1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Trivax is an Extreme Metal/Rock n Roll band formed at the heart of the underground in the Middle-East which later was moved to the birthplace of Metal which is Birmingham, England by myself and then re-formed with other British members while I still fronted the band and composed for it. The band exists to deliver the energies and storms that are meant to take place at this time but also drive utter chaos across the worlds through a musical weapon.
2.How would you describe your musical sound?
It’s a combination of a lot of things really, the kind of atmospheric vibes that you get from Depeche Mode’s Violator album mixed with lots Black and Death metal in a very old school and primitive way but combined with a certain modern sound and way of delivering that I myself haven’t heard much before, maybe a little from bands like Tribulation but that’s about it. The music of Trivax is more of a storm rather than anything else, a storm which you can get lost in and then at the end you wake up wounded in the middle of nowhere.
3.Your lyrics cover some satanic and occult topics, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in the black arts.
I’m not sure if that is 100% accurate, yes they do point at things of such nature but I don’t consider myself to be the most educated people when it comes to the occult and though I have a great interest for it I’ve never been inspired to write about it that much and in terms of being Satanic I’ve always took matters in my own hands to discover certain things so everything I write is based on personal experience, the lyrics are more of a prayer really that spread energies throughout the world that will like everything else find their way back on us and it’s to force that unto the listener as well so they can consume my heart and be open for possession.
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Trivax'?
The name comes from the first album by this very obscure group called Lavizan Jangal which was titled “Trivax Motamaneling Humanism…” but the word Trivax was pronounced differently I believe, although I’m not sure if it was their first album because Lord Aghdas who formed the band released 5 albums on the day of the band’s formation and he’s a massive cunt who also played guitars in Trivax a few times in both 2009 and 2010 but I kept kicking him out and yeah he’s not sure himself which one was the first because I think he recorded all of the albums and then put them together as albums later.
He's also my wife actually but we can't have sex because I'm not gay so one time when were trapped in a house at the outskirts of Rasht (north Iran) I stabbed him in the arm which I swear I saw it somewhere on the net a couple of months ago, he must have paid bbc or something.
5.Originally the band started out as a solo project, what was the decision behind hiring a full time line up?
The reason it was a solo project was because I didn’t know any other musicians let alone people interested in metal or even worse Extreme Metal which is what I was after and finding a drummer was a nightmare at the time, it’s only now that there’s suddenly so many people this kind of thing publicly from over in Iran, besides I was only 14 years old when I started this thing but it had one advantage and it was that my songwriting was not limited at all and I got to really exercise my creativity at a young age which ended up working in the band’s favour, although I still don’t think the guy from the band can deliver them the proper way but I actually find it very interesting because they sort of add a layer of innocence to the work and give it more soul instead of it being just a solid vision created by only me… makes it more of a band which is what I was interested in having since day one.
Although it’s not as easy as it was for me because there was a time that I had no ego and was just discovering psychedelics and all that stuff and was quite calm but now it’s the opposite and I just hate everyone even more than before and want to watch the world turn into ashes so I suppose it’s good I haven’t killed anyone for constantly butchering my songs, I am however grateful to even have been able to have a line-up here and actually perform live because playing gigs was something of a life-long dream when I was back there and it only happened 3 times and they were all incredibly underground and limited scenarios where we could have no vocals so I’m quite pleased that I can now get in front of a hundred people and tell them go kill themselves, it’s an absolute blessing!
6.Originally the band was from Iran a country that is very dangerous if you are a metal band but now reside in the United Kingdom, do you feel your are able to express your musical vision a lot more in this country?
I realize now that I could have still done the same thing from over in Iran and released my vision from there but there would have been no touring, no money, no proper record sales, no playing with other bands that don’t suck and just so many other things and plus once you start performing live you add this natural feel to your music that I also learned from watching so many live bands here that I wasn’t getting it right while watching them all from bootleg DVDs back home and that is something that ALL Iranian bands lack and that’s why they need to be put to death and I’m ashamed that so many people are that talentless that we had to wait until my generation so then we would come and say that okay Iran actually has people who play metal from their hearts not because distortion and technique are cool for Facebook likes.
All in all I think both countries fucking suck anyway just like everywhere else where living things reside!
7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We’ve done lots of them but ones that I can think of was our first and last show and this one time when we played in London Camden 2 years ago when even the sound guy was going apeshit.
our first show was quite interesting too, we played in an underground amphitheater of a high school in Tehran near the area of Tajrish and after 40 minutes of us playing the kids went crazy and set the place on fire so we had to evacuate, it was a great experience I’ll never forget it and especially what we went through to even play that goddamn show.
2 weeks ago we played at the O2 Academy in Birmingham after over 2 years and the crowd was really good, we even brought John Wilcox from Funeral Throne on stage with us to do our usual live cover of Into The Crypts Of Rays by Celtic Frost.
8.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
No but I know we want to play in Italy.
