M. Shadows was a guest on Chris Jericho‘s Talk Is Jericho podcast (14:55) to talk Hail To The King: Deathbat, its release, game merch, almost getting his legs crushed by Mike Portnoy on a jet-ski, ‘big things on the horizon’ and more.
Z-98’s Shroom chatted with M. Shadows about Hail To The King: Deathbat and also found out about Avenged Sevenfold’s future writing plans.
Shroom: Have [Avenged Sevenfold] been writing?
MS: “I think the most important thing for us is to get that spark and that fire to start… to wanna start writing. We never just write on the road, we always try to get a very clear idea of of what we wanna accomplish and then we attack it and right now that idea is really coming in to place. We’ve talked a lot about it and I think after this tour we do in China coming up we will be back in the saddle and by the Summer we should be writing.
M. Shadows sat down with Steve Rennie for Renman Live and talked about how he get started with music, how the core group of Avenged Sevenfold came to be, how they got their first few shows, being signed to Hopeless Records and later moving on to Warner Bros, getting radio airplay, how it felt the first time he heard one of their songs on the radio, what his favorite song to play live is, memorable gifts he’s received, the connection between Avenged Sevenfold and their fans, the strangest idea that inspired a song, why Hail To The King’s touring cycle is so different than past cycles, meeting fans, if he could work with any artist dead or alive who would it be and why, the Deathbat logo and Avenged Sevenfold’s imagery, how Avenged Sevenfold’s song broke into video games, working on Call Of Duty, Hail To The King: Deathbat, how Hail To The King’s recording session and live show hinted towards Hail To The King: Deathbat, the hardest song to write and to record, his advice to young vocalists, how he deals with writers-block, future touring plans, future video games from Avenged Sevenfold, Avenged Sevenfold’s plans for 2015, the new album – from what they’ve been discussing – being ‘fresh and different’ than anything they’ve ever done before, how he got into golf and more.
M. Shadows spoke with Mike Hsu about Hail To The King: Deathbat, the Hail To The King: Deathbat soundtrack contest, what he thinks about fans recording & taking pictures on their phones at concerts, the new Avenged Sevenfold DVD (approx release date: February 2015), touring at the beginning of 2015 and when they plan to start writing new music.
LA Times caught up with M. Shadows to talk about bringing Avenged Sevenfold’s ‘Deathbat’ to life in Hail To The King: Deathbat.
“A band like Mumford & Sons or Imagine Dragons or Coldplay — there’s no game to be made there,” Shadows says. “They’d have to come up with something completely fresh. When you look at us, or Iron Maiden, someone with a logo and a strong personality in terms of what we do image-wise onstage, we felt that the game had already written itself, at least visually.”
[…]
“We funded this 100% ourselves,” Shadows says. “Nobody owns any of this other than the five members of the band. We put our money where our mouth is. Every single penny has come from us. We put a little money aside when we go on tour, and we were excited about this.”
[…]
“We’ve been a band for 15 years, and a lot of people have the Deathbat tattooed on them,” he says. “There’s a lot of responsibility when you’re saying, ‘Now we’re giving you the Deathbat back story.’ It’s one of those things where you can completely mess it up. We had to find a balance among incorporating things our fans know while also making a very cool intergalactic story with the typical battle between good and evil.”
M. Shadows was a guest on BJ Shea’s Geek Nation (21:57-34:45) and talked about how Hail To The King: Deathbat reflects Avenged Sevenfold’s live shows, developing the game’s storyline, Hail To The King: Deathbat, being a a serious gamer, having new songs in the game, what Deathbat needed to meet his approval and more.
Filed under: Interviews
Here are a few highlights from M. Shadows’ Reddit AMA. You can check out the entire thing here.
– Avenged Sevenfold would consider doing a tour where the main focus is on older albums. (x)
– There will be no album release in 2015. (x)
– The new live DVD, “This Is Bat Country,” is still in the works. They’re looking through 7 years worth of footage. (x)
– They would like to figure out a better way to make meet & greets happen. (x)
– Something about a “Flynn Troll” in Hail To The King: Deathbat. (x)
– If you’re good at games, don’t use the band characters in Hail To The King: Deathbat. If you need help, get them. (x)
– Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan’s family was very excited about him being in Hail To The King: Deathbat. (x)
– An announcement for Avenged Sevenfold’s short international tour, to take place next year, is set to be made next week. (x)
– The two songs he appreciates the most when looking back on his career so far are “Buried Alive” and “Hail To The King.” (x)
– Avenged Sevenfold will not go back to their older styles of music. (x)
– Hail To The King: Deathbat should be available on Steam before Halloween. (x)
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