Even with two highly successful independent album releases, it wasn't until 2001's "City of Evil" that finally introduced the world to Avenged Sevenfold. With their twin-guitar assaults and big solos, Avenged Sevenfold is poised to bring back the era of the classic British metal acts, like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Surprisingly, bringing back this vintage sound has even made them favorites on MTV's TRL and the subjects of obsession in Teen magazines. Being one of the hottest acts in music at the moment, I just couldn't resist trying to meet these metalheads.

        I arrived on the scene much too early and had to wait outside the venue a good hour until the show let out. This kind of sucked as it gave clumsy ol' Earl enough time to whack his head hard enough on a metal pipe and resulted in a pretty decent size bump on my forehead for the next couple of days. A little bump on the head wasn't about to stop me from waiting for autographs, so I sucked it up and hoped that this would be worth the headache... er wait.

        That's when I noticed some fans gathering at the barrier of the backstage area getting autographs from one of the bands. It turned out to be none other than opening act "Day of Contempt". Thankfully they were giving out posters of the band and I quickly snapped one up and made my way up to each band member. All of them were very happy to sign for any fan that asked for an autograph and hung out a good amount of time granting requests. While I wasn't here to meet Day of Contempt, I knew that I was going home with at least something.

        Then I noticed other people signing autographs, so I hurried over to this new group of fans. I didn't recognize anybody from Avenged Sevenfold, but found out that they were members from another opening group "18 Visions". Of course I didn't just stand by and do nothing, I pulled out one of my huge index cards and got the band to sign that. Like Day of Contempt, the members of Eighteen Visions were really great about signing and posing for pictures with fans.

        Believe it or not, I then spotted someone else signing autographs and guess what? He was not a part of A7X either! This time it was guitarist Chad Ginsburg from CKY and a mob of fans quickly swallowed him up asking for autographs. I walked over, got my autograph on an index card and took a picture of the autograph frenzy that was taking place. Chad was a really cool guy and chatted with fans for quite some time.

        It seemed that every band from the show was out signing and yet there was still no sign of anybody from Avenged Sevenfold. Just then the tour bus door opened and out steps Avenged Sevenfold's lead singer, M. Shadows! We weren't expecting this because everyone figured that A7X were still in the venue. M. Shadows walked right over and was so nice and proceeded to sign anything and everything that was placed in front of him.

       I handed him my CD cover and comic book cardboard and he had not problem signing them for me. He was also kind enough to pose for a picture with me and then continued his signing streak. After signing his last autograph he told us that he would tell the others to come down soon.

       Sure enough, a minute later bassist Johnny chirst and Rhythm Guitarist Zacky Vengeance came down to sign autographs. Both of them were really cool as well and had no problem taking a picture with me and signing my things. Just as Zacky was posing for a picture with me, out came lead guitarist Synyster Gates.

       Like the rest of his band mates, Synyster came out to sign autographs and sign autographs he did! Since I was one of the first few to meet Johnny and Zacky, I was able to meet Synyster right away. He thanked me for coming to the show and quickly added his autograph to my things and posed for a picture.

        Things were going great, now all I needed to complete my collection was The Rev's (drummer) autograph. Since Zacky, Johnny, and Synyster were still signing autographs outside of the tour bus it was hard to even find a spot to stand. I stood there hoping The Rev would come through like the rest of his bandmates. Fans just kept on coming and coming and they kept on signing and signing.

       Finally it seemed everyone was taken care of so Zacky, Synyster, and Johnny headed back inside the bus. Before they closed the door we asked them if they could get The Rev to come down and sign... these guys were here to grant requests because not even a minute later The Rev stepped off the bus and signed for the remaining fans. With a stroke of the sharpie The Rev completed my Avenged Sevenfold autograph collection and agreed for a photo-op as well.