Interviews : Trivium (Travis Smith) – 24/04/2009

Florida’s Trivium have become a force to be reckoned with in recent years; not only revitalizing the thrash metal movement across the globe, but also incorporating unique blends to their already formidable sound and solid reputation. Metal Obsession recently had the chance to speak with drummer, Travis Smith about the bands upcoming tour of Australia.

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Metal Obsession: Gday Travis, how are you?

Travis Smith: Good, and you?

MO: Not too bad, not too bad.

TS: Good.

MO: How’s things been?

TS: Yeah, it’s been going well today, it’s been a relaxing day, we had rehearsal earlier and I got to hang out with my dogs and relax a little bit.

MO: Are you looking forward to the Australian tour?

TS: For sure, we are all looking forward to heading out that way, the shows are always amazing, we’re going to have a good time hanging out. Hang out with the Aussies!

MO: Awesome. What are you looking forward the most in the upcoming tour?

TS: It’s just going to be the shows. We’ve been home for like a month now, and it’s going to be cool to get back on the stage and release a lot of energy that’s been stored up so it’s going to be fun to see the Australian fans going nuts and thrashing out with us, headbanging along to our tunes. There’s nothing more enjoyable than that, and it’s always a thrill seeing the fans enjoying what we do.

MO: What do you like most about touring Australia, based on past experiences?
TS: Well, I really like your weather a lot, I like your landscapes, and you guys are party animals in a sort of way. We’ve had some really cool nights in Australia and in several different cities, meeting up with fans, and meeting up with people at bars and stuff like that. We’ve always had a good time when we’ve come to Australia, it’s always been lots of fun.

MO: Which Australian city is your favourite?

TS: I’d have to say the one I like the most is the Gold Coast. The first time we ever came to Australia [Big Day Out 2007], that was the first place we ever saw, I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘wow…’ it’s so beautiful and we were right on the beach, and I was totally blown away. We stayed there for a few nights, and we had a lot of fun there. If I ever moved out of Florida, I’d move to the Gold Coast in a heartbeat.

MO: Do you have any crazy stories from the road that you would like to share?

TS:    It’s so funny, every time I get asked this question, I can never really think of anything, but when, for example, I’m just driving around in my car, I’ll just think of something that happened while we were on the road and think, “I’ve got to remember that” because I always get asked that question, but during interviews I can never think of anything, and right now I can’t think of anything. There’s a lot of cool and crazy stuff that happened, but it’s recalling them.

MO: If you think of anything during the interview, then we can go back to that question.

TS: Yeah, I’ll just spit it out at ya.

[A story never eventuated during the course of the interview… 🙁 ]

MO: You guys have just released the album Shogun. How has the feedback been from album compared to your previous releases?

TS:    It’s been received really well, the fans really enjoy it, they really appreciate what we’ve done. We really feel it’s the best one we’ve done, we’re really happy with what we’ve done on that record. The arrangement of the songs, our musicianship on this record, everyone stepped it up and I don’t think it can be compared to what we’ve done in the past, other than it’s got the best elements of both The Crusade and Ascendancy captured on Shogun. It’s not hard to directly compare these albums to each other, but you can definitely hear both those records on Shogun. I think you can also hear a little further of Trivium, you can hear what’s to come, maybe with the direction of the next record, you can see a bit of the future there.

MO: With Shogun in general, what stood out for me the most was that the guitar work is more melodic and there’s less screaming with the vocal work. Was that a natural progression, or were you guys consciously steering away from the screaming and going more towards melodic guitar work and more clean vocals?

TS:    The vocals for Shogun compared to The Crusade are way more brutal, way more aggressive. Trivium has always had a lot of guitar melodies going on, but when we’re writing, what happens just happens, we really don’t try to premeditate it much, which I guess can be a good thing or a bad thing, but that’s the way we’ve always worked. If a vocal line is being sung, and we go into the control room, it’s never like “Hey, this sounds a little too heavy, we’ve gotta clean it up” or vice versa. We don’t try and clean it up, especially if it’s a really brutal part, or we get suggestions to get even more brutal… It’s never a pre-meditated, it kinda just happens in the studio, it’s part of the magic, see what happens. We just play with it, have fun with it, try something different. Sometimes we keep it, sometimes we don’t.

MO: In the title track of Shogun, there was one part of that song that I thought, “Hang on a minute, that sounds like a power metal riff!”

TS: (laughs) Well, we’re inspired by a lot of different music. Whatever we think counts, whatever we think sounds cool, whatever we’re all feeling, so long as we’re all feeling it and we’re all behind it, it’s got a good chance of making it on the record.

