Trivium’s Matt Heafy Names One Thing People Get Wrong About Metal, Explains Why They’re Streaming Their Shows for Free

According to Trivium frontman Matt Heafy, there’s one major misconception about metal and metal music fans. Heafy reflected on this particular issue during a recent interview with EMP over at the Summer Breeze Open Air in Germany.

During the chat, the musician was reminded of how Trivium prefers to stream their live shows. He explained (transcribed by Killer Guitar Rigs):

“For the last six and a half years, we have streamed every single Trivium show for free, every single one.”

He continued on, explaining why the band prefers to offer their live shows free of charge for those who are staying at home:

“It’s all for the Shogun, and it’s all for our supporters. I love it. It’s just a way that… While the world is a very big place, I feel that thankfully, through things like Trivium, and through the Twitch world that we’ve built, we could stay in touch with everyone.”

“So when we’re on tour in America, our German friends can watch. And when we’re in Japan, everyone can watch. And I love being able to just keep us all together.”

Going more into the matter, Heafy also pointed out that this practice helped a lot of their fans deal with the pandemic and lockdowns:

“Because during the pandemic, I talked to so many Trivium fans and supporters that said that if they didn’t have the stream, they don’t know how they would have done, because they were like, ‘I was able to look forward to seeing people.'”

“Because I spoke to some people who were by themselves for two years, and they said that if we didn’t have that community of Trivium, and through our Twitch Trivium world, then they don’t know how they would have fared. So I’m very happy that we can keep everyone together and keep everyone happy.”

When the interviewer mentioned how there are still upsides to the digital world, Matt replied:

“Absolutely. I mean, there’s obviously so many downsides to the digital world, but I think it’s important that people that recognize the downsides and the upsides, we stay to the positive.”

“And that’s something we’ve always done with Trivium, and I feel like that metal has always done. We all understand this.”

While discussing this, Matt also pointed out how so many people outside of the genre, who aren’t that familiar with it, think that metal is just a bunch of angry people. But in his experience, metal fans have always been pretty positive and supportive. He continued:

“But people that don’t know metal are always like, ‘Why is it such an angry genre? Why is it this? Why is it that?'”

“But I feel what’s beautiful about metal is, for all of us, we get to confront the bad things in life through the music, and it’s a therapy session.”

“And when we come out of it, we’re happy, we’re feeling great. I mean, look at these amazing festivals you have in Deutschland, everyone takes care of each other.”

“I love it, that’s the spirit of what music is. And that’s why when I was 12 years old, I was drawn to metal. And ever since then, it’s all I’ve ever done.”

At this moment, Trivium are still on tour, which is planned to go on until early September. They’re currently in the UK and that’s where the tour will wind down as well.

However, in another part of this interview, Matt also revealed that the band will be taking a break from everything. He mentioned this while reflecting on how fans always want to know their next steps. Matt said:

“We’re so open with everything — we show everything we do, we talk about everything — but the one thing we are always secretive about is the records. But this time I can say that we’re just going on a proper break this time. Because we’ve done 10 albums of ‘album-tour, album-tour.'”

“This time, when this tour cycle ends, we’re gonna take a true break, and instead of working on music, we’re actually gonna work on building our hangar studio [Trivium’s headquarters in Orlando, Florida]. So that way, when it comes time to make records, we can do that again.”

And, as far as the new album goes? Well, you should probably not hold your breath for it. Matt added:

“But there are currently no plans for a new record. And I’m not being deceitful there. There are no plans right now.”

Trivium’s latest album was “In the Court of the Dragon,” released in 2021. It followed up their 2020 release “What the Dead Men Say” making their album release schedule a bit busier than usual.

Knowing that they have released 10 records over the past two decades, it’s safe to say that we won’t be looking at a massively long break. After all, Matt did admit that they’re planning to build their own studio so this will be something they’ll actively use one way or the other. But for now, after the tour is done, they’ll take a break.

Photo: Alfred Nitsch (20140614-074-Nova Rock 2014-Trivium-Matt Heafy)