Culture
Trivium’s Paolo Gregoletto on the importance of taking creative risks, the art of maintaining and growing an audience, and more
By: Nicholas Kobe
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WOUB) – Metalcore mainstays Trivium have earned a reputation for being one of the most dominant forces in the subgenre.
The band has been touring relentlessly in support of their newest and tenth studio album, 2021’s “In The Court of The Dragon.” WOUB Culture’s Nicholas Kobe spoke with Trivium bassist Paolo Gregoletto before the band performs at the Sonic Temple Festival later this month.
If you had to describe Trivium in one sentence to someone who isn’t familiar with the band, what would you say?
Paolo Gregoletto:
I would say we’re kind of a combo of everything from the classics, like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Slayer – up through kind of a little bit of the Florida death metal scene. Then of course, our own sprinkling of like metal core and all that stuff.
Nicholas Kobe:
So: death metal, classic metal, and your contemporaries in Metalcore? How have you guys managed to kinda synthesize those over the years?
Paolo Gregoletto:
We’re all big metal fans – so it wasn’t really hard to kind of bring all these different things together because we generally all have a lot of things that we all like, and then there’s stuff that I think each of us kind of bring in, preference wise. It’s kind of synthesized over the years as we have continued to write together and have learned each other’s styles. When we got Alex, our drummer, into the band in 2016, I think we really kind of hit a new stride with our creative output.
Nicholas Kobe:
What do you think is one of the more ambitious things you guys have tried, musically?
Paolo Gregoletto:
In Waves was definitely an ambitious record, especially with the song “In Waves.” When I brought in the riffs that were the beginning of that song, it was way different than where we were at on Shogun. I kind of felt like after doing such a long, kind of proggy type record, we were almost due for — I don’t wanna say correction — but sort of heading to a different space cuz it felt like we’d put so much into that record. Plus we had a lot of time and a new drummer – Nick Augusto in the band. We kind of went back to drop D tuning, even though we dropped a little bit lower from there, that’s classic Trivium Ascendancy-era tuning. And so, the riffs and styles we were writing were a little more concise. In Waves was this sort of a left field thing after Shogun but it felt good. Eventually when it did come out it felt like it really connected. And I think to this day it’s definitely one of our most popular live songs.
Sometimes you kind of gotta swing for the fences with those kinds of things — and it doesn’t always work, but that one felt really good. Other things I would say, on Vengeance Falls, that was definitely a bit of a departure for us as well. We ended up working with David Draymond, from Disturbed, we had actually met him on the In Waves cycle. We did a tour together. We talked a little bit cuz he really loved that record and he was like, “Hey look, we’re going on a hiatus for a bit. I kind of want to try to work on some production stuff if you guys are interested, maybe we could talk” and we kind of went from there. Sometimes you just kind of just go with something different. We did work with Colin for the mix again, Colin Richardson. So there was a little bit of trying something new and trying something we’ve done before with that record. You could say the same thing really about In Waves, Vengeance Falls and even Silence in the Snow. I think In Waves – of all three of those – is probably my favorite. We just kind of learned you just take that leap of faith and see what happens. We’ve always been able to get back up and try it again. Hopefully that will continue.
Nicholas Kobe:
Yeah. So you guys are still planning on, or still, you know, trying to keep swinging for the fences on your more recent stuff?
Paolo Gregoletto:
Our last three albums have been our most consistent in terms of lineup stability, with Alex behind the kit bringing a new level of intensity both live and in the studio. We’ve been working with Josh Wilbur for production on all three albums, and we’ve been jamming together for the past six years. While we’re in a good place as a band, we don’t want to get too comfortable and always strive for something more interesting or better. That’s how our album In Waves came about. We’ve cultivated a strong fan base that gives us the freedom to try new things creatively, and that’s what’s made us a durable band against any internal or external challenges. Despite being a band for so long, we’ve always found new ways to keep our connection strong, and from our perspective, we’ve never been bigger or stronger. The record is what matters most now, and we’re fortunate to have such a solid fan base. However, we can’t take that for granted and must always look for ways to grow and evolve as a band.
Nicholas Kobe:
How have you guys not only maintained the connection with the people that are consistent within the band, but also added new people into the fold?
Paolo Gregoletto:
When I first joined the band, we had a pretty solid lineup for four years. However, we had to make a change, and there was a period of turnover with different drummers coming in for two records at a time. We even had a fill-in guy for a tour cycle. It was tough, especially since we were also breaking through in America at the same time. Despite the lineup changes, our core team of management, agents, and label has always been consistent, which has helped us maintain an unbroken streak of releasing records with Road Runner. We’re lucky to have grown tighter as people with Matt and Corey, and we’re pretty introspective when things don’t go right. While we don’t blame ourselves for everything, we always look inwards and try to figure out what we could have done better. Having a backbone and core values are important in this tough business, and we’ve been fortunate to have those.
Nicholas Kobe:
How would you say that your abilities and your approach to playing bass have changed over the years?
