The fun factor

Since their formation in 2000, Trivium have gone from strength to strength, certainly in the popularity stakes. Most recent album Shogun has cemented that popularity, marking a return to their thrashier, more shouty roots. “Musically, it just happened,” bassist Paolo Gregoletto told me, “it was a very natural development. For the vocals, singing just didn’t have the effect we wanted and the screaming added cool dynamics that weren’t there without it. Fans were missing the screaming too.”

I spoke to Gregoletto a few days into the Unholy Alliance tour with Slayer and Mastodon that took place a few weeks ago. He seemed pretty happy with how proceedings were coming along. “It’s been better than expected. The crowds have been killer so far and being able to play with Slayer is such an honour.” The appearance of Mastodon on the bill is interesting – a band who, it would seem, have achieved the unthinkable and become accepted by both metal fans and indie rock critics alike. I asked Gregoletto what he made of this turn of events. “I don’t really know, to be honest. I don’t keep up with that. We’ve met them briefly, though, and they seem pretty cool. We’re all having a lot of fun on this tour. I guess they have odd musical passages, kooky kind of stuff that wouldn’t conform to the usual 4/4 time signatures and stuff like that, which I guess would appeal to the alternative indie press.”

Whatever the case, the band are enjoying themselves and in light of the rather impressive list of bands they’ve toured with or supported, that’s saying a lot. I asked the bassist what the highlight of there touring career has been so far. “Definitely the Maiden tour, because, y’know, it’s Maiden. We won a lot of people over playing to those crowds and got to travel all over Europe. This tour is killer too. Everyone’s fun to hang out with and so far it’s rivalling the Maiden tour in terms of the –,” he pauses, trying to think of an apt word, “fun-factor, I guess” he finishes, seemingly regretting that he used the term “fun-factor.”

Of course, the band never forget to have fun and the previous week, front man Matt Heafy played against a number of fans in an online game of Call of Duty 4 on the Xbox. “Yeah, Matt killed a lot of motherfuckers,” Gregoletto enthuses.

Trivium come to Ireland in December on the impossibly titled Into the Mouth of Hell We Tour, er, tour. And after that? More touring. “We’re gonna have a pretty busy year. We wanna show people that we’re fuckin’ back and we’ve got an awesome record that people should fuckin’ listen to.” Indeed, and why not?