Ultimate-Guitar.com recently caught up with AVENGED SEVENFOLD vocalist M. Shadows. An excerpt from the interview is available below:

UG: Mike Portnoy (ex-DREAM THEATER) won the Drum Workshop Best Drummer Award, which was presented by Vinnie Paul. Are you still on good terms with Mike?

M. Shadows: "Yeah, we’re on good terms—it just got a little out of hand for a while there with us. And the way he runs his camp is a little different than we run ours. It couldn’t co-exist in that way and I’m really happy for him—I’m happy on a bunch of different levels. The Rev wrote those parts, Mike elaborated on them, and the record did really well. To me that’s a success all the way around. Mike helped us out in a time of need and he really stuck true to what Jimmy’s parts were, which we were really thankful for that. ‘Cause he could have come in there and been like, “No, I’m not playing that—why don’t we do this?” So he did exactly what Jimmy had written down and what we wanted him to do and kudos to him for doin’ that."

UG: Avenged won four Revolver awards—more than anybody else.

M.Shadows: "It was nice that we got to go in there and basically sweep those awards—it was really cool. And I’m sure Mike appreciates it as well. I didn’t get to talk to him afterwards but I know Zack did and they exchanged some nice words. So it was good to see that he won that award."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Portnoy filled in temporarily following the passing of Avenged Sevenfold drummer James "The Rev" Sullivan, who died on December 28th, 2009 from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and alcohol. He performed on the band's 2010 album, Nightmare, and toured with the band for the record.