AVENGED SEVENFOLD Drummer Found Dead

Deft_16_Ones · Dec 29, 2009, 06:56 AM

According to The Orange County Register, AVENGED SEVENFOLD drummer James Owen Sullivan (a.k.a. The Rev) was found dead at his home on Monday (December 28). He was 28 years old.

Sullivan appears to have died of natural causes, Huntington Beach police Lt. John Domingo told The Orange County Register. Police were notified by firefighters who had responded to Sullivan's home about 1 p.m., according to the report.

In addition to playing drums for AVENGED SEVENFOLD, The Rev was a prolific songwriter, having contributed the track "A Little Piece of Heaven" to the band's fourth studio CD, 2007's "Avenged Sevenfold".

"The Rev is very good at coming in with full songs," singer M. Shadows said in a 2007 interview with Revolver magazine. "That guy's a piece of work; he's badass and he's a great writer. He walked in with 'A Little Piece of Heaven', and it was like an eight-minute movie that he wrote and had in his brain; nothing was on a recorder — he just walked in, one-fingered it on the piano, played drums over it, and was like, 'That's the song. Let's bring some string guys in to work on the string arrangements.' And we were like, 'Fuck yeah, dude!'"

"I can write in any style that I choose," The Rev said in the same interview. "And I've always been heavily been influenced by Danny Elfman, OINGO BOINGO, MR. BUNGLE, and bands like that. With all the different parts and the cinematic feel, I thought it called for lyrics that told a story, too. Without giving too much away, it's about a couple: First the boyfriend kills the girlfriend, and then the girlfriend comes back and repossesses her body and kills the boyfriend; then he comes back and repossesses his body and apologizes, and they get married. And then they start killing everyone at their wedding. I just had a lot of fun with that one!"

AVENGED SEVENFOLD's last release was the DVD/CD package, "Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough", which came out in September 2008. The live DVD features the band's April 2008 hometown show at the Long Beach Arena headlining the Rockstar Taste of Chaos tour, while the CD contains previously unreleased b-sides that were recorded during the making of "Avenged Sevenfold", plus various covers, and other never-before-heard material. The DVD was directed by Core Entertainment's Rafa Alcantara, who also worked on the band's critically acclaimed 2007 road documentary "All Excess".

That really sux, not one of my bands but truly sad, Rest in peace $:-\$

Jacob · Dec 29, 2009, 12:17 PM

the band sucks, but a shame indeed. RIP.

devlin · Dec 29, 2009, 12:23 PM

there needs to be a "dead musician/celebrity thread" there are too many "dead" threads.

"sounding the seventh trumpet" and "waking the fallen" are good albums, everything after that is sell out bullshit. sorry to hear he died though.

bright lights, big city · Dec 29, 2009, 02:20 PM

Quote from: devlin on Dec 29, 2009, 12:23 PM
there needs to be a "dead musician/celebrity thread" there are too many "dead" threads.

"sounding the seventh trumpet" and "waking the fallen" are good albums, everything after that is sell out bullshit. sorry to hear he died though.

I feel the same about the band, first 2 albums were great. He was a great drummer, though, but what I don't get is this natural causes bullshit. He was fucking younger than Brittany Murphy, and they're calling it natural causes. This isn't the goddamn Middle Ages.

Jacob · Dec 29, 2009, 04:49 PM

Quote from: bright lights, big city on Dec 29, 2009, 02:20 PM
Quote from: devlin on Dec 29, 2009, 12:23 PM
there needs to be a "dead musician/celebrity thread" there are too many "dead" threads.

"sounding the seventh trumpet" and "waking the fallen" are good albums, everything after that is sell out bullshit. sorry to hear he died though.
I feel the same about the band, first 2 albums were great. He was a great drummer, though, but what I don't get is this natural causes bullshit. He was fucking younger than Brittany Murphy, and they're calling it natural causes. This isn't the goddamn Middle Ages.

funny thing is, overdosing on meds seems to be "natural causes" these days.

devilinside · Dec 29, 2009, 05:50 PM

That sucks...but yeah....natural causes my ass. Unless he had an underlying condition,28 is too young to die from "natural causes".

defTHE1s · Dec 30, 2009, 03:36 AM

Quote from: devilinside on Dec 29, 2009, 05:50 PM
That sucks...but yeah....natural causes my ass. Unless he had an underlying condition,28 is too young to die from "natural causes".

yeah, that sucks... first 2 albums were petty good, as some others said and it's sad that this happened...

E-Money · Dec 30, 2009, 04:26 AM

Quote from: defTHE1s on Dec 30, 2009, 03:36 AM
Quote from: devilinside on Dec 29, 2009, 05:50 PM
That sucks...but yeah....natural causes my ass. Unless he had an underlying condition,28 is too young to die from "natural causes".
yeah, that sucks... first 2 albums were petty good, as some others said and it's sad that this happened...

yea so sad. I dont care for their music too much but I went with a friend to see them once and they put on a pretty cool show. its sad we lost so many talented musicians this year.

defTHE1s · Dec 30, 2009, 04:35 AM

yeah, i was about to see them live with metallica last time they were here.

bright lights, big city · Dec 30, 2009, 04:48 AM

I do remember them giving interviews when they first got huge, and they talked about doing all these drugs and wanting to be even more excessive than Guns n Roses...

_Fireal_ · Dec 30, 2009, 05:05 AM

Quote from: bright lights, big city on Dec 30, 2009, 04:48 AM
I do remember them giving interviews when they first got huge, and they talked about doing all these drugs and wanting to be even more excessive than Guns n Roses...

This.

I can't say it's unexpected.

And I don't care about the band or this death really at all. Just as sad as any other young person dying from drugs.