Paolo Gregoletto:
When I first joined the band, we were fortunate because we started at a young age, and by the time we began, we had developed our playing skills quite well. This was a significant advantage for us as we hit the ground running with the release of Ascendancy and extensive touring. Since then, over the years, the number of songs we’ve written, and the various producers, people, bands, and tours we’ve worked with has all seeped into our playing. As a bass player, practicing and writing frequently has refined the style I brought into the band and made it much tighter and more consistent. I can think of things I’d like to try and accomplish, whether it’s something more technical or that fits a song better or in terms of songwriting. Although I also play guitar, I don’t play as much, and I notice that with the guitar, I have to warm up and be in the zone. While I have always been a good guitar player, I don’t consider myself a guitarist first. Bass is different; you just do what you want to do, and much of it comes second nature. That said, playing more guitar does make me better, but I feel immediately comfortable with the bass, whereas with the guitar, I’m comfortable after playing for a while.
Nicholas Kobe:
How do you guys tow the line between making songs that are heavy and intense but also giving them these big hooks and making them accessible?
Paolo Gregoletto:
I believe it’s important to set some boundaries with creative work. You should know your own style and understand where certain limits are. I don’t like to say that we restrict ourselves with writing, but there’s a point where things start to veer into a different direction. For example, if we go too far into death metal territory, it might not fit the Trivium style. Once you’ve developed a certain style, you can’t deviate too much from it or it won’t feel the same. However, this is a subjective thing, as some artists do it well. In a band, there’s always a push and pull, and the best part of working with other musicians is figuring it out together. We’re like a little focus group, vibing off of each other’s ideas. Once we’re happy with something, we test it on a few people we trust before it goes to producers. Hopefully, by the time it gets to the fans, they’ll like it.
Nicholas Kobe:
You can go a little bit in one direction, you can go a little bit in the other direction. Yeah. But at some point it’s still gotta be Trivium.
Paolo Gregoletto:
Yeah, our biggest successes have definitely come from taking some risks, like I mentioned earlier, to expand our sound. But you have to be careful not to push too far too fast. For example, when we went from Ascendancy to The Crusade, it was such a big change that it felt like there was a huge gap between the two. But if we had released Shogun right after Ascendancy, it might not have felt as different because it had a lot of the aggression that fans were looking for in a follow-up album.
Nicholas Kobe:
What is a lyrical topic or a lyrical theme or whatever that you guys would be interested in covering in the future?
Paolo Gregoletto:
Yeah, We’ve been tossing around different ideas lately, and I could definitely see us incorporating more Japanese culture into our music, like we did with Shogun. Of course, we’d want to do it in a new and different way. I like to keep our options open because sometimes we come together and realize we’re not feeling a certain idea. But the Japanese influence is something we’ve been known for in the past and there’s plenty of material we can work with. It doesn’t have to be a full themed album, maybe just a song or two that represent the overall vibe.
Our next record is going to be interesting because we’re building out our studio space in the hangar, so we’ll be able to record everything there year-round. It’s going to give us a lot more flexibility since we won’t have to cram everything into a six-week recording session or write everything beforehand. We’ve been touring so much that we haven’t had much time to just rehearse and play around with ideas, so I’m excited to get back into that side of things. It feels good to shift gears a bit and put touring on the back burner for now.
Nicholas Kobe:
With this upcoming Sonic Temple Festival, what’s something that you’re particularly excited about this festival and just other festival performances in general?
Paolo Gregoletto:
I’m excited to get back out and do some festivals here in the States. We’ve done a little bit overseas and it always reminds me just how fun they are. Like the downside of any festival is just, sets aren’t as long as a headlining set, but we’re at least high enough on the bill where we don’t have too short of a set usually. It’s kind of a nice thing to kind of get out there and just know you’re in front of a whole new audience. Mostly, you know, you have your fans that have come to see you, but, a lot of it’s people like, “Hey, I’ve heard of this band, or I like this song, I wanna check ’em out”. Turn a casual listener or a new listener into that die hard core of our fan base.
Nicholas Kobe:
What’s an album or a part of the Trivium discography that you’re really proud of that you feel like doesn’t quite get enough attention?
Paolo Gregoletto:
I think some of the stuff on Vengeance Falls gets overlooked and slept on a little bit. I’m not totally sure why because “Strife” is one of our biggest songs and it did really well, but there’s a lot of stuff on there that kind of got overlooked. It’s not one of my favorite records of ours, but there’s a lot of stuff on there that I really love, especially the back half of the record. It’s a lot to ask people to get to that point though. You gotta be a real die-hard to get that far into it. This year’s the 10th anniversary of that record, which is crazy to me, and I want to remaster it because one of the problems was that I think it got mastered a little too loud and it kind of crunched the mix, which was actually really good. We were all stoked with where things were. Then I think the mastering sort of squashed it a little bit. I would like to remaster it to be a little bit more dynamic and make it sound clearer. If we could do that, maybe there would be some interest in checking it out.
Nicholas Kobe:
Let me just ask you one more quick question. I guess we’ve already talked about this already, but what do you think is next for Trivium?
Paolo Gregoletto:
In the immediate future, we have this co-headlining tour with Beartooth, some festivals in the US, and that’s it for the US. We’ve been touring for a while now in support of our last two records, and we’re kind of in overtime. Honestly, we didn’t even think we would be doing another US tour after our headliner, so this is a bonus for us. Then we have one more tour in August, some European festivals, and playing in the UK, hitting all the cities except for the major ones. After that, we don’t have any concrete plans for the foreseeable future. There might be something that pops up randomly next year, but we’re not trying to fill our calendar up. Our main focus is to get some rest, start thinking about the next record, and get our studio built. That’s really all we have planned at this point.