In loving memory of The Rev

(This is a pic of Jimmy and Steve M.)


(Jason Berry, Me, & Johnny Christ)


There is no band on this planet that I love more than Avenged Sevenfold and over the years I've taken a lot of heat for it from my friends. I was devastated yesterday to learn that Jimmy (James Owen Sullivan) who was the amazing drummer for A7X has gone on to the Afterlife. In some ways his band coincided with a turning point in my career path. I first heard of them when I was a hotel manager and they were on tour with Coheed and Cambria where they stayed at my hotel in 2005. Matt Berry (their merch guy and long time friend) had come up to the front desk and wanted to know where the nearest gym was and also the mall. When he came back from the mall he was with someone who is now one of my dear friends named Steve Murillo. I asked how the mall was and Steve came over and started talking to me about it. There was some lady who wanted to straighten their hair and then somehow we got into talking about music and the stuff I was into. From there he invited me to come to the show. I had never heard of Avenged Sevenfold, I had never been on a tour bus, never seen or been part of any of the behind the scenes stuff at a concert. So I went to the concert that was at Cobo and A7X blew the roof off the building. After the show I ended up hanging out with Steve, he went and got me a backstage pass so I could hang out while the roadies loaded out. When they finished we went onto the bus and this is where I met the Berry brothers, Bodie, Convict, Thor, and their tour manager who at the time was Ted. I didn't get to meet any of the guys from the band that night and I didn't know that I would ever see any of these guys again. For the next two years every time they were in town Steve would invite me to come to their shows and have backstage passes to hang out and I got to meet the guys. Now most of the road crew doesn't work with A7X any more except the Berry brothers but I know that they all loved Jimmy dearly. Steve was last on tour with Atreyu, and I saw Bodie and Ted this past year on tour with Chris Cornell, Thor was on the Warp Tour, and Convict is doing stuff in California at a sports venue. The Berry brothers are still with A7X and I want to say congratulations to Matt Berry on getting married. If you've ever been behind the scenes in the music industry and you love music as much as I do you can't go back. I never knew that I could love a band so much. I think one of the reasons that I fell so in love with their music and them is because I got to know them as people on top of the fact that they are all extremely talented. Right now it truly feels like I've lost a family member. I've worked as the marketing assistant for the Royal Oak Music Theatre and now I am a writer for Real Detroit Weekly and do marketing and PR for Dream Town Media which keeps me in the music world that I love. I'd like to think my experience with A7X led me to be where I am today. R.I.P. Jimmy we love you!