Avenged Sevenfold
Interview with drummer The Reverend and bassist Johnny Christ
Issue 3, Winter/Spring 2004
S&S: Your band name and some of the names you go by are religious
references, yet your music is not religious. Is this so your music can reach
people of all faiths?
Rev: We don't discriminate between faiths at all. We're not deliberately
doing anything. We got the name because we just thought it was cool. Also,
our singer wrote the lyrics to "Chapter Four" in Genesis just because he
though it was a good idea; not for any religious reasons. We're not a religious
band. I think that if your music is good enough it should be able to reach
people of all faiths.
S&S: Since some of your songs are kind of long, do you cut them
down for shows or play them as is?
Rev: We definitely play them as is.
S&S: How old is everybody?
Rev: [Johnny Christ is] 18 now. The rest of us are 22 now.
S&S: Do you want to do music for the rest of your lives? You're
all really young. Is this pretty much what you want to do?
Rev: Definitely. We're trying our hardest to make a career out of
this.
JC: If it's possible, this is the only thing I'll become. If not,
I'm going to be a bum.
Rev: If we weren't playing music for a living, we probably would
be so depressed. I wouldn't be able to do much. I would turn into this bad
alcoholic on welfare or something.
S&S: Were you ever in any other bands, and if so, what kind of music
did you play?
Rev: We all played in tons of different bands; mostly punk bands
here and there, just jamming with funk and jazz. We've all been in punk
bands since we were 16 or whatever. This one was the latest one. The singer,
the guitarist, and me...we've been best friends since 7th grade, but we've
all been in separate bands our whole lives and this is where we all came
together. We said it was time to start the band we always wanted to start.
S&S: How did you come into the band? How did you meet the guys?
Rev: I was friends with his older brother, actually. I used to pick
on him when he was in kindergarten. He played bass.
S&S: Do you ever play any cover songs?
Rev: No. That would be fun, but no.
S&S: What would you want to play?
Rev: We wouldn't want to cover anyone, so I don't know.
JC: It would definitely be from some of our collective influences
like Silverchair, or Pantera, Metallica or Megadeath.
Rev: I would personally like to cover Richard Marx, but my band will
never let that happen. Some things are forbidden.
S&S: What do you write first, lyrics or melodies?
Rev: Melodies. Definitely melodies.
S&S: So, you try to match the words with what you're feeling when
you're doing the melodies?
Rev: Yeah. Matt does most of the melodies and he really gets intense
with his lyrics by himself. Sometimes, like with the old album, he had lyrics
that he put to a melody. He picks up on the vibe of the song and just goes
with it.
S&S: What do you like to do after shows?
Rev: After show? We like to drink profusely and hang out with girls.
Every night, that's exactly what we're doing.
JC: That's what we try to do.
Rev: I know we're scumbags, but that's all we ever do.
S&S: Do you have girlfriends or are they random girls?
Rev: Some of us have girlfriends. I said "hang out" with girls.
JC: I wouldn't do anything bad with them. We're just hanging out
and having a good time.
Rev: I love to hang out with our guy friends. Anyone who will come
take a shot with me is cool.
S&S: What has been the biggest change in either your music or your
lives since you've recorded your first album?
Rev: Probably that I almost never see home anymore. I'm now dedicated
to something that I love and is actually going somewhere. Whereas, before
we recorded that first album, none of that was really there. Everything
changed. Now, we're touring non-stop. We have to look at life differently.
We completely dove into this band head first and now there's no turning
back.
JC: We've got nothing to lose.
Rev: With the whole lifestyle of touring and everything, we're 100%
with it. We just leave everything behind. I love it. We all have a great
time together.
S&S: Favorite color undergarment to wear?
JC: I like a good pink. Pink silk boxers. I have a couple of them
with black lipsticks on them.
Rev: I can't wear underwear. It gives me a rash. That's not true,
but you can put it down. It's too late now. They're like purple, yellow
rashes. And there's boils.
S&S: Favorite color undergarment on the opposite sex?
Rev: That's really hard.
JC: Black or red.
Rev: Black g-strings.
S&S: What's the grossest thing you've ever done, or are there too
many to list?
JC: I drank his spit one time.
Rev: What about satisfying your hunger for puke? That would be a
good story. One day in my apartment, I decided to start a revolution with
my friends for satisfying our hunger for puke because we were really bored.
We all made ourselves puke and wiped it all over each other and stuff.
S&S: Oh, I thought you were going to say you made each other puke
and then ate everyone else's. (laughter)
Rev: No, we should say satisfy our hunger to puke.
JC: It's good to puke. You get all of those toxins out of your body.
It makes you feel so good.
Rev: Nothing sexual is gross. What do I do that's gross? Once I let
my nails grow three days past when they were supposed to be trimmed.
JC: I went two days without a shower.
Rev: I wore the same socks for a day and a half. I drank some strange
blood one time too and that scared me.
S&S: Did you know who it was from?
Rev: I knew who it was from, I just didn't know him that well. He
had tattoos and everything. But it's not a good idea to drink blood anyway.
JC: It's ok to drink blood if you know who it is though.
Rev: You're asking the wrong members of the band about drinking blood.
You'd get conservative answers from everyone else.
S&S: Beer or mixed drink?
JC: Beer.
S&S: How many beers do you drink a night?
Rev: Depends on the situation. Anywhere from six to 20.
JC: When we're on tour, we try to kick it back a little.
Rev: The 20 only happens in crazy situations.
JC: When we have a day off on tour, like the next morning and shit,
we'll probably drink 45 beers.
Rev: The best, honestly, is mixing drinks with beer. I quit smoking
four months ago. I quit for life.
S&S: That's awesome, so you don't feel pressured when you're around
anybody?
Rev: Well, I smell them or see people smoking and I remember that
I liked to do that, but that was a different time. I'm over it.
S&S: If you could have a button next to your bed that would do one
thing, what would you want it to do?
Rev: I would have a button that would change me into a different
animal every time I pushed it for a three-hour period.
JC: I would have a button next to my bed that every time I pushed
it, it would dispense a six-pack of very expensive beers every morning for
me, to get me going for the rest of the day.
S&S: So, it's not coffee, it's beer that gets you going every morning?
JC: Yeah. Decaf. (laughter)
Rev: I think the animal thing is cool though. It's better than money
or naked girls or beer.
JC: I was actually thinking, if I had a second button...
S&S: Oh, you're pushing it now. (laughter)
Rev: Pushing it. Get it?
JC: I'm a little slow, but I got it now. I'd probably have a naked
woman dispenser, and anything I'm thinking, that button will give me.
Rev: See, these are standard answers. These are the ones that went
through my mind at first, then I decided against it. I decided I'm going
to turn into a wolf or a gorilla for a few hours. That would be pretty cool.
JC: That would be pretty cool actually.
S&S: Do you have any questions for me?
JC: What color underwear are you wearing right now?
S&S: White.
Rev: On a scale of one to 10, how would you rate your enjoyment of
our interview?
S&S: Negative 15.
JC: We suck!
S&S: I would definitely rate it at least an 8.59.
JC: Ooh, she's specific.
S&S: 8.72. That's why I try to put the funny questions. We like
to make it interesting.
Rev: Girls are waiting their whole lives for the 10. (laughter) That's
my parting comment.