Haner attended Mayfair High School in Lakewood, but he later transferred and graduated from Huntington Beach High School in Huntington Beach, California.
He studied at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood as part of the Guitar Institute of Technology program, studying jazz and classical guitar. After a year or so of being there, he got a phone call from The Rev asking him if he wanted to join his band, as lead guitarist. Haner joined rather than continuing his education and becoming a studio musician. Up until that time he was primarily self-taught by watching music videos and reading books. His father, Brian Haner, Sr., also known as "Guitar Guy," is a songwriter, guitarist and comedian. [edit] Avenged Sevenfold
Gates joined Avenged Sevenfold together with his best friend, Syaheer Fadzil, when they were 18 in 1999, right after the recording of the band's first album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet. He was featured on the EP To End The Rapture, on the band's first album.
Gates became the band's lead guitarist. After Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, the band has released 4 studio albums: Waking the Fallen, City of Evil, Avenged Sevenfold, Nightmare and a live DVD/CD Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough.
On the Avenged Sevenfold DVD All Excess, Gates claimed that his name was created on a drunken drive through the park with The Rev.
He has won numerous awards, including the 2006 Metal Hammer "Young Shredder" award and the 2006 Total Guitar Magazine "Guitarist of the Year."[citation needed]
In Revolver magazine, the Avenged Sevenfold special edition that was released the same day as the Nightmare album, Gates stated that he originally started out writing the song "So Far Away" in honor of his grandfather. However, the song is now primarily about Gates' former bandmate, The Rev.[citation needed]
On April 20, 2011, Gates won the Revolver Golden God award for Best Guitarist along with band mate, Zacky Vengeance. Avenged Sevenfold picked up numerous other awards and delivered the headlining performance of the night.
M.Shadows was born as Matthew Charles Sanders on July 31, 1981, in Huntington Beach, California. He began playing the piano at an early age, but his interest in rock music grew as he became older and began to play the guitar.[1] Shadows links this early musical experience with the piano as a major factor in developing his skills with the guitar and his voice.[1] He attended Huntington Beach High School, where he played for a brief stint in a punk band named "Successful Failure".[1] Following this, Shadows formed Avenged Sevenfold in 1999 along with high school friends Zacky Vengeance, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, and Matt Wendt.[1] Soon after, Sullivan's friend Synyster Gates joined Avenged Sevenfold as the lead guitarist.
In the DVD "All Excess," Shadows claims that everyone in the band had been assigned to come up with a list of names, but that only he had followed through. The name Avenged Sevenfold, a reference to the Book of Genesis, was chosen over Lips of Deceit, another Biblical reference.[2] [edit] Stage name
Shadows, like the other members of Avenged Sevenfold, uses a stage name. In an interview, Shadows says that he chose "M. Shadows" as his stage name because he thought of himself as "the darker character in the group,".[3] The M is in place of his first name, Matthew, which he did not want to be in his stage name because of the way it sounded.[3] He also added that he and the band took stage names because many other successful musicians that they were influenced by . (e.g. Slash of Guns N' Roses and The Edge of U2). [3] [edit] Vocal Style
Shadows' vocal style has evolved significantly over the years. On the bands first full-length record, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, he features a harsh, metalcore-style scream, with limited instances of clean vocals.[4] The release of Waking the Fallen in 2003 showed a progression towards more melodic vocal lines, but still showing a strong metalcore influence. The most important change, however, came with the release of the bands major label debut, City of Evil, in 2005. The album featured no screaming and much more defined vocal melody,[5] with an increased emphasis on vocal hooks. This style has remained prevalent on every record the band has released since that time, with the exception of the song "God Hates Us" on their album Nightmare, and their song "Not Ready To Die", which return to the metalcore sound of earlier releases. Rumors began to spread that Shadows had lost his ability to scream due to throat surgery he had needed after Warped Tour 2003.[6] Producer Andrew Mudrock put down these rumors by saying "When I met the band after Sounding the Seventh Trumpet...Matt handed me the CD, and he said to me, 'This record's screaming. The record we want to make...is going to be half-screaming and half-singing. I don't want to scream anymore...the record after that is going to be all singing.'"[7] [edit] Influences
Shadows draws his singing and performing style heavily from classic metal bands. He cited Guns N' Roses as his biggest influence in an interview, commenting that "I love that band. You can compare us all you want — they're a huge reason why I'm even in a band and even write music."[8] Shadows also commented that he was heavily influenced by Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Pantera.[8] Megadeth and Metallica, Shadows says, are the reason why Avenged Sevenfold try to infuse a classic metal sound into their music. "Metalheads are so bitter, they're like, 'Why doesn't a super-extreme band have all the success that Avenged Sevenfold is having?'," said Shadows in an interview, "It's 'cause we have that traditional classic sound that bands like Metallica and Megadeth paved the way for a while ago. That sound crosses over and the extreme metal doesn't," he added. He also stated later in that interview that guitar expert Scott Taylor taught him how to play guitar.[8] He has also claimed to have been influenced by alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. [edit] Musical career [edit] Avenged Sevenfold See also: Avenged Sevenfold#History
Shadows was one of the founding members of Avenged Sevenfold, along with The Rev and Zacky Vengeance in 1999. In 2001, the band released their first studio album, Sounding The Seventh Trumpet.[9] The self-produced album, which was in the metalcore style, gained mixed to positive reviews from critics.[10] Following the success of their first album, the band released a second album, Waking the Fallen, in 2003.[11] Later in 2003, Shadows and Avenged Sevenfold played in the Vans Warped Tour.[12] [edit] Other projects
Shadows has made guest appearances on numerous albums by various artists. He also produced The Confession's 2007 album, Requiem, which, according to an interview, was one of the first steps which led to Avenged Sevenfold self-producing their 2007 self-titled album. Shadows has also made several guest appearances at High Schools, per request, such as Thomas Jeffereson High in Virginia, UCLA in California, New Utrecht High school in New York and many others. He also has stated he would be interested in collaborating with Coheed and Cambria and states that he thinks, "Claudio Sanchez is a great musician. He knows his shit. Really cool dude and I'd personally love to work with him.
