For a period of time back around the mid-aughts, Trivium got a lot of flack for their assertions of being the next Metallica. That the band themselves expressed as much in the British press quickly stacked the deck against them among some of their peers and in various metal circles.
Trivium were already several years into their career at that time, but given that the band was still largely just coming out of their teens and had yet to really prove themselves, at the time, many got their licks in. Back in 2016, the group’s vocalist/guitarist Matt Heafy reflected on that turbulent period, telling ‘Talk Toomey‘:
“We really blew up in the UK first and we got our first cover feature when we were like 18 or so. The quote on the front was from me because I was a confident 18 year old, and had been in the band for 6 years at that point. The quote was something along the lines of ‘Trivium: The next Metallica‘ and at that moment it really worked out for our band in the UK.
But other bands started seeing that and saying ‘Who the hell is this young band calling themselves the next Metallica?’ So that’s when we started seeing a little bit of difficulty, things that we didn’t expect. We didn’t expect other bands to not be ready for this young band that had a boatload of determination for what they wanted to do. Those things were a little strange…”
Fast-forward to now and shared festival billing this month saw Heafy cross paths again with Papa Roach frontman Jacoby Shaddix, causing Heafy to reflect publicly on some words of wisdom and support the latter showed Heafy amid those aforementioned turbulent times. Heafy took to his social media yesterday, June 10th, to state the following about the impact Shaddix‘s advice had on him:
“Back in 2005, I remember finishing download festival – one of our greatest shows ever – but I remember it being bittersweet because while the fans were insane, I had the lingering situation that most of our favorite bands in the metal scene hated our guys and bullied us in person when we’d tour with them.
I met Jacoby backstage at download – he was super kind and said how he dug our band – I thanked him but somehow I knew I could mention the bullying and crap we were dealing with. He told me “f the haters” and that if we stick to our guns and stay true to ourselves – we’d rise above all of that. That kindness of one of my musical childhood heroes stuck with me forever.
I ran back into Jacoby after years at Rock am Ring last week ish – he was just as amazing a human as ever.
We were invited to do a show with them in Budapest. Their entire crew, org, and band treated us like kings.
Jacoby and Papa Roach and their entire org are an example of how everyone should do this. Treat everyone as equals and with respect and kindness.
Jacoby. You’re a true star in every sense of the word. Seeing all the band’s kids out rocking to their parents made me so happy and excited for the future when my kids could one day join me on stage overseas as well.
Y’all are incredible. I hope we can do more shows together.”
