For a bonafide heavy metal band, it’s interesting that many first discovered Avenged Sevenfold through video games. Anybody gaming in 2005 heard the band’s hit song “Bat Country,” as it was featured in NHL 06, Madden NFL 06, SSX on Tour, Saints Row 2 and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, just to name a few. Instead of straying away from the video game scene, the band shrewdly embraced it, going on to write an original song for the first two Call of Duty: Black Ops games. As such, it’s no surprise that Activision is working so closely with the band on the launch of Guitar Hero Live. After spending some major hands-on time with the game, we were able to catch up with Avenged Sevenfold lead singer, M. Shadows, on his role in the upcoming game as well as his thoughts on the current state of the relationship between the video game and record industry.

[Hardcore Gamer] Can you talk about how Avenged Sevenfold’s relationship started with Activision — you did some work with them in the past with Black Ops II — did that help transition you to Guitar Hero Live?

[M. Shadows] Yeah it did, we have a really good relationship with a lot of the people at Activision and as you know Treyarch is an internal company and we’re close with them. Through that we met a lot of people on the other side of Activision and people that run the music stuff and when we heard that they were going to reboot this series, we definitely wanted to be involved. We’ve had a lot of success with other Guitar Hero games and fans coming to our shows and bringing controllers to sign instead of real guitars and when we ask our fans “how did you hear about Avenged Sevenfold?” the answer is Need for Speed, Guitar Hero or Call of Duty. So that’s pretty telling that a lot of young people are hearing new music through video games. We have a really good relationship with them because we understand the importance of trying to get our music out there to fans and they find it through video games.

How does it feel playing your own songs in Guitar Hero Live?

It feels humbling because we play music with different instruments and triyng to play this is a lot harder because we’re not used to it, especially when they change the necks and you have to reconfigure your brain to go almost to chords instead of the five up and down vertical notes. So that’s one big challenge because we got pretty good at playing on the other guitar and now they’ve changed it which is a needed evolution. But it’s fun because it’s a game that’s always evolving and you have to evolve with it.



Guitar Hero Live lets you virtually take the stage with a band; how does that compare to reality?

It’s pretty brutal because the band gets in your face when you’re messing up and starts giving you thumbs down and stuff. I haven’t really experienced that in real life because we all like each other and if something’s going on you almost feel bad for the guy; if the guitar is out of tune or somebody messes a part up, we’re not really yelling at you. But on stage in Guitar Hero you definitely get yelled at which is pretty fun because the crowd instantly starts booing you which in a real concert you get a little more leeway because your fans wouldn’t just start doing that. It’s pretty humbling.

There’s three Avenged Sevenfold songs in the game that you recently announced. Considering you narrowed the final tracks down from seven, what made you decide on these three finally?

There’s a bunch of things: technicality. We wanted stuff that went through some progressive moments so that the true hardcore gamers had some cool solos to play through instead of playing the same beat over and over. You look at a lot of songs and you’re going to get three-and-a-half minutes of the same repetition. I think songs like Buried Alive and Nightmare take big altering movements which should be fun for real musicians or players in this game. Also, crowd participation; those are crowd-pleasers, so I think that people who aren’t necessarily really familiar with the band have probably heard one or all of those songs. And then also those songs have been really able to bring people into our fanbase, so I feel like if we’re going to put something out, we’re not going to try to go over everybody’s head and put on an eleven minute song, we’re going to put on something that is not only fun, but that can draw people in to the band.

Considering you love all your songs, what was that process like?

I’ve got a heart of pure cold stone, I don’t even care at this point, I just do what I think is best and for those songs. Most people like these songs in a live environment, they’re technically pretty cool, so it’s pretty easy. Would I want some weirder stuff on there? You can’t change the world and sometimes some of the most out there music I think is brilliant, I play for people and it goes right over their heads. I want to put stuff out there that people already like and I know is going to do well and like I said, technically I wanted cool things so that when people put their performances on YouTube and they’re shredding on something, I want it to look like they’re shredding and there’s actually a challenge to it. So these three songs kind of fit the bill.



Are the tracks in the game live versions?

100% live versions. There’s no fooling around; we didn’t go into the studio and clean anything up, it’s exactly how if you watch the show on YouTube except mixed better for this. We obviously mixed the songs, but it’s 100% live.

What’s your favorite new thing about the game?



The way the guitar feels, because even though it’s a learning curve to get out of the old Guitar Hero guitar, it’s more like a real guitar now where you can play chords and you’re leaving your hands in the same spot. Most of the things you can do on your guitar you can do right here on a real guitar, except for some nuances. You can also sit here and shred without having to go up and down which is cool. Once you get past the learning curve, I think it will be pretty badass.

Are there any bands or songs you’re a fan of in the game besides your own?

I’m definitely a fan of Epic by Faith No More. Bullet For My Valentine, Rage Against the Machine, System of a Down; there’s some stuff in there that’s a little different. I’m really glad they put Faith No More in there because they’re one of my favorite bands, so hopefully they’ll do some downloadable content with the new record because it’s awesome. There’s a bunch of stuff I like in it.



Are you very good at the game?

Not this one because of the guitar. I’ve only had a chance to play it at E3 and that’s just not long enough to really get it. My brain was going to the wrong place at that point and especially with the black and white notes where it’s so different. So yeah, I can’t say I’m very good.

You mentioned earlier how a lot of younger people are now discovering music through video games. Would you ever consider releasing music or debuting songs through Guitar Hero Live?

Absolutely. We brought it up — everything is on the table right now in terms of releasing music. [Doing things] the same old way is just the old world, so we absolutely would. We have a lot of aspirations to do things in video games that have definitely been in the forefronts of those discussions. GHTV is a cool enough platform to us. As an artist right now, you have to be completely open to new ways and whatever the fans want.