Matt Heafy might be the busiest man in metal. The Trivium frontman is cruising through Orlando as he answers our call, making his way to the converted airplane hangar where he and his three bandmates jam, write and plot world domination together.
It’s 10am on a Friday, and so far he’s already exercised (“Monday, Wednesday, Friday is strength and conditioning, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday is yoga, jiu-jitsu four to six times a week”), had breakfast with his wife Ashley and twin five-year-olds Mia and Akira, taken the kids to school, and spent an hour playing Trivium songs on livestream for thousands of fans. He’ll now spend the rest of the day laying down ideas for the new Trivium album, before going home for dinner with the fam, reading with the kids and then a brief pause before bedtime.
“It’s a lot,” he admits, adding that he’s actually working a reduced schedule these days: “I pulled back on all the work stuff that people used to see – mass-producing bands, managing bands, making a kids’ book [Matt released a children’s book, Ibaraki And Friends, in 2023]. I’ve really pulled it back to Trivium, self-work and family.”
It speaks volumes that none of this even covers the main reason we’re chatting today – Matt has a brand new release to promote, the three-track Trivium EP Struck Dead. It’s an unexpected soft launch of the band’s next chapter, after a year spent splashing around in nostalgia.
In January, they embarked on the co-headline Poisoned Ascendancy tour with Bullet For My Valentine, celebrating 20 years of Bullet’s debut record, The Poison, and Trivium’s second album, Ascendancy. The run was cut short in May, when Bullet controversially bowed out in order to get in the studio “and finish what we promise you is our best album to date”, leaving fans disappointed.
In August, Trivium hit the European festival circuit with a greatest hits set, including a storming headline performance at Bloodstock. Now, it seems Matt is ready to look forward again.
You’re a busy man! What are you doing today?
“You know, normally we keep all our albums kind of secret, which we’ve done for 10 years. I’m not sure why, we just always have. But now we don’t! So, I’m driving to the Hangar studio right now. We’re on writing session number two for album 11. It’s the four of us Trivs and [producer] Josh Wilbur.
For this record, we decided to set a precedent of, ‘Let’s only work on Trivium music while we are together as Trivium in the Trivium headquarters, no other times.’ There’s no demos or writing on my laptop – we’re in the room together, playing and writing together.”
You said in an interview recently that last year was about mental challenges and this year has been about physical challenges. How are you feeling now?
“I’m feeling great, man! Last year, my mind essentially broke. I had a midlife crisis/mental breakdown, was working with a psychiatrist, cognitive behavioural therapist, the works, fixed my mind. This year, I broke my body – my abductor tore, my hip tore, I had to have knee surgery.”
Ouch! Sounds painful!
“The knee was a jiu-jitsu injury where it basically exploded from a submission. I had to have surgery seven days before Bloodstock! Luckily, my doctor is a big Rush fan. I came in there, like, ‘Dr Levy, I know you’re into music, I know you like Rush. I’m in a metal band, we’re flying out in a week to go do one of our biggest shows in a long time. Any way you can help me out?’"
"He says, ‘You know what? I can get you in for surgery tomorrow.’ That is unheard of! No one does that. So he saw me the next day, took out 30% of my meniscus. Within two days, I was already in personal training, then after three days I was already weightlifting again. It’s just been rigorous physical therapy."
Do you generally feel in a good place now, or is there still more work to be done?
“I’ve been working with a nutritionist and a strength and conditioning coach to better myself, for Trivium, for jiu-jitsu, for yoga, for being more mobile. I’m thinking, ‘How am I gonna be mobile in my 80s? How am I gonna move with my kids and their kids, my grandkids, when I’m 90?’”
Do you have a signature jiu-jitsu move?
“I really do! I’m all about leg locks. My favourite is the inside heel hook: it rotates your heel one direction, outwards from your body, while rotating your knee inside of your body, and those two things will eventually break, so you got to make sure you tap early or you know how to get out of it. If jiu-jitsu is metal, leg locks are essentially extreme metal.”
You got your twins training too now, right?
“Yes, it’s amazing! They’ve been doing it for about a year and a half. I love it so much. I got my black belt in 2023, so I’ve been able to be one of the teachers of the kids’ classes. It’s been amazing to work with five-year-olds through to 15-year-olds. It’s just been so rewarding.”
Be honest: who’d win in a fight, Mia or Akira?
“They’ve been physically fighting since they were one and no one’s won yet. But they’ll put me in a submission sometimes. My son figured out a wrist lock on his own; there’s no doubt he could break my wrist. He could choke me out! It’s awesome. He’s always like, ‘Am I stronger than you, dad?’ I’m like, ‘Well, my hope is when you’re bigger and stronger than me, you will beat my ass every single time we train!’”
