synyster gates-biography

Vital Stats
Real Name: Brian Elwin Haner, Jr.
DOB: July 7th,1981

Place of birth: Long Beach, CA

Currently resides in: Huntington Beach,CA in Casa del Syn, right off the PCH

Education: High School, some college at MIT

Significant other:

MichelleName: Michelle DiBenedetto (girlfriend)
Occupation: Clothing designer for Syn's clothing line.
How they met: They've known each other since the eighth grade and got together due to two drunken hookups. Gates states he wants to take it slow.

Family: Gates was born to Brian Haner Sr. and Jan Gera. He has one full brother Brent. His parents got divorced and both got remarried. He has one half brother Johnny from his mom's second marriage and a half sister McKenna from his dad's second marriage to suzy haner (Gates' step mother). The Rev also lived with him for a short period of time. His father was a guest star on Jeff Dunham as Guitar Guy.

Tattoos/piercings and other notable features: He has a full sleeve of monsters tattooed on his right arm, performing a form of torture involving surgery on one particular monster (the only reason he cites is that "I like monsters"); another monster scene on his left arm; purple and green flames on both of his wrists; "Haner" tattooed across his back (he dislikes it due to its amateur quality and rough design, so he never takes his shirt off); he also has a VII tattooed behind his left ear (similar to The Rev's), the number one on his right thumb (his first tattoo), 'blue blood' over his left pectoral, "MARLBORO" tattooed on his knuckles, and a coffin tattooed on the inside of his left middle finger (which is a friendship tattoo between a7x and Good Charlotte). He also sports a nose ring, which until recently was a stud.

Trademark look: Black/Red/White Fedora Hat

Eye color: brown

Height: 5' 10''

Nickname(s): Syn, Brian, Bri, Synyster, Gates

Hobbies/outside interests: Drinking, smoking

Charities/causes: A7X auctioned off a bass guitar to help the victims of the California wildfires.


Biography
Synyster Gates was born Brian Elwin Haner, Jr. in Huntington Beach, California on July 7th, 1981. He was born to Brian Haner, Sr and Jan Gera, with whom they had one other child, Brent. They split when he was younger and his father remarried Suzy Haner, and had one child with her, McKenna, younger than Brian. His mother has a child from her second marriage, named Johnny. He's played guitar since he was young, when he picked up a guitar and started to try and learn Jimmy Page's solos, ignoring his father's warnings. His father is a studio musician, working for bands such as Frank Zappa.



Career Highlights

Background in music: His father is a studio musician, so he's been around music his entire life. He went to Music Institute of Technology, was accepted into the guitar program, but he dropped out when The Rev recruited him to play lead guitar in Avenged Sevenfold.

Instruments played: Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals, Piano, Organ, Keyboards

Preferred gear: Schecter Synyster Custom, Gibson-Les Paul Custom, Bogner amp, Jim Dunlop picks

First band/big break: His first band was with The Rev and two members of Ballistico and the former bassist of Avenged Sevenfold, Justin Sane (not to be confused with Anti-Flag's Justin Sane), called Pinkly Smooth, which he refers to as "Goblin metal with Danny Elfman influences," and they put out a six-song album called Unfortunate Snort before disbanding so the two members could focus on Avenged Sevenfold.

Other career highlights/lowlights: He won Metal Hammer's "Young Shredder of the Year" award in 2006, and "Guitarist of the Year" from Total Guitar in the same year of 2006.

How he/she joined the band: He was recruited by The Rev, after being swayed by the alluring creativity he felt Sounding the Seventh Trumpet had. the album was later rereleased with Syn playing "To End The Rapture (Heavy Metal Version)"

Musical influences: Dream Theater, Pantera, Guns N' Roses, Oingo Boingo, Django Reinhardt.

Best known for...His unique solos, fedora's, smirk and shredding guitar

Awards:

* 2006 "Guitarist of the Year" for Total Guitar magazine
* "Young Shredder of the Year" at the Metal Hammer awards in 2006.


Upcoming plans: When asked recently, Both Gates and The Rev, their new side project being planned featuring the 2 playing old Pinkly Smooth songs.


Side projects: He was in a band called Pinkly Smooth with fellow bandmate, a7x drummer, The Rev. Both him and The Rev later quit so they could focus on Avenged Sevenfold. The have also mentioned that he and The Rev were planning to work on yet another side project, which as of now is unnamed.



Official Sites
www.avengedsevenfold.com
www.myspace.com/avengedsevenfold
www.myspace.com/syngatesclohing
Contact his artist:

Trivia

* He featured in Good Charlotte's song "The River" along with bandmate M.Shadows.
* He's been sponsored by Schecter Guitar Research with Zacky Vengeance since 2004
* He often wears a black fedora hat, fingerless gloves, black nail polish, and a sleeveless shirt showing off his tattoo covered arms.
* He has a clothing line called Syn Gates Clothing.
* Owns so many hats that he actually has a Hat Box to store them all, and the Hat Box constantly steals The Rev's seat when the band is traveling.
* He's allergic to bees.


Quotes
band member:

* "We were just driving around drunk one night in Jimmy's car and I just shouted 'I am Synyster Gates and I am awesome!' I don't know why I said it, but now it's my name."
-Synyster Gates On How He Got His Name

About the band member:

* He got his name driving drunk through a park with The Rev.