M. Shadows on future Avenged Sevenfold music: “We need to live a little bit of life before we go into this next thing”

M. Shadows has spoken about his mindset when it comes to the timeline of the next Avenged Sevenfold album.

With the band still very much focused on 2023’s mind-blowing Life Is But A Dream… LP – with a scheduled European tour this coming summer and a couple of stadium shows with System Of A Down after that – the frontman says they need to “live a little bit of life” and switch their minds off before album number nine comes into the equation.

Speaking with Bradley Hall (watch the interview below), M. says that he hasn’t “really thought” about a new record just yet, when asked what the future holds.

“The focus, until recently, was [playing live in] India, Peru, and we want to do something in South America before Life Is But A Dream… is wrapped up,” the singer shares (transcribed by Kerrang!). “We’ve got these really interesting European markets that we’re doing in the summer. Just doing different things.

“So I don’t know… I think we’ll probably just spend some time with our families, and there’s always that creative itch, and jotting down ideas – whether it’s on your iPhone or whether it’s into Pro Tools, and just having this sort of bag that Santa’s got over his shoulder, and maybe dig through the presents at some point and see if there’s anything that’s like, ‘Oh! Let’s get into it!’ But right now I think it’s just in accumulation mode.”

He goes on to suggest that it’s seemingly pretty essential to his creative process to properly take a break before any new ideas start flowing.

“If you’re always in front of Pro Tools, and you’re always consumed by media, and you’re always playing video games, and you’ve always got a podcast in when you’re on a walk, you’re not really living a life where something can come and push you off your balance,” he says.

“The next process would really be taking long walks, go on a bike ride, play some sports. Do some things where your mind is not being consumed by this attention economy that we live in. And then once those ideas start coming, you can jot them down. Because I think it’s really hard for most people to go, ‘Okay, I’m gonna write from 2 – 6,’ and then you just go and sit down and stare at a computer, or you stare at your guitar. The best guitar riffs sometimes happen when you’re walking down the street and you hear a noise, or you have an idea…

“We need to live a little bit of life before we go into this next thing, and see where it takes us.”

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