Zacky Vengeance

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Zacky Vengeance
Zacky Vengeance of Avenged Sevenfold - Live in Concert
Background information
Birth name	Zachary James Baker
Also known as	Zacky Vengeance
Born	December 11, 1981 (1981-12-11) (age 28) Huntington Beach, California
Genres	Hard rock, heavy metal, metalcore, punk rock, hardcore punk
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist
Instruments	guitar, piano
Years active	1999-Present
Labels	Warner Bros. Records, Hopeless Records, Good Life Recordings
Associated acts	Avenged Sevenfold, The Dear & Departed, Mad Porno Action
Notable instruments
Schecter Vengeance Custom Model ZV Blade

Zachary James Baker, (born December 11, 1981) better known by his stage name Zacky Vengeance, is the rhythm guitarist and harmony vocalist for the American hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold.

Biography

In high school, Zachary attended Huntington Beach High School. Baker came up with his stage name "Zacky Vengeance" because he wanted to get back at all the people whom doubted his success and did not support him. He also came up with Johnny's stage name "Johnny Christ" because he said it was suiting for him. . In the Avenged Sevenfold DVD All Excess he recalls that before Avenged Sevenfold, he was in a punk band called MPA*, which stands for Mad Porno Action. He implies that they were not successful. He and M. Shadows (who at the time was singer for a band named Successful Failure) formed Avenged Sevenfold. He taught himself how to play the guitar when he was thirteen. Zacky was also responsible for the creation of the acronym "A7X".^[1]

Despite being left-handed, he recalls in an interview with Guitar Edge Magazine that the first guitar he learned on was actually a right-handed his parents had bought him for his thirteenth birthday. He learned by playing upside-down, watching his favorite bands and other people he knew who played and practiced as much as he could. He would also read each edition of Guitar World cover to cover, learning the tabs of the songs published in there and watching the professionals perform it until he got it right. His influences in his style are Rancid, Misfits and Bad Religion. Zacky's favorite bands also include Metallica, Misfits and Guns N Roses.

In high school he played baseball. He claims that if not for his music career, he would be a professional baseball player.

In 2003, Avenged Sevenfold came out with Waking the Fallen, which boosted A7X fan levels up. Avenged Sevenfold hit the jackpot in 2005 when their Gold selling album, City of Evil came out featuring songs such as, Beast and the Harlot, Bat Country, and Seize the Day.

In 2007, Avenged Sevenfold self-produced their Self Titled Album (Avenged Sevenfold). Featuring songs such as, Critical Acclaim, Scream, Afterlife, Almost Easy and A Little Piece of Heaven.

2008- Zacky and Avenged Sevenfold have announced that they will be back in the studio by July 2009. Zacky quotes, "After touring the world for pretty much two years straight, the stars aligned and have us finishing up in Southern California and Las Vegas. If I could offer one piece of inside info it would be that these shows are the ones to see. We will be celebrating a very successful run and 10 years of madness that all started in the great state of California (though our friends in Las Vegas know how to throw a party so we can’t leave them out either). We are f*cking excited to be home and leave everything we have on the table before we get to work on a new kick-ass album. So I am personally inviting you to come out alongside our closest friends and family and leave the ear plugs at home as we throw down for these end-of-tour shows. Don’t be the one left out."

Personal life

Zacky released a clothing line called [1] "Vengeance University". The website's background features Zacky's symbol, the "V-Blade". The line currently features t-shirts, hoodies, bandanas, and necklaces. Many, if not all of the shirts in the line include his trademark "Est. 6661" or "V.U.". While Zack was on tour the site was updated weekly with photos of travels and a "Gangster of the Week".

He has a sister named Zina Baker, who is now named Zina Pacheco. She has two kids Gianna and Gavin, Zacky's only niece and nephew. He has a brother named Matt Baker, who was with the band Dear & Departed. His parents are James and Maria. Zacky and his mom share the same birthday.

He is dating Gena Paulhus.

Equipment

Guitars

Zacky uses Schecter Guitars, and endorses the company.

• The Vengeance custom S-1
• The Vengeance Standard model
• The ZV special designed by Zacky Vengeance
• The ZV Blade
• The ZV special with FR (as seen behind the scenes in the Live in the LBC DVD)
• "Gynecologist"(blood splatter)
• Zacky has many custom shop S-1 models made exclusively for him.
• All models are loaded with Seymour Duncan JB Pickups

Amps

• Marshall JVM205 Head
• Marshall 1960B 4x12 Straight Cabinet

Effects units and accessories

• Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
• Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor
• Line 6 PODxt Pro
• Voodoo Lab GCX Audio Switcher
• Radial JDX
• Ernie Ball "Skinny Top, Heavy Bottom 10-52" strings^[2]
• Dunlop Tortex Yellow plectrums 0.73mm (Avenged Sevenfold logo)
• White Get'm Get'm Sergeant Stripes Strap

References

1. ^ All Excess, Avenged Sevenfold DVD (2007)
2. ^ Equipment list

^{[citation needed]}