M. Shadows and Synyster Gates shared what was probably an off-the-cuff joke while in the studio recording Avenged Sevenfold‘s new album. It involves one of the purest, most difficult-to-do-well, and potentially irritating musical talents: Beatboxing.
In a video shared from Shadows’ twitter on Saturday (July 30,) Gates is sitting on a couch in the studio with some kind of mic pickup cupped between his hands. Avenged 7X’s lead guitarist is beatboxing a pretty slick line, while a Labrador checks out the action at his feet. Gates showcases a few classic beatbox techniques, mimicking both snare and bass drums, and injecting an “uh-huh-uh-huh” scratch every now and then. (Sorry for the uber-technical references there.) Check out the video at the end.
The beatbox video followed a poll from Shadows, asking, “So @SynysterGates is sitting here w me in the studio trying to convince me that he needs to beatbox on this record. I told him I would crowd source opinions.”
Shadows’ Twitter followers seemed to be into it, by about 56 to 44 percent (though we’d hardly call it a mandate.) Sometime later on in the day, Shadows bowed to the will of the people and at least partially indulged Gates. We’re not going to know if that beatbox actually made it on the record for at least a few months, however.
Avenged have been very deliberate about releasing any music. Shadows gave us an updated timeline on the new album release a few months ago, saying it wasn’t happening during the summer, but more likely late ’22 or early ’23. Considering they are still in the midst of recording now it looks like the latter is more likely.
Shadows has been freer about sharing his thoughts on a variety of topics in the meantime. He has been opining about the state of the metal scene (needs improvement,) the music streaming industry (a godsend,) and a classic Guns ‘N’ Roses record (deserves more credit,) among other things. Avenged recent celebrated the 21-year anniversary of the release of their debut album, “Sounding the Seventh Trumpet.”
See the Gates beatboxing just below here. And we’ve included the old school beatbox classic “La Di Da Di” from a Doug E. Fresh performance at the Apollo after that, for reference. And ‘cuz we like to party.