Matt Heafy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Matt Heafy
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Heafy at Hellfest 2019 playing his Les Paul “Snøfall” Custom guitar
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| Background information | |
| Born | January 26, 1986 Iwakuni, Japan |
| Origin | Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1998–present |
Matthew Kiichi Heafy (born January 26, 1986) is a Japanese-American musician. He is best known as the guitarist and lead singer for the heavy metal band Trivium. He also sang for the band Capharnaum. In 2017, Heafy was named one of the top modern frontmen by Ultimate Guitar.
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Early life and musical start
Heafy was born in Iwakuni, Japan. His mother is Japanese and his father is American. He lived in Japan for only one year. His family then moved to Orlando, Florida, where he lives now.
Heafy went to Lake Brantley High School. He finished high school while also touring in Europe. He learned to play the tenor saxophone first. He started playing guitar seriously at age eleven. A classmate introduced him to heavy metal by giving him a Metallica album.
Heafy mostly taught himself to play guitar. He knows how to read music for the saxophone, but not for guitar. In 2015, he began taking formal guitar lessons. He still uses the first Gibson Les Paul guitar his father gave him for recording. For live shows, he uses a special Epiphone Les Paul guitar.
Music career
After a school talent show, Matt Heafy was asked to try out for Trivium. He was only 12 years old. He first joined as the lead guitarist. The band's first singer left soon after. The drummer, Travis Smith, convinced Heafy to try singing.
Heafy taught himself how to do "growling" and "screaming" vocals. These are common in heavy metal music. However, he did these techniques incorrectly for many years. This hurt his vocal cords. In 2014, he had trouble singing during a show. He then started taking vocal lessons from a coach named Ron Anderson. By 2016, he was able to use these vocal styles again without injury. He says the new way is even easier than talking.
Trivium's fourth album, Shogun, showed Heafy's wide vocal range. He could sing very melodically or use hardcore screams. Their fifth album, In Waves, used all his vocal talents. Some songs were all screaming, some had no screaming, and many mixed both.
Heafy sometimes shares lead guitar parts with Corey Beaulieu. But Heafy usually records the rhythm guitar parts for the albums.
In 2020, Heafy worked with American YouTuber and musician Jared Dines. They released a 5-song album together.
Ibaraki project
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Ibaraki
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| Also known as | Mrityu (formerly) |
| Origin | United States |
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| Years active | 2012–2020 (as Mrityu), 2022–present |
| Labels | Nuclear Blast |
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In 2022, Heafy started a new music project called Ibaraki. It is influenced by black metal music. The first song, "Tamashii no Houkai," featured Ihsahn from the band Emperor.
Ibaraki's first album, Rashomon, came out in May 2022. It included guest artists like Nergal from Behemoth and Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance. The songs on the album are inspired by Heafy's Japanese background. They use stories from Japanese myths and folklore.
Roadrunner United music project
In 2005, Roadrunner Records celebrated its 25th birthday. They released an album called Roadrunner United: The All-Star Sessions. Four musicians were chosen to lead teams, and Heafy was one of them. He also wrote and sang on some songs for the project.
Other musical appearances
Heafy won the Metal Hammer "Golden God" award in 2006.
That same year, he sang for the band Korn at the Download Festival. This happened when Korn's singer was sick.
Heafy has appeared in music videos for other bands. These include Machine Head, A Day to Remember, and Asking Alexandria.
In 2014, Heafy sang backing vocals on three songs for DragonForce's album Maximum Overload.
He also sang and played guitar on the album Metal Allegiance in 2015. This album featured many metal musicians.
In 2016, Heafy appeared on the album Arktis by musician Ihsahn.
He has also provided guest vocals for bands like Ice Nine Kills, Powerwolf, The Halo Effect, and Enterprise Earth.
Heafy has also contributed to video games. He provided songs for Metal: Hellsinger and Remnant 2. He is also working as a composer for an upcoming game called Martial Arts Tycoon.
In November 2023, Heafy performed the song "Tears Don't Fall" with the band Bullet For My Valentine in his hometown.
Musical gear
Guitars
Heafy has worked with Gibson since 2009. Before that, he used Dean guitars. In 2008, Dean released his own signature guitar model.
In 2013, Epiphone released his special Les Paul guitars. These came in 6 and 7 string versions. In 2017, Epiphone released a new signature model called "SnØfall." It was inspired by Trivium's 2015 album Silence in the Snow. This guitar is white and comes in 6 and 7 string versions. In 2022, Epiphone released his Les Paul Custom Origins guitars. They have special pickups and come in black and white, 6 and 7 strings, and for both right-handed and left-handed players.
