Last year, Avenged Sevenfold made a dynamic shift in their lineup after firing drummer Arin Ilejay. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Ilejay reveals he felt “shocked and scared” after being given the bad news by Synyster Gates.

Ilejay has been relatively quiet about his exit from Avenged Sevenfold, quickly moving on to a gig in Islander, who actually reached out to Ilejay after reading of his dismissal from Avenged Sevenfold online. "I used to joke around with him all the time: 'Hey, whenever we need a fill in drummer, I'm gonna call you,'" Islander vocalist Mikey Carvajal says. "Finally, I called him and I wasn't joking at all. I said, 'You have to come play with us.'"

As for his leave from A7X, Ilejay was indeed fired via a phone call from guitarist Synyster Gates. "I was totally shocked and scared out of my mind when Synyster Gates called me to let me go," Ilejay recalls. "I was like, 'Oh my God! My wife is about to have a baby. How am I going to support my family now?'"

Despite feeling displaced after receiving the sudden news, Ilejay quickly became excited about engaging in the creative process with Islander. "I realized if I joined Islander I would have an opportunity to help write songs and build something, instead of being on the inside but, at the same time, really be on the outside the way I was with Avenged," Ilejay describes.

Islander just revealed they’ll be releasing the new album Power Under Control on Aug. 5. The news came with a fresh song, “Darkness,” which you can check out along with more album details here.

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