Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows Reflects on Growing as a Singer and Pre-Show Preparation
Being a singer is not an easy job, especially when you’re screaming loud, abrasive music. That requires a lot of careful attention to taking care of your voice as an instrument. It’s not like karaoke where you can just stumble on stage after your third martini and sing “Don’t Stop Believing” off key and still get the entire crowd to sing along with you. Being the vocalist in a metal band is a bit more demanding than that, as Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows has discovered over the years.
In a recent interview with Finnish outlet Chaoszine (that was transcribed by Blabbermouth), Shadows talked about the band’s recent experience of headlining Download Festival and how he finally felt ready for it after years of growing as an artist:
“It’s always a learning experience. I would even say like we just headlined [U.K.’s] Download [festival] for the third time and this was the first time I felt comfortable up there, because just maturity, being in the situation already. It’s like being in a game seven or being in the finals and knowing you’ve been there and knowing what’s gonna come at you allows you to really internalize everything and then just focus on the technique and what you’re trying to do let it all come to you. So those early days, it was just… You’re trying to do too much right off the bat, and then your voice blows up. And it’s typical. You’re just, like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna kill this show,’ and you get out there and all of a sudden, you get nothing, ’cause you push too hard.”
As for his pre-show preparation as a singer, Shadows talked about how important it is to take care of one’s voice:
“The difference is when you’re riding your bike around with [late AVENGED SEVENFOLD drummer] The Rev, you can just sing and sing and sing and nothing goes wrong. Then you start playing shows, and you have 18 shows in a row on Warped Tour, and all of a sudden things start getting worse and worse every night. You’re trying to get sleep, you’re trying to drink water, but just not having the technique. And then there’s all these different ways people describe technique, and that takes a long time to figure out, because sometimes the things you need in the beginning are the exact opposite things you need as your career goes on.”
He then was asked about foods he might avoid for the sake of his voice and he talked about what he’s learned about vocal preparation over the years, and how much he’s benefitted from having a vocal coach:
“Yeah, earlier in my career, and maybe if you would have asked me 10 years ago, I’d have a bunch of things. But now that I’ve been working with [vocal coach] Seth Riggs for the last seven, eight years, I’ve realized that none of that stuff affects me. Now, I’m not gonna go eat spaghetti before I go to bed, because if you get acid reflux and it burns your cords, you’re really in trouble, ’cause you’re fried. But in terms of things [like food], honestly, technique can trump all that stuff. Tea and ginger and honey might make the muscles feel okay. It’s not gonna affect my vocal cords. My vocal cords, if they’re in the right spot and I continue to do the correct things, none of that stuff’s going to affect me — food’s not gonna affect me, none of that stuff. You just wanna watch out for things like acid reflux. You wanna watch out for what you ate the night before. Don’t sleep with your head completely flat, ’cause stuff might come back up. Things like that that are interesting, but, really, when the voice feels right, it feels right. If you don’t damage yourself the night before on the show — don’t go too far, don’t go outside the bounds, don’t go too wide on your vowels, don’t do these things that you feel like you can do when you’re out there in the moment. If you keep it locked in, then the next day should be fine.”
Shadows has been fronting Avenged Sevenfold for about 25 years now, and his voice seems to be holding up pretty well, so it would seem he learned the proper technique to take care of his voice.
Avenged Sevenfold only have a few dates left for this year, and they’re both festivals, but here’s where you can hear Shadows’ voice in all its glory:
Aug 30 – Pryor, OK – Rocklahoma
Sep 15 – Rio De Janerao, Brazil – Rock in Rio
