Avenged Sevenfold interview
Avenged Sevenfold
Got The Time
It’s 4:15 p.m. and still no word from Johnny Christ.
The Avenged Sevenfold bassist was supposed to call Illinois Entertainer at 3:30 Central time, 1:30 at the band’s Huntington Beach, California homebase. Forty-five minutes later, though, still nothing.
Appearing: November 8th at Congress Theatre in Chicago.
A call to one of A7X’s publicists at Warner Bros. results in a call to a gentleman in the band’s management team, who quickly calls IE apologizing for the tardiness and assures us it was his fault, not Johnny’s, before patching the call through to the bassist, who immediately makes amends: “Dude, I’m soooo sorry I’m so late,” he says.
It’s O.K., we assure him. We once waited nearly two hours for Zakk Wylde.
“Oh well he deserves it, not some shitty bass player,” Christ says, laughing.
Genuinely apologizing for a late phone interview? If we may use a sweeping generalization, this isn’t like a rock star. And being “rock stars” is how Avenged Sevenfold earned such an unfavorable reputation in some circles. Part of it is undoubtedly their fault, as kids who grew up worshipping bands like Guns N’ Roses, A7X have done the magazine photo shoots with naked models, bragged about excessive partying in interviews, and generally made an effort to “live the life” since breaking out with 2005’s City Of Evil. On the other hand, they’ve also done their fair share of interviews where zealous scribes have concentrated solely on their offstage antics and taken too many shots from people who simply don’t like the members’ stage names or the way they dress.
Heavy metal fans are a funny bunch: They’ll worship Manowar or call Rob Halford’s studs-‘n’-leather look as classic, but torch A7X frontman M. Shadows for wearing sunglasses onstage.
“It’s the sad truth,” Christ says with a sigh. “When you look at us now, I’m wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, I’ve got tattoos, big fucking deal, I don’t wear a bandanna and funny little girl pants, there’s nothing funny about the way I’m dressing.
“It’s goofy to get on people for dressing, but at the same time I probably would have made fun of the people who sang ‘I Ran.’ Who was that? Flock Of Seagulls! Same thing I guess. It’s because I’m as much of a douchebag as anybody else,” he admits with a laugh.
It’s a topic that has haunted Christ and his bandmates — Shadows, guitarists Zachy Vengeance and Synyster Gates, and drummer The Rev — as well as played a significant role in the ongoing “Avenged Sevenfold aren’t real metal” argument. What “real” metal is and isn’t is a dispute as old as the music itself, but A7X have been challenged unfairly. The band started as a metalcore act, releasing their first album, Sounding The Seventh Trumpet, as teenagers in 2001. It was bad, even by metalcore standards, with the exception of one song: Though not even a minute-and-a-half long, “To End The Rapture” with its soaring guitar (Gates’ only appearance on the album) and matching vocals (one of the record’s only non-screaming tracks) proved A7X were much more adept playing metal than hardcore. They pushed the formula a little more on 2003’s Waking The Fallen and by the time they signed with Warner Bros. for City Of Evil, they were ready to make a full-on metal record. Anyone who paid attention to Waking The Fallen knew the change was the band’s natural progression. Still, longtime fans felt betrayed.
— Trevor Fisher
To learn more about A7X’s experience with old fans, grab the November issue of Illinois Entertainer, available free throughout Chicagoland.
i love a7x!!
old or new, it’s all amazing!
“Sounding the Seventh Trumpet” wasnt that bad. Lips of Decit is an awesome song, and Warmness on the Soul is one of my fav piano songs.
It is sad that the members of the band some of whom prolly grew up in church (the biblical references in The Beast and the Harlot and a few other songs show knowledge of the bible) want nothing to do with God. He’s given them such talent. My hope is that they will one day realize that their ‘rock star’ lifestyle still leaves them empty inside and they will remember that Jesus loves them and he will forgive them no matter what they have done.
why do people think that they grew up in a church. they shadows flicked through the bible and found avenged sevenfold and thought it sounded cool. it was not something they thought on as a band that was into god at all. they say themselves that they are not in any way religious. WATCH A G**DAMN DVD ONCE IN A WHILE
A7X 4 LIFE
You’re right they are not a religious band AT ALL but they know more about the bible than just Gen 4:15. The Beast and the Harlot comes right from the book of Revelation
You know what.. if they want to live a rock star lifestyle, I say let them. They deserve it after all of the work and time they put into this band just to make it out there. They do truly value their fans. If you don’t believe me, go to Youtube and watch the one video where they stopped the whole concert for because one of their fans got hurt. They waited until that person was okay (i think they took her to the hospital or something). Any other band probably would’ve kept playing. But no, they stopped and waited and even asked if she was okay then afterwards. They love their fans and don’t deserve half the shit they get from air headed magazine writers who don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground. If Matt wants to wear sunglasses.. let him! WHO THE F*CK CARES?! He’s not hurting anyone! And as for Johnny.. he’s late.. okay he’s only human people! You don’t need to write two paragraphs about how he was late, only to ask him two fucking questions. Then there’s Zacky and Brian. They play their hearts out for every concert and barely even get recognized when it comes to the general public. No, everyone is too busy raving over how AMAZING (NOT!) that new rap song about degrading women is. And if they did a photo shoot with naked women..so what? They’re all in monogamous relationships.
Congrats to Val and Matt by the way on their marriage!
And Jimmy and Leana have been married since I don’t know when. Brian is with Michelle, Val’s sister. Johnny is with Lacey and Zacky is still with Gena. You see?! It’s not like they forcefully told those models to take their clothes off and pose with them. Those girls did it willingly and I doubt the guys even planned that. So yeah, they do deserve to brag about all the partying they do. If you watch their all excess DVD, they talk about this stuff as far as how they started out. Jimmy, actually didn’t even have a steady home. He had to keep moving around, finding places to live. So people. REALLY need to stop giving them shit. Let them enjoy their good fortune and get off their backs. They’re just living their lives.
A7X 4 LIFE!!!
F–k all u haters! Avenged Sevenfold is awsome!
I LOVE SYNYSTER GATES!!!!!!!!
wow, Sketchmeskinny needs to stop being a stalker…