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Are you a Trivium fan?  Do you have the last few Trivium discs?  If so, what you know about this band is about to be changed with the release of their intense third full length CD, The Crusade.  The Crusade is a bombastic thrash attack that will have metal fans ecstatic about music again.  I had an opportunity to talk to the founder and very talented drummer of Trivium, Travis Smith, about this CD and where the band is now.  They were in the midst of a European press run so this was very entertaining.

By Jeffrey Easton

Jeff:  So things are really happening for you guys in the U.K.?

Travis Smith:  We have done very well over here and everybody is getting stoked about the Crusade now.

Jeff:  Is the perception about the new record the same there as it is here?

Travis: Yes it is, everybody that has heard is enjoying it and how great of a thrash record it is and that is a is a great follow up to Ascendancy.

Jeff:  With the songs on this CD you have taken Trivium to another level.  This reminds me of the mid 80’s when Metallica were still good, you have brought the spirit of that era to a new decade.

Travis:  They are a huge influence on us as we have been into that stuff since the beginning and we thought it was time for us to deliver something like that.  None of the bands have done that in a long time and that is where we are at right now.  We felt that we had to come out strong after the success that we had with Ascendancy. 

Jeff:  What do you think is the biggest change  between Ascendancy and now?

Travis:  I think the biggest change is us being on the road so much and just getting better as a band after playing so many shows.   It has made us more of a unit and made us better songwriters.

Jeff:  Where were your heads at when you guys sat down to write this record? Did you know where you wanted Trivium to go?

Travis:  We knew exactly what we wanted to do.  We have been talking about getting rid of the screaming stuff for awhile and we knew we had to  release something that was a step up from Ascendancy.  We just went in and did it.  Everybody wrote songs on their own and we met up a week before we tracked and made the changes that were needed.  If something was lacking energy or emotion then we changed it  but not to the point of ruining the song.  We went off of instinct and I think that it worked out.

Jeff:  You mentioned the screaming earlier, do you think that it has reached its peak or are people tired of it?

Travis:  I know that we are tired of it.  It is so overdone now but the reason that Matt screamed was that he was not a great singer.  He used the screaming as a but with the vocal lessons that he took he has gotten so much better so that he does not have to now.  

Jeff:  Did you feel all along that you were better than a screaming band?

Travis:  Very much so and the singing just adds a better dynamic to the song and it makes the song heavier rather than the screaming making the song monotone .  The screaming is what everyone is doing now so we just set ourselves apart from the rest with singing.  We are trying to set the trend and not follow, let the other bands follow in wake we create.  This is what this whole thing is about, going in and creating a record that we want to play and one that we would want to listen to.   We did this and out came The Crusade.

Jeff:  Why is it called The Crusade?

Travis:  For the last few years we have been out crusading the world and with this new release we will be doing the same thing for the next few years.   It is a personal statement about us traveling the world, gaining new fans and rising to another level going from nothing to something.

Jeff:  Trivium have been around for a relatively short period of time and now you are about to open  for Iron Maiden, are you surprised that you are at where you are at?

Travis:  I would not say that we are surprised  but with all of the hard work that we have done I feel as though we earned it.  They came to us because they see our hard work and they like our tunes  so we were personally asked to do this.  It is a dream come true to be able to do this and we are very fortunate.

Jeff:  Where did the thrash inspired songs will take everybody by surprise?

Travis:  I think it will and that is the whole point behind doing it.  It will  be an eye opener  to the listeners and possibly other bands because it will be one of those albums that leave a mark on the music world and one that will be talked about for years to come. 

Jeff:  Who’s idea was it to go this route?

Travis:  It was just us going back to our early influences.  If you go back and listen to the Trivium demos from six years ago you will hear that the stuff then sounds like the Crusade does.  Not quite as good because we had not yet  crafted our song writing skills but it is us going back to the beginning.

Jeff:  On a personal level where do you think you are as a drummer?

Travis:  I do not think I am the best drummer out there but I do hold my own.  I am very tough on myself as I practice all of the time and you can always get better.  You can never completely learn everything as there is so much to an instrument.  It takes many years to completely master your instrument but I am well   on my way to doing so.  

Jeff:  Who are you endorsed by and why do you use them?

Travis:  I use D Drums,  Sabian Cymbals and promark sticks.  I like D Drums because they have this warm and punchy sound  that I really enjoy.  I love Sabian Cymbals because it is a good luck thing.  I won one from a raffle when I was ten so I have used it since then.  The same with Promark so I just go with what I like and they are good companies.

Jeff:  What are the plans after the record is released?

Travis:  We are going out on our first headlining tour across America with some great opening bands.  We are very excited about this as we have not done this before. (they will be playing the Glasshouse on 10/30  for all of you IE readers)

Jeff:  As said, you have a great gig with Maiden this fall.  Were you a Maiden fan growing up?

Travis:  I never listened to them much growing up because I was a Metallica kid but Corey opened up my eyes to them and now I am a big fan of their music.  I compare us to them in the sense that they never made the same album and that is what we do.  Making the same album is not fun and it gets to boring after awhile.

Jeff:  What kind of album do you think Trivium has delivered now?

Travis:  I think it is a brutal thrash album.

Jeff:  If you were the fan and you were going out and buying The Crusade, what would you think? 

Travis:  It is funny because we can sit around  and listen to our new record as a few fans.  If I was a fan I would go out and buy this disc the day it came out because this is the music that I would want to listen to.  

In closing, The Crusade is a benchmark release for Trivium and it will indeed be something that will turn the metal scene completely on its ear. 

Random facts: 

 Trivium originally started as a three piece.

 Travis currently listens to Snoop Dogg along with Pantera and Metallica.

 Matt Heafy has been playing in 21 + bars since he was 14

 Trivium is Latin for the intersection between the three schools of learning: grammar, rhetoric and logic.

 Matt was born In Japan but found his way to live in Orlando, Fl.

 Trivium have fittingly covered Master Of Puppets for a Metallica Tribute CD.

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