Avenged Sevenfold and Good Charlotte: North American Tour 2026

<p>They are a rock band. They are rock stars. They are Avenged Sevenfold.</p><p>Avenged Sevenfold, the album, is a self-produced effort. While the band shared co-production credit on 2005’s million-selling City Of Evil with Mudrock, this new album is solely their responsibility — and they’re primed to accept it.</p><p>But attaining such stature didn’t arrive in an overnight jaunt. To the contrary, Avenged Sevenfold had been an integral part of the independent, underground rock scene years before breaking through on commercial radio. In fact, the Orange County, California-based act launched its career several years ago (they were barely out of high school) with the release of its debut in July 2001 of Sounding The Seventh Trumpet.</p><p>Miles of van touring ensued, performing in tightly packed clubs, and sweating shoulder-to-shoulder on both national and international levels. Despite the truly D.I.Y. affair (which still found the fledgling act putting on an eye-opening, elaborate stage show), Avenged Sevenfold never offered anything less than a full-throttle set. The band released its second independent full-length in August 2003, Waking The Fallen, a couple years later, greatly expanding on its metal-based foundation and giving us a not-so-subtle nudge that something exciting was in the imminent forecast.</p><p>Our suspicions were confirmed a couple years later, with Avenged Sevenfold’s breakthrough 2005 Warner Bros. debut, City Of Evil, featuring the wildly popular single “Bat Country.” That was the turning point for the fearless, genre-bending quintet that, after years of clocking in on the independent level, had finally advanced towards a milestone they had been seeking throughout their careers.<br>A7X wrapped 18 months of relentless touring in October 2006 and immediately began writing Avenged Sevenfold. After the success of City Of Evil — where they proved they had truly captured the imagination of music fans of all shapes and sizes — they became the only band to headline Warped Tour and Ozzfest while simultaneously hitting Number One on MTV’s TRL. The natural question was whether the band would continue its creative odyssey or return to the formula that brought them such success on the last go-around. Thankfully, they continued their musical exploration without caving in to any outside influences. </p><p>For this self-titled release, the act returned to the garage at M. Shadows’ parents’ home where these high-school friends had penned every other song in their discography. The band sought to delve into genres and recording techniques they had discovered on the road. For instance, they wanted to incorporate the narrative lyrics and biting guitar tones they’d admired in country music, as well as the powerful bottom end of hip-hop they felt would only add to the power of their music and message. </p><p>“All those months on the bus we really weren’t finding new rock that was moving us,” says frontman M. Shadows. “Instead, we were listening to everything from Toby Keith to T.I., and finding elements we could incorporate into what we were doing to make our next record more interesting to us.”</p><p>In the studio, Avenged Sevenfold enlisted engineers Fred Archambault and Dave Schiffman (System Of A Down, Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers), and the team went to work. </p><p>The resulting sound and rhythm of Avenged Sevenfold is, in a word, eclectic. Yet it’s still trademark A7X. “‘Scream’ has a groove we really wanted to inject into this record,” says guitarist Synyster Gates. “And on ‘Lost,’ you can hear the influence melodic bands like NOFX have always had on our band.” </p><p>A7X composed the string sections, including the individual instrument orchestration, with the assistance of Marc Mann and Steve Bartek from Oingo Boingo (and who currently orchestrate for Danny Elfman). With the soaring strings in “Afterlife,” the haunting and theatrical performance of “A Little Piece Of Heaven,” or the gentle vocals of a child in “Unbound,” the band’s creative and varied approach is surprising. Percussionist Lenny Castro brought a dynamic to “Brompton Cocktail,” and noted pedal steel and banjo player Greg Leisz added a country flair to the song “Dear God.” Yet as Gates adds, “it’s the dueling guitars, Shadows’ voice and the Rev’s brutality that make every one of the songs sound like Avenged Sevenfold.”</p><p>Lyrically, Shadows was striving for something more personal on the new album. “I feel we all experience a certain inner conflict, the push and pull between how we think we should act, or want to act, and the temptations and human instincts that we often blame when we don’t end up being the person we want to be.” </p><p>In fact, the album’s first single, “Almost Easy,” focuses on more similar temptations. “Afterlife” addresses the notion of “memento mori,” or the need to remember that death may intervene before we have reconciled differences with friends or loved ones.</p><p>These guys worked their asses off making Avenged Sevenfold (enlisting studio legend Andy Wallace to mix the record), literally sweating every detail with the same (if not stronger) conviction they had years earlier in trying to prove themselves to the masses. But it’s best you understand what was really going on during the three months these five best friends were holed up making Avenged Sevenfold.</p><p>They were having the time of their lives.</p>

