Synyster Gates says The Rev’s family kept Avenged Sevenfold together

Synyster Gates has revealed that Avenged Sevenfold were close to calling it a day after The Rev past away.

The guitarist, real name Brian Elwin Haner, Jr., said that after drummer Jimmy ‘The Rev’ Sullivan sadly passed away it was his family and the fans who encouraged them to carry on.

Speaking in an interview with Dave Kim of the Grand Rapids, Michigan radio station WGRD 97.9 FM, Synyster said: “Yeah, for two weeks we had pretty much thrown in the towel but our fans are the best and they said ‘hey you can do it, we want to hear the music and Jimmy’s spirit,’ and it was likewise with his family who basically said we had no choice and had to do it for them.

“Once we knew it was the right thing to do we were on board as well and thankful for the support for us to actually be able to come to fruition with all the music and now we’re here, touring it, playing it and couldn’t ask for anything more.

“The album has gone really well but I don’t think we had any expectations from it. We do prefer to have that steady hill climb. It’s been an enjoyable process to see how well this album has been received because it’s a very personal one.

“Just to be able to spread Jimmy’s legacy in this way has been an absolute honour.

“One of his gifts in passing was definitely that we now appreciate everything a lot more than we did before and it’s really cool that we all came from childhood friends and stuff like that to being in this band together.”