Avenged Sevenfold at the Taste of Chaos 2008
Just recently Avenged Sevenfold release their self titled album, creating mixed feelings about the traditionally non-mainstream bands new direction. The small transitions between screamo and singing, hard core to soft core, seem to be stirring the water, but the main difference is that this album was self-produced, which the band takes much pride in. In my personal opinion, I think when bands can represent several different styles and not fall into one genre of music they are truly talented.
Now the band has been selling out around the country on their 2008 Taste of Chaos Tour while co-headlining with Atreyu, another band that is off the beaten path of falling into one genre. Although you wouldn’t know it unless you’ve seen them live, Atreyu fought their way into the “Orange County Metal” crowd, same as Avenged. Both bands are receiving well deserved credit for their recent albums.
The TOCT hit the Aragon Theatre March 11th and played to a packed house. There was never a dull moment for the fired up crowd full of die hard Atreyu and Avenged fans. They stayed in constant motion for several hours taking full advantage of the metal bands that opened for them, which included, hard core Japanese metal bands, D’espairsray, The Underneath and MUCC. Also, Idiot Pilot, A Bullet for my Valentine and Bless the Fall followed to keep the crowed pumped for the headliners.
After the show M. Shadows, lead vocalist for AS, rushed over to the Q101 studio to talk about the tour. He mentioned that the crowds have been non stop from city to city. He seemed disappointed at not being able to give us Chicagoans the full show. Apparently the Aragon is a no pyro venue, hindering AS from setting off their usual amazing pyrotechnics that only add to the intensity of their tour. They were able to give a pretty decent laser show that didn’t seem to slow them or the crowd down one bit.
In a recent telephone interview with Zacky Vengeance, guitarist for AS, he answers questions about what this new album has done for them as a band, both publicly and privately. The interview was given by Warner Music Group with rep, Brian Bumbery moderating questions. (Interview edited for content)
Coordinator: Thank you for joining today’s conference call with Avenged Sevenfold’s guitarist, Zacky Vengeance, regarding Avenged Sevenfold’s new self-produced, self-titled album on their headlining slot on the Rock Star Taste of Chaos Tour. Please note that your phone line will be muted until your name is announced as the speaker. You will have two questions with Zacky then your line will be muted allowing for the next speaker to talk. You are welcome to listen to every writer’s questions and Zacky’s answers.
Now, let us begin the conference.
Our first speaker is (Bridgette Beard) of (Spearham College) in Ohio.
(Bridgette Beard): Hello. Thank you for doing this. It’s very nice of you.
Zacky Vengeance: Oh, no problem.
(Bridgette Beard): So, Taste of Chaos has been considered as like the winter alternative to work tourists. Do you miss doing Warp Tour or do you prefer the other summer tours you have done?
Zacky Vengeance: No, I think, you know, summer touring has been such a big part of Avenged Sevenfold; so I think Warped Tour was extremely important. I think we really stood out because I mean we’re just a lot different than all the other bands the years that we did play it. And it showed because, you know, a few years later we were invited to be a main act on Outcast and that was just after being asked to do main support for Metallica over in Europe.
So, the summer touring for us has been really great. This Taste of Chaos, I know it’s branded as more of a festival type, you know, kind of Warp Tour deal, but you know, since it is in arenas and, you know, the band’s bringing production and lighting shows and stuff where Warp Tour just has to strip down you know, 150 bands, threw up your gear and, you know, rock out and then meet bands and stuff. This is more of those bands that have, you know, graduated from Warp Tour to put on an arena style show for the Warp Tour fans and stuff.
So, you know, with that said I think, you know, Taste of Chaos is a totally different thing.
(Bridgette Beard): All right. Awesome. What is your favorite new song on the CD Avenged Sevenfold and what is your favorite Avenged song overall?
Zacky Vengeance: I would have to say that my favorite on the new album – I mean it’s always changing which is such a great thing, you know. When you get into one song and then you, (unintelligible) how another song is. The song that I really love the most for such a long time – I really love “Afterlife.” I think that’s such a strong song and the meaning is really strong and it shows off all, you know, the parts of Avenged Sevenfold that have made us what we are, you know. The dueling guitars, you know, you know, fast drum beats, but then it opens up wide open and has one of the hookiest catches choruses that I know we’ve ever written.
And I like that because it really represents Avenged Sevenfold. But I also love songs like “A Little Piece of Heaven” it represents us in the fact that we’re have never been afraid to try new things and just go wild, you know.
