A7X Frontman Hurts His Voice

Avenged Sevenfold singer M Shadows says that being driven on by fans’ passion during live shows has hurt his vocal cords – and sometimes he has to force himself to stay calm in order to avoid doing more damage.

Speaking to NME in a video recorded during the band’s recent UK tour with Stone Sour and Hellyeah, the frontman discussed the aftermath of having had a throat infection and vomiting ahead of a concert in Brighton.

Shadows says: “I’m really concerned about my voice. I need to make sure I go out there and don’t hurt myself and have to cancel more dates.

“On a normal night I listen for how loud the crowd goes when the lights go out. It’s always cool – it’s about to go deep-shit. But it’s about staying calm in my own mind and not worrying about how much the kids are giving me.”

He says the band have a set of traditions they follow before starting a show: “We’ve very meticulous – if it’s different it really throws us off. We all spit water out at the same spot, I always give the crew fist-pumps, then we go out and do it.

“We always serve the fans first. The only time we don’t is when we decide what kind of record we’re going to write. We always write what we want to write – but our fans like that.”

A7X recorded and toured throughout 2010 with drummer Mike Portnoy in place of Jimmy ‘The Rev’ Sullivan, who died in December 2009. Portnoy, who went on to leave Dream Theater, was dismissed last month with the band insisting that was always the plan, while the sticksman reported he was disappointed not to be continuing with them.

Courtesy of rockaaa.com