Here are some of the guitars he uses:
- Epiphone Les Paul Custom Origins Signature (black and white, 6 and 7 string, for left and right-handed players)
- Epiphone Les Paul Custom Signature Model (black, 6 and 7 string)
- Epiphone Les Paul Custom "Snøfall" Signature Model (all white, 6 and 7 string, inspired by Silence in the Snow)
- Gibson Les Paul Custom (in black, white, and silverburst colors)
- Gibson Explorer 7 string (in white and black)
- Hummingbird Acoustic (when needed)
- Dean ML MKH Rising Sun signature model and other models
- Dean Razorback
Personal life
On January 9, 2010, Heafy married Ashley Howard in Orlando, Florida. They have twins, a daughter and a son, who were born on November 6, 2018.
Heafy is sometimes confused with The 1975 singer Matty Healy. This is because their names sound similar.
Twitch streaming
Heafy enjoys playing video games and practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He often does live streams on his Twitch channel, "matthewkheafy." On his streams, he plays video games, gives guitar lessons, does vocal warm-ups, shows his jiu-jitsu classes, and plays Trivium songs or acoustic covers.
Discography
With Trivium
- Ember to Inferno (2003)
- Ascendancy (2005)
- The Crusade (2006)
- Shogun (2008)
- In Waves (2011)
- Vengeance Falls (2013)
- Silence in the Snow (2015)
- The Sin and the Sentence (2017)
- What the Dead Men Say (2020)
- In the Court of the Dragon (2021)
With Capharnaum
- Fractured (2004)
With Mindscar
- "Midwinter Darkness" demo (2002)
- Kill the King (2015)
With Jared Dines
- Dines x Heafy (2020)
With Ibaraki
- Rashomon (2022)
Other appearances
- Roadrunner United (2005)
- "Master of Puppets" (2006)
- Machine Head - "Aesthetics of Hate" (Music video cameo) (2007)
- Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden (2008)
- A Day to Remember - "All I Want" (Music video cameo) (2011)
- Caliban - "Falling Downwards" (2014)
- DragonForce - guest vocals on "The Game", "No More" and "Defenders" (2014)
- Upon a Burning Body - guest vocals on "Blood, Sweat and Tears" (2014)
- Asking Alexandria - "Moving On" (Music video cameo) (2014)
- Metal Allegiance - lead vocals and additional guitar on "Destination: Nowhere" (2015)
- Maiden Heaven Volume 2: An All-Star Tribute To Iron Maiden (2016)
- Ihsahn - backing vocals on "Mass Darkness" (2016)
- Any Given Day - guest vocals on "Arise" (2016)
- SHVPES - guest vocals on "Rain" (2018)
- In Vain - guest vocals on "Soul Adventurer" (2018)
- Ice Nine Kills - guest vocals on acoustic version of "Stabbing in the Dark" (2019)
- Jamey Jasta - guest vocals on "When The Contagion Is You" (2019)
- CABAL - guest vocals on "Bitter Friend" (2020)
- Chthonic - guest vocals on "Supreme Pain for the Tyrant-Rearrange 2.0" (2020)
- Bleed from Within - guest guitar on "Night Crossing" (2020)
- Daniel Tompkins - guest vocals on "The Gift" (2020)
- Powerwolf - guest vocals on re-recording of "Fist by Fist (Sacralize or Strike)" (2021)
- The Halo Effect - guest vocals on "Last of Our Kind" (2022)
- Malevolence - guest guitar on "Salvation" (2022)
- Ingested - guest vocals on "All I've Lost" (2022)
- Frozen Soul - production; vocals/guitar on "Glacial Domination" and "Abominable" (2023)
- Mercenary - guest vocals on "Heart of the Numb" (2023)
- Enterprise Earth - guest vocals on "Curse of Flesh" (2024)
- Ryujin - production; guest vocals on "Raijin & Fujin", "The Rainbow Song", and "Saigo No Hoshi" (single version) (2024)
- DragonForce - guest vocals on "Astro Warrior Anthem" (2024)
- Distant - guest vocals on "Torturous Symphony" (2024)
Images for kids
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Heafy at Rock im Park, Germany, 2014
See also
In Spanish: Matt Heafy para niños
