TRIVIUM Frontman: 'I've Been Listening To Mainly Classical Music'

Kristen Dunleavy of myYearbook recently conducted an interview with vocalist/guitarist Matt Heafy of Florida metallers TRIVIUM. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

myYearbook: Are you writing potential TRIVIUM songs on this tour?

Heafy: We have about 30 songs written for the next record, purely in demo stages. We have a brand new song just about completely finished that we'll record in January. It's gonna be in the video game God of War 3.

myYearbook: Is it hard for you guys to weed out certain songs and keep the special ones?

Heafy: No, you can always tell. When you listen to all the songs right next to each other, you'll know immediately which are the weak ones are and which are the strong ones.

myYearbook: As far inspiration goes, you've written numerous songs about mythology. What have you been drawing inspiration from these days?

Heafy: Each record has been different. The first two were about things close to me. The third was about a lot of social issues, the fourth drew from mythology. For the next record, I just want to make it so that whether or not you're into metal, you can enjoy it and whether or not you speak English, you know what the song is about. I want it to transcend the normal boundaries of what metal is. It's gonna be about digging and writing from the heart.

myYearbook: What bands have you been listening to lately?

Heafy: I've been listening to mainly classical music. Also, the new MUSE album, the new RAMMSTEIN album, the new COLDPLAY album and pretty much the entire DEPECHE MODE catalog. And NINE INCH NAILS' entire catalog. I guess that's about it.

myYearbook: Most of those aren't metal bands. Do you feel there are a healthy number of talented metal bands out there today?

Heafy: The problem right now is that so many bands are getting so extreme and into so many different subgenres. I remember the hardcore scene when I was in high school; it wasn't that hard. It was kind of punk-influenced, kind of tough. Nowadays the hardcore scene is getting so ridiculously heavy and so technical that they're not even playing songs anymore. It's so heavy and so ridiculous that it doesn't make sense. Metal is doing the same thing. Everyone keeps subgenre-ing themselves into these little categories so no one really knows what they're listening to anymore. They're definitely are some good bands out there. I think everyone's so obsessed with everything other than making a good song right now that they're inhibiting their own band.

myYearbook: What's the most ridiculous genre TRIVIUM has been labeled?

Heafy: Some people didn't even bother giving a genre for our third record because they said we sounded like METALLICA copycats. We've heard some funny stuff, some clever stuff, some not-so-clever stuff. Metalcore I always shot down right away, 'cause that genre's gonna die out in like a year. There are pretty much no metalcore bands now. That's the problem with sub-generification. Call us metal if you want, we just make our own music. When people start jumping on bandwagons with these ridiculous names, they're screwing their own band over.

myYearbook: Do you feel pressured to stay true to whatever fans think is the true TRIVIUM sound?

Heafy: It's tricky because each record is so different. I'm sure there are people that have their favorite CD's. It's not necessarily bad pressure, but good pressure from ourselves to find what our sound is and make the best possible song that we can.

myYearbook: Obviously life on the road isn't typical by any means, does that help along the songwriting process?

Heafy: Definitely. I think you need to capture that tension or vibe and write about that. I notice a lot of heavy bands are all positive now, and life isn't that way. I'm not saying be a downer all the time, but there are harsh realities of life and you need to write about them. No matter where people are, it's something everyone can relate to.

Read the entire interview from myYearbook.

Fan-filmed video footage of TRIVIUM's November 9, 2009 performance at Le Medley in Montreal, Quebec, Canada can be viewed below (courtesy of "hellawaits77NY").