I remember the first time I ever heard a note of Avenged Sevenfold’s music.  The band’s publicist had sent me a package containing Waking the Fallen; the record that would become the band’s launching pad for one of the biggest metallic rock success stories of our generation.  After one spin of Waking the Fallen, I became hooked and at the same time, I knew I was listening to a group of musicians that would certainly define the term “rockstar.”

 

Average has never been a term in this So-Cal based quintet’s vocabulary.  The band’s baby-faced, yet well toned and heavily tattooed frontman M. Shadows has evolved vocally, maturing on every record, while his bandmates, bassist Johnny Christ, guitarists Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance abound with talent, as well as stage presence and charisma.  And let’s not forget about the band’s drummer, The Rev, whose percussive skills seem almost humanly impossible at times.

 

A7X’s first record, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, defined the scene at the time.  Hardcore backbones, metallic riff’s and screamed versus sung melodics, which had almost a garage band flavor to it.  By Waking the Fallen, the band began to illustrate an evolution, that would later build up to the third release, City of Evil, which would be the record to put A7X on track to megastardom.  Tracks like “Bat Country,” “Beast and the Harlot” and “Seize the Day” began to flood radio waves, music video charts and even video games like the Guitar Hero series.  The band had grown up and it became increasingly evident that they were evolving into something different, unique and cutting edge.  Only five years after the release of their first record, A7X had become a household name.  Now with their fourth effort, a Self-Titled musical journey already under their belts, the band shows no signs of slowing down.  In fact, according to Synyster Gates, they are just getting started.

 

We caught up with Gates via telephone just a few hours prior to a show in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he greeted people on his bus at 4:00 in the afternoon, with “Hello” and “Good morning.”    

 

PUM:  Tell me a little bit about your tour with Buckcherry, Shinedown and Saving Abel.  How is it going?

 

Synyster Gates: It’s going pretty amazingly.  We’re pretty excited about it.  It’s been going really, really well.  You know, it’s all cool bands.

 

PUM: Is it strange to be co-headlining.  I mean you are definitely a headlining band so I’m curious about that.

 

Gates:  No it’s not strange.  It’s actually kind of nice because usually we are headlining.  Like tonight, we’re playing at 10:15 so we won’t get off stage until roughly 11:45, which is a little bit late because there’s a lot of bands.  With the co-headlining thing, it’s actually weird to be headlining because people have to stay for a lot longer so you’ve got some Buckcherry fans leaving.  It gets a little bit weird.  It’s vice versa, you know?  We like to not have our kids wait as much so they’re a little bit more fresh when we’re not closing the show out.

 

PUM: A few years ago I interviewed Johnny Christ and M. Shadows at Warped Tour and asked them what the goal was for the band and M. Shadows responded, “To be the biggest fucking band in the world.”  Do you think that answer still applies today based on what you’ve achieved in the last four or five years?

 

Gates:  Yeah, that’s definitely what we want.  I think that is what any band really wants.  We’re just doing our best and we’re just doing our own thing.  If it works, it works.  You never know what’s going to work in this world.  You have to do your own thing and we definitely believe in our creativity, our business ethic and how to really reach our kids.  We cultivated such a great relationship with our fans that I think that helps a fuck of a lot.  We remain close and they in turn respect the evolution of this band; understanding that we’re always changing and we’re always switching it up.  At first it was kind of a bummer to them, but I think they now get excited about it, to see what we’re going to do next.  I don’t think many bands, certainly not any bands that I listened to growing up had that effect.  I always wanted it to stay the same.  Now we constantly have that, “What are they going to do next kind of effect,” which is cool.

 

PUM: You also have a lot of fans that say they wish Avenged Sevenfold would go back to the screams and more of the hardcore edge.  Is it tough not to cave to that?

 

Gates:  No, it’s a blessing to not have to go back to that.  You progress and I don’t think that we really ever sucked, but damn close and I think we’re getting better and better.  That’s all I want to do as a musician, songwriter and performer.  I just want to get better and my idea of better might not be another kid’s idea or version of better, but it’s my fucking band.

 

PUM: The other thing that I found interesting is in your bio online, it says you guys are never completely satisfied with your work.  Why is that?

 

Gates: I think we grow out of it relatively quickly.  Certain things like when you give them a chance in the studio, like when you write and record a song, some things are not appealing to you at that moment, but you grow into loving them.  Certain things have the opposite affect.  Sometimes you write and you love it and then in a week you’re sick of it and then everything in between.  You always want to do shit differently and progress and you hear your melodies and your like, “Well, maybe I didn’t need to throw that part in the song and that solo sucks.”

 

PUM: How do you guys sit down and prepare for a record?  I read that when you went in to write for the new Self-Titled record there were a lot of country and hip-hop influences, but what are some of the other key factors?

