Avenged sevenfold
“They’re cheesy. They sing nowadays; they should scream like they used to. They’re sellouts.”
They fight. They fuck. They destroy hotel rooms.
They’re misunderstood.
They are warm. They are loyal. They are brave. They are authentic.
They are disciplined.
As musicians, the members of Avenged Sevenfold are definite virtuosos in a time when being accomplished artists seemingly means so little. They are inquisitive and never fully satisfied with their own work. They seek to grow and improve every day, regardless of the obstacles or costs involved.
They are a rock band. They are rock stars. They are Avenged Sevenfold.
Avenged Sevenfold, the album, is a self-produced effort. While the band shared co-production credit on 2005’s million-selling City Of Evil with Mudrock, this new album is solely their responsibility — and they’re primed to accept it.
But attaining such stature didn’t arrive in an overnight jaunt. To the contrary, Avenged Sevenfold had been an integral part of the independent, underground rock scene years before breaking through on commercial radio. In fact, the Orange County, California-based act launched its career several years ago (they were barely out of high school) with the release of its debut in July 2001 of Sounding The Seventh Trumpet.
Miles of van touring ensued, performing in tightly packed clubs, and sweating shoulder-to-shoulder on both national and international levels. Despite the truly D.I.Y. affair (which still found the fledgling act putting on an eye-opening, elaborate stage show), Avenged Sevenfold never offered anything less than a full-throttle set. The band released its second independent full-length in August 2003, Waking The Fallen, a couple years later, greatly expanding on its metal-based foundation and giving us a not-so-subtle nudge that something exciting was in the imminent forecast.
Our suspicions were confirmed a couple years later, with Avenged Sevenfold’s breakthrough 2005 Warner Bros. debut, City Of Evil, featuring the wildly popular single “Bat Country.” That was the turning point for the fearless, genre-bending quintet that, after years of clocking in on the independent level, had finally advanced towards a milestone they had been seeking throughout their careers. A7X wrapped 18 months of relentless touring in October 2006 and immediately began writing Avenged Sevenfold. After the success of City Of Evil — where they proved they had truly captured the imagination of music fans of all shapes and sizes — they became the only band to headline Warped Tour and Ozzfest while simultaneously hitting Number One on MTV’s TRL. The natural question was whether the band would continue its creative odyssey or return to the formula that brought them such success on the last go-around. Thankfully, they continued their musical exploration without caving in to any outside influences.
For this self-titled release, the act returned to the garage at M. Shadows’ parents’ home where these high-school friends had penned every other song in their discography. The band sought to delve into genres and recording techniques they had discovered on the road. For instance, they wanted to incorporate the narrative lyrics and biting guitar tones they’d admired in country music, as well as the powerful bottom end of hip-hop they felt would only add to the power of their music and message.
“All those months on the bus we really weren’t finding new rock that was moving us,” says frontman M. Shadows. “Instead, we were listening to everything from Toby Keith to T.I., and finding elements we could incorporate into what we were doing to make our next record more interesting to us.”
In the studio, Avenged Sevenfold enlisted engineers Fred Archambault and Dave Schiffman (System Of A Down, Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers), and the team went to work.
The resulting sound and rhythm of Avenged Sevenfold is, in a word, eclectic. Yet it’s still trademark A7X. “‘Scream’ has a groove we really wanted to inject into this record,” says guitarist Synyster Gates. “And on ‘Lost,’ you can hear the influence melodic bands like NOFX have always had on our band.”
A7X composed the string sections, including the individual instrument orchestration, with the assistance of Marc Mann and Steve Bartek from Oingo Boingo (and who currently orchestrate for Danny Elfman). With the soaring strings in “Afterlife,” the haunting and theatrical performance of “A Little Piece Of Heaven,” or the gentle vocals of a child in “Unbound,” the band’s creative and varied approach is surprising. Percussionist Lenny Castro brought a dynamic to “Brompton Cocktail,” and noted pedal steel and banjo player Greg Leisz added a country flair to the song “Dear God.” Yet as Gates adds, “it’s the dueling guitars, Shadows’ voice and the Rev’s brutality that make every one of the songs sound like Avenged Sevenfold.”
Lyrically, Shadows was striving for something more personal on the new album. “I feel we all experience a certain inner conflict, the push and pull between how we think we should act, or want to act, and the temptations and human instincts that we often blame when we don’t end up being the person we want to be.”
In fact, the album’s first single, “Almost Easy,” focuses on more similar temptations. “Afterlife” addresses the notion of “memento mori,” or the need to remember that death may intervene before we have reconciled differences with friends or loved ones.
