A few months ago, we began to speculate that Travis Smith was no longer drumming for Trivium. Within weeks, the band officially announced he had been replaced by Maruta's Nick Agusto, but the band didn't really go into specifics as to what happened with Travis. In a recent interview with OneMetal.com, guitarist Corey Beaulieu shed some light on what happened…
Corey: Well, it's kinda like a really long story. But, over time, things just kinda weren't working out. We did a headline tour of the U.S. and about halfway through Travis just said he wasn't going to do the next tour, so regardless we had to think about getting someone to fill in, then once we started playing with Nick we just knew it was the right thing. At that time though we didnt know whether it was going to be Nick specifically or somebody else. We just knew it had to be somebody new, and for the benefit of moving the band forward, we had to do it. It was either moving forward, not going backwards or just falling apart. It's just something we had to do to move everything forward in a fucking positive way.
OneMetal.com: Are there truths in what we are hearing about the way Travis was fired? Was it amicable?
Corey: Well, we were on a tour so we had to do it over the phone. We were just like, "Hey, we've decided to go on without you,' and stuff, and he was like, "Yeah, alright whatever…" Something was going to happen; it was just whether it was coming from us or from him. Things were falling apart, and we just kind of pulled the trigger first, just to get it done, move forward and get the new guy settled in and comfortable. It's been working really great with Nick and when people see the show they will see why.
Basically, it looks like Travis seemed to be over it, and the band saw the writing on the wall and replaced him. Nick proved his chops and has been welcome by Trivium fans with open arms. Let's move on!
