Matt Heafy

Matt Heafy

Matthew Kiichi "Matt" Heafy (born January 26, 1986 in Iwakuni, Japan) is the lead vocalist and guitarist for the band Trivium. Heafy is also the vocalist for the band Capharnaum, along with Trivium's former producer Jason Suecof.

Biography

Heafy is Japanese on his mother's side and American on his father's side. As stated in an interview, he was born in Iwakuni, Japan, and only lived there for one year. His family then moved to Orlando, Florida, where he currently resides.

Matt Heafy learned to play the saxophone in years leading up to becoming more serious on guitar at the age of twelve.

Heafy attended Lake Brantley High School. He completed his senior year while also touring in Europe, and graduated in 2004. He currently plays a custom Gibson 7-string guitar. He used 6-string guitars for Trivium's first two albums, utilizing standard tuning and Drop D tuning on Ember to Inferno, and solely drop D tuning on Ascendancy. On Trivium's third record, The Crusade, he returned to standard tuning and performed some songs on 7-string guitars. On Shogun, Heafy used 7-string guitars almost exclusively, with only two songs using a 6-string. For Trivium's fifth studio album, Heafy will return to solely 6-string guitars and drop D tuning as seen on Ascendancy.

Despite his talent on the instrument, Heafy does not know formal music theory, and was almost completely self-taught, however, he does know how to read sheet music, but can only apply it on the saxophone. "Self taught for quite a bit of it, did lessons on and off for maybe two or three years, but I do not know anything formal music on guitar. I do on saxophone though…but that doesn’t help me on guitar."

On January 10, 2010, Heafy married Ashley Howard in Orlando, Florida. The wedding was attended by close friends and family.

Matt still often uses the same first Gibson Les Paul he got from his father, in both alive and in a studio setting.

Trivium

Matt Heafy unofficially joined Trivium at the age of twelve, but became the offical frontman after Brad Lewter, the previous vocalist of Trivium, quit the band shortly after Heafy joined. Heafy assumed responsibility for vocals and the majority of the songwriting. Matt's debut with Trivium included his compositions of "Fugue", "Demon", "Requiem", "Sworn", and "The Storm". He has also composed the songs and lyrics for Ember to Inferno and Ascendancy.

With the release of Trivium's 4th album, Shogun, Heafy greatly expanded his vocal range; from very melodic singing to hardcore screams similar to those on the first two albums. In Trivium, Matt also shares lead guitar duties with Corey Beaulieu.

Tomorrow Is Monday

After Ember to Inferno, Matt decided to experiment with post-hardcore music, and made a joke band called Tomorrow Is Monday. They have released 1 song, called "Head on Collision with a Rosebush Catching Fire". As revealed in a recent interview in Rock Sound, they wrote, recorded and edited the song in one hour.

Roadrunner United

In 2005, Roadrunner Records released Roadrunner United: The All-Star Sessions to celebrate the label's 25th birthday. Four "team captains" were chosen: Joey Jordison (Slipknot, Murderdolls), Robert Flynn (Machine Head), and Dino Cazares (Fear Factory) as well as Heafy. Heafy also wrote the lyrics and sang the lead vocals to "The End", captained by Dino Cazares. He and fellow bandmate/guitarist Corey Beaulieu recorded the song "In the Fire" as well, featuring singer King Diamond, bassist Mike D'Antonio, and drummer Dave Chavarri. He also wrote and played guitar on the tracks "Dawn of a Golden Age", "I Don't Wanna Be (A Superhero)" and "Blood and Flames", also contributing vocals to the latter.

Other appearances

Heafy won the Metal Hammer Golden God award in 2006.

Also in 2006, he handled vocals for the band Korn (singing one song) at the Download Festival when Korn's lead vocalist Jonathan Davis fell ill.

Heafy—along with several other metal artists—makes a guest appearance in the music video for "All I Want" by A Day to Remember, released January 7, 2011.

Musical Influences

Matt Heafy cites musicians James Hetfield, John Petrucci, Yngwie Malmsteen, Tosin Abasi, and many others as his primary influences. His style was mostly influenced by bands such as Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Slayer, Pantera, Dream Theater, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Poison the Well, and later on In Flames, Children of Bodom, Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquility, Opeth, Dimmu Borgir, Dark Funeral and Anorexia Nervosa.

Equipment

Guitars

Heafy is well known for using a black Gibson Les Paul Custom, fitted with EMG pickups and gold hardware, as seen in the video for "Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr" in 2005, and the video for "Like Light to the Flies" in 2004. He was also known to use a white Gibson Les Paul Supreme, also with EMG pickups, during this period, as seen in the video for "A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation" in 2005. Heafy used Gibson guitars until Rita Haney, partner of 20 years to Dimebag Darrell, gave him and Corey Beaulieu each one of Dimebag's signature Dean guitars in the same year, later spawning a three-year-long endorsement with Dean Guitars (as Dimebag was working on a new signature model with Dean prior to his death in December 2004). NAMM 2008 saw Matt Heafy's first signature guitar with Dean, which featured a Japanese rising sun graphic across a classic Dean ML body. The guitar also featured a Floyd Rose locking tremolo system, a carved neck heel (USA model only) and a 24-fret neck, Trivium logos on the 12th fret and at the headstock, Matt's signature on the truss rod cover, and Matt's MKH86 signature bridge pickup, controlled by one volume knob only. As of January 2009, Matt and Corey's contract with Dean had expired, and they returned to using Gibson and Jackson respectively, first seen in the music video for "Throes of Perdition". Matt is now officially signed with Gibson guitars. Matt's custom 7-string Gibson Explorer can be seen in photos from Trivium's performances at Mayhem Festival 2009.

Discography

Trivium

• Trivium EP (2003)
• Ember to Inferno (2003)
• Ascendancy (2005)
• The Crusade (2006)
• Shogun (2008)
• TBA (2011)

Capharnaum

• Fractured (2004)

MindScar

• MindScar EP (2001)

Tomorrow Is Monday

• Lush Like an Antpile (2004)

1. "Head on Collision with a Rosebush Catching Fire"

Other

• Roadrunner United (2005)
• Master of Puppets: Remastered (2006)
• Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden (2008)

External links

• Trivium's official web site
• Matt Heafy at Dean Guitars