BROOKS WACKERMAN Reflects On His AVENGED SEVENFOLD Audition: 'I Didn't Think I Got The Gig'

In a new interview with the But That 1% With Sona Oganesyan podcast, AVENGED SEVENFOLD's Brooks Wackerman reflected on how he landed the AVENGED gig back in 2014. The drummer, who had been a member of BAD RELIGION since 2001, said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I didn't think I got the gig [after the first day auditioning for AVENGED SEVENFOLD], to be honest with you. It was this internal dialogue. It went well, but we had two days [to play together] and… I don't know. I'm trying to go back to that time, but I just remember being bummed out and came home. I'm, like, 'Yeah, I don't think it's gonna happen.' Maybe I thought they weren't into how it was going down."

Asked what made him feel that way, Brooks said: "I don't know. I think I was excited about the prospect. I knew the songs like the back of my hand. I was a fan [before I auditioned]. So I was excited about this this prospect, and I think I just got really in my head. And then the second day I felt like it went better."

Pressed about what he was telling himself that he could have done better, Brooks said: "Great question. I think I remember now. I think there was one part that I didn't play like the record, and Zack [AVENGED SEVENFOLD guitarist Zacky Vengeance] told Matt [Sanders, a.k.a. AVENGED SEVENFOLD frontman M. Shadows], and Matt called me that night and he said, 'Hey, can you play that part like the record?' And I took that information and I'm, like, 'Oh, they don't fucking like it.' So it was just chatter in my head, just negative thinking."

Asked what his mindset is when auditioning for a band and whether it is to play the songs just like on the records or to inject his unique personal twist on the material, Brooks said: "Yeah. Great question. It's both. When I learn a song, I learn the album version. Well, actually, I go to the last tour that they've done on YouTube, and I digest how they play it live because I would hope that they wouldn't play exactly how they do on the record, because through evolution and doing a million tour dates, it does evolve into something hopefully better. And it did. So I learned the live YouTube versions. But then, 'cause I'm a different player than their past drummers. I wanted to add my own voice into it. So I think maybe in my head I was thinking, 'Oh, okay, well, maybe I put too much of the Wackerman in the set.' I don't know."

He continued: "I'm kind of bouncing all over the place here because I'm trying to remember what was going on with me at that time. And I think I wanted everything to go smoothly, and I felt like just hearing that one comment just went, 'Oh wait, maybe it's not gonna happen.' And then the next day everything fell into place."

Regarding how he eventually found out that he out got the AVENGED SEVENFOLD gig, Brooks said: "Well, after we got done playing, I think it was maybe that day or the next day, they said, 'How would you like to be in AVENGED SEVENFOLD?' [I said], 'Of course, yes. Let's do this.' So, yeah, it was quickly after the second day of auditioning, so it was a quick process. Prior to that, we met for dinner. And I had never met the guys and so, yeah, we had a great conversation. They told me about what their goal is — they were trying to find a permanent drummer — and everything they were telling me aligned with what I wanted in a new band for me. And then we got together, played and then I got the gig officially."

This past May, Brooks told Stevo 32 about how he got the AVENGED gig: "My friend Diony [Sepulveda] — he used to be my personal manager, and then he was AVENGED SEVENFOLD's tour manager — they talked to him, and they started establishing a dialogue about, 'Do you think Brooks would be into playing with AVENGED?' So he called me and I'm, like, 'What? It was just so outta — maybe not outta left field, but when you get that call and you just start kind of envisioning yourself in a completely different light. It's, like, metal festivals, even though, to me, AVENGED is so much more than metal, but we are playing metal fest festivals. So, yeah, it was exciting. I'm, like, 'Okay, I haven't felt this way in a while' at the time. I was grateful for all my work with BAD RELIGION, but I was in the band for 15 years, and I wanted to spread the wings a little wider, too, musically. So I'm, like, 'Okay, not only are they interested, but they're also interested in writing with me for this record. They want me to contribute.' And I'm, like, 'Yeah, let's do this.' 'Cause to actually feel like you're a proponent between five guys in a studio, it's special."

Asked if he felt like he wasn't able to do that in BAD RELIGION, Brooks clarified: "The writers were Brett [Gurewitz, BAD RELIGION guitarist] and Greg [Graffin, BAD RELIGION singer], and as they should be, because they created the sound. I always call them the [John] Lennon and [Paul] McCartney of punk rock. There's no one that can write like those guys. I did parameters, but I'm not gonna sit here and say BAD RELIGION didn't allow me creativity — they did — but I will say once I did the second record with BAD RELIGION, that's when I really felt like myself. I didn't feel a hundred percent like myself on [2002's] '[The] Process [Of Belief]', and I think that was a) nerves, b),not knowing the guys, and c) they had all the songs demoed. So by the second record, I was demoing at Brett's house. He wanted to hear what I would come up with and it was more collaborative. But when you get the AVENGED call, it's, like, 'Okay, so the Latin beat that I practiced when I was 12, I can now apply this in a song.' It's, like, just the rhythmic possibilities, the creative possibilities [were endless]…"

Regarding what songs he played at the AVENGED SEVENFOLD audition, Brooks said: "'Nightmare', 'Little Piece Of Heaven', 'Bat Country', I think 'Buried Alive'. Yep, 'Buried Alive'. I think it was just that."

AVENGED SEVENFOLD had been working with Brooks for over a year already following the departure of Arin Ilejay before Wackerman was announced as the band's new drummer. Although Ilejay left the group in 2014, his departure was only announced in July 2015.

Ilejay was AVENGED SEVENFOLD's drummer for four years, playing on 2013's "Hail To The King" album. In announcing his exit, the band thanked him for his "positive energy" but added that it "needed to move in a different direction."

Back in November 2015, M. Shadows told the "Talk Is Jericho" podcast about Brooks's addition to AVENGED SEVENFOLD: "To be honest, Brooks's name has always been in the mix. It was one of the names we were throwing around when Jimmy [original AVENGED SEVENFOLD drummer James 'The Rev' Sullivan] passed away in terms of who was going to step up for [the 2010 album] 'Nightmare'. We felt Mike [Portnoy, DREAM THEATER] was the right choice and we still feel that way. Mike just destroyed on the record. He was perfect. But at the time, our tour manager brought up Brooks's name as well. But at the time he was also busy with BAD RELIGION and it was also… People were going to look at it differently because he was a punk drummer at this point."

Regarding the split with Ilejay, M. Shadows said: "It just became increasingly difficult to be on the same page, not only touring, but with writing and just where we want to take things. We're just a bunch of guys who are all over the place and we have a bunch of different influences and we need somebody who can instantly… who can sit there and say, 'Yeah, I've got that influence too or I understand why we're gonna go here. I understand why we're going to do that.'"

He continued: "It just got to the point where after Mayhem Festival [in 2014], we had just decided to fire on all cylinders the way we want to, we needed to make a change. And we all had our little talk. We said, 'Listen, we can ride this thing out the way it is right now and we'll be fine or we can shake the nest a little bit and we want to fire on all cylinders again. We want to be the baddest band on the planet. We want to just dominate onstage.' And I came up with the idea that I really want to talk to Brooks and see if there's any chance and see where he's at in his life right now."

He went on to say: "Jimmy's missing and you're not trying to replace that and you're just trying to get to the point where if you were to tear this thing to the bottom floor, how would you rebuild it — to just say new band, new mentality, new fire. And one of the things was, 'Let's give Brooks a call and see what he's doing.' It wasn't like we were going to start trying guys out and we were serious about this change. It was, like, 'If Brooks is willing to do this, that's what we want to do.' So it wasn't like we were gonna just start looking for drummers."