TRIVIUM Guitarist Says Band Was 'Kind Of Hamstrung' With Previous Drummers

Following TRIVIUM's performance at the Download festival in Castle Donington, England on June 15, guitarist Corey Beaulieu spoke with the "Mike James Rock Show". The full conversation can be seen below. A few excerpts follow (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):

On the group's Download set:

Corey: "We were kind of bummed that we had to stop playing. It was a lot of fun, because we don't get to blow shit up all the time... The last couple of times we played Download, we were headlining the second stage, so to get back on the main stage... we were stoked. We just knew it was going to be a big show — SLIPKNOT's playing, BEHEMOTH; it was going to be a really cool day — [so] we started talking about for the festivals what we wanted to do for production. We just knew that Download, we've got to go all out and bring in all sorts of shit. It was really fun. Since we've been over here doing shows, we've been every day making notes and getting everything planned out to make sure all this extra stuff we're bringing in that we haven't been using on any other show was really planned out, and we knew the show was going to be spot-on. We've used pyro before and CO2, but there's a bunch of other things like concussion bombs and sparklers, fireworks. We've never used any of that stuff, so playing, you're just like, 'That looks pretty cool.' It was a lot of fun to add that element to the show."

On the group's career trajectory:

Corey: "This is our fourth festival so far [this year], and over the years, there's been certain things at certain festivals that kind of stuck with you – like, something not going right, or the time frame, there might have been the wrong person in the band playing with us that just didn't feel right. Certain things that just didn't have the vibe, or just didn't feel like it really had the impact. Even though you're playing in front of a lot of people, every band has that moment in their time where you're up here [gestures], and then it might go down a little bit. Even [IRON] MAIDEN and [JUDAS] PRIEST had down times. You work your way through it and figure shit out. We kind of just kept rolling... With getting our drummer situation solidified and him being a really amazing drummer, it's really kind of the missing piece. Matt [Heafy, guitars/vocals], Paolo [Gregoletto, bass] and I always felt like we've always been really tight as guitar players, but if the drums aren't there, it really makes the whole band not sound as tight. We kind of had some bumps in the road with not being able to find the right guy who could cover all the bases... That always kind of hamstrung us a little bit, but once got Alex [Bent], the trajectory's just been going back up. A lot of people say it's the best show they've seen us play... It's been a lot of fun to go out there and reintroduce our band to everybody and show them the best version that they've probably ever seen."

On the band's remaining goals:

Corey: "Growing up, listening to MAIDEN, METALLICA and all those bands, you watch the live videos and they're playing to a crazy sold-out stadium or an arena. That was always our goal from the beginning — be an arena band headlining festivals – but I think after all these years, we've had conversations and being self-reflective of records we've put out or decisions we've made that, even three, four, five years ago, if we were given a chance to headline a festival, I don't think we would have been ready for it. I don't think we were in the right spot or earned it yet. Now, with the last record and the way we've been performing, I think in the next couple of years, we've gotten to a place where we're in the right head space and the way the band operates and the way we play together as a group and playing tight and putting on an energetic, very crowd-oriented performance, I think now is the time that if we were given the opportunity to headline a show, we could actually handle the responsibility of being a band that could top the bill and put on a big show... I think we're now actually in the place in our career where it would make sense [and] we wouldn't crumble at the pressure of doing it, or having someone getting nervous or not stepping up to the place. I think now we've grown into the shoes of being the band that could actually one day, when the MAIDENs and all those bands hang it up and you need that next group of bands, I think we've gone through the experiences and the ups and downs. We're kind of in the place now that [we] really see it as something as realistic in the near future. A lot of bands don't self-reflect on themselves and they just fall apart, but [we] kind of used it as motivation to jump start a second resurgence of our band."

TRIVIUM's eighth album, "The Sin And The Sentence", came out in 2017. The group is expected to release a new record in 2020.