M. SHADOWS On Why AVENGED SEVENFOLD Are Always Ahead Of The Game: “My Brain Right Now Is Just Somewhere Way Far Away From Our Last Record”

While it is common for artists to be often tempted to stick with what’s familiar, Avenged Sevenfold seems to be on a mission to defy expectations. Frontman M. Shadows recently joined Fire With Fire, a new longform video series hosted by Ryan J. Downey, for a conversation about innovation, evolution, and staying creatively restless. The series, created by Downey and directed by Gus Black, is produced in partnership with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

Asked about the band’s constant push to challenge their audience and themselves, M. Shadows offered a glimpse into the drive that fuels their boundary-pushing work.

“I don’t know where it comes from. It’s just something that you can’t really tap into. I just know that when I wake up in the morning, I wanna be excited. I wanna get up and work on something that I wanna work on, and then I wanna show the world,” he explained (via Blabbermouth)

He pointed to The Stage, Avenged Sevenfold’s 2016 release, as an example of being ahead of the curve: “I think [where Avenged Sevenfold’s 2016 album] The Stage was, we were talking about themes that literally weren’t even relevant till now. We were talking about A.I., nanotechnology, we were talking about the Big Bang, and Fermi paradox, and exploration. We were talking about all these things that literally just went [over people’s heads] when it came out. And now everyone’s, like, ‘Oh my God. You guys were…”

Shadows sees this not as clairvoyance, but as a natural extension of following instincts and cultural currents that haven’t yet hit the mainstream.

“But I think that comes down to us being kind of on the cutting edge of what we felt was happening, a groundswell, and it inspired us to write about it. And then it just takes some time. The same way that I think when we do a VR concert in 2023, or whatever it is, and it might be till 2030 that everyone’s doing these, but ours will still be there to go back to.”

He also spoke about the rapidly evolving role of technology in shaping not just how music is made, but how it’s conceived and experienced. Referencing The Beatles, he illustrated how even seemingly small shifts in format—like the move from mono to stereo—once transformed music forever.

“These things aren’t going away, and they’re extremely compelling and they’re new mediums to really explore. I was explaining this to somebody the other day, like, the way we’ve thought about music is so westernized… Think about The Beatles sitting there, and they had these two stereo speakers, and everyone started messing around with drums over here, and Paul’s gonna be over here, and then Lennon’s gonna come over, and then we’re gonna put the vocals all over here. And they’re messing with two speakers.”

Now, with immersive formats like Atmos, VR, and Surround Sound in play, artists have new canvases—and new questions.

“We’ve got Atmos, we’ve got VR, we’ve got Surround Sound, we’ve got all these things. And we were talking about this at the VR thing — what gets written? How does music overlay itself into all these new technologies? ‘Cause we’re not sitting there staring at two speakers anymore. And as that changes, the art is gonna change.”

He noted that change in music has always been tied to changes in how we listen. And just as stereo once opened new creative doors, the next evolution will likely come from platforms and formats that haven’t yet fully arrived.

“The art changed with The Beatles because of stereo, because there was now an option to do wacky things, right? And then we’ve just lived with that for 40, 50 years, and that’s what we do. But things are gonna change. Spotify’s not gonna be here forever. There’ll be something different.”

This relentless pace of change isn’t a source of anxiety for Avenged Sevenfold—it’s fuel: “Technology’s moving so fast right now that things, before they can even mature, they’re already over, because the next thing’s happening. The exponential growth that we were talking about in paradigm is just happening at an alarming rate.”

It’s clear that the band thrives on this energy, tapping into it to create without looking back: “And so we just like kind of keeping our eyes on the edge. When something just gets our bodies going, ‘Yeah, that’s fucking rad,’ then we go do it. And we do it and we put it out and we don’t worry about it. Now we’re on to the next thing.”

Even as new fans are just now connecting with Life Is But A Dream…, the band has mentally moved on to their next chapter: “’Cause while you’re digesting that and worrying about what [Avenged Sevenfold’s latest album, 2023’s] Life Is But A Dream… is, we’re completely somewhere else at this point. My brain right now is just somewhere way far away from that record. But there’s still people coming into that record right now and going, ‘I get it now. I get it.’”