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Matt Heafy

American singer and guitarist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Matt Heafy
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Not to be confused with Matty Healy.

Matthew Kiichi Heafy (/ˈheɪfi/ HAY-fee; born January 26, 1986)[1] is a Japanese-American musician, best known as the guitarist and lead vocalist for heavy metal band Trivium.[2] He was also the lead vocalist for the band Capharnaum, along with Trivium's former producer Jason Suecof. In 2017, Heafy was voted sixth on the Ultimate Guitar list "Top 25 Greatest Modern Frontmen".[3]

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Early life

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Heafy was born in Iwakuni, Japan, on January 26, 1986, to a Japanese mother and an American father. His father, formerly a member of the United States Marine Corps, is half-Irish and half-German.[4] Heafy has a younger sister, Michelle, who is a YouTuber.[5] Although Heafy was born in Japan, he lived there for one year and does not speak Japanese fluently; however, he uses some basic phrases when he performs in Japan.[6] His family then moved to Orlando, Florida, where he currently resides. Heafy attended Lake Brantley High School. He completed his senior year while touring in Europe and graduated in 2004.[7][8] During those years, Heafy lived a straight edge lifestyle.[9]

Heafy learned to play the tenor saxophone while practicing guitar, becoming more serious about the latter instrument at the age of eleven. During this period, he mostly listened to pop-punk and auditioned for a local band, "Freshly Squeezed", by playing the Blink-182 song "Dammit." However, he never got a follow-up call back. Heafy cites being introduced to heavy metal by his classmate, David, who gave him a copy of Metallica's self-titled album.[10][11]

Heafy is self-taught; he has not studied formal music theory. He can read sheet music, but can only apply it when playing the saxophone. In 2015, he began formal guitar training.[12]

"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."[11]

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Career

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Main article: Trivium (band)
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Heafy performing at Mayhem Festival 2009

Following his guitar performance at the school's talent show, Heafy was asked to try out for Trivium by the band's original singer, Brad Lewter. Originally, Heafy was accepted as lead guitarist, despite being only 12 years old (other members were 15-16 at that time). Lewter, however, quit the band in less than a month due to creative differences over the band's future musical direction. Drummer Travis Smith persuaded Heafy to do vocals, even though Heafy himself was unsure of his singing voice at the time. The band started looking for an external singer to fill the position but had trouble finding a suitable candidate. Eventually, Heafy agreed to become a full-time lead singer for Trivium while keeping the position of lead guitarist for the band. He taught himself growling and screaming, especially doing so during the band's early years. However, he admitted that using improper technique caused severe damage to his vocal chords in the years leading up to the band's performance at Rock on the Range in 2014, where he lost his voice on stage. That same year, he started taking vocal lessons from coach Ron Anderson, following advice from M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold. In 2016, Heafy returned to performing live unclean vocals with the same frequency as he did prior to his injury, citing Anderson's lessons as a source of help and improvement.[13] He claims that the new technique is actually easier than normal talking.

With the release of Trivium's fourth album, Shogun, Heafy greatly expanded his vocal range, going from melodic singing to hardcore screams. In 2011, Trivium's fifth studio album, In Waves, was released with a 'greater emphasis on songs rather than skill,' with the album featuring the full range of Heafy's vocal talents, with some songs being entirely composed of screaming, others with no screaming at all, and many songs that fused the two, like previous releases.

In Trivium, Heafy occasionally shares lead guitar duties with Corey Beaulieu, although he is responsible for recording the rhythm tracks on the albums.

After Ember to Inferno, Heafy jokingly played in the post-hardcore genre, releasing one song titled "Head on Collision with a Rosebush Catching Fire" under the name Tomorrow Is Monday.[14]

On December 4, 2020, Heafy released a collaborative 5-track EP with American YouTuber and musician Jared Dines.[15]

Ibaraki

Quick facts Ibaraki, Also known as ...

On January 21, 2022, Heafy unveiled the first single, "Tamashii no Houkai", from his black metal influenced project Ibaraki. The song features Ihsahn of black metal band Emperor.[17]

Ibaraki's debut album, Rashomon, was released on May 6, 2022, which features Nergal of Behemoth and Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, in addition to Ihsahn.[18] The album's lyrics were inspired by Heafy's Japanese heritage, drawing from Japanese mythology and folklore.[19]

Roadrunner United

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Heafy in 2012

In 2005, Roadrunner Records released Roadrunner United: The All-Star Sessions to celebrate the label's 25th anniversary. Four "team captains" were chosen: Joey Jordison (Slipknot, Murderdolls, Scar the Martyr), Robb Flynn (Machine Head), and Dino Cazares (Fear Factory), as well as Heafy.[20] Heafy also wrote the lyrics and sang the lead vocals to "The End," captained by Dino Cazares. He and 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.[21]

The same year, he sang one song, "Blind", for Korn at the Download Festival when Korn's lead vocalist Jonathan Davis fell ill.[22]

Heafy—along with several other metal artists—makes guest appearances in the music videos for "Aesthetics of Hate" by Machine Head, "All I Want" by A Day to Remember, and "Moving On" by Asking Alexandria.

