Trivium’s Matt Heafy Opens Up About His “Second Job” as a Twitch Streamer

Trivium vocalist/guitarist Matt Heafy has become a very popular Twitch streamer in recent years with his broadcasts of full Trivium album performances, cover songs — which we’ve featured here aplenty — video game play and more. Right this moment, 990 people are simultaneously tuned into his channel, which has accumulated 3,648,526 views in its history.

You’ve no doubt heard that Twitch streaming can be a lucrative career, and if your mind has already jumped to the dollar signs it must be generating for Matt, you’re onto something. In fact, he does so well with Twitch now that he considers it a “second job,” and he earns more money from Twitch than he does from Trivium when they’re not on the road.

In a new feature in Forbes, Heafy went into detail on how he first got into Twitch streaming and how it’s affected his career ever since:

Apart from your career in Trivium, you’ve delved into other media and entertainment outlets, specifically Twitch. What exactly led you to pursue this avenue with streaming video games and music related content on Twitch?  

“Well I’ve always been into video games, I remember beating Mario before I was really speaking English — my mom is Japanese and she kind of raised me for a little while on her own while my dad was in the Marines. So video games were something I was playing before I started playing guitar. I started with the originals like Mario and Donkey Kong, kind of building my way up and then I was heavily into RPG’s as a preteen to my teenage years with Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy IV, VI, VII and IX were my favorites, and then I started getting into first person shooters like Call of Duty, but I got into those through Golden Eye. I started watching some streamers and decided I wanted to do it, but I did it kind of half-assed at first, and not that I was being lazy about it, I just didn’t really know the right way to do it.

“I later befriended two Twitch associates, John Howell and Brandon Kaupert, and they invited me to the Twitch headquarters one day when Trivium was playing San Fransisco. So I went down and they gave me a tour of the place and they lent me one of the Gunrun backpacks, which I was using to stream the shows with. So I started streaming some shows and it started going pretty good, and then I visited San Francisco and met up with Brandon and John again, and I told them “man I love Twitch so much I wish I could do it more, but here’s why I can’t,” and the reason I couldn’t is because I have to practice between one to three to five hours a day to keep myself in shape. And Brandon looks at me and says ‘why don’t you just stream that?’ I had an ‘aha’ moment and I was like ‘nobody wants to watch that dude,’ and he said ‘trust me, just try that.’

“So lo and behold, I’ve only had one job ever, it’s been Trivium, first band, first job, but for the last three years I’m happy to say Twitch has become a second job. When I’m at home I make significantly more from Twitch streaming than I do with Trivium, and then when I’m out on tour with Trivium then obviously Trivium becomes more and twitch becomes less. But the fact that I’m able to make money doing what I should be doing off tour, staying conditioned, practicing, and being ready for a tour at any given moment, it’s amazing and we really have a supportive community. “

Trivium’s new album, What the Dead Men Say, comes out on April 24 on Roadrunner Records; pre-order it here. The band will be on tour with Megadeth, Lamb of God and In Flames later this year should the coronavirus not put a dent in those plans.

6/12 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live [tickets]
6/13 – Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion [tickets]
6/14 – Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheater [tickets]
6/16 – Virginia Beach, VA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater [tickets]
6/17 – Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater [tickets]
6/18 – Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion [tickets]
6/20 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center [tickets]
6/21 – Boston, MA @ Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion [tickets]
6/23 – Syracuse, NY @ St. Joseph’s Heath Amphitheater at Lakeview [tickets]
6/24 – Providence, RI @ Bold Point Lake Amphitheater [tickets]
6/28 – Burgettstown, PA @ S&T Bank Music Park [tickets]
6/29 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage [tickets]
7/1 – Detroit, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theater [tickets]
7/2 – Mount Pleasant, MI @ Soaring Eagle Casino Amphitheatre [tickets]
7/3 – Indianapolis, IN @ Ruoff Music Center [tickets]
7/5 – Atlanta, GA @ Ameris Music Center [tickets]
7/7 – Cincinnati, OH @ PNC Pavilion [tickets]
7/8 – Cleveland, OH @Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica [tickets]
7/10 – Chicago, IL @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – Chicago, IL [tickets]
7/11 – St. Louis, MO @ Chicago, IL @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St. Louis, MO [tickets]
7/12 – Nashville, TN @ Nashville Municipal Auditorium [tickets]
7/14 – Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP [tickets]
7/16 – Austin, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheater [tickets]
7/17 – Houston, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion [tickets]
7/18 – Irving, TX @The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory+ [tickets]
7/20 – Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater [tickets]
7/21- Phoenix, AZ @ Isleta Amphitheater [tickets]
7/23 – Irvine, CA @ FivePoint Amphitheatre [tickets]
7/25 – Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheatre [tickets]
7/26 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center [tickets]
7/29 – Salt Lake City, UT @ USANA Amphitheatre [tickets]
7/30 – Pocatello, ID @ Portneuf Health Trust Amphitheatre [tickets]
8/1 – Concord, CA @ Concord Pavilion [tickets]

10/2 – West Palm Beach, FL @ iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre [tickets]
10/6 – Birmingham, AL @ Oak Mountain Amphitheatre [tickets]
10/7 – New Orleans, LA @ UNO Lakefront Arena [tickets]
10/9 – Corpus Christi, TX @ American Bank Center Arena [tickets]
10/11 – El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center [tickets]
10/14 – Springfield, MO @ JOH Arena [tickets]
10/16 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center [tickets]
10/21 – Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center [tickets]
10/23 – Huntington, WV @ Mountain Heath Arena [tickets]
10/24 – Bethlehem, PA @ The Wind Creek Event Center [tickets]
10/27 – Quebec City, QC @ Centre Videotron [tickets]
10/28 – Laval, QC @ Place Bell [tickets]
10/30 – St, Paul, MN @ Armory [tickets]
10/3 – Green Bay, WI @ Resch Center [tickets]
11/2 – Omaha, NE @ Baxter Arena [tickets]
11/3 – Sioux Falls, SD @ Denny Sanford PREMIER Center [tickets]
11/5 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center [tickets]
11/7 – Las Vegas, NV @ Mandalay Bay Events Center [tickets]
11/10 – Spokane, WA @ Spokane Arena [tickets]
11/11 – Nampa, ID @ Ford Idaho Center Arena [tickets]
11/13 – Reno, NV @ Reno Events Center [tickets]