Anyone who knows a little about Avenged Sevenfold knows that they never strayed too far from trouble at the start of their careers. These days, you're more likely to see the Orange County heavyweights banging on about NFTs, comparing their music to Kanye West or taking aaaaaaaaaaaaages to actually get a new album out than getting up to any real world mischief. Back in the day, though? They were metal's perennial naughty kids, getting into all manners of scraps, scrapes and debauchery as they began to take over the world during the mid-00s.
In a nostalgic interview with Metal Hammer in 2014, Avenged were reminiscing over some of the more ridiculous situations they used to find themselves in - and there was one infamous night in particular that soon came up. It was while the band were touring Europe in February 2004, having just played their debut London show and rocked up to premier Soho heavy metal drinking haunt, The Crobar. What happened next has gone down in Avenged Sevenfold lore and, unsurprisingly, heavily involved beloved and much-missed drummer (and Avenged hellraiser-in-chief), Jimmy 'The Rev' Sullivan.
“What happened was, we were at The Crobar, which is the place to be, you know,” explained frontman M Shadows. “We were all there, and I go to the bathroom, where there’s just one stall, and I had to pee so bad. This person wasn’t coming out – I think they were taking a shit or whatever – so I was like, ‘Fuck, dude’, and I started peeing in the sink. This guy walks out and starts flipping out and yelling at me, and I’m like, ‘Fuck off.’ I ignore him, and when I walk out front, he’s there waiting for me!
"He’s like, ‘Yo, you’re the dude that was pissing in the sink! What’s wrong with you?!’ So I punched him, and this huge fight broke out. Everybody started fighting; people were fighting in the streets, getting thrown through car windows, no joke, it was insane. So the cops come, and Jimmy starts making fun of them because they don’t have guns in the UK. He started mocking them and running in circles, and we’re all just laughing, and finally, they start macing him and arrested him, and he went to jail that night!”
“The funny thing is, when the cops turned up, this guy that wasn’t doing anything before got really mouthy, so Jimmy punched him right in front of the cop,” added guitarist Synyster Gates. “He got arrested, and that’s where our manager comes in. He spent the whole night and day getting Jimmy out of jail so he could go to this show.”
“We had to play Rock Am Ring [in Germany] or something the next day,” remembered Shadows with a chortle, “but Jimmy didn’t take a shower. He had mace all over him when he played the show the next day. It was a complete debacle.” They just don't make them like they used to, huh?
A new Avenged Sevenfold album is due to arrive later this year. We hope.
