Paolo Gregoletto - Trivium (11/10/2013)
With their sixth studio album Vengeance Falls hitting record store shelves today through Warner Music, Trivium’s long time bass player Paolo Gregoletto called myself from the United States, and enthusiastically began sharing the story of how a chance backstage encounter with David Draiman, the iconic vocalist for Disturbed, would lay the cards on the table for the production of their most accomplished, and revered work yet.
“We did a tour in the states called Mayhem, Disturbed was headlining. It was the last tour they were doing before going on hiatus", Paolo recalls.
“We gave David (Draiman) a copy of In Waves. He’d been a fan of our band for a long time, and a couple of days later, he came up to us in the backstage area, and he was genuinely blown away and impressed. He said ‘Guys, I really, really love what you did. The way you guys are going, the way you could be going, and I’d really love to work with you guys and make it happen.’”
The opportunity to work with an industry legend like David Draiman was one that band would not pass up. But their chance encounter was simply the foundation stone of a year long journey, which would culminate in heavyweight record which is Vengeance Falls.
“We didn’t agree to do it right then and there, but we were like ‘Yeah definitely, let’s keep talking, we’ll send you some music when we start writing,’” Paolo says.
With excitement in his voice, Paolo says that Draiman was so invested in the concept of producing Trivium’s new record that he would continue to meet with them at various shows while they were on tour.
“Pretty much over the course of a year, he (Draiman) came out to two of our shows. He came out to our show we did with In Flames in Austin (Texas) and finally, the last show we did on the tour with Five Finger Death Punch. We stayed over at his place. We talked about the music, we showed him some demos, and we just decided, ‘You know what? He’s the guy that we want to work with’”.
It was an opportunity modern day metal musicians dream of; the chance to work with an artist so revered by his peers, a musician who is not only an influential icon in metal, but in music as a whole.
But the dream would be come a tangible reality in January of 2013, when Trivium entered Draiman’s personal studio, and it wasn’t long before they would completely become immersed in the recording process of Vengeance Falls.
While Draiman sat firmly in the producer’s chair, Paolo explains that the decision for Draima not to appear on any of the tracks but rather stick solely to his role as producer encouraged the band to explore their signature sound in a much for experimental and myriad of ways, allowing for a re-awakening of their musical flair.
“He wanted to be David Draiman as producer, not David Draiman as a guest musician, and let the music speak for itself. (To) Let us do our thing, and really help us from the producers’ side of things. I think that was definitely the right choice. Maybe down the road we'll collaborate, but I think for this record it made sense to be fully focused on us, and the music as a whole”.
With Vengeance Falls in stores now, Soundwave have confirmed that Australian fans will have the chance to see Trivium on stage when they return for the 2014 installment of the festival. And now six albums to their catalogue, Paolo says that their fans can expect the festival sets to be a diverse selection of material from their discography.
"The set is going to be a mix, I'm always thinking about it from the fan's perspective," Paolo says.
"We want to play the songs which people will gravitate towards the most, but it's definitely gong to be a mix, because there's so many songs we have to play. If we didn't play them, our fans would be very disappointed. And for us, we like to mix it up, and tailor our sets to fit with the new material, but all I can say is don't miss our set, because I guarantee you that it will be one of the most energetic sets of Soundwave".
Vengeance Falls is in stores now.
Trivium play all dates on Soundwave Festival 2014
Luke Sutton
@lukesutton
“We did a tour in the states called Mayhem, Disturbed was headlining. It was the last tour they were doing before going on hiatus", Paolo recalls.
“We gave David (Draiman) a copy of In Waves. He’d been a fan of our band for a long time, and a couple of days later, he came up to us in the backstage area, and he was genuinely blown away and impressed. He said ‘Guys, I really, really love what you did. The way you guys are going, the way you could be going, and I’d really love to work with you guys and make it happen.’”
The opportunity to work with an industry legend like David Draiman was one that band would not pass up. But their chance encounter was simply the foundation stone of a year long journey, which would culminate in heavyweight record which is Vengeance Falls.
“We didn’t agree to do it right then and there, but we were like ‘Yeah definitely, let’s keep talking, we’ll send you some music when we start writing,’” Paolo says.
With excitement in his voice, Paolo says that Draiman was so invested in the concept of producing Trivium’s new record that he would continue to meet with them at various shows while they were on tour.
“Pretty much over the course of a year, he (Draiman) came out to two of our shows. He came out to our show we did with In Flames in Austin (Texas) and finally, the last show we did on the tour with Five Finger Death Punch. We stayed over at his place. We talked about the music, we showed him some demos, and we just decided, ‘You know what? He’s the guy that we want to work with’”.
It was an opportunity modern day metal musicians dream of; the chance to work with an artist so revered by his peers, a musician who is not only an influential icon in metal, but in music as a whole.
But the dream would be come a tangible reality in January of 2013, when Trivium entered Draiman’s personal studio, and it wasn’t long before they would completely become immersed in the recording process of Vengeance Falls.
While Draiman sat firmly in the producer’s chair, Paolo explains that the decision for Draima not to appear on any of the tracks but rather stick solely to his role as producer encouraged the band to explore their signature sound in a much for experimental and myriad of ways, allowing for a re-awakening of their musical flair.
“He wanted to be David Draiman as producer, not David Draiman as a guest musician, and let the music speak for itself. (To) Let us do our thing, and really help us from the producers’ side of things. I think that was definitely the right choice. Maybe down the road we'll collaborate, but I think for this record it made sense to be fully focused on us, and the music as a whole”.
With Vengeance Falls in stores now, Soundwave have confirmed that Australian fans will have the chance to see Trivium on stage when they return for the 2014 installment of the festival. And now six albums to their catalogue, Paolo says that their fans can expect the festival sets to be a diverse selection of material from their discography.
"The set is going to be a mix, I'm always thinking about it from the fan's perspective," Paolo says.
"We want to play the songs which people will gravitate towards the most, but it's definitely gong to be a mix, because there's so many songs we have to play. If we didn't play them, our fans would be very disappointed. And for us, we like to mix it up, and tailor our sets to fit with the new material, but all I can say is don't miss our set, because I guarantee you that it will be one of the most energetic sets of Soundwave".
Vengeance Falls is in stores now.
Trivium play all dates on Soundwave Festival 2014
Luke Sutton
@lukesutton