We are going to be very much out of our comfort zone in India: Avenged Sevenfold

Bengaluru, Sep 24 (PTI) US-based heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, aka A7X, who went down the popular rock-n-roll route to get to the ‘genre-bending eclecticism’ space, may not be as popular as Coldplay, but their niche fanbase in India is over the moon that their band is headlining at the second edition of Bengaluru’s very own rock show, Bandland.

A Reddit thread ‘A7x finally coming to India!!!’ has these hardcore fans on the same page, plotting and planning to go for the concert scheduled for November 23 and 24 at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC).

It’s not a one-way ship: Lead vocalist of the band, Matthew Charles Sanders, popularly known as M Shadows, said to PTI on a Zoom call on Tuesday that they are equally excited to play in India for the first time.

"We could see on Spotify that there’s a lot of people listening to A7x from India. So, we told our booking agent to look into India," said M Shadows.

When the agent got back to them with the Bandland offer, M Shadows said they were all more than ready for it.

"We did try to talk to some bands who have gone there (India), but there are not that many. So, we kind of thought it would be exciting to go over there and explore this and see if we can really create a connection with the Indian fan base and then hopefully come back many, many times," added M Shadows.

One of the hugely successful heavy metal bands, which was formed way back in 1999, A7x stayed relevant not by toeing the line dictated by the music labels but rather by staying true to their core belief – that music must evolve.

"We realised that the most important thing is the musical output. If you put out good music, if you go to certain countries, and if you are able to play live for people, you can build a fan base that can’t be taken away from you. A TikTok reel or a movie soundtrack are great for getting more eyes on you, but you have to have a solid foundation of what you do musically," said M Shadows.

With time, the band also realised that “good music” can be made “without regurgitated Avenged riffs, regurgitated Pantera riffs, regurgitated Metallica riffs…”.

Case in point is the band’s latest studio album, ‘Life Is But A Dream’, released last year. The fans had to wait for almost seven years for it and when it came, the sound was so radically different from what A7x is known for that their fan base was literally split into two – the ones who loved it and the ones who hated it.

M Shadows said this is because when people get out of their comfort zone, they often become someone that they never knew they were.

"If fans want us to put on the old clothes or wear the old make up and do this and that, we just won’t do it, because we want to make sure that we are true to ourselves. True to all the experiences that we have from travelling the world and writing records and all sort of experiences that come along with having families… We don’t want to be doing things that do not make sense to us as human beings," said M Shadows.

The setlist in India will include ‘Little Piece Of Heaven’, promised M Shadows, which he said he knew is big in India, thanks to Spotify statistics.

"We are making sure it’s a nice balance of what we want to do and what fans who have never seen us would want to hear for the first time. I think Metallica and Iron Maiden did a really good job of pushing their new stuff while still playing hits… and that’s kind of what we have been trying to do," said M Shadows.

And since the band members put a huge onus on the constant expansion of their world view, a trip to a place like India, teeming with people and melting cultural hotpot, is much more than a concert.

M Shadows said there is no way they are going to go back home without taking something with them.

"We were in Brazil recently, which is a very interesting country. So was Indonesia. We expect the same sort of thing with India. We are going to be very much out of our comfort zone because of where we are from and what we do. So, it is going to be exciting to kind of see what we can take back from India," added M shadows.

The tickets for the festival, organised by BookMyShow, are priced at Rs 3,999 onwards. PTI JR KH