We all some laughs a few days ago when Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn "congratulated" Avenged Sevenfold on the success of their new covers album, Hail to the King. The album is obviously not a covers album but wears it's influences on it's sleeve, so much so that Flynn felt the need to call the band out on it.
Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows was interviewed yesterday and asked if he read the joke. Turns out Shadows did read it.
Speaking to Canadian radio station 106.9 The Bear, Shadows had this to say about how he found out:
“Actually, [Fozzy singer/pro-wrestler] Chris Jericho sent it to me [Tuesday] morning. He’s, like, ‘Dude, look at this B.S.’ [He was] going crazy. And I was, like, ‘Ah, Chris, I love you.’ But I read it, and I read it as a joke. I have met Robb on numerous occasions and he’s always been cool to me. And I just read it as a joke. I really don’t know what to say about it other than I agree with him on the [Metallica] ‘Sad But True’ thing — that was obviously an inspiration for that song. Everything else, I kind of think he… If it is a joke, it was kind of overboard, ’cause it doesn’t make sense in my mind. But at the same time, he was saying it was a joke, so… I have no ill will towards those guys. I’ve met [Machine Head guitarist] Phil [Demmel] a couple of times; he’s cool. Robb is cool. And I think the guy has the right to go make… if it’s really a joke, in his mind… Some people might see it as being as an underhanded… joke. But, to me, if he just wants to go in there and write whatever he wants, I think that’s totally cool. Everyone has an opinion and everyone should be entitled to say whatever they want. So it’s no skin off our backs.”
Later adding…
“I think all the bands he said we were very inspired by. I think also [Black] Sabbath, [Led] Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones… I think when you take a record like this and the way metal has become very blast-beat, screamy-oriented, when you kind of take things back and go to a more classic-rock feel, you’re gonna feel the similarities to what we were trying to do; we were trying to make an Avenged Sevenfold album from the early ’90s and late ’80s. It was just something that really intrigued us and interested us. And so, for me, I think all those bands have always been an influence — you can hear that on City of Evil. And Metallica has, obviously, influenced every single band that picked up a guitar and plays metal. So, yeah, all those bands, plus all the old greats.”
All things considered, I think M. Shadows took the high road here. He could've easily said some nasty things about Flynn, but rather chose to take the ribbing in stride. Plus, at the end of the day, M. Shadows is in quite a successful band and a joke or two is not going to stop his legions of fans from picking up the new album.
Avenged Sevenfold will be heading out on the road with Deftones and Ghost this fall. Meanwhile, Machine Head are working on new material.
[Interview transcript via Blabbermouth]
