So you know how I said I might post two bands yesterday? Yeah, I definitely didn't do that. I'm too lazy to do that. Also, I should mention that today's installment of Music Week will be slightly different than all the other posts on this topic. Why? Because today's band is unlike any of the others I've covered. So without any further ado, today's band is...
Avenged Sevenfold!
When Pandora, that genius invention by which I discover new music, gave me the song Afterlife, by Avenged Sevenfold, I had no idea what had been unleashed. I immediately took a shine to that song, and after listening to a lyric-filled version over and over on YouTube, I bought it. And then proceeded to add it to my collection of wonderful, beautiful music and not think much of it for a while.
Then there was the concert. I attended a concert in which the following bands played: Escape the Fate, Bullet for My Valentine, Seether, Three Days Grace, and Avenged Sevenfold. By that time, I had heard a few more of their songs. Even bought a couple more that were in the 69-cent category. But I still didn't know what was building even at that moment.
I didn't get to stay for all of A7X that night, but I truly, truly wished I could have. What I did see from them was just really, really good. "Just good" is really the only phrase I can think of, because they were beyond words. That was the kind of awesome they were.
After the concert, I sort of put them on the backburner for a while. I still thought they were marvelously good, but I wasn't about to jump up and buy all their CDs. Until one day, when my parents made me really mad for some forgotten reason (probably relating to college) and I decided to employ my best "get over your anger" tactic, which is to buy music. I decided it was time to invest fully in a "new" band, so I bought the Nightmare CD, the whole thing all at once, on iTunes. However, this actually didn't immediately calm my anger, because I accidentally bought the clean version. Which cost three whole dollars more than the explicit version. Come to think of it, I'm still a little miffed at myself for that...anyway, moving on.
I still hadn't yet realized the full enormity of these events. But then, randomly, it just kind of hit me that I loved A7X. Like, to the point that I added every member of the band to my list of Musicians I Would Marry Immediately Upon Meeting. (That list is in my head, if you're wondering. I'm not weird enough to write it down where people could find it or something.)
I had known all along about the sad story of the Rev, A7X/s drummer who died in December 2009. But all I had known was that he died, not anything about how, or even when. I guess I first learned of this through Pandora's crappy little band biography thing. All it had to say about the Rev's death was "That same year, drummer Jimmy The Rev Sullivan passed away at the age of 28." It said it exactly like that too; all that bad grammar and whatnot.
But after I realized how much I loved Avenged Sevenfold, I decided I had to know more. I now know that he died on December 28th, 2009, in his Huntington Beach, California home. I know that he died of an acute overdose on oxycodone, diazepam, and alcohol. Diazepam is an anti-anxiety drug, for those of you who don't know. But I prefer to think of his life more than his death. The Rev was a really interesting character, and I wish I had gotten to meet him. He seems like he would have been a really fun guy. He wrote a lot of songs for the band, including Afterlife, Critical Acclaim, Brompton Cocktail, and Little Piece of Heaven, all of which were on their self-titled album which was released in 2009. He also played more than just drums; he could play guitar, bass, piano, or sing. He could've been the band all by himself.
And I know stuff about the other members, too. All the band members were from Huntington Beach, they all went to the same high school, and started the band in 1999, when they were still in high school. I know that Johnny Christ, the bassist, dropped out of high school in his senior year to be a roadie for the band before he became their permanent bassist after Matt Wendt left the band.
M Shadows is married to a woman named Valerie. He's the singer. Synyster Gates, who got his stage name from the Rev, is also married, to a woman named Michelle. The Rev was married also, to a woman named Leana. I think Zacky Vengeance is married, but I can't think of his wife's name at this moment in time. Syn is the lead guitarist, and Zacky is the rhythm guitarist. Syn and the Rev had a side-project, a band called Pinkly Smooth, where Syn was still a guitarist, but the Rev sang. That band released one album, and will likely not release any more.
I'm forgetting a lot of stuff about these guys; I know I am. But I can't think of what right now for some reason. I know that they have had a lot of criticism for their drug use, but I don't care about that. Their drug use and drinking is just part of who they are; part of what they became when they got famous almost straight out of high school. I would say that that's a good reason to avoid fame when you're young, but in this case, it just is what it is. They wouldn't be who they are today, and they wouldn't have produced such amazing records, if they had become famous later in life.
On that note, I'll slip into the usual discography and band member stuff.
Avenged Sevenfold currently consists of five members, all but one of whom have stage names. I'll include both, real names in parentheses. M Shadows (Matt Sanders) is the singer, Synyster Gates (Brian Haner) plays lead guitar, Zacky Vengeance (Zack Baker) is on rhythm guitar, Johnny Christ (Jonathan Seward) is the bassist, and Mike Portnoy is the drummer.
In 2001, the band released their first album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, on Good Life Recordings. Their next album was Waking the Fallen, released in 2003 on Hopeless Records. City of Evil, their third album, was released in 2005 on Warner Brothers. Their self-titled fourth album was released in 2007, also on Warner Brothers. Their fifth studio effort, Nightmare, was released in 2010 on Warner Brothers.
They also have a documentary-type thing, All Excess, that was released in 2007 on Warner Bros. It's kind of a behind the scenes look at the band. In 2008 they released the Live in the LBC and Diamonds in the Rough live album, again on Warner Bros.
Avenged Sevenfold is known for having long songs--Save Me, written by the Rev and featured on the Nightmare album, is 10:56 long. Their songs tend to average about 5:30-6 minutes, which means they aren't very radio-friendly.
There's more; I know there's more...maybe when I think of it, I'll come back and edit this to add all that other stuff in. But I think this is already my longest Music Week post, so maybe I won't. But right now, this is three minutes from being posted late, and I'd like it to be on time, so...g'night!
--Razza Ragazza
Update: Bah, literally one minutes after posting this I realized: I forgot to mention that the current title of my blog, It's Time for Something Real, comes from the song Critical Acclaim, by Avenged Sevenfold! Bah!
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