We are just happy to be together and out and traveling the world together.
Johnny Christ
I just don't have time to really sit there and worry about someone disliking what we put so much effort into.
Everyone has their own opinions, and they're entitled to them.
We all listen to a lot of eclectic things.
There was a time when we were in a van and handing out the CDs at Warped Tour. We had a two-song EP that we were just handing out for free just to promote ourselves. That was on the 'Waking the Fallen' record, and we were just going around and handing out the CDs and stuff like that.
It wasn't until high school that I realized Avenged Sevenfold was picking up locally.
Everyone knows Mike Portnoy's reputation. He's a great drummer, and he helped us out in a great time of need. He really helped us get back underneath our feet and continue this band.
You really have to play with the space in a riff so it can be allowed to breathe.
You can have the best riff in the world, but if the drums behind it just ain't vibing it, it's not gonna be the greatest riff, right? So you've gotta have someone there that can really bring that to life.
It's not as much about the numbers as much as it is that our fans made a mark on this world for us.
What it really comes down to, especially in metal, is that the bass needs to cut through, so you go to the pick for that effect. But when you have a certain feel about the music and really dig in to get a big growl, you have to go with the fingers, because you're not going to get it with a pick.
You can definitely tell the record was made for the time that it was and on the budget that it was. 'Waking the Fallen,' I mean. We think that it is cool. It serves its purpose. It serves its time. We don't want to remaster it or anything like that.
I've always had influences from all over the place, like Mr. Bungle and Primus. As a band, we try not to focus too much on where it's coming from, because we're always listening to music.
We were about ready to go out on the road with Maiden, and Kerrang asked us to do an Iron Maiden tribute song. While we were home, we recorded that. And that was it.
We always mess around with riffs and stuff and kind of jam out during sound checks, but we never actually started playing covers live until we started goofing off a little bit more on stage.
We're lucky to have such great fans that have stood by us, let us be us and try new things.
It's a trip now that other bands are saying that they look up to us. In my mind, I'm still 18 years old trying to emulate Pantera in my bedroom.
There were numerous times where, at the end of a week of working on a song, there was a part of it that we still weren't feeling, so we'd scrap the whole thing and start from scratch the next week.
If it weren't for this, I'd probably be working a normal job and playing on the weekends for 10 people at the Irvine Spectrum.
We have the greatest fans in the world, and our growth has been so organic. It's online; it's out at the shows. It's a big family, and they know we're going to do our best, and we know they're going to give it their best.
Not a lot of hard rock bands are just letting it all be - they're adding a lot of samples on things, or effects or whatever - and we just wanted the drums to be raw so you could really hear what Brooks Wackerman is capable of.
When it comes right down to it, no, we're not religious at all.
Kerrang asked us to do a heavy metal tribute to one of our favorite heavy metal bands. We had already been jamming out on 'Walk,' so we're like, 'OK. We'll record it for you guys.'
We definitely want to make sure that what we are making is something that we are proud of and something that we are inspired to write.
When you're concentrating on just the music, you're not thinking about anything else.
The fans have always been die-hard and awesome. That's why we do a lot of the things we do.
These fans are the reason why we're here. They're awesome and very crazy. They love Avenged Sevenfold, and we love them. Having that is rare.
We have a song, 'Welcome to the Family' - we realized for the first time in our lives that people go through this every day around the world. There is someone very close to them that they're losing, every day. That song is, 'We know how you're feeling.'
We've always kind of tried to keep the mystique. We don't wanna give everybody everything. You give 'em too much, it's just white noise. When we do say something, we want it to be an event. When we go out and do things, we want it to be an event and kind of keep everything else behind closed doors.
We were very proud of everything that we accomplished with 'Hail To The King,' but when it was time to write a new record, it was like, 'Well, we accomplished that. Let's see what else we can do,' and took it to the next level.
When I got into songs like 'Exist,' I was like, 'Okay, this riff has some bass sweeping in it, I'm definitely going to have to use a pick... but I guess I'll have to learn how to sweep first!'
We wanted to do something different and have a surprise release. At first, naturally, the label was getting a little scared about that, because they wanna sell records, and a surprise release means it might not go as quickly.
The importance of first-week sales has kind of diminished, in our opinion, in the industry, and we don't really know what it really means anymore. It is what it is in the industry. And for us, it's all about the endgame, not where it begins.
We've never been shy to admit that Metallica is a huge influence in our lives and on our music.
If we're compared to Metallica, the greatest metal band in the world, I think that's actually a pretty damn good compliment.
We're always trying to do something better than the last record; to do something different and evolve as a band.
Every riff had to be perfect and heavy, collectively what we wanted it to be. If there was one person in the room who went, 'Heh, I don't think it is there yet, guys,' we'd scrap the whole song. I think that took a little bit of songwriting maturity for us.
