TRIVIUM Interview

Half way through their US tour with Amon Amarth and Children of Bodom, The Gauntlet caught up with Trivium after their intense set infront of a packed House of Blues in Hollywood, CA.

The Gauntlet: Currently you are on tour with Amon Amarth and Children of Bodom. How has it been playing with those guys?

Corey: Awesome. Awesome. I have been a fan of them since their first album ever since high school. As far as being a guitar player, it is really motivational. To see musicians that good is really fun to watch.

Matt: This is definitely one of the best tours we have been on. Lately we have toured with Bodom and Arch Enemy, two of our favorite bands. We are about to tour with In Flames, another one of my favorite bands. It's great to see such great bands on this tour. Both have great guitar playing. Good people. Both bands are just really cool guys.

The Gauntlet: At this point, Trivium is an up and coming band touring with some metal legends like Children of Bodom and Amon Amarth. How have the other bands been treating you guys?

Corey: Each band on this tour has their own different style. Everyone gets along and his really down to earth. We chew the shit a lot with them. Bodom likes to drink a lot and party so there is always something to do.

The Gauntlet: The current tour is about at the half way point now. How has fan response been to Trivium?

Matt: The first night was a new market for us. The crowd was really into death metal. Every single night was great after that. In California there are a lot of people who think we aren't metal enough for them. We just call them out, make them feel like dipshits. It's the last we hear of them. We are just out to have a good time and sometimes people just want to be assholes. I think this happened as a lot of our fans weren't able to buy tickets as this tour sold out so quickly. We'll see them soon though.

The Gauntlet: Outside of the one or two assholes at each show, do you feel you are picking up a lot of new fans?

Matt: Aside from the close minded people who don't matter, it's been great.

The Gauntlet: Did you expect any animosity from fans coming into a black/death metal tour?

Matt: You know actually I didn't at first, but now it makes sense. A lot of these kids are pissed off kids. They are generally 16-19 which is usually our age group. I guess they are so metal that if you are from America they aren't going to like you. I think that's the reason why in general no metal bands are getting huge in America. When a band cracks through the underground and starts to get big, their fans turn their backs on them. That's the reason bands aren't getting big and records aren't selling because everyone is so fucking opinionated.

The Gauntlet: It was just announced that in January you will start another US tour with In Flames. Do you know all the cities for this tour?

Matt: It's pretty much every Ozzfest market. I think it's 4-5 weeks. We will hit some bigger venues than this tour. I think we will get a different audience for this tour. In Flames has kind of cracked the mainstream a little bit.

The Gauntlet: How do you feel about your fans nominating you last week for Yahoo's 'Wh's Next'?

Matt: It's great. We are definitely strong believers in getting our music to everyone. A lot of people don't like that but we want to share our music with everyone.

Corey: Just to get our name on that is just great. Yahoo is huge.

The Gauntlet: Do you feel you might be getting too big too quick?

Corey: We're not!

Matt: If anyone thinks that, go look at the bus we travel in. It's this little mini bus that we travel in. Once they see it they will know we aren't big. It looks like a airport shuttle bus but with less room. It's what we sleep in and go to shows in everyday.

Corey: If anyone wants to know what it's like, get some friends and live in your car for a month. Don't shower or eat right and you'll know how we live. We want a bus so we can live comfortably and play metal everyday.

The Gauntlet: Do you have any plans after the In Flames tour?

Matt: The day after the In Flames tour we fly out to Europe to headline. We will be playing bigger venues and play all over through March. We have God Forbid, Bloodsimple and some others coming out. 50% of tickets are already sold.

The Gauntlet: How was playing the UK before?

Matt: Great, we did a 20 show headlining tour and it was all sold out.

The Gauntlet: Is there a big difference in the way fans in Europe treat you as opposed to in the US?

Matt: In the UK, every single person, every single one in the venue knows all the words to every song. We'll pack 2,000 plus kids in there and everyone is there for us.

Corey: There is also the absence of the middle-finger.

Matt: Those kids will do anything pro-Trivium. If there is a basher out there, the kid will get his ass kicked and not by us.

The Gauntlet: Are you tired of the middle-finger at shows?

Matt: I'd like to see some kid flash me his middle-toe. That's some hate for a kid to get his foot out, his leg in the air. We hear 'fuck you' every night, we hear 'you suck' a lot too. I'd like them to look up a new word for 'hate'. Maybe 'I loathe you'. I wish some of these people would just tell me what metal is to them.

The Gauntlet: Do you have plans for shooting another video?

Matt: We are shooting one in a couple weeks for 'Dying In Your Arms'

The Gauntlet: Will this be a video with live footage of the band, or more of a story video?

Matt: It's actually a story. We will be actors in the parts. I don't think at this time we can share the concept. Basically everybody is already familiar with the story. It's an old story.

The Gauntlet: Have you begun writing for a new album?

Corey: We have about six songs. He [Matt] has several, Paulo has several, and Travis has seven I think. We haven't had anytime to really get everything together. It's basically just guitar riffs recorded on a laptop. Travis has heard some stuff but hasn't had time to get behind a kit. Probably in January we'll get in the studio so we can hear some stuff. Once we get to the UK, that's probably when things will start to really be put together.

Matt: We'd like to get this all put together and get it out in August or September of 2006.


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Tags:  Trivium  , Corey and Matt, interviews

Jason Fisher    November 27, 2005