These guys worked their asses off making Avenged Sevenfold (enlisting studio legend Andy Wallace to mix the record), literally sweating every detail with the same (if not stronger) conviction they had years earlier in trying to prove themselves to the masses. But it’s best you understand what was really going on during the three months these five best friends were holed up making Avenged Sevenfold.
They were having the time of their lives.
Rhythm guitar, backing vocalsZacky Vengeance was born December 11, 1981 as Zachary James Baker. His parents are James and Maria Baker. He has two siblings; a sister called Zina and a brother called Matt. Zacky taught himself how to play the guitar at the age of 13. The first guitar he learned on, belonged to his dad, who is right-handed. Zacky himself is left-handed. He learned to play the guitar by watching his favorite bands play, people he knew and learning tabs from Guitar World. He would practice until he got it right. His influences in style are Bad Religion, Rancid and the Misfits. A few of his favorite bands are Pantera, Metallica and Guns N Roses. Before forming Avenged Sevenfold, Zacky was in a band called MPA, which stands for Mad Porno Action. Together with leadsinger Matt, Zacky formed Avenged Sevenfold. Even though Matt came up with 'Avenged Sevenfold', Zacky came up with the acronym "A7X". Besides the guitar, Zacky also plays piano. Zacky has a clothing line called Vengeance University. The line includes t-shirts, hoodies and accesoires such as belt buckles, sticker packs and necklaces. Zacky is in a longterm relationship with Gena Paulhus. Zacky has a dog called Ichabod "Icky" Vengeance. He prefers smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes.
Lead guitar, backing vocalsSynyster Gates was born as Brian Elwin Haner Jr. on July 7th, 1981. His parents are Brian Haner Sr and Jan Gera. They got divorced in 1991 and both got re-married. Brian has one younger brother called Brent and a younger half-sister called McKenna. After graduating high school, Brian attended the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California as part of the GIT program to study jazz guitar. Up until then, he taught himself how to play guitar by watching music videos, reading books and magazines. After attending the Musicians Institute for a little over 6 months, Brian got a call from Avenged Sevenfold drummer The Rev, asking him if he wanted to join the band as a lead guitarist. Brian decided to quit his education and join the band, rather than graduating and becoming a studio musician. Brian came up with his stage name Synyster Gates when driving drunk through the park with drummer The Rev. His exact words were: "I am Synyster Gates and I am awesome!" In 2006, Brian won the Metal Hammer 'Young Shredder' award and the Total Guitar 'Guitarist of the Year' award. Some of Brian's favorite guitarists are Dimebag Darrell, Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Django Reinhardt, Adam Aparicio, Francis Canavan and John Petrucci. A few years ago, Brian had an infection of the pericardium - the sack that encloses the heart. He had all the symptoms of a heart attack, which they thought he was having, but thankfully he didn't actually have one. He spent a few days in the hospital and was quite sick - which makes him a lucky guy, because infections of the pericardium are often fatal. Brian is also terrified of bees, because he is allergic to them. Brian has a few custom guitars, released by Schecter Guitars. He appears on "The River" together with lead vocalist Matt, by Good Charlotte and "Dirty Little Girl" and "Anejo" by Burn Halo. For the first two songs are music videos, in which he also appears. Brian is engaged to Michelle Louise DiBenedetto - Valary's older twin sister, who is married to M. Shadows. Michelle has a clothing company called 'Syn Gates Clothing'. Even though it has his stage name and he wears it, it is her clothing company. Brian and drummer The Rev, together with a few other friends, formerly played in 'Pinkly Smooth', an avant-garde metal band. They quit the band to focus on Avenged Sevenfold full time.
Lead vocals
M. Shadows was born July 31st, 1981 as Matthew Charles Sanders. His parents are Gary and Kim Sanders. Matt has one younger sister, Amy. In his younger years, Matt had serious anger management problems. Due to his behaviour, he was kicked out of two different Huntington Beach, California schools. Before being in Avenged Sevenfold, he was in a band called Succesful Failure. Avenged Sevenfold drummer The Rev was also the drummer in Succesful Failure. During these days, Matt wrote the song 'Streets', which later ended up on an Avenged Sevenfold 'Sounding The Seventh Trumpet' album. Later, Matt teamed up with Zacky and formed Avenged Sevenfold. Some of Matt's music influences are Metallica, Megadeath, Pantera, Guns N Roses, Queen and Mr Bungle. At first, Matt's vocals had a heavy metalcore influence and consisted mainly of screaming vocals, his vocal style has changed over the years. Matt had a minor throat surgery, which a lot of people tend to blame for his vocal change - he wouldn't be able to scream anymore. However, on Avenged Sevenfold's DVD 'All Excess' manager Larry Jacobson states that this is NOT the case. Matt had decided years before the release of their 'City of Evil' album, that he didn't want to scream anymore eventually. Matt has made several guest appearances on the albums of numerious artists: "Savior, Saint, Salvation" by Bleeding Through, "Entombed We Collide" and "This Is Not The End" of Death By Stereo, "Like Always" by Kisses For Kings, "The River" together with Avenged Sevenfold guitarist Synyster Gates, by Good Charlotte and "Buffalo Stampede" by Cowboy Troy. He also produced the album 'Requiem' by The Confession. Matt is married to Valary Renee DiBenedetto.
