“We’re really excited because this is the first time we’ve done a headliner in five years,” he begins. According to Gregoletto, the band have been pushing Soundwave founder AJ Maddah for another major tour. “We’ve been really adamant to do it again. Every time we see [AJ], if he’s over in the States, or if we see him at Soundwave, we tell him we really want to come back and do a headliner. The fans have been asking for it, so we’re really excited for it.
“[The flight] is long, but we always just look forward to getting down there. We’re kinda numb to it now.”
What makes it even more exciting for Aussie fans is that Trivium are bringing legendary Swedish metal act In Flames with them; a band with similar appeal, who they’ve toured with several times before and are a great source of inspiration to Trivium.
“We’re very stoked to have them with us,” he states enthusiastically. “They’re just one of those bands. Not only has their career been a big influence on us, but [they’re] just really great guys and [a] band we’ve done a lot of touring with throughout the years. We’ve become very close friends, and I’m sure the shows are going to go well. We’ll be hanging out a lot after and before the shows, because those guys do a lot of the same stuff we do.
“We’re really looking forward to it, and the fact that we’re able to pair up together makes it even better for all the people down there.”
The band released their sixth album Vengeance Falls around a year ago. Gregoletto confesses that the struggle to write a set list is intensifying due to their growing catalogue of tracks. But, the band intend to cover as much ground as possible, taking advantage of a full-blown headline set instead of the condensed festival set they would usually get at Soundwave.
“We’re just going to try to play as much material as possible, and cover all the albums as best we can. And throw in a surprise or two as well. We have to balance it all out, but I think we’ve got a good idea what we want to do from the new record and the old ones as well.”
“On the plus side, we can write a set that is pretty much ‘all killer, no filler’,” he says, “but at the same time you start having to leave stuff out. And then you start picking that one song where you go, ‘We want to play a new song, so we’re going to have to leave out a song that is like an obvious choice’, and we’re getting to that point now.
“It’s even worse for a band like In Flames,” he laughs. “Our career is kinda’ going the same route as theirs. It’s hard to please everyone, because you’ve got fans who are really into certain albums. We’ve got a fan base that comes out and says, ‘Oh, I love Shogun’, or ‘I love Ascendency’, or ‘I like the newer stuff the most’, so it’s a real balancing act. But people come out, and that’s the only thing that matters for us.”
This tour is also set to be the last part of the Vengeance Falls album cycle before the band start work on a new record. “We’re talking about how we want to record and where,” he reveals. “The beginning of [next] year is pencilled in as record making time.”
Well, over a decade into their career, the band still feel inspired by creating new Trivium music and getting out and playing it for the people, so there’s plenty of juice left in the tank yet.
“It still feels very exciting, we still seem to have great things happening for us throughout the year,” he says. “As the time flies by, it doesn’t feel like we’re labouring away for 10 years. It’s still a great experience for us.”
BY ROD WHITFIELD
