Avenged Sevenfold‘s M. Shadows has opened up about touring and said that “it’s incredibly hard” for the band to make money from it.
In a new interview with Bradley Hall on his YouTube channel, the band’s frontman, M. Shadows – real name Matthew Sanders – discussed what the realities of post-pandemic touring are like.
“It’s really crazy because when you get to our kind of level, everybody on the crew is ‘A list’ and they’re all being pulled in different directions, so they all make high-end amounts of money. More trucks, more drivers, more gasoline, more travel. And we’ve already seen a lot of bands canceling tours,” he explained.
He continued: “You’re gonna see a lot more. ‘Cause I know where we’re at. I know what we make. And I know that it’s incredibly hard for us even. Unless you can really put something together that keeps you in one city and not a lot of movement and keeps you in places where you can play multiple nights somewhere, you really are doing some of these things… Like, for instance, a big reason we’re going to all these different countries is because we can go to the same countries and make very little to no money, or we can go to new countries and make very little to no money. And so the idea has been, ‘Let’s go build the band out.’”
He went on to say how hard touring is for bands at the moment, claiming that it is “almost impossible” adding that there is also a big turndown in sales which also attributes to the touring struggles.
“People have been blown out by ticket prices, because of the touring, because of the inflation, so every single thing stacks on top,” he said. “And then you’ve got people that are very upset about what ticket prices are, which I get. It’s kind of crazy to go see a couple of bands and it’s gonna cost you five, six hundred bucks, or if it’s country artists, it’s a thousand dollars if it’s Taylor Swift, it’s $3,200, or whatever it is.
“And there’s a whole argument there — there’s a whole argument of people not understanding how the ticketing works in the music business, people blaming and pointing fingers, but what really is happening is there’s inflation, there’s higher costs, it’s much harder to get around, and if you think about every aspect of a touring band’s life, it’s making it increasingly impossible. And you’ve gotta think, if there’s not gonna be CDs coming into the record label, there’s no tour support. They’re not making that kind of money anymore. So you’ve got this whole situation that is kind of dire, when you, when you think about it that way. That’s why you’ve gotta kind of pick and choose what you’re doing.”
Avenge Sevenfold are set to embark on their European tour later this summer. The 12-date run will see the band make appearances at various festivals including Norway’s Tons Of Rock, Czech Republic’s Rock For People and Greece’s Release. Check out a full list of dates below and visit here to purchase tickets.
In other news, Avenged Sevenfold will serve as opening support for System Of A Down during the Chicago dates of the band’s “One-of-a-Kind” stadium tour later this summer.
