“It was rough being bullied by our favourite bands”: Matt Heafy opens up on their rough early touring experiences.
Breaking into metal can be brutal, as 39-year-old Matt Heafy will tell you from experience. Long before Trivium settled into their role as one of the genre’s most reliable headliners, the band’s early success made them a target, drawing hostility not just from fans, but from some of the very bands they grew up idolising.
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Speaking to Guitar.com in a new interview, Heafy looks back on the period surrounding 2005’s Ascendancy, the breakout album that positioned Trivium as metal’s next big thing. Despite the magazine covers and blockbuster tours, the band quickly learned that success came with its own harsh lessons.
“It was rough being bullied by our favourite bands, and by their fans,” Heafy recalls. “We got bottles thrown at us [while onstage]. People tried to accost us by our van.”
He adds, “We were on tour with Lamb of God, Machine Head and Gojira in 2006, and we had our sound guy walk out on us. I was going to our bus and some guy said [sarcastically], ‘Good show,’ and flipped me off and walked off.”
Those early battles left Heafy determined to do things differently. Rather than perpetuating the same hazing culture, the frontman is now a vocal supporter of new metal acts, regularly inviting younger bands out on tour with Trivium and using his radio show to spotlight emerging talent.
It’s a mindset that shapes how he views the scene today – and why he believes it’s in a healthier place for newcomers.
Reflecting on the current state of metal, he told Metal Hammer: “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.”
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