Trivium frontman Matt Heafy is featured in a new interview with Music Radar discussed how he and the band navigated a turbulent 2020 thanks to the ongoing global pandemic. 

While the financial rewards of Twitch and the lauded A Light Or A Distant Mirror and The Deepest Cuts live shows have helped pay the bills and led to the band purchasing a new rehearsal and studio space – an aircraft hangar for any future virtual endeavours christened Trivium HQ – ultimately it's all part of the band's efforts to stay ahead of the curve and continue to be, if not the biggest band on the planet, but the best band and musicians they can be. 

Heafy: "I don’t feel a need to prove myself to anybody anymore. I feel this confidence with what I have. I’m still going to practice to be the best singer and guitar player of the best band in the world. I know in the back of my head I know that may not happen. What I say is I practice to be as good Bruce Dickinson, Freddie Mercury and John Petrucci, knowing it won’t happen, and work to be in the biggest band in the world knowing it might not happen. But I put in the practice that it would require to make that happen. That’s the key, it’s not to make it a nihilistic thing, you should put in that amount of training for everything you do in life, you should work to make the absolute maximum possibility. That’s why it’s non-stop."

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Modern guitar virtuoso / content creator Jared Dines and Grammy Award-nominated Trivium frontman Matt Heafy have joined forces for the groundbreaking Dines X Heafy EP. Bridging the gap between online content creators and recording artists, the five song EP is available today on all streaming platforms, here.

“Matt was pre-internet in the way he launched his career, releasing records, playing shows, and signing to a label,” observes Dines. “I’m post-internet in the way I launched my career by using YouTube, Facebook, and all of these other video apps. It is interesting to see the crossover though. Matt has done everything traditionally. At the same time, he embraced new technologies instead of shutting them out. By doing this together, we get to be in both worlds. The EP was recorded in a raw and real manner. So, it has a different element. It would be cool to show everyone it does not matter if you are a guitarist from Instagram or you are in a big band, you can do things together. At the end of the day, the goal is simple—we’re just trying to write good songs and create some cool shit.”

“Streaming actually helped me improve as a singer and as a guitarist, because I’m practicing all day in front of people,” exclaims Heafy. “The culture is very regimented. However, I have always had that mentality, because my mom is Japanese, and my dad was a marine. Now, it is a combination of three things: streaming, training, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Those practices made me better at what I do and prepared me to jump into something new. I took a very different approach to Dines X Heafy. It all came very organically without any planning.”

To celebrate the release, later today Dines and Heafy will unveil a music video for the single “Dear Anxiety” via Dines' YouTube. On the track, airtight riffing collides with a seismic refrain upheld by Heafy’s soaring delivery. It spirals out into a flurry of soloing.

Dines and Heafy first crossed paths back in 2017 when Heafy blindly messaged Dines on social media. He went on to participate in Dines’ popular “Shred Wars” series, amassing 2.2 million views on their matchup. A year later, Dines filled in when Heafy exited Trivium’s autumn US tour to be present for the birth of his twins. Around the same time, Dines shared a folder of ideas and set the stage for what would become Dines X Heafy. Mixed by Will Putney, Dines laid down guitars, bass, and drums in Washington, while Matt handled vocals and select solos in Florida. They unlocked an inimitable chemistry, striking a balance between arena-ready hard rock hooks and technically proficient, metallic fireworks.

Tracklisting:

"Dear Anxiety"
"Can We Turn Back Yesterday?"
"Dying At The Sight Of The Rain"
"To Save Me From Myself"
"We Lost It All"