Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows believes the music industry is on the verge of a technological and artistic revolution comparable to the invention of stereo sound, and that his band has always been driven to explore that “cutting edge.”
Speaking on the new video series Fire With Fire, created in partnership with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, the singer explained that the same impulse that led the band to tackle themes of A.I. and nanotechnology on their 2016 album, The Stage, is now pushing them to consider how music itself will evolve beyond traditional formats.
“The way we’ve thought about music is so westernized,” M. Shadows explained (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “Think about The Beatles sitting there, and they had these two stereo speakers, and everyone started messing around with drums over here, and Paul‘s [McCartney] gonna be over here and then [John] Lennon‘s gonna come over… and they’re messing with two speakers. Now we’ve got Atmos, we’ve got VR, we’ve got Surround Sound.”
He sees this technological shift as a catalyst for a fundamental change in art. “The art changed with The Beatles because of stereo, because there was now an option to do wacky things, right?” he posed. “And then we’ve just lived with that for 40, 50 years… But things are gonna change. Spotify‘s not gonna be here forever. There’ll be something different.”
Shadows pointed to the band’s own history as proof of their forward-thinking mindset. “I think [where Avenged Sevenfold‘s 2016 album] The Stage was, we were talking about themes that literally weren’t even relevant till now,” he said. “We were talking about A.I., nanotechnology, we were talking about the Big Bang and Fermi paradox and exploration… And now everyone’s, like, ‘Oh my God. You guys were…’ But I think that comes down to us being kind of on the cutting edge of what we felt was happening.”
In an era where technology moves at an “alarming rate,” the band’s creative philosophy is to embrace what excites them in the moment and then immediately look toward the next horizon.
“When something just gets our bodies going, ‘Yeah, that’s f**king rad,’ then we go do it,” Shadows stated. “And we do it and we put it out and we don’t worry about it. Now we’re on to the next thing. ‘Cause while you’re digesting that and worrying about what [Avenged Sevenfold‘s latest album, 2023’s] Life Is But A Dream… is, we’re completely somewhere else at this point. My brain right now is just somewhere way far away from that record. But there’s still people coming into that record right now and going, ‘I get it now. I get it.'”