Being back in Iran or playing anywhere in front of an Iranian audience with the true Trivax that has been working in the past 4 years would be an incredible honour!! But of course no other band gets to do it so I don’t feel very left out, I’m actually probably one of the fewest people in the whole world who has played metal shows both inside and outside of Iran if not the only one… go figure that!
at least if it becomes available one day I’d still be one of the first, not only that but to come outside of that country to play fucking Black Metal out of everything, fuck you and your Iranian Post Rock morons who want to be the next Metallica!
Go find me another person who’s had the balls to do anything like that and I’ll get them a fucking drink with an umbrella in it.
Fuck You All
9.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
We’ve had some interest yes, both from people with proper active labels with working bands and those with the “sore me englis no gud” kind of approach but nothing that’s been of my interest, our main focus is to have a deal for the album with the right label for the right audience and I… let’s say I have some kind of trust issue thing going on so everything has to be completely right and spot on and besides the band has way too much behind it already to agree to any label, they must consist on the fact that the band was originally formed in the center of the world where none of this is allowed and then ended up where metal itself started… not to sound full of myself but for any intelligent person observing the situation would agree that this is nothing but the truth!
But yes we will have our lawyer to work on some deals for us once everything is ready to go.
10.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black and death metal?
The feedback has generally been positive but we’ve had some negative ones in the earlier years too, I suppose I’m used to both in a way now so it doesn’t really get into my head even when I pay attention to it.
I wouldn’t even say majority of our supporters are the general extreme metal fans, it’s mostly just people genuinely interested in rock music and what certain things can offer and I do believe that our music has the power to reach much further than just a small black and white patch on an angry long haired kid’s jacket. Don’t get me wrong, extreme metal is everything to me and in this band we’ve done our fair share of covering Celtic Frost, Nifelheim, Bathory, Mayhem, Dissection, Darkthrone and even Watain and Behemoth which we played live years ago and we’re not even trying to fit in anywhere because I don’t really think we can so I suppose I’m just trying to prove that “Hey you retired Scandinavian dudes, me and my brothers used to live with your music and bleed with it at a place where metal is banned and illegal”
I do however (just like everyone else who actually cares for it does) believe that metal in general has been missing some salt I think maybe being from a completely different cultural upbringing than everyone else credited in the genre has been and literally having to bleed and make sacrifices just to even perform Metal can be the cause of us bringing something new to the table for everyone else… now how many people are going to hear it is not important to me at all and it’s all about blending the energies and giving out something very unique and touching some people at the heart and showing them the true musical potential and mind from Iran, which is something that I don’t think you’ll get from a cheap political bands like a certain group of people from Mashad who just want to appeal to the people and be metal celebrities… our intentions differ highly from that!
11.When can we expect a full length album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
you see… each time this band has tried to release something there’s been lots of turbulence in my life and especially this last EP really took its toll on me mentally and physically but the album is already done and it covers everything from 6 years ago until now but I think we’ll probably have to have a few band members killed before we can properly do it and I can tell you that musically it’s probably what everyone in metal and extreme metal has thought they’ve wanted to hear but have not hear it yet!
that’s all I can say, maybe you just needed the juice and the energies from the other side of the world that never got to contribute to the scene, Brazil did an alright job for sure but that's old now.
12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
I think everyone in the band would have a different answer, I don’t think actually I know.
personally I draw my influences in playing from so many people I couldn’t even name 10 people and feel that I’ve given a fair answer but of course James Hetfield of Metallica is where most of my guitar playing energies take their formation from and in terms of vocals I’ve always said it’s a combination of Tom G Warrior and late GG Allin and pretty much all of Mayhem’s vocalists that I get my voice from.
when it comes to being music listeners we listen to a lot of different stuff on our own but I myself have been spending a good part of the past 6 months just listening to the usual Motorhead, Judas Priest and Rainbow which I have always loved plus lots of Type O Negative, Depeche Mode and Klaus Schulze and just the general Black Metal stuff like Revenge, Mercyful Fate, Archgoat, Bathory, Lavizan Jangal, Peste Noire, Merciless, Necrovore, Dissection and just so much stuff in general but I’m also a great fan of Swedish Rock like Kent and of course Rammstein I still listen to them because they’re sick. One thing that I’ve had since I was a kid is that I really listen to music by heart and really get into it so most of the time I’m still listening to old school metal stuff but there’s that 20% of my music listening which goes to Extreme Metal and when I do that I really fucking get into it and go mental.
Few weeks ago me and my bass player also discovered this rare band that sounds like Hawkwind from their guitarist when we were buying bootleg shirts from him and they’re called The Lysergics I believe, pretty cool 60’s sounding stuff.
13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thank you for the interview and including Trivax in your zine, sir! Hopefully one day we will come to your country and burn it down to ashes once again.
Also a great appreciation and gratitude for those loyal comrades who have been buying our merch and supporting us by dragging the Trivax name and logo across the world, if you're yet to get our merchandise and still haven't done so then you can check our bandcamp page: https://trivax.bandcamp.com/merch
As for everyone reading, I have a suggestion for you:
take LSD, go outside, put on Trivax, stare at the moon and slit your wrists so you can join it.
We are Trivax, Fuck The World!!!
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