M. Shadows recently discussed the timeline for Avenged Sevenfold’s next album. With an ongoing focus on their 2023 release, ‘Life Is But A Dream…,’ he highlighted the importance of taking time off before starting work on a follow-up.
Shadows told Bradley Hall (per Kerrang!) that He hasn’t started thinking about a new record yet. “The focus, until recently, was [playing live in] India, Peru, and we want to do something in South America before ‘Life Is But A Dream…’ is wrapped up,” he shared. “We’ve got these really interesting European markets that we’re doing in the summer. Just doing different things.”
“So, I don’t know… I think we’ll probably just spend some time with our families, and there’s always that creative itch, and jotting down ideas – whether it’s on your iPhone or whether it’s into Pro Tools, and just having this sort of bag that Santa’s got over his shoulder, and maybe dig through the presents at some point, and see if there’s anything that’s like, ‘Oh! Let’s get into it!’ But right now I think it’s just in accumulation mode.”
He noted the importance of taking breaks for him to help refresh the creative process, explaining, “If you’re always in front of Pro Tools, and you’re always consumed by media, and you’re always playing video games, and you’ve always got a podcast in when you’re on a walk, you’re not really living a life where something can come and push you off your balance.”
“The next process would really be taking long walks, go on a bike ride, and play some sports,” the singer continued. “Do some things where your mind is not being consumed by this attention economy that we live in. And then once those ideas start coming, you can jot them down. Because I think it’s really hard for most people to go, ‘Okay, I’m gonna write from 2 – 6,’ and then you just go and sit down and stare at a computer, or you stare at your guitar. The best guitar riffs sometimes happen when you’re walking down the street and you hear a noise, or you have an idea…”
“We need to live a little bit of life before we go into this next thing, and see where it takes us.”
Looking ahead, Avenged Sevenfold is scheduled for a European tour this summer and later stadium shows with System Of A Down. The band starts their tour on June 7th in Greece.
