Awards not life-changing experience for Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold's video for "Bat Country" may have won the "Best New Artist" prize at last Thursday's (August 31st) MTV Video Music Awards, but singer M. Shadows told us that winning awards won't affect the group's plans for its next album: "We're gonna go and write, you know, the next best Avenged Sevenfold record we can. MTV awards isn't really -- it's cool, but it, you know, it's one of those things. You know, you can't let stuff like that go to your head 'cause I think it's all whatever's happening at the time. Look at bands like Disturbed and System Of A Down, bands that sell millions of records that MTV doesn't really want to take a liking to at this point, but they'll dominate everyday life and that's what we want to get to. We don't, MTV awards are...whatever."

Avenged Sevenfold will begin a three-week North American tour on Thursday (September 7th) in Anchorage, Alaska, finishing up in Quebec City, Canada on September 21st.

The band will do one more round of U.S. shows beginning in November, before hitting the studio in 2007 for its new album. Killswitch Engage and Bleeding Through will be the opening acts.

M. Shadows told MTV.com last week that the follow-up to 2005's City Of Evil will surprise fans. He hinted, "All I can say is, it's going to be a different sound for us -- something no one's heard before and no one expects."