In 2014, Heafy contributed to DragonForce's sixth studio album, titled Maximum Overload. He performed backing vocals in three of the album's ten tracks: "The Game", "Defenders", and "No More".

In 2015, Heafy contributed to the metal supergroup album Metal Allegiance. He provided lead vocals and additional guitars on the track "Destination: Nowhere". He also contributed on guitar for the track "Triangulum I. Creation II. Evolution III. Destruction".

In 2016, Heafy appeared on the album Arktis by fellow musician Ihsahn.

In October 2019, Heafy was a featured guest-vocalist on an acoustic version of "Stabbing in the Dark" by Ice Nine Kills.

On December 4, 2020, Heafy appeared on a 5-song collaborative EP with youtuber Jared Dines titled "Dines x Heafy". The music video for the song "Dear Anxiety" was also released on the same day.[23] Heafy and Dines had previously collaborated on a cover of "Better Now" by Post Malone.[24]

On July 16, 2021, Heafy provided guest vocals on Powerwolf's re-recording of "Fist by Fist (Sacralize or Strike)" on the deluxe version of Call of the Wild.[25]

Heafy appears as a guest vocalist in Funcom's Metal: Hellsinger,[26] and has provided two songs for "The Awakened King" expansion of Remnant 2.[27] He's acting as composer and sound designer for the upcoming game Martial Arts Tycoon.[26][27]

Since November 23, 2022, Heafy has hosted "Chaos Hour" on SiriusXM Liquid Metal. The show airs every Wednesday at 6 PM ET and features Heafy's curated playlists of metal music that inspires him, along with guests from the metal and gaming communities.[28]

On November 10, 2023, Heafy performed the song "Tears Don't Fall" on stage with Bullet For My Valentine at their show in Orlando.[29]

Heafy had a guest appearance on Enterprise Earth's fifth studio album Death:An Anthology which was released on February 2, 2024.[30]

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Equipment

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Guitars

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Heafy at Rock im Park, Germany, 2014

Since 2009, Heafy has endorsed Gibson. Prior to that, he endorsed Dean Guitars after he and Corey Beaulieu were given Dean Razorback prototypes in 2006. In 2008, his signature model, an ML shape with a graphic of the Japanese Rising Sun, was released. He stopped using Dean Guitars following some disagreements. In summer 2009, Gibson made Heafy a custom 7-string Explorer, which later became a production model.

In 2013, Epiphone released his artist signature model Les Paul in both 6- and 7-string versions. Heafy was previously seen playing his signature models on the Dream Theater "A Dramatic Turn of Events Tour".[31] In 2017, Epiphone released a new signature model called "Snøfall", inspired by Trivium's 2015 album Silence in the Snow. In 2022, Epiphone released his signature Les Paul Custom Origins with his signature Fishman Fluence pickups and in black and white, 6- and 7-strings and right and left-handed configurations.[32]

Personal life

On January 9, 2010, Heafy married Ashley Howard in Orlando, Florida.[33] The wedding was attended by their close friends and family. The couple has twins: a daughter and a son, born on November 6, 2018.[34] Heafy returned from tour to be with Howard while she gave birth. During this time, Howard Jones and Johannes Eckerström performed guest vocals on various songs, with YouTuber Jared Dines on guitar.

Heafy has been confused for The 1975 frontman Matty Healy on multiple occasions due to the similarities of their names. In January 2023, Heafy responded to a Cameo request from a user that mistook him for Healy.[35]

Twitch streaming

Heafy is a gamer and practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He live streams daily on his Twitch channel "matthewkheafy", which consists of him playing video games, running guitar clinics, performing vocal warm-ups, showcasing his Brazilian jiu-jitsu classes, and playing Trivium songs and acoustic covers.[36]

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Discography

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Heafy performing in 2008

With Trivium

Main article: Trivium discography

With Capharnaum

Mindscar

  • "Midwinter Darkness" demo (2002)
  • Kill the King (2015) - guitars (track 1), vocals (tracks 1, 7, 8)

Tomorrow Is Monday

  • Lush Like an Antpile (2004)
  • "Head on Collision with a Rosebush Catching Fire" (2004)

With Jared Dines

  • Dines x Heafy (2020)

With Ibaraki

  • Rashomon (2022)

Others

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References

External links

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