{"id":14347,"date":"2013-08-02T00:00:20","date_gmt":"2013-08-02T00:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=14347"},"modified":"2013-09-16T23:16:52","modified_gmt":"2013-09-16T23:16:52","slug":"feature-five-finger-death-punch-08-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-five-finger-death-punch-08-13\/","title":{"rendered":"FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH – Lifting You Up (August 2013) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH – Lifting You Up<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nAugust 2013<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Five Finger Death Punch (l-r): Chris Kael, Zoltan Bathory, Ivan Moody, Jeremy
Spencer and Jason Hook<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Los Angeles, California-based metal outfit Five Finger Death Punch embarked on the Share The Welt tour across North America from mid-October 2011, the dates in question organised to promote the issue of third studio full-length American Capitalist<\/em>. The group penned and demoed several track ideas while on tour in support of that record, using a portable studio as well as a computer to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we then got off of the Trespass America tour in the summer of 2012, we had kind of a stockpile of stuff,\u201d recalls Jeremy Spencer, drummer for Five Finger Death Punch. \u201cWe went in, and started tracking right away. We\u2019ve always gotten done what we\u2019ve set out to accomplish, but this time I would say we were in more of a flow. Certainly more material materialised (laughs). I would say that we\u2019ve never really had a problem writing songs or coming up with songs for an album, or for a deadline, or anything like that, but this time there was a real flow. We got up to about 24-26 songs, and just decided \u2018Hey, you know what? This stuff is sitting really well together, and we\u2019re growing attached to them. We don\u2019t wanna stockpile them, so why don\u2019t we just release two albums?\u2019 That\u2019s what we ended up doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there will be some leftover tracks from these writing sessions as well, tracks that\u2019ll probably be used for maybe soundtracks, or video games, or something like that. There are certainly not many, but there are a few.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resultant material partially surfaced on July 2013 outing The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell, Volume 1<\/em>, the rest due to emerge on November counterpart Volume 2<\/em>. \u201cI would say Volume 1<\/em> is pretty well-rounded, even both volumes,\u201d the sticksman critiques. \u201cWe always want to take the listener on a journey \u2013 whether it\u2019s brutal, fast songs, or songs with a simple groove or a ballad. We want to not have ten songs that sound the same, because that gets boring for the fans and for us. I think it\u2019s a well-rounded record. There are some similarities there with American Capitalist<\/em>, but there\u2019s also some stuff that doesn\u2019t sound like Capitalist<\/em>. There\u2019s definitely a flavour that reminds me of some stuff that could\u2019ve been on Capitalist<\/em>, and there are also flavours that sound like they could\u2019ve been on War Is The Answer<\/em> (September 2009) or The Way Of The Fist<\/em> (July 2007). <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it probably touches on a little bit of all of them, but there are some different flavours as well. I wouldn\u2019t say that there\u2019s anything completely, drastically different, but yeah, there are some flavours that have not shown up on other records that I\u2019m looking forward to people hearing. I don\u2019t really wanna give too much away, mind. In this day and age where every track is previewed on iTunes and you give away the whole record, I wanna keep a little bit of mystique (laughs). I think we pretty much sound like what we sound like at this point, though. If you were a fan of the previous records then you\u2019re probably gonna dig it, but if you weren\u2019t then you probably won\u2019t (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

Frontman Ivan Moody mainly authors Five Finger Death Punch\u2019s lyrical musings. \u201cIvan just writes from the heart,\u201d Jeremy observes. \u201cHe writes about kind of whatever he\u2019s feeling at the time, whether he\u2019s going through a relationship thing, or whether he\u2019s angry about something. He\u2019s pretty much a no BS guy; he writes whatever he feels, and you get what you get with Ivan. I think that a lot of the time, they\u2019re very relatable topics that a lot of people can liken to situations that they can relate to \u2013 stuff that they\u2019ve gone through. I think that\u2019s maybe why they can relate to Ivan\u2019s lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Recording sessions occurred at The Hideout Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada with producer Kevin Churko. \u201cRecording with Kevin is a relationship that\u2019s very special to us,\u201d the rhythmist enthuses. \u201cWe\u2019re lucky to have a guy like Kevin. He helps us, and makes everyone feel really comfortable. He\u2019s really creative with what he does. He pushes you to give your best performance. He\u2019s exceptional with ProTools, and at producing records. It was a lot of fun, man. He\u2019s a drummer, so he and I especially bond, and can relate to one another. He helps push me with my takes. If I stumble upon something, he\u2019ll say \u2018Whatever that was, do more of that,\u2019 or \u2018Why don\u2019t you try something like this?\u2019 He\u2019ll pull out a rhythm, because he\u2019s a drummer and a talented drummer. It\u2019s really great that he can push me and say \u2018I like that,\u2019 or \u2018Try it like this.\u2019 It really just makes it a lot of fun, because you know that you can trust that guy. He knows what he\u2019s talking about. He\u2019s a real pleasure to work with. That\u2019s why we still work with him, because it\u2019s been great every time. We push each other to do better, and we all get on really good.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took us about eight months to track both records. We were in there, and worked really hard. It does get a little tiring at times. Certainly doing anything that long that\u2019s the same, you start to go a little crazy (laughs), but we\u2019re glad to have made it through it. I think they sound really good. We\u2019re excited to get back out now, share this music with the fans, and interact with some people again, because we\u2019ve been cocooned up in the studio for quite a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