Your year started with the Poisoned Ascendancy tour, celebrating 20 years of Bullet’s The Poison and Trivium’s Ascendancy. How do you look back on it now?
“That tour was amazing. These are seminal records that I think shaped and paved the landscape of the way modern metal sounds. When we flew up to London [in February 2024] to do a press conference for a world tour that was meant to go from January [2025] through December, we didn’t intend our press conference to be for a world tour that was essentially three months long.
Which is silly! What’s a three-month-long world tour that plays two continents? I mean, I could brush over the details if you want, but in retrospect… we had to change a lot of things. We had to completely uproot our entire year.”
Are you guys cool with Bullet? Do you talk to Matt Tuck?
“I am very cool with [Bullet bassist] Jamie Mathias. He is one of my favourite people in the world, a wildly talented human being. I could write a book on all the things that we had to deal with, but out of respect for the fans of their band, I will not.”
Bloodstock felt like a landmark show for Trivium. You’d headlined it before, but this year’s was special, right?
“That was the best Trivium show that has ever happened. My manager has been managing me since I was 15 years old, he even said that that was the best Trivium show he’s ever seen.”
What do you think of the metal scene at the moment in general? You’ve always been a big flag-waver for young bands in the scene.
“It’s a good time to be playing heavy music, man. It’s a good time to be a younger band, too. You’re not having to deal with as much of the bullshit that we had to deal with: there’s not this intense ostracisation, this intense cliquiness. When we were coming around, we were getting glass bottles thrown at our heads, fans waiting for us outside of our van to try to fight us because they didn’t like the kind of music we played, getting bullied to our faces by our favourite bands. That doesn’t happen anymore as much [to young bands].”
You play traditional Japanese instruments the shamisen and the koto on the new EP. When did you start to learn those?
“My guitar tech, Justin, got me back into anime – I started watching Attack On Titan and Demon Slayer, and I kept hearing all the traditional Japanese instruments. I was like, ‘Man, I need to get into this!’ I spoke to one of my buddies in San Francisco – he’s got a store, Bachido, where he sells shamisen.
I started just buying these instruments, like, ‘Can you find me a biwa? Can you find me a tsuzumi?’ Now I’ve got a collection of 15-20 Japanese traditional instruments. I’ve been wanting to tap more into that side of me so I can preserve that and, hopefully, inspire people to dig into their own cultures.”
You recently filmed yourself playing your eighth-grade saxophone. Are we gonna get a sax solo on a Trivium song any time soon?
“Ha! I brought it up… the guys aren’t sold on saxophone.”
What anime shows are you watching right now?
“I’m watching Gachiakuta, which I’m obsessed with. I think that could become a really big one. Attack On Titan, Steins;Gate, Solo Leveling, Fullmetal Alchemist, Frieren, Delicious In Dungeon, Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer, Kaiju No. 8, Dandadan, Death Note, Parasyte: The Maxim, One Piece with my kids, One-Punch Man, Sword Art Online, Re: Zero, That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime, Vinland Saga…”
So not much, then…
“Yeah, exactly! But I only watch on tour. Ashley’s not doing the anime, but we are obsessed with KPop Demon Hunters. The music is amazing.”
You’re touring with Jinjer soon. Any plans for a collaboration with them? You love teaming up with bands!
“I hope so! The only for-sure thing right now that I’m very excited about is that their bass player [Eugene Abdukhanov] is a four-stripe purple belt jiu-jitsu, so I’ve got my training partner. We’re going to train every day, it’ll be great. Actually, this next coming year, speaking of jiu-jitsu, I’ll be getting my first stripe on my black belt, which I’m very excited about.”
How does that work?
“So once you’re black belt, the first three stripes are every three years. The next three stripes are every five years. So I’ll be getting my first stripe in my black.”
If you could only play one Trivium song live forever, which would it be?
“Shogun, because that one shows everything that we do. It’s one of the songs I’m most proud of, a cult classic. It’s like a mini-movie anime in one song.”
Who’s the most annoying member of Trivium to tour with?
“I mean, unfortunately, it’s probably me, because I need so much shit. I need my jiu-jitsu mat, my kettlebells, my weights. I need my gaming console, my stream backpack. I need all the shit! I’m the guy with the most bags, the most luggage, the most carry-on. I’m working on it, though!”
Trivium are on tour in the US now. The band play Download Festival in June. For the full list of upcoming tour dates, visit their official website.
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