(WHITE NOISE METAL) – Agree or disagree, when you listen to a Trivium song, you’re going to get a message with a strong viewpoint.  The band’s lead singer and guitarist Matt Heafy makes no apologies for that. 

In a wide-ranging discussion about the lyrics on all four Trivium studio albums, Heafy tells White Noise Metal’s “That BS Dude” Brian Shields he wants fans to know what he’s thinking about the world.  One example comes on the song “Detonation” off the album “The Crusade”

“I wanted to go into socio-politics, what people are going through,” Heafy says.  “I wanted to make it angry.  Sometimes it is a little easier to make it a little more eloquent, a little more thought out and people respect it more.  I wanted to make something that was pissed off.  This country was supposed to be a place that was founded on living a different belief outside everyone else’s.  I wanted to show my views.  Sometimes we might have fans that disagree with mine and might not like what I have to say, and maybe some people come from the school of thought that you don’t discuss what your beliefs are but my thing is if we’re not completely honest in this, then what’s the point?  So I wanted it to be very overtly what I’m for.”

From the band’s start with “Ember to Inferno”, Heafy says Trivium has been very clear about where it wants to go. 

“Every record we’ve had, the album titles have been directly reflective of what we’ve had going on as a band at that time,” Heafy adds.  “The idea was to go from that nothingness to something special.  We didn’t know when or how or if but we knew we wanted it.  It was our goal.  That’s what the song was about.  It was about creating that vision of ourselves and to really go for it.”

On Trivium’s breakout album “Ascendancy, “ Heafy tackled the issue of domestic violence on the song “A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation”, a song he hopes will make some people feel less alone.

“I’ve actually had a lot of people who said, ‘Thanks to that song, I was able to read it and realize I’m not the only one and it helped me get through this.’  I’ve always preferred that people I cared about could put the burden off on me.”

On “The Crusade”, Heafy tells White Noise Metal he allowed his social viewpoints free rein with songs focusing on bigotry, homophobia, sexism, racism, and more, not your typical subjects for a heavy metal song.

“I never hear it so that’s why I do it,” Heafy tells Shields.  “I did get criticized by some of the people, not in our band but in our team, the industry people, saying you don’t need to come out this much about it but I said, ‘Why not?’  Everyone else gets to say how they’re so against it whether it be religions or political groups or whatever it is.  I wanted to tackle everything.”

Heafy says true Trivium fans appreciate that strong viewpoint.

“I think what that record did was weed out the people who were only into us because we were one of those trendy bands,” he adds.  “It showed the people early that we’re going to do anything, that we’re not afraid to do the opposite of what we normally do.  I think we definitely lost some people and I don’t know if they ever came back.  But if you’re going to hate our band just because we try something musically, you were never really in to us in the first place.  What people should want from their bands is a band that’s always being true to themselves and that record was as true as it could get.”

On the most recent release, “Shogun”, Trivium steps away from current politics and looks at history.  Heafy says he gets inspiration from his personal life, what’s going on in the band, what’s going on in the world, or anything that speaks to him.  He tells Shields you can often find him spending a lot of time on the road going to art museums.

“Lately I’ve been getting into modern and contemporary art,” he tells White Noise Metal. “I got to go to the Tate Modern in London.  It’s this old factory converted into modern and contemporary art.  I really like that because it’s their interpretation of what art should be.  They don’t follow the rules they just do what they like and I really like that a lot.  That’s the way I like to do music.  I don’t have formal training.  I don’t know music theory.  I can’t read music on guitar.  I’ve thought about teaching myself but then I thought I might be giving myself too many rules.  So I would rather just make my own rules and go with it.”

 Trivium has a new song coming out on the “Gods of War III” video game with 30 songs already written for the next studio album.

“It’s really great, the lyrics, the song title, the brutality, and you can really see what we’ve learned from every single record going into the next one.”

"White Noise Metal" focuses on the music produced by some of metal's biggest names.

The podcast is available for download or viewing on iTunes and at http://www.whitenoisemetal.com.

Brian.

