticking to Muse, Coldplay and Radiohead. Whatever is good I’ll listen to!
Which other bands would you love to head out on tour with?
We’ve pretty much toured with everyone so… but to tour with Queen would be killer and we’ve never toured with Megadeth and we haven’t done a full tour with Testament.
So tell me a little bit about your new album Shogun
It’s definitely the best Trivium record we’ve ever done for sure. It’s the be all and end all though; the next one will be even better. It captures everything we’ve ever done and mixes it all together - the past, present and future in one CD. It’s us finding ourselves and it’s not comparable to other bands; it’s just us starting to sound like Trivium.