RUMOR OF THE DAY: TRIVIUM LOSES TRAVIS?

If you hit up Trivium’s most recent U.S. tour with Chimaira, you may have noticed an absence of drummer Travis Smith. When the tour started, the band said that Smith “will not be joining us on this leg and is home taking care of some personal business.” Filling-in for him on the tour was his drum tech, Maruta’s Nick Augusto.

Meanwhile, we’d heard some rumors from a pretty reputable source that Smith wasn’t coming back at all. We didn’t say anything at the time ’cause sometimes someone tells you something off the record and it’s not cool to print that kinda thing (even we’re not that dickish)… but now that Metal Underground is reporting the rumor, fuck it. We don’t think Smith is coming back to Trivium.

What does this mean for the band? Really not that much, I imagine. Will all due respect to Smith, I think he was Trivium’s weakest link in a live setting, and it seems to me that Matt Heafy and Corey Beaulieu can go on writing perfectly fine Trivium material by themselves.

What was the cause of the split? Is Augusto the band’s new drummer for good? Does that mean Maruta needs a new skinsman? Who shot J.R.? These answers and more as we get ’em…

-AR