AVENGED SEVENFOLD Didn't Tell Management About Fake Festival Cancellations

Avenged Sevenfold kicked off teasing their new album Life Is But A Dream with a fake festival cancellation announcement. The announcement was posted to the band's podcast Trax and featured an AI version of vocalist M. Shadows reading a statement about how Avenged Sevenfold wouldn't play either Welcome To Rockville or Sonic Temple.

So how'd the get everyone on board with such an insane tease? Well, they didn't. According to Shadows in an interview with Rock Feed, nobody in the Avenged Sevenfold camp really knew. Shadows played it off like the band was hacked, and of course things were mayhem until everyone figured out that the statement was AI-generated.

"Our management has two guys that run it. There's Mark Wakefield and Beno. And we work really closely with this girl Samantha. So Samantha wasn't even gonna tell them, because we knew that everyone would say 'no.' I said, 'Don't tell anyone.' She said, 'We've gotta call Danny [Wimmer, Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple promoter].' [I said], 'No. If you call Danny, he's gonna say 'no'.' She said, 'We've gotta tell [Ryan] Harlacher,' who's our booking agent. I'm, like, 'No. Harlacher's gonna say 'no'.' So we kept it secret. And we just did it. And I said, 'Samantha, all you know is we got hacked and we are trying to fix it.' She's, like, 'Are you serious?' And I'm, like, 'That's what we're doing.'"

"The day that it went down, I was in Mexico and I'm watching this go down. And my phone is blowing up. Harlacher, Wimmer, Beno, Mark… And it's my voice. And people are calling them, going, 'You guys are so lame for letting the band…' And then Mark said, 'What are you talking about?' The whole plan all along was I would go on Twitter [and deny it]… And it worked. And then, as people went back, they were, like, 'Oh, it is AI' 'Cause once the knee-jerk reaction [was out of the way], you go back and listen, and you go, 'Oh…'"

On the statement being completely AI-generated, Shadows added: "We wanted it to be as authentic as possible. We said, 'Let's make an overarching comment on society and where it's going with the AI. And then we'll do the Web2 stuff, and then we'll bring them into Web3 and show people how to use this thing."

Avenged Sevenfold will release Life Is But A Dream on June 2. Avenged Sevenfold originally announced two special shows at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, CA on June 9 and another at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY on June 23. Avenged Sevenfold then expanded those into a full blown tour, which you can get the dates for below. Get your tickets here.

w/ Falling In Reverse

7/18 – Camden, NJ – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
7/19 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
7/21 – Québec City, QC – Videotron Centre
7/22 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
7/24 – Ottawa, ON – Canadian Tire Centre
7/26 – Clarkston, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre
7/28 – Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
7/29 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center
7/31 – Winnipeg, MB – Canada Life Centre
8/2 – Saskatoon, SK – SaskTel Centre
8/4 – Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place
8/5 – Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome
8/7 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena

w/ Alexisonfire

9/16 – West Palm Beach, FL – iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
9/17 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
9/19 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion
9/20 – Alpharetta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
9/22 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
9/25 – Maryland Heights, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St. Louis, MO
9/26 – Kansas City, MO – T-Mobile Center
9/28 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena (no Falling In Reverse)
9/30 – Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre
10/2 – Tacoma, WA – Tacoma Dome
10/3 – Portland, OR – MODA Center
10/7 – Chula Vista, CA – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
10/8 – Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
10/10 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater
10/12 – The Woodlands, TX – The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
10/13 – Austin, TX – Germania Insurance Amphitheater
10/15 – Fort Worth, TX – Dickies Arena