Pickleball isn’t synonymous with heavy metal, but it’s safe to say that Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows brings the two worlds together perfectly.

The 44-year-old lead vocalist is another notable member of the music industry with a genuine passion for America’s fastest-growing sport.

“I like to fancy myself quite the pickleball player. I play lots of pickleball. I started playing it on tour, and I’ve been teaching other bands how to play,” said Shadows, during an August 2024 interview ahead of Rocklahoma. “There’s a little group of artists that are starting to pick it up, so that’s been cool.”

Shadows’ introduction to pickleball involves a rather familiar tale.

He initially underestimated the skill, smarts, and stamina involved to enjoy success.

“I met a bunch of old guys that were talking smack,” he recalled, during a September 2024 conversation on Iron Never Lies hosted by Bleeding Through frontman Brandan Schieppati. “I’m like, ‘Oh, I’ll kill you guys.’ The next day, we get up, we start dinking the ball, and I’m just running around like a mad man, and they’re not running anywhere.” 

It seems like Shadows learned the basics the hard way.

Everything worked out for the best, though, because his pickleball fandom just kept growing from there.

“I enjoy pickleball because my wife plays it, friends can play it, and my kids can play it. We can all go there and just have a good time,” Shadows told Schieppati. “When we go to play pickleball, my kids are screaming at each other, yelling, cussing. It's embarrassing. They’re competitive.”

Shadows certainly isn’t lacking in the confidence department with a paddle in hand.

He already considers himself the top player in the band, and insists others can vouch for his talent.

“All you’ve got to do is ask [Falling In Reverse lead singer] Ronnie Radke who the best pickleball player he’s ever played against is,” Shadows mentioned to Schieppati. “I got him into pickleball on tour. I showed him how to play once because there was a pickleball thing set up outside of Atlanta, and I’m sitting outside my bus, and I see them out there and they don’t know what to do, so I walk out there and I’m like, ‘Guys, this is how you play.’ I show them the kitchen, I show them how to play, so we play and we’re having a great time. The next day, he had his guy go out and buy pickleball nets and all sorts of stuff, so every day, in the arena, they would tape out pickleball courts and we would play pickleball for probably four to five hours before every show.”

Just how serious are these artists about their pickleball?

This should put things into context.

“There’s even a show when the kids had to be walked through, the line had to come through, and we wouldn’t stop,” Shadows revealed to Schieppati. “The whole line’s out there watching us, yelling, screaming. It was great.”

So if you still think that you’re going to dominate your opponents the very first time you hit the court, remember Shadows’ rookie experience above.

Pickleball is easy to learn, but hard to master, so take the time to perfect the basics.

“There’s so many bad players in pickleball because they just don’t understand it,” Shadows shared with Schieppati. “Most people are just trying to figure it out.”

And when they finally do, it’ll be a game they can appreciate forever.

Just ask Shadows.