Sullivan grew up and lived in Huntington Beach, California.[2] He got his first pair of drum sticks at the age of four and received his own drum set at the age of eleven.[3] In high school, he started playing in bands. Before leaving to join Avenged Sevenfold as one of the band's founding members, Sullivan was the drummer for the third wave ska band Suburban Legends. At the age of eighteen he recorded his first album with Avenged Sevenfold titled Sounding the Seventh Trumpet. His early influences included Frank Zappa and King Crimson. The Rev said in a Modern Drummer Magazine interview that "I was raised on that stuff as much as rock and metal."[3]
Later in life he was influenced by drummers Vinnie Paul, Mike Portnoy, Dave Lombardo, Lars Ulrich, and Terry Bozzio.[4] He even had a "visual influence", Tommy Lee, on which he commented that "I never thought I'd have one of those."[3] Sullivan's signature ability which he called "the double-ride thing, just for lack of a better definition, because no one does it,"[5] is a technique that can be heard on tracks such as "Almost Easy", "Critical Acclaim", and "Crossroads" in which Sullivan doubles up at a fast tempo between the double bass and ride cymbals.
The Rev was also a vocalist, songwriter, and pianist for Avenged Sevenfold. His piano-playing can be heard on the tracks "Warmness on the Soul", "Seize the Day", "Fiction" and "Save Me". His vocals are featured in Avenged Sevenfold's "A Little Piece of Heaven", "Brompton Cocktail", "Critical Acclaim", "Crossroads", "Gunslinger", "Lost", "Scream", "Afterlife", "Save Me", "Eternal Rest" and "Fiction". He also wrote the songs "Almost Easy", "A Little Piece of Heaven", "Afterlife", "Brompton Cocktail", "Save Me", and "Fiction". He also contributed to the making of "Critical Acclaim" and "Lost".[citation needed]
Avenged Sevenfold also announced that they will be releasing a demo version of "Nightmare" including The Rev on an electric drumset and his vocals.
At the second annual Revolver Golden God Awards, The Rev won the award for Best Drummer. His family members and Avenged Sevenfold received the honor on his behalf.[6] Death
Sullivan's body was found in his home on December 28, 2009 at the age of 28.[1] His death was reported as due to natural causes. The results of the autopsy performed on December 30, 2009, however, were inconclusive.[1] On June 9, 2010, the cause of death was revealed to have been an acute polydrug intoxication due to combined effects of oxycodone (OxyContin), oxymorphone (a metabolite of oxycodone), diazepam (Valium), nordiazepam (a metabolite of diazepam) and alcohol. Cardiomegaly (enlarged heart) was reported as a "significant condition" that may have played a role in the death.[7]
On January 5, 2010, a private funeral was held for Sullivan,[8] and a day later he was buried in Huntington Beach, California.[9] Avenged Sevenfold dedicated their fifth album, Nightmare, to Sullivan. Drum set and other gear
The Rev had a DW kit with 3 22x18 bass drums (one of which The Rev didn't use), an 8x5 tom, an 8x7 tom, a 10x8 tom, a 12x9 tom, a 14x11 tom, a 16x14 tom, a 18x16 tom (all mounted on a DW Super Rack), two DW 9000 single bass pedals, an AAX X-Celerator 14" Hi-Hat, an AAX 19" Metal Crash, an AA 18" Metal-X Crash, an AAX 19" X-Treme Chinese, an AAX 19" X-Treme Chinese, an AAX 22" Metal Ride, an AAX 22" Metal Ride, an AAX 10" Splash, an 8" Chopper, a Max 11" Splash, an HH 12" Mini Chinese, and Promark drumsticks.
Haner attended Mayfair High School in Lakewood, but he later transferred and graduated from Huntington Beach High School in Huntington Beach, California.
M.Shadows was born as Matthew Charles Sanders on July 31, 1981, in Huntington Beach, California. He began playing the piano at an early age, but his interest in rock music grew as he became older and began to play the guitar.[1] Shadows links this early musical experience with the piano as a major factor in developing his skills with the guitar and his voice.[1] He attended Huntington Beach High School, where he played for a brief stint in a punk band named "Successful Failure".[1] Following this, Shadows formed Avenged Sevenfold in 1999 along with high school friends Zacky Vengeance, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, and Matt Wendt.[1] Soon after, Sullivan's friend Synyster Gates joined Avenged Sevenfold as the lead guitarist.