 

Gates: I think the main thing is just us getting together and writing.  I don’t think we have a select method.  I do my best to listen to a bunch of music, but I don’t naturally go listen to a bunch of music.  I don’t know, it just differs, for me it’s just really relaxed.  M. Shadows, he’ll be fucking really intense.  He’ll listen to every piece of music he can get his hands on and he’s very, very hands on.  I write when I write and when I’m in writing mode, fortunately it comes out and I come up with a lot of material.  There’s different approaches from everybody in the band.

 

PUM: You guys self produced the Self-Titled record.  What made you choose to go that route this time around?

 

Gates:  We’re a very open minded band and we met with a lot of different producers and stuff.  We kind of initially set out to do it ourselves, but were like, “Lets meet with some people, it’s better to have somebody you parallel with as an extra hand.”  Rob Cavallo was one of them.  We were actually going to work with Rob Cavallo, [but] time constraints didn’t work out and we met up with him, went to his house, he cooked us a bunch of spaghetti and we were just digging on everything.  He’s a very, very brilliant guy, but he was doing a Kid Rock record and he wanted to postpone the recording process like a month and we were ready to get in the studio.  We take a long time in between records.  After that we were like screw it.  This is what we sought out to do initially so maybe we were meant to do this.  It worked out great and we produced it and we had the most fun that we’ve ever had in the studio or doing anything in our lives.  We were just five best friends, recording, fucking with each other and having a ball.

 

PUM: When I first heard “A Little Piece of Heaven” I was totally floored and then when I heard it live, I was even more floored.  Is that song hard to play live, because it sounds like it would be?

 

Gates:  That’s funny because it’s the easiest song to play.  By that time in the set, I’m pretty fucking wasted and there’s no guitar in it.  There’s just a few little pieces in it.  It’s all orchestration.  We just go up on stage and just fucking take turns or we pick out different things we want to do, like the ambient noises or sounds and shit.  We just scream and have a good time with the song.  It’s just so much different, so much easier and so much more fun than any other song we place actually.  We’re usually closing the set and it’s a good closer because it shows a completely different side of the band; a much more fun, less intense side of the band.

 

PUM: I saw you guys a few days ago on this current tour and it really looks like you guys are having fun up there.  Are you pretty content with where you’re at as a band?  I mean, I know there’s always room to evolve and grow, but thus far?

 

Gates: Yeah, we’re all happy.  We’re starting to make better decisions business wise to make everybody happy.  We’re not taking ourselves so seriously anymore and going up on stage and saying, “You have to do this, you have to say this, a song’s gotta be a certain way.” If something fucks up, it used to be the end of the world and now you can turn it into probably one of the highlights of the show if you just joke around about it.  You know, “My guitar doesn’t work, I don’t give a fuck, I don’t need a guitar!  I can dance, I can go drink beer, I can go do whatever the fuck I want!”  The whole outlook and aspect of live performing has definitely changed for the better.

 

PUM: How do you guys keep it fresh from city to city or tour to tour?

 

Gates: We just do our best to have fun shit to do on the road.  Like we got our friend out right now, who is “Mr. California.”  He’s from bodybuilding, but he’s also very schooled in mixed martial arts.  So we do a lot of Jujitsu and Muay Thai and that kind of shit on the road.  Matt golfs every day.  You find shit to do that keeps you interested.  I look forward to the show.  Usually, you have long days of sitting around and it took us a while to find certain hobbies that work.  I tried golf and golf doesn’t work for me and I don’t like spending all the money.  Jujitsu was perfect for me.

 

PUM: I know you guys used to do a lot with weights and stuff like that.

 

Gates: Yeah, but the gym sucks.  It gets so fucking stagnant and stale.  You just want to exercise a better way.  I go in there and I get fucking jacked in two weeks and I get twice as big and I look like a goddamn fool.  I’m not supposed to look like that.  I’d rather stay a little more lean.  Namely, it’s just exercising in ways that are beneficial in different applications in life like kicking a man’s ass.

 

PUM: You guys are on tour through mid December.  What’s next for you guys after that?

 

Gates: We’re going to go home for a month and then we’re going to make up the rest of the tour dates that got cancelled.  We’re looking forward to doing it.  This has been a very, very successful tour, which has surprised everybody including us.  We’re fans of the bands and we’ve wanted to do this tour, but it’s a third market tour.  None of us have really been [to these markets] and to draw like 10,000 kids a night and sell some of these places out; that’s fucking unbelievable.  It’s been so successful, it’s been a blast, we party every single night together.  We’re going to [do the make up dates] in February and then I don’t know what the fuck we’re going to do.      

 

By: Adam K. Zak III - Senior Editor / Founder