As far as overall, favorite song of all time would probably – it would probably have to be — oh, wow, it’s a tough question. I think “MIA.” That’s from City of Evil. I’ve always loved that song and lyrically, I think that’s probably one of the most meaningful, strongest, heartfelt songs that we’ve ever written.
Coordinator: Our next question comes from (Nick Fazulla) of Rollins College, Florida.
(Nick Fazulla): Hey, Zacky. My first question is of the bands you’re playing with at Taste of Chaos what’s your – who are you most excited to play with?
Zacky Vengeance: Oh, wow. I’m really , really excited to do a full proper arena tour with Atreyu because, you know, I remember playing literally in front of 10 people alongside those guys. They’re co-headlining the first tours that we’d ever done and we both come from the same place. And we both had broken through, you know, the Metalcore label and kind of became a little more mainstream, I guess, but we’ve always maintained a core fan base.
Oh, I’m really excited and proud of those guys and I can’t wait to see what they have, you know, to offer the Taste of Chaos fans every night.
(Nick Fazulla): All right. Great. And where are you most excited to play on the tour?
Zacky Vengeance: Oh, wow. You know, to be honest I’m really excited for every one of the shows because, you know, the ticket sales have all been really strong and, you know, knowing that thousands of kids are going to show up to see us on a show that we’ve always, you know, wanted to do and talked about doing with sparing no expense. I think every show’s going to be great. I’m really looking forward to the, you know, hometown show in Long Beach. It’s always great to see friends and family and let them see how far we’ve come from the days at planning it. Yes. So, that’s one of the (unintelligible) people.
Coordinator: Our next question comes from (Devon Armstrong) of (Tampa University), Pennsylvania.
(Devon Armstrong): Hi. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk to you.
Zacky Vengeance: Oh, no problem.
(Devon Armstrong): My first question has to do with something I read on your Web page. It said that you guys were literally like writing and working really hard — let me just read the quote. It says you were “literally sweating every detail with the same conviction they had years earlier in trying to prove themselves to the masses.” What exactly were you trying to prove with this album and do you think you’ve achieved that?
Zacky Vengeance: With this album I think it was just proving that we have always, you know, despite back when we first got any kind of commercial success, you know, people were taunting us with, you know, sell out. Then people were labeling us with metal.
I think what we wanted to accomplish and achieve with this album that we did was, you know, break open any kind of pigeon hole of what Avenged Sevenfold might be able to break as wide open and incorporate all sorts of styles of music that we love — all sorts of instrumentation that we love to hear. And, you know, just being very brave. I think we always have been, but it’s come across as oh, you know, it’s a metal band that does some different things. Or, its, you know, a hard core band that’s trying to play punk rock and metal influences and realistically, we’re so much more than that, you know.
We just, we really like to try to be the best songwriters that we can be as opposed to, you know, a good metal band or a good any other type of band. We just want to write great songs and, you know, and with this album producing it (unintelligible). So, we wanted to prove that everything that we’re capable of doing doesn’t come from an outside source, you know. All the songwriting, all the, you know, everything that you hear on the album is what we want you to hear.
I think we definitely accomplished that.
(Devon Armstrong): Okay. Cool. I also read that you guys had a lot of outside influences and like, with losses not that exciting (unintelligible) you listen to like Toby Keith and TI. What was the biggest influence that you guys found while doing this album?
Zacky Vengeance: Oh, wow. I think the great thing about this album is that there wasn’t one particular influence. There was our lifetime of influences put to work. There was everything ranging from listening to the stuff that we grew up with when we were young kids, you know, whether that was bands like Michael Jackson or, you know, Johnny Cash. From Social Distortion to, you know, Mr. Bungle to, you know, for me like (Nick Cage and the Baptides) and, you know, and Dark Twisted Lyrics and, you know, to bands like better melody masters like (No Effects).
And we always love bands like Metallica that do have, you know, such a driving that can command a crowd of thousands. So, we took basically, the entire library of music that we’ve always loved and tried to use every bit of it for this album.
Coordinator: Our next question comes from (Brian Washburn) of the University of Arkansas.
(Brian Washburn): Hey, Zacky. How you doing?
Zacky Vengeance: Good. How you doing?
(Brian Washburn): I’m pretty good. What do you consider the most distinctive difference on the new album from your previous one?
Zacky Vengeance: Oh, wow. I think the most distinct difference on this album is that the songs are the most focused that any Avenged Sevenfold songs have ever been in the fact that some of our other songs were on other albums were very long and meandering and almost progressive. And that’s kind of what we were going for at the time, so we have so much music and we wanted to get it all out and let it all be heard. And now that people kind of know what Avenged Sevenfold’s all about we wanted to tighten everything up and take the absolute best parts and work really hard on structuring the songs to be great songs and not just great parts that make up a very long adventure song. We wanted a very creative songs that were very focused.
