Avenged Sevenfold’s M Shadows says the release of their highly anticipated This Is Bat Country DVD is out of their hands amid legal wranglings with their label Warner Bros.
The vocalist says their estranged record company own the rights to the footage – but he doesn’t think it was “good enough” to come out anyway.
Shadows tells Loudwire: “The reality is the DVD just never got there. I know some fans don’t want to hear this, but for us when we’re looking at something and deciding on whether to put it out or not, it’s gotta go through some sort of process or, ‘Is this good enough to come out?’
“You get asked a question a million times of ‘You got a DVD?’ It starts leaking out that there’s a DVD and you go ‘Okay yeah, we have a DVD.’
“Then when it doesn’t get there, there’s no reason for us to put it out – and the DVD was never quite good enough to come out in our opinion. So, I don’t know what’s happening with it right now. I know it’s still on the cutting floor.”
He adds: “We’re still trying to make tweaks to it, but then there’s also the Warner Bros thing. We’re not with Warner Bros anymore and they own the rights to that footage.
“So, I don’t know what’s going to happen with that DVD. The real answer is just that it wasn’t up to par with what we wanted to be releasing.”
Avenged Sevenfold are still embroiled in a legal feud with their longtime record label after they tried to walk away from their contract earlier this year. They claimed “regime changes” and high staff turnover meant they didn’t know the people they were working with anymore.
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Shadows adds: “It had nothing to do with anything other than if you’re at a place where they don’t care about your band, then you have to do somewhere where they do care about your band. So, as labels start morphing and changing over time, you have to do what’s best for you and that’s the main reason we left.
“For us, it’s about finding a home that care about rock music and they care about Avenged Sevenfold and want to further our career as we try to push through this thing.”
Shadows recently said Avenged Sevenfold are revamping their shows for the upcoming tour – with a “big” production and a setlist packed with older material and songs they’ve never played before.
Avenged Sevenfold kick off their North American tour with Volbeat, Killswitch Engage and Avatar this month, before hitting the UK and Europe next year.
Avenged Sevenfold tour dates 2016⁄2017
Sep 12: Bonner Springs Providence Medical Center Amphitheater, KS
Sep 14: Grand Rapids Van Andel Arena, MI
Sep 15: Toledo Huntington Center, OH
Sep 17: Mashantucket Foxwoods Resort Casino, CT
Sep 18: Chester Talen Energy Stadium, PA
Sep 20: Fort Wayne Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, IN
Sep 21: Nashville Bridgestone Arena, TN
Sep 24: Fort Worth Texas Motor Speedway, TX
Sep 25: Houston NRG Park, TX
Oct 01: Louisville Champions Park, KY
Oct 02: Janesville Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport, WI
Oct 23: Sacramanto Discovery Park, CA
Jan 10: Glasgow SSE Hydro
Jan 12: Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
Jan 13: Birmingham Genting Arena
Jan 15: Sheffield Arena
Jan 16: Manchester Arena
Jan 18: Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Jan 19: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena
Jan 21: London O2 Arena
Feb 12: Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany
Feb 13: Hamburg Sporthalle, Germany
Feb 15: Berlin Arena, Germany
Feb 16: Dusseldorf Mitsubishi Electric Halle, Germany
Feb 18: Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, Netherlands
Feb 20: Stuttgart Schleyerhalle, Germany
Feb 21: Milan Forum, Italy
Feb 23: Vienna Wiener Stadthalle, Austria
Feb 25: Munich Zenith, Germany
Feb 26: Zurich Halle 622, Austria
Feb 28: Lille Zenith Arena, France
Mar 01: Luxembourg Rockhal, Luxembourg
Mar 02: Paris AccorHotels Arena, France
Mar 04: Copenhagen Valby Hallen, Denmark
Mar 07: Helsinki Hartwall Arena, Finland
Mar 09: Stockholm Ericsson Globe, Sweden
Mar 10: Oslo Telenor, Norway
GALLERY: Behind the scenes on our Avenged Sevenfold cover shoot
