TRIVIUM Drummer: If 'Shogun' Gets Compared To METALLICA, People Need To Clean Their Ears Out

Australia's PyroMusic.net recently conducted an interview with TRIVIUM drummer Travis Smith. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

PyroMusic.net: Okay, let's get into it then. I'm sure you've been asked this one [before], but why did you go with the title "Shogun" for the new album?

Travis Smith: Well, it was Matt [Heafy; guitar/vocals]who brought the idea to us, we were on our second trip to Japan and he went on like a tour bus kind of deal, I think it was around Tokyo or something like that. So he came back and was like, "Yeah man, I heard about shogun", and talked about like the traditional meaning and all that kind of stuff and we're like "Yeah, that sounds really cool." So the title had been around for a while and then once we were writing this record and we were listening back to it we thought we needed something really strong and that really stands on its own. Commander chief — that's basically what shogun means. It just works, it just felt right and it sounds pretty cool! (laughs)

PyroMusic.net: I read an interview with Matt a few years ago and he said that the band's album titles have reflected where the band was at when they were respectively recorded. For instance, "Ascendancy" was supposedly reflective of your ascendance up the heavy metal ladder, while "The Crusade" was indicative of your attempts to supposedly bring metal to the masses. Was that a consideration when giving the new album that title?

Travis Smith: Yeah man, 'cause we're the most badass motherfuckers out there! (laughs) No, just kidding. No, I think with this one it just kind of represents like the material in itself, which I guess kind of like a representation of us. I think with this album, you know it's the strongest stuff we've ever written, it's the heaviest stuff we've ever written and you know... I think with the title it just represents that, it's just a really strong word and in Japan it was like the lead commander, head chief, head samurai, one of those. That's how we feel about the material- it's just like that strong that it needed something, it needed a word that had a real strong meaning behind it.

PyroMusic.net: To be fair, the band copped a lot of criticism for "The Crusade" for being heavily influenced by METALLICA. I'm sure you've heard the comparisons many times before. Did the amount of backlash you received in that regard surprise you at all?

Travis Smith: You know, to be honest with you with "The Crusade", it kind of... "Ascendancy" did pretty well in the United States, and did really well in the UK and then everywhere else in the world "The Crusade" fucking bypassed it by a long shot, so it was what we needed to do to get where we are today and it really did a very good thing for our careers, it definitely didn't hurt us at all. And you know, everyone's going to have an opinion about what you do and everyone's opinion matters more than the next, and you know, opinions are like assholes everyone's got one, and of course people gotta say what they gotta say. And that's cool, I mean it just comes with the territory of what we do and being in the spotlight and people have to express their opinions. For the most part, me personally I could give two shits, I'm up on the stage having fun with my fans that we're reaching and that's all that matters to me. The negativity stuff I don't even pay attention to, I don't care to hear about it. It just doesn't bother me, really. And I think with this record, with the comparison to METALLICA I can honestly say that the comparison we've had to METALLICA we've never heard in our music, but we're very flattered that we do get compared to a band like METALLICA, considering they're one of our favourite bands and they've been a huge influence on the metal world everywhere. I mean, every metal band in the whole entire world has been influenced by METALLICA, one way or another. We just happen to be vocal about it, you know? But every metal band has so... but I think with this record, if it gets compared to METALLICA honestly people need to clean their ears out or get their ears checked, because I don't think it sounds anything like METALLICA! (laughs)

PyroMusic.net: [Regarding] your upcoming tour with SLAYER — the band have toured with the likes of IRON MAIDEN, METALLICA, etc, but SLAYER have probably established a reputation for having fans that are a bit more rabid than say, METALLICA or MAIDEN. Have you had any concerns about that, because SLAYER fans can be pretty unkind to support acts?

Travis Smith: Well, we got personally invited onto the tour by SLAYER, we've gotten good praise by Kerry King in the press, when we did press releases about the tour and stuff like that. We think it's going to be killer. I mean, of course some of the diehard SLAYER fans will probably think, "what are these young dudes doing up here, blah, blah, blah". But it's like, you know whatever, each to his own, we're just going to get up there and have a good time. I think if we were going to get any shit it would have been on the IRON MAIDEN tour; personally I honestly think the IRON MAIDEN fans are, for me, personally are probably even more rabid than SLAYER. We got well accepted on the MAIDEN tour and we've got great expectations that we'll be well accepted on the SLAYER tour as well, there's been very, very positive stuff being said about that tour and a lot of people stoked about it, I think it's going to be great, it's going to be great for both bands. We'll get out there and kick some ass.

Read the entire interview from PyroMusic.net.