In July 2015, the band announced on their website that they would part ways with drummer Arin Ilejay, due to “creative differences”. Ilejay has stated that he was not expecting his firing. He recalled: “I was totally shocked and scared out of my mind when Synyster Gates called to let me go. I was like, ‘Oh my God – my wife is about to have a baby. How am I going to support my family now?” M. Shadows recounted the band’s side of the situation to Ultimate Guitar , saying: “Arin got more and more distanced as time went on. It’s kind of like everyone goes through their honeymoon period and it’s all great, but then you start realizing that we’re four guys that have a way we do things and then there’s someone else that just doesn’t really fit into that at all. And as nice of a guy as he is, there were just a bunch of things that didn’t represent us at all, and you can’t have that, especially when we’ve worked for so long and so hard at what we do. And the last thing we care about is our public perception of what we should do with our lives.”
parted ways with Arin Ilejay
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