AX7 AT THEIR STAGE
By Kelley Simms
Avenged Sevenfold
B
y carrying the proverbial torch and continually pushing musical boundaries , Avenged Sevenfold has become one of the frontrunners of a new breed of modern heavy metal rockers . Although the band has been around for almost 20 years , Avenged Sevenfold ’ s trajectory continues to climb . Vocalist M . Shadows , guitarists Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance , bassist Johnny Christ and new drummer Brooks Wackerman have been leading the charge within the metal world . Last summer , Avenged Sevenfold was bestowed with the honor of opening for their heroes , Metallica , on the North American " WorldWired " tour , and earlier this year completed their headlining tour with
Breaking Benjamin and Bullet For My Valentine .
Guitarist Zacky Vengeance spoke with IE about all things Avenged Sevenfold . Mosh : You received an invitation to tour with your heroes , Metallica , which caused you to postpone your headlining tour last year . Zacky Vengeance : Opening for Metallica was absolutely incredible but humbling . The tour that we had spent a year designing - we ’ ve only brought it over to our European fans because of the Metallica tour - we decided to hold off on doing a proper headlining arena [ here ] until now . It ’ s a really different Avenged Sevenfold experience for our fans . And that ’ s what makes it so special . It ’ s kind of a surreal process to a different universe while we ’ re playing . There ’ s still tons of energy , tons of excitement and tons of fan interaction . It ’ s not the typical Avenged Sevenfold show , but it ’ s definitely worth checking out . There are no other bands doing anything like it .
Mosh : Although 2016 ’ s The Stage isn ’ t a full-fledged concept album , it features a running theme . What made you want to tackle this subject matter ? Zacky Vengeance : I was sitting around one day , and I came across an article about artificial intelligence and what the technological pioneers of our generation had to say about it . So I texted it to Matt ( M . Shadows ) for no other reason than to send him something I thought was interesting . He really dove in head first and started looking up more stuff , so that ’ s where the concept came from - it was already on my radar as well as everybody else ’ s in the band .
Mosh : Were you a little concerned that it might go over some of your fans ’ heads ? Zacky Vengeance : We fully knew it wasn ’ t going to win over everyone . Somebody who bought an album and heard “ Welcome to the Family ” or " Hail to the King " might not necessarily be into a 12-minute space odyssey like “ Exist .” But there are definitely people out there that think it ’ s incredible . I think we did something different and unique and it was right for us at the time .
Mosh : What were you aiming for sonically ; Mosh : The Stage is the first album to feature new drummer Brooks Wackerman . How important was it that his personality fit in with the rest of the band ? Zacky Vengeance : It ’ s really important to us because it ' s like being married to five people . We have a delicate ego ( sic ) system , but it ’ s one that has developed because we ’ re all friends and brothers first and foremost , [ then ] business partners and bandmates second . So [ to let ] anybody into that family is always scary and very difficult . We tried that before , and it didn ’ t work . You can ’ t just [ invite ] somebody into your home that you ' ve built for 20 years and expect they ’ re going to be the world ’ s best roommate . But with Brooks , we lucked out .
Mosh : What made you release The Stage with virtually no promotion beforehand ? Zacky Vengeance : That was purely just to do something different , to give our fans something to talk about ; just doing different things with the surprise release . It felt like the right thing to do . It was exciting for us , and we knew it ’ d be exciting for our fans . We knew that it would make our record label nervous . If you ’ re not making your record label nervous , then you ’ re not doing it right . At first , we ran into all sorts of skepticism , and criticism , and talk about how the album hadn ’ t performed as well as our past albums - because that ’ s an easy headline . The truth of the matter is that nobody in the world would do as remotely as good as they did a few years ago . But for us , it didn ’ t matter . We did something we wanted to do creatively , it was exciting , and we had fun with it .
Ed . Note : Just before press time , Avenged Sevenfold announced the cancellation of the remaining dates of the End of The World tour due to vocalist M . Shadow ' s viral throat infection and doctor-mandated three months of vocal rest . Additional information is forthcoming .
MOSH-WORTHY LIVE : Jag Panzer , Ancient Seance ( Reggie ' s , 09 / 15 ); Macabre , Whut ? ( Brauerhouse , 09 / 22 ); Zao , The Atlas Moth , Yashira ( Wire , 09 / 28 ).
34 illinoisentertainer . com august 2018