TRIVIUM Frontman: 'We're The Only Band That Had To Come Out And Grow Up In The Public Eye'

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

EspyRock: Did you ever worry in the early days, as you set yourself out to be a career band, that the statements you released about being the biggest band who come back to haunt you?

Heafy: No. I think it was a good thing because all of these bands who came out and said, "We're just happy to be playing in front of fifty people," are gone now. We were the only band who had the balls to say that we were going to be the biggest band in the world and that's why we're still around. We are still working our way towards that goal and we don't aim to slow down. All of the other bands who hated on that and weren't happy with us saying stuff like that are all gone now.

EspyRock: As you had that statement following you, and people used it to criticize you and what you were doing, do you feel you that forced you to look at yourself and think, "I have to grow up, I need to mature," so you could handle what was to come?

Heafy: We're the only band that had to come out and grow up in the public eye. There were no other bands progressing in the way we were at the age of eighteen with our first record, they were all in their thirties, so we just had a little more time than everyone else. Nowadays the only time I will ever read anything about our band is if I know it is 100 percent positive because there is no need to read anything negative; it doesn't matter.

EspyRock: I was going to ask you if you read the comments online and what people were currently saying about yourself or the band.

Heafy: It's a waste of time and really it doesn't matter. We're doing exactly what we want to do for a living, so there is no reason to ever think about or doubt it or let someone's negativity cloud your mind around that. There are people who love what we do, so even if ticket sales are not good or there aren't as many people as there should be, there will still be people there, people who love it and want to have a good time, and that is all a band needs to concentrate on.

EspyRock: Have you thought about how you want to capitalize on your current mental state and if you may look to start recording sooner than later to build upon the momentum of what you already have, or will you follow the process of a normal two-, three-year album cycle?

Heafy: Good question. I think this will be sooner than later, the next album will come out sooner than later. I don't know if we will start recording [later this] year. Who knows? I've got around eight to ten drafts of songs started, Paolo [Gregoletto, bass] has a bunch, Corey [Beaulieu, guitar] has a bunch and Nick [Augusto, drums] has some ideas. I have a bunch of visual ideas already but those visual ideas could change within a month. Even before "Shogun" came out, we had already begun to start writing "In Waves", so right when "In Waves" was coming out, we started to think about the next record. We're always thinking about the next thing. There is a strong possibility, depending on our touring schedule, that we could start to record [later this] year, likely late [this] year, but at this time I couldn't tell you if we would be recording the album or just recording demos that we will go back to as soon as we are ready.

Read the entire interview from EspyRock.