From the opening sounds of GOOD CHARLOTTE’s fourth album Good Morning Revival -- which launches with an artful, innovative sound collage that slides into the irresistible “Misery”-- it’s evident that the world-famous band who’ve sold over nine million albums has revolutionized its sound for 2007. And by the time the optimistic parting shot “March On” rolls around, it’s evident that this is the vibrant, adventurous and unexpected rock album that has redefined the group. Returning to work with producer Don Gilmore (Pearl Jam, Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne) -- who helmed Good Charlotte’s eponymous 2000 breakthrough debut -- was the decisive change that reinvigorated the band. After a pair of successful albums like 2002’s tremendously popular triple platinum The Young and the Hopeless and 2004’s subsequent million-selling follow-up The Chronicles of Life and Death (which were realized with producer Eric Valentine), GC singer Joel Madden says its modus operandi on Good Morning Revival (Epic/Daylight) was simply to “make a record that we loved and that felt good.” In an effort to achieve that goal, Gilmore challenged Joel and his identical twin, Good Charlotte’s guitarist Benji Madden, to bring their A game. And he was highly critical. “We threw out 50 or 60 songs and pretty much started over,” Benji says. “Don was like, ‘I want to reinvent you guys. I want people to ask themselves, ‘Is that Good Charlotte?’” “We wanted to love every track,” bassist Paul Thomas explains. “Our goal this time out was to make it an awesome listen straight through. No fucking filler, man.” For the Maddens, who -- unlike their bandmates Paul, guitarist/keyboardist Billy Martin and new Good Charlotte drummer Dean Butterworth -- had become fixtures of the paparazzi-addled L.A. nightclub scene as well as prominent DJs, the opportunity to ship up to Vancouver to create new music was absolutely necessary and remarkably fruitful. The first day in British Columbia the Maddens had the bulk of “Victim of Love,” the contagious harmony-laden rock &amp; roll song, down. “We knew we were onto something,” Joel explains. And literally every day it was like we were writing a new song. After two months in Canada, isolating ourselves and getting away from everything that we were comfortable with was amazing. We came away with most of what you hear on this record.” By the time the group officially hit the studio with Gilmore, the downtime between its last tour and its official reconvening was as therapeutic as it was motivational. “The fact that we were able to stop, take a deep breath and kind of find some appreciation for all that we’ve accomplished has a lot to do with why this record sounds as vital and electrifying as it does,” says Martin. “We used to just take every offer that came our way and we’d never get much in the way of downtime. Now that we’ve had that time off it feels like a new band in a lot of ways.” One of the album’s highlights is its first single: the blistering, unforgettable rocker “The River,” an impassioned song about sin and redemption that traverses the dark side of Los Angeles. For the song, the band brought longtime friends and fellow musicians M. Shadows and Synyster Gates (of Avenged Sevenfold) into the mix, marking the first time Good Charlotte has officially collaborated with another artist on an album. It turned out to be a natural fit for both bands. “We’ve been friends with Avenged for a longtime. This wasn’t planned, but it ended up working out,” Joel explains. “We were sitting around listening to some new music and they liked that song so we asked them to jump on. It felt right and sounded really cool. Aside from being friends of ours, we’re also fans of their music and since this is our first collaboration, we couldn’t be happier that they’re a part of our record.” Good Morning Revival sustains its momentum with tracks like the fuzzy, club-driven “Dancefloor Anthem” and the genre-defying, Gorillaz-like You Tube favorite “Keep Your Hands Off My Girl” (which was introduced to audiences on the band’s U.S. fall 2006 tour and will be the lead single in Europe, Asia and South America). Good Charlotte has proven that it can thrive in a number of musical realms. “Honestly, the first time I heard it, I was like, ‘Are you fucking kidding me? People will never know that’s a Good Charlotte song,” concedes Billy. “And then Joel’s like, ‘Well, that’s the point!’ But soon enough it had me in its clutches.” “It’s kind of weird,” Joel says. “That song takes a lot of balls. I know some people will listen to it and probably think, ‘No thank you.’ It’s definitely not as if we sat down and penned a piece of art. It’s kind of like a sarcastic take on the whole club scene.” Elsewhere, on the hard-charging dance beat-steered rocker, “Misery” -- in which the singer observes the “tacky, plastic, shallow, empty” people that distinguish the City of Angels -- the keyboards are really pronounced. While the gorgeous “A Beautiful Place,” which evokes strains of Travis, The Beach Boys and the Flaming Lips, asserts that Good Charlotte is as much of a bona fide pop band and serious chart contender as it is a techno group or a punk quintet. “I wrote that song in Mexico,” Benji says of “A Beautiful Place.” “I was down there during hurricane season and I was in this beautiful beach environment. I had a night off and I was just thinking about how lucky I’ve been. “That’s a real Dean [Butterworth] moment. It was different when we wrote it, but then Dean started playing that real pronounced drum part. The drums are part of the hook. And it changed the whole sound.” Speaking of new vibes, the ups and downs of relationships propel rock anthems like “Break Her Heart” and the opposites attract tack of “Something Else.” These songs, along with the tender, melodic ballad “Where Would We Be,” find Joel -- who recently ended a lengthy, highly-publicized relationship with a certain movie star -- putting his feelings out there for public scrutiny. “I’m sure people are going to say these songs are about this or that,” he admits. “Love is a big part of me and I’ve accepted that and it’s in my music. And I’m not afraid to just show it.” Such honesty coupled with success and personal growth couldn’t help but inform Good Morning Revival. “This record shows a lot more of us than anything we’ve done in the past,” Benji says. “Because it’s hard to be an angry kid, all mad at the world when you’ve got it so good. I mean, that angst will always be there for Joel and I because of the way we grew up. Our father wasn’t the best role model as people know. But I definitely have a moment every day where I go, ‘Wow. What a rad life.’ I look at myself as being really blessed.” To which Joel adds, “It’s been a roller coaster ride for us in our own little way. We were up, then we kind of went down a bit. But now we’re up again. I think our new record has really been as much about looking back as it is about moving forward. We’ve realized a lot, and I’m really grateful that we’re still doing what we love.” Revitalized and inspired, Good Morning Revival finds Good Charlotte at its creative pinnacle