AVENGED SEVENFOLD guitarist Synyster Gates says that he still misses James "The Rev" Sullivan more than seven years after the drummer's tragic death. Sullivan died on December 28, 2009 from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and alcohol, Orange County Deputy Coroner Mitchell Sigal told Rolling Stone at the time. Toxicology reports indicated that Sullivan suffered "acute polydrug intoxication due to combined effects of Oxycodone, Oxymorphone, Diazepam/Nordiazepam and ethanol." Following Sullivan's passing, AVENGED SEVENFOLD recruited his favorite drummer, ex-DREAM THEATER member Mike Portnoy, to record the drum tracks for its 2010 album, "Nightmare", and tour with the band through the end of that year. Arin Ilejay was announced as The Rev's official, long-term replacement in 2011, going on to play on the band's "Hail To The King" album and accompanying world tour. However, Arin was surprisingly fired from the band in July 2015 due to what guitarist Zacky Vengeance called "creative differences." Asked by The Irish Times if he still misses The Rev, Gates said: "Yeah, of course. I mean, everybody's lost somebody, and I think they all miss them incredibly. Do you miss them to tears every day? I'd like to say yes, but I would be lying; I don't miss him to tears. But you think of him… He makes me smile every day — he makes me still shake my fucking head every day — thinking about what an exceptional human being he was. And I think that's truly important. And then at certain times you have, where… it's not déjà vu, or whatever it is, but it feels like you just lost him; you'll have that surge of emotion, and it's fresh and new, and then, yeah, it'll bring you to your knees and to tears. But every single day, many moments of the day, he's definitely missed and reflected upon and smiled at." AVENGED SEVENFOLD's current drummer is Brooks Wackerman, who previously played with the veteran punk act BAD RELIGION for 14 years. AVENGED SEVENFOLD's latest album, "The Stage", debuted at No. 4 on The Billboard 200 album chart in November. The band made the album available at midnight on October 27 with almost no promotion beforehand, save for the arrival of a new song one week earlier.
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