Earlier this past week, Drew Shannon of the QWIK Rock 105.9 radio station conducted an interview with AVENGED SEVENFOLD guitarist Zacky Vengeance. You can now listen to the chat using the SoundCloud widget below.

Asked if AVENGED SEVENFOLD has been working on any new music, Zacky said: "Right now we have a lot up our sleeve. Starting this month, we have a lot of exciting announcements for our fans to take us into the next year, up until the North American 'Stage' tour. We still have a few more things to release, which is very, very exciting. We have another song for our fans to hear that's gonna be coming out very, very soon. [Editor's note: Zacky was presumably referring to AVENGED SEVENFOLD's cover version of PINK FLOYD's "Wish You Were Here", which was released this past Friday.]

"We have a special deluxe-edition album planned for our fans that I think is really, really, really fun, really great," he added. "It's gonna give our fans something to listen to through the holidays and get them excited for this upcoming tour."

AVENGED SEVENFOLD has announced a December 15 release date for the deluxe version of its critically acclaimed album "The Stage" (Capitol). This new edition features seven additional studio songs plus four previously unreleased live tracks recorded during the band's recent shows at The O2 arena in London.

In addition to the album's original eleven tracks, the deluxe version features A7X's reimagining of "Wish You Were Here", MR. BUNGLE's "Retrovertigo", original track "Dose", a cover of Del Shannon's 1961 No. 1 hit "Runaway" (featuring a guest appearance by VANDALS guitarist Warren Fitzgerald and lead vocals by AVENGED SEVENFOLD guitarist Zacky Vengeance), the band's version of the BEACH BOYS' 1966 hit "God Only Knows", and their rendition of THE ROLLING STONES' "As Tears Go By". The four concert recordings included on the album are title track "The Stage", "Paradigm", "Sunny Disposition" and "God Damn".

AVENGED SEVENFOLD's 2018 North American arena headlining tour will kick off January 12 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, with special guests BREAKING BENJAMIN and BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE.