Miikka Skaffari/FilmMagic Avenged Sevenfold has revealed the identity of their new drummer. Frontman M. Shadows announced on Wednesday's episode of the Talk Is Jericho podcast that former Bad Religion drummer Brooks Wackerman will man the kit for A7X moving forward.
Wackerman replaces drummer Arin Ilejay, who parted ways with Avenged Sevenfold over the summer. Ilejay joined Avenged Sevenfold in 2011 as a touring member after ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy's one-year stint with the band. A7X's original drummer, James "The Rev" Sullivan, died in 2009.
"To be honest, Brooks' name has always been in the mix," Shadows tells Talk Is Jericho host Chris Jericho. "It was one of the names that we were throwing around when Jimmy passed away in terms of who was going to step up for [the 2010 album] Nightmare. We felt Mike was the right choice and I still feel that way. Mike just destroyed it on the record, he was perfect. But at the time, our good friend and tour manager…brought up Brooks as well. At the time he was busy with Bad Religion and it was also...we knew people were going to look at it differently because he was known as a punk drummer at this point."
The band returned to Wackerman's name while they were touring on the 2014 Mayhem Festival and decided "we need to make a change."
"We said, 'Listen, we can ride this thing out the way it is right now and we'll be fine, or we can shake the nest a little bit and we want to fire on all cylinders again," Shadows remembers. "We want to be the baddest band on the planet. We want to go out there and just dominate on stage. And I came up with the idea, I said, 'I really want to talk to Brooks,' and see if there's any chance and see where he's at in his life right now."
Wackerman has also played with Korn, Tenacious D, Suicidal Tendencies and Blink-182.
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