He was also one of the best brickball players ever:

On the latest episode of the "White Noise Metal" video podcast, The Faceless' lead guitarist Michael Keene tells "That BS Dude Brian Shields" he draws a lot of his inspiration from the jazz he grew up listening to.

"I've borrowed from a lot of guitarists that I admire but maybe I package it in a way that's unrecognizable," Keene says. "My favorite guitarist is Allan Holdworth. I didn't grow up listening to too many metal guitarists. I grew up in a house where both my parents were musicians. My dad was a fusion guitar player so I grew up around all that kind of stuff."

The Encino, California band is developing a growing reputation among technical death metal acts through their first two releases, 2006's "Akeldama" and the 2008 release "Planetary Duality." Keene says the song "An Autopsy" off the first CD helped the band define their sound.

"I think that was the first song that we ever wrote that defined a pretty distinct direction for our band," Keene tells Shields. "I think the three or four songs prior to that that we had written, we were still trying to figure out what we were doing and who we were as a band. Actually a couple of those songs are on the first album and you can kind of tell because they don't sound like the rest of it. I think from there on out is where we developed a more focused sound. It's to this day still a crowd favorite. When the first CD came out that was the big popular song."

On "Planetary Duality," The Faceless fuses the lyrical power with Keene's stylistic guitar playing on the song "XenoChrist."

"That one just came together really well," the guitarist said. "It's got a lot of different moods and vibes and ups and downs. It's one of the more technical songs. One of the more ripping songs. That song took shape in a way where it had a very distinct characteristic. The lyrical content played off of it really well. It's probably my favorite song on the CD."

"Planetary Duality" has not one but two title tracks. Keene says the first song was originally just supposed to be an intro riff.

"It was later decided to divide them up," Keene notes I think with the lyrical content and the theme of the two tracks, we made a concious decision to let them play off the two vibes of the song. The second half of the track is very choatic and frantic and has this panicky overwhelming feeling to it. The lyrics are kind of explosive. 'When everything comes to a head and infinite dimensions cross paths to recreate reality.'"

Keene lists "Noctambulant" by "Spawn of Possession" as an influence on the song "Ancient Covenant." In "White Noise Metal"'s famous segment "Shit We Like," Keene lists some of the other music you'll find playing as The Faceless launches its "Planetary Depravity" co-headlining tour.

"As far as new stuff, we're all big on the new Obscura album," Keene says. "That's been in frequent rotation. The new "Psycroptic" album is really good too. We listen to a little bit of everything. We don't just listen to metal exclusively by any means. You'll find us listening to a lot of prog stuff, a lot of fusion and rock and a little bit of everything."

"White Noise Metal" focuses on the music produced by some of metal's biggest names. Previous episodes have featured "Shadows Fall," "Corrosion of Conformity," "Gojira," and "Between the Buried and Me." The podcast is available for download or viewing on iTunes, MySpace Music, and here at White Noise Metal

SAN FRANCISCO (WHITE NOISE METAL) – In a changing world, Shadows Fall frontman Brian Fair knows you have to be proactive about making change work for you. In the band’s second appearance on the White Noise Metal Video Podcast, Fair tells host “That BS Dude, Brian Shields” Shadows Fall is embracing that change from the way the band members write music to the way they get their creative product out to their unique fan base. Fair says taking responsibility for making things change is the theme of the first single off the new album “Retribution” called “Still I Rise.”

" Lyrically, it's a song about channeling inner strength and rejecting the idea that a lot of people will project perfection on something they think is unattainable,” Fair said. “The first line, 'Stop Searching the Sky for Answers and Look Within', instead of always putting things in the hands of a god or a higher power, realizing the power's within you and it's also your responsibility. If you want things to change, you can't just pray for change, you have to create change. It's not a knock on anyone's spiritual beliefs or religion but it's about not using that as an excuse or as an escape route but using it to inspire you. That's a problem I've always had with a dogmatic approach to religion. If you just want to read the rules and think at the end of the day I'll be fine because I did everything I was supposed to but if you don't do anything to help the world, that's kind of missing the point. It's also to know that when things seem the bleakest, to know you have the power inside you to make a change."