Drums, backing vocalsThe Reverend Tholomew Plague, aka The Rev, was born on February 9, 1981 as James Owen Sullivan. His most common nicknames were Jimmy and The Rev, though 'Rat Head' used to be his former stage name. At the age of ten, Jimmy got his own drum kit. He attended a Catholic school with lead singer M. Shadows but got expelled in second grade. He was also expelled from Huntington Beach High School for 'a slew of behavioral infractions' and was kicked out of the alternative school, resulting in him dropping out of school. As a teen, he spent a lot of time living in a laundromat and was constantly in and out of homes. He was always spotted wearing excentric outfits such as colored kimonos and bathropes. Before joining Avenged Sevenfold, Jimmy had been in the third-wave ska band Suburban Legends, Ballistico and Pinkly Smooth (with guitarist Synyster Gates). His first record was released when he was 18. There was no particular reason why Jimmy had his name 'The Reverend Tholomew Plague' according to the 'All Excess' DVD by Avenged Sevenfold. Some of Jimmy's favorite bands were Rancid, The Transplants, Organized Riot and Slayer. Some of his music influences were Vinnie Paul (Pantera), Dave Lombardo and Paul Bostaph (Slayer) and Mike Portnoy (Dream Theather). Jimmy started doing more vocal work for Avenged Sevenfold while recording the selftitled album. He also got a lot more involved into the writing process of the songs, for instance by coming up with new riffs. He was sponsored by DW Drums, Sabian Cymbals, Pro-Mark Drumsticks and Evans Drumheads. Jimmy was engaged to Leana Noelle MacFadden, better known as Leana Silver.
On December 28th, 2009 around 1pm PST, Jimmy was found death in his home in Huntington Beach, California. His death was reported as due to natural causes, however autopsy results were inconclusive and further tests are pending. Avenged Sevenfold made the following statement on their official website, saying:
"It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we tell you of the passing today of Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan. Jimmy was not only one of the world's best drummers, but more importantly he was our best friend and brother. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jimmy's family and we hope that you will respect their privacy during this difficult time.
Jimmy you are forever in our hearts. We love you.
M Shadows, Synyster Gates, Zacky Vengeance and Johnny Christ"
On January 5th, a private funeral was held for Jimmy. A day later, January 6th, he was buried in Huntington Beach, California.
On June 9th, 2010 Coroner officials say Jimmy had died of an accidental overdose and indicated that he had an enlarged heart, which could have played a role in his death. It was a "combined effect of multiple drugs and alcohol," Orange County Coroner Deputy Dan Aikin said. The drugs listed were Oxycodone, Oxymorphone, Diazepam, Nordiazepam and Ethanol. Jimmy's enlarged heart was marked as a "significant condition" in the coroner's report, Aikin said.
BassJohnny Christ was born November 18, 1984 as Jonathan Lewis Seward. Unlike all the other bandmembers, Johnny did not attend Huntington Beach High School but the Marina High School. Johnny knew Synyster Gates through his older brother and remembers The Rev because he (The Rev) was always picking on him, so he claims. When the band would be practicing in M. Shadows' parents' garage, Johnny would walk over there and tell them their bassplayer was inadequate and that they should let him play instead. When Avenged Sevenfold was left with no bassplayer for tour, Johnny filled up the spot for them and took a few weeks off from high school during his senior year. Those few weeks would become permanent, as Johnny dropped out of high school to join Avenged Sevenfold. Before Johnny, the band had already had three bassplayers that go by the names of Dameon Ash, Justin Sane and Matt Wendt. Johnny's two biggest influences are Cliff Burton (Metallica) and Duff McKagan (Guns N Roses, Velvet Revolver). However, Les Claypool, the bassist and vocalist of Primus, was the one who inspired him the most to play bass guitar. Johnny plays the bass with both his fingers and a pick, depending on the songs. The first album Johnny recorded was 'Waking The Fallen'. At first, he would sign things with 'Johnny' until guitarist Zacky Vengeance came up with 'Johnny Christ'. He decided to go with that, because everybody would be going to hate it. Johnny is currently dating Lacey Anne Franklin.
Special thanks:
© A7XFans.com
(¯`v´¯) Statue: Mad 
Makati, PH.
