Pinkly Smooth

The Rev
Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan in 2007
Background information
Birth name	James Owen Sullivan
Also known as	The Rev, Rathead, The Reverend Tholomew Plague, Fiction, The Knife Master
Born	(1981-02-09)February 9, 1981 Huntington Beach, California, U.S.
Died	December 28, 2009(2009-12-28) (aged 28) Huntington Beach, California, U.S.
Genres	Heavy metal, hard rock, metalcore, progressive metal, avant-garde metal, ska punk
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist
Instruments	Drums, vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, bass
Years active	1998 (1998)-2009 (2009)
Labels	Warner Bros., Good Life, Hopeless, Bucktan
Associated acts	Avenged Sevenfold, Pinkly Smooth, Brian Haner, Suburban Legends,

James Owen "Jimmy" Sullivan (February 9, 1981 – December 28, 2009), professionally known by his stage name The Rev (shortened version of The Reverend Tholomew Plague), was an American musician, composer and songwriter, best known as the drummer, composer, songwriter, backing vocalist and founding member for the American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. The Rev was widely regarded and critically acclaimed for his work on Avenged Sevenfold albums, and contributed entire songs composed by himself, such as "Chapter Four", "Afterlife", "A Little Piece of Heaven", and "Almost Easy". He was also the lead vocalist/pianist in Pinkly Smooth, a side project where he was known by the name Rathead, with fellow Avenged Sevenfold member, guitarist Synyster Gates (Brian Elwin Haner Jr.), and he was the drummer for Suburban Legends from 1998 to 1999.

Sullivan grew up and lived in Orange County, CA. He received his first pair of drum sticks at the age of five and own drum set at the age of ten. In high school, he started playing in bands. Before leaving to join Avenged Sevenfold as one of the band's founding members, Sullivan was the drummer for the third wave ska band Suburban Legends. At the age of twenty he recorded his first album with Avenged Sevenfold titled Sounding the Seventh Trumpet. His early influences included Frank Zappa and King Crimson. The Rev said in a Modern Drummer Magazine interview that "I was raised on that stuff as much as rock and metal."

Later in life he was influenced by drummers Vinnie Paul, Mike Portnoy (who would later be his fill-in with Avenged Sevenfold), Dave Lombardo, Joey Jordison, Lars Ulrich and Terry Bozzio. “It’s funny,” says the drummer, “of all my influences, Tommy Lee is a visual influence. I never thought I’d have one of those.”Sullivan had a signature ability called "the double-ride thing" or "The Double Octopus," as the Rev called it, "just for lack of a better definition." "The double-ride thing" is a technique that can be heard on tracks such as "Almost Easy," "Critical Acclaim," "Crossroads," and "Dancing Dead" in which Sullivan doubles up at a fast tempo between the double bass and ride cymbals.