Johnny Christ

“We've never been shy to admit that Metallica is a huge influence in our lives and on our music.”

“There was a time when we were in a van and handing out the CDs at Warped Tour. We had a two-song EP that we were just handing out for free just to promote ourselves. That was on the 'Waking the Fallen' record, and we were just going around and handing out the CDs and stuff like that.”

“You really have to play with the space in a riff so it can be allowed to breathe.”

“It's not as much about the numbers as much as it is that our fans made a mark on this world for us.”

“It's a trip now that other bands are saying that they look up to us. In my mind, I'm still 18 years old trying to emulate Pantera in my bedroom.”

“The importance of first-week sales has kind of diminished, in our opinion, in the industry, and we don't really know what it really means anymore. It is what it is in the industry. And for us, it's all about the endgame, not where it begins.”

“Kerrang asked us to do a heavy metal tribute to one of our favorite heavy metal bands. We had already been jamming out on 'Walk,' so we're like, 'OK. We'll record it for you guys.'”

“When you're concentrating on just the music, you're not thinking about anything else.”

“There were numerous times where, at the end of a week of working on a song, there was a part of it that we still weren't feeling, so we'd scrap the whole thing and start from scratch the next week.”

“I've always had influences from all over the place, like Mr. Bungle and Primus. As a band, we try not to focus too much on where it's coming from, because we're always listening to music.”

“These fans are the reason why we're here. They're awesome and very crazy. They love Avenged Sevenfold, and we love them. Having that is rare.”

“The fans have always been die-hard and awesome. That's why we do a lot of the things we do.”

“Everyone has their own opinions, and they're entitled to them.”

“We're always trying to do something better than the last record; to do something different and evolve as a band.”

“Every riff had to be perfect and heavy, collectively what we wanted it to be. If there was one person in the room who went, 'Heh, I don't think it is there yet, guys,' we'd scrap the whole song. I think that took a little bit of songwriting maturity for us.”

“We were about ready to go out on the road with Maiden, and Kerrang asked us to do an Iron Maiden tribute song. While we were home, we recorded that. And that was it.”

“I just don't have time to really sit there and worry about someone disliking what we put so much effort into.”