Ten Things You Need To Know About Avenged Sevenfold's New baterista 

Ten Things You Need To Know About Avenged Sevenfold's New Drummer

Meet Brooks Wackerman, the new tubthumper for Avenged Sevenfold!

Avenged Sevenfold have just announced that they have a new drummer and his name is Brooks Wackerman. Never heard of him? Don’t worry, here are ten things you need to know about the new guy on the A7X drumstool!

Brooks started his musical career as a mere teenager under the tutelage of the great shredder Steve Vai, who produced his first band Bad4Good’s debut album

. Released in 1992 the band split soon after, despite Vai’s thumbs up, and vocalist Danny Cooksey is the only other member to have a career of note – he\'s a renowned voice over artist, and he also played John Connor’s mate in

. Which was the coolest thing a member of Bad4Good had managed… until now!

He’s Been A Substitute For The World’s Most Famous Drum Substitute

You’ve all probably heard of Josh Freese. He’s the guy that has made a career of stepping up to the drum stool of many a big name rock band when they need a steady pair of hands behind the kit. Be it Nine Inch Nails, Guns N\' Roses, or A Perfect Circle, Josh has kept time for the lot of them. What you might not know is that Josh got his start with Orange County skate punks The Vandals… which we imagine doesn’t pay quite as much as temping for Trent Reznor or Axl Rose. So when Josh was away from Vandals duty at the turn of the Millennium who should step into his shows? Our very own Brooks of course!

He’s Played In Another Legendary Punk Outfit

In 2001 when punk pioneers Bad Religion\'s legendary drummer Bobby Schayer injured his shoulder and was forced into retirement, Brooks was picked as the man to fill the boots of a man who had previously played on some of the most classic punk rock in history. No pressure then! He contributed to the last six Bad Religion releases.

He Stepped In After Travis Barker’s Fear OF Flying Got The Better Of Him

In 2013, pop-punk megastars Blink 182 were due to play the Soundwave festival in Australia. Unfortunately, due to an acute fear of flying after his infamous near death experience in a plane crash five years previously, Blink drummer Travis Barker was unable to make his way across the globe to make the shows. This left Brooks to get the best seat in the house as two grown men made jokes about having sex with livestock… listen we’ll all had shitty jobs, mate!

Brooks must have made quite an impression on the Blink boys on that tour, as former Blink frontman, and warbling buffoon, Tom Delonge has hired him to play drums on his solo album

In 2012, Brooks was drummer for A-list, comedy rockers Tenacious D. The D were booked to perform on

, and after the performance Jack Black made a humorous reference to Brooks as ‘Thunderskin’. Which stuck with him throughout the tour.

Remember Those Guys That Used To Stand At The Back Of The Stage During Korn Shows?

Remember when Korn used to have most of their band shrouded behind a curtain? Well could Brooks have been one of their mysterious percussionists? We don’t actually know for sure, but we are aware that he did contribute percussion to their second self-titled album of 2007. So, who knows!

Well… that’s pure speculation on our part again. But he did play drums and tour with Canadian,

album. Which we’re sure was really good fun…?

Not just confined to the drum stool, Brooks is at home in front on a microphone as well. He currently fronts the band Kidneys, alongside Tenacious D’s John Spiker and his own brother John Wackerman. They’ve released two albums so far, 2007’s

He’s Played With Just About Everyone

Pick a cool name from the world of rock and metal and Brooks has almost certainly shared a stage or a recording studio with them. From Mike Muir and the rest of Suicidal Tendencies, to Faith No More’s Billy Gould, to Munky from Korn’s Fear And The Nervous System side-project, to former Bleeding Through frontman Brandon Schieppati on the thrash supergroup The Innocent – Brooks is unlikely to be overawed by the challenge of drummer for Avenged. Good luck to you, Brooks!

As Ax7 help celebrate the release of Guitar Hero Live, we look back to issue #210 of Hammer as the band started to put their lives back together after the untimely death of The Rev

Holy Vision: Avenged Sevenfold Unleash Their Rock\'n\'roll Monster

A quick chat with the new Avenged Sevenfold sticksman

Avenged Sevenfold will be celebrating last year’s tenth anniversary of their brilliant ‘Waking The Fallen’ opus with a special release later this year.

Avenged Sevenfold Announce North American Tour

Avenged Sevenfold have announced a string of North American dates with support from HellYeah

Golden Gods Best International Band: Avenged Sevenfold

A7X step it up to headline Download festival for the first time

Seven reasons to be excited Cacophonous Records are back

Korn: The meds meant I had one foot in reality and one foot out

As Korn are announced for the Friday night at this year's Download Festival, we revisit the Metal Hammer Magazine Show interview with Jonathan Davis on the eve of The Paradigm Shift album

Blackie Lawless: bloodied, unbowed, and born again

The W.A.S.P frontman on rediscovering Christianity, why his band inspired fear, and that Chris Holmes interview

Ten bands in the form of gurning yellow idiots. Can you name them all?

The last days of Black Sabbath: only in the new issue of Metal Hammer

Everything you need to know about the new issue of Metal Hammer

Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.

If you haven\'t received your account activation email (and you’ve already checked it\'s not in your spam folder!) then we can send you another one, or if you have forgotten your password we can get it reset for you.

Resend Activation Email Forgotten Your Password