“Retribution” marks a change in approach for Shadows Fall who are coming off the Atlantic release “Threads of Life.”

“It's definitely a darker, more aggressive record than the last one,” Fair added. “There's still a lot of melody, it's always a big part of our sound. But this record is a little more up-tempo, more thrash beats. I think of a lot of it is the way we wrote. We wrote a lot of stuff altogether in the practice space, full volume, at once as opposed to trading CD'. I think that playing it altogether loud kicked it up a notch in intensity. A lot of the transitions were worked out on the spot as we jammed so you got a lot of the technical side of it there too. We're really excited. We think it's the perfect balance of all of our influences from old style classic metal, the Priest and the Maiden influences that we'll always have, through the melodic death metal like At the Gates, to everything we've ever done.”

Fair tells White Noise Metal the decision to write together in the practice space made the songs on “Retribution” instantly ready for live performances. On the podcast, he talks in detail about “Still I Rise” and “Public Execution” which he describes as the most brutal tune on the release.

“We've never had a curse on a record before. So we thought let's just chant 'fuck.' It just fit the energy of the song. It's sort of a song about anger and energy but it's unfocused. Just revolution for the sake of it but you don't really know what you're railing against. That kind of happens sometimes in aggressive music, especially in classic thrash where you have some lyrics that inspired you do something they just didn't tell you what. It's a tongue-in-cheek approach to that but at the same time using the same ways they get you to sing along. What better sing along to have than just 'Fuck it All.' I think it's also an attitude that a lot of people can embrace in this day and age when everything's just such a mess, you just throw your hands up in the air."

Brian Fair and Shadows Fall certainly aren’t throwing their hands up in the air when it comes to the changing face of the music industry. After that one record with Atlantic, the Shads have decided to create their own record label and maintain total control over the relationship they have with their fans.

“Major labels are kind of in a panic about record sales and doing things the way they used to,” Fair told White Noise Metal. “So we decided to be proactive about it. Let's change the business model. We still use a major label, Warner Music, as a distributor so they can get us into retail and open those doors we wouldn't be able to do on our own. They hire Ferret music out of that to do the everyday promotions, a DIY thinking label that understands a band like us from the ground up. We make the final decision about everything. We know the bottom line is no longer about helping the record label, it's about helping us because we're the bottom line."

Fair says it’s silly to stay on a sinking ship just because that’s the way the industry has always worked.

"It's about taking the power back,” the Shadows Fall singer added. “It's about flipping the grid where instead of everyone else getting paid and we get the trickle down royalties in the end, we flipped it so that now it gives you a motivation to work harder. Yes, it is more work running your own label but it's worth it in the end, especially to go from 10-to-12 percent to 70-to-80 percent, big difference."

Fair says Shadows Fall knows its audience better than someone sitting in a record company office. While touring in support of “Retribution” the singer is talking daily with fans on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. The band also has set up its own social networking site using the Ning platform.

"On this tour, I'm going to give a secret password on Twitter with something random,” Fair said. “So if you come to the merch table and say this, you're going to get free something. If we have guest list spots, I'm going to give them away on Twitter. We're going to use it as a way to talk to people. It may be something as simple as if you meet me at 7:00 tomorrow, I'll buy you a shot of Jägermeister if you have a valid ID. It's cool. All of the tools are out there because it's getting tough to survive as a band in the traditional ways if you don't find a way to make it work."

So what will you find in Brian Fair’s mp3 player these days? In White Noise Metal’s famous segment called “Shit We Like”, the Shadows Fall frontman says he’s been listening to a lot of instrumental music lately.

“One band is Russian Circles. I really love their record “Station.” It will start really minimalistic with these guitar riffs and it will build to these huge riffs. It's sick. Maybe I listen to a lot of instrumental music because I'm a singer so I'm sick of people yelling at me. That's one band people should definitely check out."

White Noise Metal with That BS Dude Brian Shields features interviews and profiles with some of the top names in the genre. Previous episodes have featured bands raging from Gojira to Between the Buried and Me to Corrosion of Conformity. White Noise Metal is available at http://www.whitenoisemetal.com, on iTunes, and on MySpace Video.