(Brian Washburn): Okay. And with A Taste of Chaos what do you most anticipate about it, you know, besides, you know, the large crowds every night? And are you guys going to do anything different on this tour?
Zacky Vengeance: Yes. This tour we have quite a few tricks up our sleeve. Basically, the only way to find out is to go to the concerts, but I can say with – wholeheartedly that this is definitely our most extravagant production. Wow. It’s just a big thank you to all of our fans and everyone that’s supported us, you know, through the Warp Tour years, the through the, you know, our own headlining stuff. And, you know, we just want to give them a show that they can remember.
Coordinator: Our next question comes from (Kelly Dunn) of St. Louis University, Missouri.
(Kelly Dunn): Hello.
Zacky Vengeance: Hi. How you doing?
(Kelly Dunn): I’m doing pretty good. How are you doing?
Zacky Vengeance: Good.
(Kelly Dunn): All right. Being a band from California how do you feel about when you have to tour in the cold, oftentimes snowy, Midwestern area?
Zacky Vengeance: Oh, wow. It definitely is a big change. It’s really nice to be able to see the seasons. That’s one great thing about touring. I can honestly tell you that I wasn’t quite as prepared for the weather. I’ve been sitting on the Weather Channel for this tour. Being from California I guess I’m a little naïve, but I kind of thought that the weather aside is starting to get a little bit better, but it’s still the middle of winter for everywhere else and I think I definitely underpacked as far as warm clothes go.
But it’s great, you know. We try our best to go, you know, snow board and just be active instead of, you know, fighting off the cold, try and embrace it a little bit. But, you know, as long as we try and keep warm and as long as our hands aren’t too cold to play, it’s really great thing.
(Kelly Dunn): Well, best of luck keeping warm. And also what do you think about becoming the only band to both headline Warp Tour and Oz Fest while also being on a show like MTV’s TRL?
Zacky Vengeance: I think that’s just a great, you know, a great compliment to our band everything that we’ve tried to do for so long. Because we’ve always set out to break all sorts of boundaries and barriers and, you know, being able to play Oz Fest and be well received and being able to play Warp Tour and have, you know, create a die hard fan base and being able to, you know, like you said, be on TRL and have a song or songs that appeal to the pop culture that, you know only like melody. They only like music that is just, you know, catchy.
It shows that we can everything that we’ve always set out to do. And I think that really, you know, gives us confidence in our song writing abilities to kind of, like I said break big break areas.
Coordinator: Our next question comes from (Carrie Kramer) of the University of Southern California.
(Carrie Kramer): Hi. You’re going to go on tour for quite a long time, like the next six months, right?
Zacky Vengeance: Yes.
(Carrie Kramer): So, what has been your craziest memory on tour, like in the past, like being stuck with all those guys?
Zacky Vengeance: Oh, wow. There’s been so many just incredible moments out on tour. There’s been some rough ones too, you know? We definitely lifted some trials and tribulations, but we’ve also had some of the funnest times that people could ever imagine. Well, it’s basically what you can imagine if you’re out on the road with your friends and, you know, getting to see the world and getting to play shows in front of, you know, thousands of kids across – I mean every continent. It’s just such a – so many great stories come about.
I would say on this last touring cycle we got to – the thing that sticks out about it so far is we got to start the touring cycle off for this album in Southeast Asia which includes places like, you know, Jakarta, Indonesia we played. We played Singapore and we played Bangkok, Thailand, as well as Japan. And going into a place like Jakarta which is literally, you know, a third world country, most people would never even imagine the kinds of corruption in the government.
The kinds of – I mean it was just insane the way people were living watching people live, you know, just in poverty and stuff and then still seeing, you know, 5000 die-hard Avenged Sevenfold fans, you know, sell out our first show we ever (unintelligible) there. So, I mean that was probably the most incredible experience that I can remember.
(Carrie Kramer): That’s very cool. Okay. And also, speaking politically I noticed on your Web site that there’s a Rock the Vote post on there. Do you have any thoughts on the election or anything political?
Zacky Vengeance: Definitely, you know, as far as the election goes, you know, I’m still right there alongside every other American looking to see who I feel will lead us best into, you know, the future. For me personally, I haven’t made the decision, you know, in any way, shape or form, as you know, there is still a lot more there, you know. We’re in a rough time right now and we definitely need someone that will help us out and pull us out of it.
So, you know, all I can do is encourage all of, you know, our fans, you know. The Rock the Vote thing, I think it’s cool. As long as you, you know, you make up your own mind, you make your own decisions and you’re really well informed on, you know, the issues, then I think it’s really a great thing.
Coordinator: Our next question comes from (Nicole Styetch) of Hamilton College, New York.
(Nicole Styetch): Zacky, thanks for talking to me today.
Zacky Vengeance: Oh, you’re welcome.
(Nicole Styetch): All right. Quick question. Your music spans a wide array of genres and it seems that the music industry is kind of hell-bent on classifying music into little, tiny boxes. Do you think that the classifications of the genre are dividing the music industry or helping it?
Zacky Vengeance: I think, you know, I think dividing music into categories I think it works I a lot of occasions because I think a lot of bands kind of stick to one, uniform sound that kind of falls in their genre. I do think there’s bands that definitely, completely conquer those barriers, you know.
As far as, you know, bands on the heavier side, I think bands like Korn and System of a Down has created something completely unique, you know, before putting melody and incorporating. I mean when I think of System of a Down I think of a heavy band, but I don’t think of anything that anyone can compare them to.
But for the most part I think the biggest problem right now is the music industry and music scene is so diluted with so many bands that are copying other band fans, you know, as far as the emocore bands or, you know, just you know, you see so many bands all look the same. They all sound the same and, you know, it’s really hard to break through.
It’s like finding a needle in a haystack at this point because there’s so many bands, but every now and then, you know, I think with tools like the Internet and stuff kids can come across enough music to where they actually find a band that they love. And once they do they appreciate them that much more. And I think that’s what we’ve been very fortunate about is our fans, they really stick with us once they find us and they kind of realize that we’re attempting something brave and we’re accomplishing something a lot different than a lot of other music.
(Nicole Styecth): Definitely. What made you decide to decide to self-produce your upcoming album?
Zacky Vengeance: Well, it’s something we’ve always talked about and, you know, we learned a lot on our previous two albums – previous three albums actually. From being in the studio for so long and practicing stuff and we’d always, you know, we kind of got to the point where our pre-production songwriting. We were pretty much taking care of the arranging duties ourselves and, you know, the idea came across to produce this album, you know, ourselves and any time a major labels hears that they get a little scared. So, they proposed, all they wanted was us to talk to other producers just to make sure that we wanted – making the right decisions. So, we did and we, you know, we had, you know, some really good meetings with people like (Ralph Corallo). He produced Green Day and (unintelligible) and we really clicked. And we were, you know, we were excited to maybe work with him, but he was busy doing a Kid Rock album and scheduling conflicts didn’t really work out.
So, you know, we sat down, we had meetings every day of how to produce a song, how we wanted them to turn out, how we would, you know, accomplish that (unintelligible) with instruments and equipment. And then, we just went for it and we to work extra hard to make sure it happened.
Coordinator: Our final question comes from (Jim Lavalle) of College Affair Magazine, Arizona.
(Jim Lavalle): How’s it going, Zacky?
Zacky Vengeance: Good.
(Jim Lavalle): I was kind of curious, some of the stuff on the new record is, you know, taking the risks and really putting your guys’ stuff like out there and doing something different. Will you guys ever be able to play songs like “Dear God” or “A Little Piece of Heaven” live?
Zacky Vengeance: Oh, absolutely. That’s one thing we take pride in is being able to play everything that we write live. And you know, it’s tricky. Sometimes there are (unintelligible) in finding ways to do it, but we will definitely be doing – we’ve nearly played every song on the new album live except for just a handful. And this upcoming Taste of Chaos we’re definitely going to be playing a lot more.
(Jim Lavalle): Awesome man. You know, what was like the biggest challenge in the studio doing it yourself as opposed to having a producer even though you guys pretty much always did most of your own pre-production and arrangements, like what was the biggest challenge of trying to make sure that you really hit every facet that you wanted to?
Zacky Vengeance: It was just the long hours and really having to, you know, really try and step outside your own mind and look as an outsider and really critique everything and be totally selfless, you know. Because if you came up with something that you really liked, you had to look at the better of the song and the better of the band and sometimes, you know, to be willing to, you know, throw stuff in the trash and understand that it’s not going to actually make the song better. So, the hardest thing is to be from an outsider’s prospective to make the songs great. And I think really we really did that and that was definitely the hardest part.
Coordinator: This concludes our conference call today with Zacky Vengeance of Avenged Sevenfold. Thank you for participating.
