Why Avenged Sevenfold's Tour Originally Turned Down Metallica Was A Top 23 Story of April 2023: M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold appeared on Audacy Check In with Jason Balley and revealed why the band initially turned down the opportunity to open for Metallica.
The show sent over these highlights. His discussions with Lars Ulrich about joining the tour, why they initially turned down the opportunity to open for Metallica: “We've been headlining for so long. One of the things we listened to early in our career and one thing we respected so much . some bands are, if you headline, people think of you as a headliner — and if you go and open for people all the time, they're always going to think of you as second fiddle. The idea of opening and taking all the games away, everything everybody had they ever seen — my question [Metallica’s Lars Ulrich] was, “I don't think this is the right look for new people coming into Avenged Sevenfold. We are not here.” But for a lot of mainstream people, it was “Oh, you're the band that opened for Metallica,” which put us on a higher pedestal, which was weird to me… I left that tour very grateful, but too much thinking right to do this tour. It put us in this weird position, “You're second fiddle to this.”
On opening for Metallica: “Well that was definitely a little more awkward because you're not in your environment and you're in broad daylight and you don't have your toys with you and you're playing a quick set. And you're the opening band, right? It's a different thing because when you're headlining, everybody's in the palm of your hand before it even happens. When you're opening for Metallica and the place is slowly filling up, half the place is full, you're in broad daylight getting hit by the sun. So , you almost have to go to war. You might have some people in the pit who are into it, but there's a lot of skeptical arms crossed, like, 'I don't like these new bands. I want nothing to do with it. I'm waiting for the real metal gods to show up.' It's really much more the feeling of going to war.”
New song, “Nobody”: “I remember when we first recorded it, there was definitely a 'This is different (vibe).' , people are like, “Okay, ready for this bang,” and you see their face go, like, “What's that?'… It was really fun messing with the reality of how people were going to pull it off the bat. .”
The song is very lyrical: “Because it's really this existential crisis with this kind of thing that we all face, which is death. It goes into a lot of awareness, a lot of almost Buddhist teachings where, when death is always looming, there are two ways to make it. If you find that life has no meaning, then what purpose are you going to put into your life to make it somehow bearable? But to talk about it, you need the music to be intense, and I need the music to feel almost uncomfortable… The things we're talking about are uncomfortable and don't feel pleasant or traffic-driven — until we want you to get there. So I think there's a method to the madness, but it takes a second to readjust and say , 'OK, that's what we're dealing with here.' It's not three and a half minutes, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus… it's just different.” Stream the full interview below:
Related stories
Why Avenged Sevenfold Originally Turned Down Metallica Tour – 2023 in Review
Avenged Sevenfold Announce 2024 Life is But A Dream Tour Leg in North America
Avenged Sevenfold Team With Pussy Riot For “We Love You Moar”
Avenged Sevenfold Reveal Twisted Live-Action 'Mattel' Video
Avenged Sevenfold Top Rock Chart With “Nobody”
News > Avenged Sevenfold