MO: When you were here last year, the Shogun album had not yet been released and you played about three tracks from the album at each show. With the upcoming tour, will you be playing more material from Shogun?

TS: We’ll be playing more songs from shogun, we’re also going to be playing one tune that we haven’t played live since 2002-2003. it’s going to be the first time we’ve played this song since we were a local band and we’re going to showcase it for you guys. It’s the first time it’s ever been played live in Australia, and probably the first time it’s really been played out in the world. We’ve been working real hard on it all week, and we’ve got it ready for you guys, and we hope you’ll appreciate it.

MO: When you guys are playing onstage (and I knock on wood so I don’t jinx you guys!), have you ever got nervous or ever got a bit of stage fright before going onstage?

TS: I wouldn’t necessarily call it stage fright, I wouldn’t even call it nervousness either, it’s more of an adrenalin rush and excitement, a thrill, and it gets you really pumped up. When you’re onstage, it’s kinda like you can get your body to do anything, there’s so much adrenalin, so much energy running through you. We used to get that way, but since since we’ve got so many shows under out belts, we just can’t wait to get out there for the excitement, the thrill, the rush. That’s what we get before we go on. Everyone goes in really focused, the adrenalin flowing through our veins. We just wanna go out there and rock. It’s our drug, it’s how we get high, getting up on that stage and playing in front of the world. It’s awesome that we have that chance to do that, we’ve had the opportunity to see the places that we’ve wanted to see, and play in front of the faces that we’ve played, and to get the amazing fans we’ve got around the world. It’s an honour to be able to do what we do, and to be able to get that feeling and get that buzz night after night, it’s overwhelming.

MO: From your experiences in Trivium’s early days, do you have any advice for any young bands that are starting out, who might feel nervous, how to beat the nerves before they go onstage?

TS: When we first started playing shows, I would be a nervous wreck. I used to have to carry this stomach medicine with me, because my stomach would be knotted with so many butterflies flying around and I would take this medicine to calm my stomach down, and I would say that the only advice is to just believe in yourself and have fun with it, that’s what it’s all about, having fun playing. Everyone makes mistakes, we make mistakes, every once in a while, you can’t be too hard on yourself about it, just get up on that stage and have fun and connecting with your fans, showing them a good time, and in return and have a good time as well. Practice is very important, the more you practice, the more comfortable you’re going to be on your instrument, that helps out as well.

MO: At the moment, what bands are the members of Trivium listening to?

TS: I’m usually listening to whatever is the radio, I haven’t really been consciously putting on my iPod. If I’m driving down the road, I’ll put on the radio and whatever’s playing, I’ll listen to it. Lately we’ve been locked away in our rehearsal space and playing a lot, when I get a chance for some peace and quiet, I usually take it!

MO: Where are you guys headed after the Australian tour?

TS: We started this tour with Canada, then we go to Japan and then Australia. After the Australian tour we’re going home for two weeks, then go to rehearsals before we start a tour here in the United States. We have no dead time, we’re always working.

MO: Any last comments?

TS: Check out our webpages, www.trivium.org, www.triviumworld.com, you can sign up for our fan club and become a member get exclusive offers, exclusive meet-and-greets and all that kind of fun stuff, and I’d like to say thank you to all our fans, we love you guys, and can’t wait to see you guys in Australia!

MO: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, Travis.

TS: Thank you.

Band: Trivium
Date: 24/04/2009
Origin: Florida, America
www.myspace.com/trivium

Interviewer: Megan Masters (krazylucrezia)
Interviewee: Travis Smith (Drums)

Make sure to check out Trivium on their upcoming 2009 Australian tour, with support from Black Tide and Heaven Shall Burn.

Tickets on sale now!

WEDNESDAY 13 MAY BRISBANE, THE TIVOLI – All Ages
www.ticketek.com.au 132 849, Rockinghorse Records & Kill The Music

THURSDAY 14 MAY SYDNEY, UNSW ROUNDHOUSE – Licensed A/A
www.ticketek.com.au 132 849 & Utopia

FRIDAY 15 MAY MELBOURNE, PALACE THEATRE – 18+
www.ticketek.com.au 132 849 & Missing Link

SUNDAY 17 MAY ADELAIDE, HQ – Licensed All Ages
www.ticketek.com.au 132 849 & www.venuetix.com.au

TUESDAY 19 MAY PERTH, CAPITOL – 18+
www.moshtix.com.au, www.bocs.com.au, 78 Records, Mills Records & Planet