A concerted effort: Avenged Sevenfold

by Steve Lampiris (thebadgerherald.com)..

Thursday, November 13, 2008

I’m not sure Johnny Christ was “all there” during the interview I conducted with him on Tuesday. The bassist for Avenged Sevenfold, Christ, whose real name Johnny Seward, seemed like he was caught off-guard when he was put on the phone. Initially, a representative for Warner Brothers, their label, couldn’t find him. I was on hold for the duration of the 10-minute search mission. After the mess was cleared up, the Herald conducted a rather condensed Q&A with the musician.

While Seward was nice enough to make time for an interview, his answers regarding the current tour with Buckcherry and Shinedown were, to put it nicely, safe.

“The tour’s been great. The package has been great for the fans, and everyone’s excited so it’s doing really well. Touring with Buckcherry and Shinedown is really amazing. They’re a couple (of) really cool bands, and we get to make new friends. It’s a really fun tour to be out on,” he said.

That said, he seemed more honest when I asked if touring with modern rock bands (and their respective fan bases) forces them to change their set.

“That’s kinda one of the things that we wanted to do was get out and tour in front of these different crowds and show them what we do,” Seward said. “At the same token, we don’t change our set to adhere [to different audiences].”

The band’s musical tastes on the tour bus aren’t that surprising, considering Avenged Sevenfold’s music.

“Matt [Sanders, lead singer] has been listening to Operation: Mindcrime [by Queensrÿche]. It’s been a little weird ‘cause I’ve been listening to Metallica again and their new album. It reminds me of how much I like Metallica,” Seward said.

The most honest response (read: no notes from the label) from Seward comes with a question about illegal downloading.

“It’s gonna be done either way. As a band, we really can’t do anything about it,” he said. “We’re just happy that fans get the music somehow and come out to the shows. Whether we like it or not, it’s gonna happen. So we have to embrace it. There’s still a lot of fans out there that come to our shows, and that is what’s really important.”

The band in recent years has become increasingly political with songs like “M.I.A.” and “Critical Acclaim.”

“When the political stuff comes up we’re not choosing a side, right or wrong, or anything like that. But there is shit going on, and we want people to make their own decisions about it,” Seward said. “At some point, people have to take responsibility for themselves. It’s not really about right-left, whatever the fuck you feel. There is shit going on and someone has to do something about it. So we’re not very political in that sense.”

Seward also shed insight about the experimental songs on their most recent album, Avenged Sevenfold, like “Brompton Cocktail” and “A Little Piece of Heaven.”

“As with every album and every song we write, we approach it differently every time,” he said. “We always write a bunch of different stuff, and if we like what comes out of it, we’ll put it on the record. We’re a very diverse band, and we can jump to different places. That’s one thing that we pride ourselves on. We want to evolve as a band. Each album is different, and we don’t wanna keep making the same songs. We never will.”

Seward spoke about the potential for a new record as well.

“We have a lot of ideas. We write a little bit here and there. We won’t bring it all together until we’ve finished this touring cycle,” he said. “Probably around spring we’ll get home and start writing material.”

So what exactly should fans in Madison expect from the band’s show?

“You shouldn’t be expecting anything, actually,” Seward said. “We kinda like to keep it loose. We have a good time out on stage and put on a really great show. Pretty much, expect anything. It’s gonna be an Avenged Sevenfold show with some production and good music.”

Avenged Sevenfold will be at the Alliant Energy Center on Friday, Nov. 14, at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $35.