AFI frontman claims label wanted them to collaborate with 50 Cent – and other terrible advice: “This motherf**ker says to me, ‘What if you were the first band to write a ringtone album?’”
Once upon a time it was the dream of bands everywhere to get signed to a label. It was often the first sign that you had ‘made it’. Now, the internet has enabled self-promotion, leading many to question whether they need a record label in 2026 like they would have done years ago.
In 2024, M. Shadows, frontman of one of the biggest metal bands in the world, Avenged Sevenfold, questioned the legitimacy of record labels and what they’re able to offer artists.
“You’re going to take 24 cents on our dollar and that’s all you can do, come up with a f**king fake viral TikTok moment?” he asked.
READ MORE: “I couldn’t play to the potential they needed”: How insecurity made Jim Root turn down joining Slipknot at first
Now, AFI frontman Davey Havok has shared some of the strange advice given to the band after they’d signed to Dreamworks in the mid-2000s.
“The writing of Decemberunderground was a miserable period,” he tells Metal Hammer in a new interview.
“We had signed to Dreamworks, but they sold it to Interscope… Out A&R guy was hellbent on trying to get [Interscope boss] Jimmy Iovine – who had expressly claimed in the press that rock is dead – to pay attention to AFI, and so it was suggested that we collab with Jimmy’s great love at the time, which was 50 Cent.”
He continues: “I have nothing against 50 Cent, but what does that even mean?!”
But Havok says the worst advice came around the time ringtones started becoming popular.
“Even worse than this was the era when ringtones were the new technology craze. I love this man and I still see him once a month at the least, but this motherfucker says to me, ‘What if you were to be the first band to write a ringtone album?’”
While certain tracks from 2006’s Decemberunderground were made available as ringtones, the band never made a full-on ringtone album – nor have they ever collaborated with 50 Cent, so it’s safe to say they stuck to their creative guns…
The post AFI frontman claims label wanted them to collaborate with 50 Cent – and other terrible advice: “This motherf**ker says to me, ‘What if you were the first band to write a ringtone album?’” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
