by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Aesthetically speaking, California’s Avenged Sevenfold may fit the Alternative Press cover-model bill. They’ve got the right tattoos, make-up and jet-black angular haircuts, and the right sense of cartoonish macabre and suburban white-boy angst. Musically, though, they couldn’t be farther from the current metal-core pack.

With their roots firmly implanted in hardcore, these Huntington Beach “dudes” quickly grew weary of abiding by the style’s stringent rules, choosing to draw on resources as diverse as Elvis Costello, Dream Theatre and Iron Maiden. As a result, there is no shortage of finger-pointing in their direction by the hardcore elite, including the band Converge.

“I understand when hardcore kids say we’ve sold out, because I used to be exactly like that too,” says singer M. Shadows. “I’ve completely come around, and listen to bands I used to hate when I was young, like Guns N Roses. They’ll get older and they’ll come around too.”

Shadows is quoted as saying the Gunners’ Use Your Illusion 1 and 2 are the most important records ever made—which could perhaps be debated—but one gets the impression that A7X are more inspired by G&R’s rock ’n’ roll debauchery than by Axl’s squeals. It could be argued that the band’s reputation is as much about copious drinking, strip-club attendance, fistfighting, badmouthing other bands and just plain being the new breed of bad boys as it is delivering walloping riffs.

“I’m not going to lie—we drink a lot and sometimes we end up getting into fights when we’re on tour,” admits Shadows. “I guess the biggest fight we were in was when we were in England. Some guy took offense to me peeing in the sink in this club’s bathroom, so about three hours later I ran into the guy again and he started yelling at me, so I decked him. That started a bar brawl and then some English guy started saying shit about us being Americans and our drummer decked him. Unfortunately the cops came and our drummer had to spend three days in jail. We ended up having to cancel shows, had to get a lawyer… If you’re going to walk into bars with make-up on, you have to learn to expect these things, and I guess some members of the band have a short temper when drinking jack and cokes.”

A combustible set-up, thankfully stabilized by the band’s loyalty to each other, including their road crew, who’ve been friends with the band since the beginning. “Everybody has known each other in this band since we were kids, so we’re on tour with our best friends. We will finish a long tour, go home and the next day I’ll call these guys up. We’ve all stuck by each other and if one of us quit, it would be like one of us quitting on each other. I don’t think any of us will do that because our bond is just too tight. I just love my band.”

With Saosin, Death by Stereo and Opiate for the Masses at Metropolis tonight, Thursday, Nov. 3, 8 p.m., $23.50, all ages

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