M. Shadows

I recall us selling out L.A.'s 5,000-capacity Gibson Amphitheatre and flying straight to Germany to play a 300-capacity room where we'd only sold 120 tickets. This was when 'City Of Evil' was really taking off in the U.S., but it seemed like Europe was less interested.

If I ran the Grammys, it would probably go bankrupt.

When you look at metal, it's probably one of the healthiest genres when you look at it in a worldwide perspective - every single country listens to metal.

I was talking to my dad about the stuff he grew up listening to, and 'Operation: Mindcrime' is a record that he had always talked about around the house. He always talked about it as the 'greatest concept album of all time.' One day, I started listening to it, and it just hit me. I was like, 'These songs are all hits. They're all huge songs.'

If I was to play any song for anybody asking, 'What is metal about?' I'd just play 'Master of Puppets.' The progressions and the bridge are brilliant.

The 'Black Album' was my real first introduction to Metallica. I was, like, 12 or 13 at the time. We were just getting into music, and I liked that album a lot, but it didn't necessarily change my life. But when I started picking up all the other Metallica records, 'Master of Puppets' was the one to me that stuck out with its songwriting.

The first Maiden record I ever got was 'Piece of Mind,' and I only got it because I thought the artwork was cool, and everyone talked about Iron Maiden. But they weren't necessarily the most popular metal band in America for a 12-year-old kid when I discovered them.

We do a lot of things that kind of annoy people and our fan base. We try not to get overloaded on it. For us, that means we don't do social media stuff - we have an Avenged Sevenfold social media, but none of the band members have Facebooks or any sort of Twitter.

If we can inspire a kid to pick up a guitar - and less and less kids are doing so these days - it'd be really cool because I know how it felt growing up and how special that was for me.

We like to wait to a point where we have to get in there and write a record because we're just so built up.

When you think of rock and roll and metal, a lot of it is based around the riff. If you can sing over the riff and what the arrangements are going to be like, you have to leave space for what most people consider one of the most key essential parts, which is the vocalist.

I'm glad that we can add something new to the fold that Metallica's not going to bring to the table, and they're going to do what they do.

We go out there and kill it every night, and you can see what this means to people.

I used to get a huge kick out of walking into a record store and finding something I didn't know was out.

We want metal to be dangerous again. How cool would that be?

If you're going to put out a record just to get a No. 1 and then forget about it after the first week, it's the tail wagging the dog: it doesn't make any sense.

People want things now. People in the rock world seem to not want to give it to them - they want to keep doing things the old way - and one thing that has always bummed me out is when we get a single three months out, and then you have to keep getting fed with bread crumbs.

I think Kanye West is brilliant at what he does: he's got a different live show, different merch for every tour, different vibes, and he just puts out great records.

Usually, when you're putting out a record, you have reviews from people a week before, and you have a vibe 'cause everyone's heard it - you've heard feedback from everyone, and they've listened to your single for a couple of months. Radio's playing it.

It's important to know the ins and outs of the music business, but you can also dive too deeply into it and forget that you're really here to make music.

If people respect us as artists, they know we'll give them something different every time; they know we're pushing ourselves.

The world is changing, and the way we consume music is obviously changing. I was one of the biggest CD advocates you will find, but when Apple music and digital options came out, like for everyone else, it was more conducive to my lifestyle.

We always want to do covers, but we found it kind of boring to do covers of bands in our genre, and we were always asked to do those.

The idea of turning an album into a living piece of art and adding new installations is really intriguing. It expands the journey.

We love the idea of putting out music in a non-conventional way.

When I was very young, it was Guns N' Roses and Metallica. I'd play air guitar on my bed. They've been the thread throughout my life.

Growing up, I was always playing with video games.

I go online, and I love watching heavy metal bands and guitar players play heavy metal versions of the 'Zelda' theme, and people do all the 'Zelda' music, which is one of my favorite soundtracks.

Ever since 'Hail to the King,' we've been more cognizant of our chord progressions, our key changes, drama in songs, a lot of dynamics - we've really added a lot of that in there.

I think the cool thing about being alive in 2017 is that you can literally put out music as soon and as frequently as you want to because of streaming services.

Metal needs to be exposed to more people, so it's good for rock if there's bigger bands.

I've never made a comment on a message board in my life.

We grew up with every type of band from Primus to Mr. Bungle to Elton John to pop music to metal, and we try to throw it all in a blender. And whatever comes out of that is more Avenged Sevenfold than metal or metalcore.

I've said the Grammys messed up metal because it's not on TV. What I'm saying is when you're in a metal category, it's not televised, and it doesn't move the needle forward for metal artists, and I wish they had more respect for the genre.

We're really excited to be even talked about in the same breath as Foo Fighters or Metallica.

I went to this vocal coach, Ron Anderson, who has worked with Axl Rose and Chris Cornell, to train my voice and learn a whole new way of singing.

I was a fan of 'Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,' and I got into 'Call Of Duty: Black Ops,' which was my favorite 'Call Of Duty' game of all time.

Sometimes, I feel like my lyrics meander a little bit, and our songs are so big I need to write more words than are necessary.

'This Means War' is up there with 'Hail to the King' in terms of crowd reaction and kids chanting for it.

We live in the realm where all the metalheads and rock fans know us, but we're not giants like Linkin Park or Black Sabbath.

No. 1 records are fine, but in 2016, they just don't mean as much any more - the currency has changed.

The Brexit thing to me just looks like a difference of opinion. I know things were lied about, but that should be a wake-up call to get all the information before you vote about something. Educate yourself.

Everyone has an opinion, and everyone should be entitled to say whatever they want.

I wanna write a classic metal record, a classic rock record, in 2013.

Games helped me a lot when The Rev died. It was something I able to go do and stay in the house and not have to be outside and deal with people. But I also found a community online that I was able to escape the feeling I was having of losing a best friend.

Music and space collide for me, as I find them incredibly stimulating.

When I'm by myself asking the questions that many of us do at some point in our lives, I look to the stars knowing that the answers are somewhere out there waiting to be discovered.

What made 'Dark Side Of The Moon' so great is some of the mystique and where it was coming from and just the authenticity of it.

For me, a band like Gojira brings something really cool and new to the table.

We just found that in 2016, if you announce a record, and it's coming out in three months, and you're just giving people breadcrumbs, it's the most boring, drawn-out experience.