Avenged Sevenfold’s lead singer M. Shadows recently had a chat toEnrique Lopetegui at the SA Sound Blog about whether or not A7X suffer from the ‘successful band syndrome’, what future records from these guys may hold and what it was like to finally play Rock In Rio!
Q: First of all, tell me everything about playing atRock in Rio, in Brazil.
A: Oh, yeah. Thats one of those dreams young bands have: to play at Rock in Rio one day. We were lucky enough to play with Iron Maiden. I dont usually get nervous for shows, but that was one that I really wanted to nail because I knew a lot of people would want to watch online and we have a strong fan base in Rio, so we wanted to kick ass that night.
Q: Do you think Avenged Sevenfold suffered from the successful band syndrome? I mean, you seemed to be loved or at least respected by critics until you started selling some records
A: You cant be everything at once. Theres always going to be small factions of people that are very vocal in their opinion of you when youre not exactly what they want you to do. When we started as a very young band in the Orange County hardcore scene, as soon as we started separating ourselves from that, all those kids wouldnt come to our shows. They hated us because we sang and were a little bit more melodic. But that happens. We were a cool band to watch at Warped Tour, but if you ask those kids now theyll say, No, Avenged Sevenfold is not a Warped band; they suck. Theyre too big, corporate. The bigger you get, you get that. So we just write the music we want to write, we go on tour, do the production we want to do, and we basically live in our own little bubble. We really dont care what anyone says.
Q: If they like it, great. If not
Im a firm believer that people dont know what they want until they get it. There are very few bands that I still listen to that write the same record over and over, one being AC/DC, and one being NOFX, they always do the same and I love them, but most other bands I fall out of love with because they do the same things but they no longer move me or challenge me. Thats what we want to do with our band: to move you in ways you didnt necessarily think you wanted. You have to give people things that frighten them a little bit, throws them off but then they get into it. Thats how things evolve.
Check out the rest of the interview hereand make sure you have a copy of the band’s latest album ’Hail To The King’
