Have you always been so calm and controlled on stage?
I don’t feel like I exude that confidence, but thank you—that’s good to know. I have no clue. I mean, I look back on different performances, especially more intimate ones where I think that I look like a fucking wreck. I guess it was a good day.
How did you get from studying Jazz guitar at MI to the “dark side” of Avenged Sevenfold?
Bad friends, man. Guilty by association [laughs]. I listened to a lot of Danny Elfman. The Pinkly Smooth thing was definitely Jimmy’s brainchild, but I gravitated towards it right away and felt really comfortable writing for it and arranging it—it was just so much fun. We were fucking psycho kids getting into too much trouble and this kind of got us behind a guitar, a pad of paper, and a piano, really exhausting out passions together. Just two best friends.
Mayhem Festival was announced a little while back. What does it feel to be touring with Korn?
It’s going to be really exciting. I love all the bands. Korn is great friends of ours, so to be on tour with friends is usually our number one. We’ve been very blessed to meet a lot of great bands, successful bands, that we can go tour with. Bottom line on the other side of it is that they have to sell tickets. It’s fortunate when you have great friends that can sell tickets as well because you get to fucking hang out with them every day. I mean, I grew up listening to Korn, Korn was one of my favorite bands. More so for the bass playing and vocals, but they’re extremely innovative guitar-wise. I’m just a huge, huge fan.
After touring so extensively the past year, how is Avenged going to mix up the set for Mayhem?
This may sound sarcastic, and I don’t mean it like that, but we’re probably just going to play different songs and just try to switch it up. It’s as basic as that. We definitely have other things that we can’t divulge yet but as far as the set, we’re definitely going to put on a bigger, better show so-to-speak. Hopefully a little big longer because I know we get complaints about that. Longer, better, bigger…
And you’re headlining at Download Festival…
Fuck, it’s the coolest thing ever. We haven’t headlined a big overseas festival. It’s definitely the biggest show that we’ve headlined. To have it be such a legendary and historical thing. I mean ACDC headlined it and the last time I saw it they had System of a Down—those two bands couldn’t be more instrumental in how I view music today or the days of yesteryear. I mean, it’s legendary.
Do you have a chance to swap guitar licks with any of the guys?
Definitely. I find that drummers are the coolest people in the world. I play a little bit of drums. I mean, Jim Root (Slipknot/Stone Sour) is a good friend of mine and we’ve played a lot of stuff together—great guy. Jake [Pitts] from Black Veil Brides, I mean Vinnie Paul…there’s definitely jamming out and a lot of fun to be had. And as fun as the jam sessions are, talking to like-minded people that have done it and hearing their experiences, it’s just cool. It’s that elite club.
Would you ever think about going back to playing the smaller hometown venues?
We do stuff like that once in a while, sometimes for album releases like the last one at the Palladium (Hail to the King). Our good friend Jeremy Popoff from Lit owns the Slidebar in Anaheim, and we did a couple things over there, which was a lot of fun. It’s more about the hang. That shit’s really fun.
Avenged Sevenfold will co-headline Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival along side Korn beginning July 5th in San Bernardino, California.
Tickets are on sale now at RockstarMayhemFest.com.
For more on the Master Class Presented by Schecter Guitar Research and Guitar Center, visit GuitarCenter.com.
Images courtesy of Guitar Center