A virtuoso performance doesn\u2019t happen to be Jeremy\u2019s favoured drumming style. \u201cI would say my drumming is for the song,\u201d he submits. \u201cI\u2019m usually not one to try to be some flashy drummer just for the sake of flash or overplaying, or trying to be cool, or trying to be wowed by the playing. I want to play for the song. If it requires some shredding then I\u2019m all down for that, but I always want to enhance the song and work around the vocal, and things like that. I\u2019ve always been a song guy first.\u201d<\/p>\n

The percussionist\u2019s influences are of the hard rock \/ metal ilk. \u201cCertainly growing up, Lars Ulrich from Metallica,\u201d he cites. \u201cI always thought he wrote great song parts \u2013 I thought his ideas were great. Dave Lombardo with the fast beats from Slayer<\/a> was a big influence on me as a kid. I also dug Tommy Aldridge, and Deen Castronovo. Different drummers from different genres, to name a few.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lars Ulrich\u2019s ability is routinely criticised in certain quarters. \u201cThere are always critics for everything,\u201d Jeremy offers. \u201cYou can\u2019t make everyone happy. He owes nothing to anyone. He\u2019s exceptional, and is in the biggest metal band of all time. I\u2019m sure he has a lot of critics, but I think he\u2019s awesome. He\u2019s been a huge influence on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lead cut \u2018Lift Me Up\u2019 includes a guest performance from Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford. \u201cThat was awesome,\u201d the drummer shares. \u201cWe\u2019re big fans of Rob Halford, and big fans of Judas Priest. The song had a singalong, kind of 80s chorus vibe going for it, anyway. It was like \u2018Man, it almost sounds like something that he would do. Why don\u2019t we see if we can get him?\u2019 Our management reached out to him, and sent him the song. He got back to us, flew in, and recorded the song in the evening. He put his part down really good. It was awesome, really fast. He was very professional. The guy\u2019s a metal god; he\u2019s the guy, the real deal. He was a very humble guy, a very nice guy. We got to go out and have dinner with him, and got to know him a little bit. We then thought we could take it one step further, and see if he would perform it with us at the Golden Gods Awards. He agreed to do it; he came to LA, and performed with us at the Golden Gods. It was just awesome, to watch this legend step up on the stage with us and belt out his heart. It was really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

In This Moment frontwoman Maria Brink appears on a rendition of \u2018Anywhere But Here\u2019, both ensembles having recorded material under the guidance of Kevin Churko. \u201cWe\u2019ve toured with In This Moment,\u201d Jeremy informs. \u201cWe\u2019re friends with Maria. We know her, and we know her talent. It\u2019s true in a way, more or less. Yes, and no. It was Kevin, but we also know Maria and we\u2019ve toured with her. It was a no-brainer to try to get her. She\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soulfly\u2019s Max Cavalera lends his voice to the composition \u2018I.M. Sin\u2019, meanwhile. \u201cI love it, man,\u201d the sticksman compliments. \u201cHe sings in Portuguese, and it was really cool. I\u2019m looking forward to people hearing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Five Finger Death Punch (l-r): Chris Kael, Zoltan Bathory, Ivan Moody, Jeremy
Spencer and Jason Hook<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

And as well, Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed notoriety supplies vocals to the number \u2018Dot Your Eyes\u2019. \u201cHe did a great job,\u201d Jeremy commends. \u201cWe\u2019re friends with Jamey; we\u2019ve toured with him, with Hatebreed. So yeah, there are a lot of cool things on this record \u2013 cool surprises as well. I guess they\u2019re not really surprises now now we\u2019re talking about them, but we look forward to the fans hearing this record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally written by rap artist LL Cool J, a cover version of \u2018Mama Said Knock You Out\u2019 (from the August 1990 album of the same name) additionally features. \u201cWe were fans of that years ago when that came out,\u201d the rhythmist remembers. \u201cIt seemed like it was appropriate for a band with a name like Five Finger Death Punch to record a song called \u2018Mama Said Knock You Out\u2019. We thought it could work for us. It turned out really cool, I think. We also had Tech N9ne \u2013 a rap artist \u2013 guest vocalising on that one, and he nailed his part. His rhythms are really cool, and his delivery. We\u2019re fans of him and his work.\u201d <\/p>\n

Of the tracks included on Volume 1<\/em>, \u2018You\u2019 is Jeremy\u2019s favourite. \u201c\u2018You\u2019 has this really cool kind of rhythmic vocal thing Ivan performs, so it stands out to me as being one of the stronger ones,\u201d he reckons. \u201cIt has an overall cool vibe to it, a cool groove, a cool middle section breakdown, heavy, good rhythms. We didn\u2019t really put a song on there that we didn\u2019t like (laughs), but if I had to pick a certain moment as a runner-up as well, then it would be \u2018Watch You Bleed\u2019. It has a lot of different dynamics, and guitar stuff that\u2019s unique. There\u2019s a brutal guitar riff. I really like the hook, and the overall vibe of that song too. I would pick that as being one of my favourite songs as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greg Capullo handled cover artwork duties. \u201cThat was hooked up through Zoltan,\u201d the percussionist divulges. \u201cHe\u2019s a big fan of his work, and has gotten to know him. He\u2019s an exceptional talent and has done great stuff, so we were really honoured to have him be a part of these albums. I think the covers turned out really cool. I\u2019m really happy with his artwork \u2013 it\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Volume 2<\/em> is slated for issue during November. \u201cI would say between 10-12 songs will be included, but we\u2019re not sure yet,\u201d Jeremy explains. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s anything drastically different than the first volume \u2013 I think it\u2019s a well-rounded record. There are gonna be some guest vocalists on there which I won\u2019t name yet, because we\u2019re not ready to talk about Volume 2<\/em>. There is a cover song on Volume 2<\/em> as well, but I\u2019m not quite ready to talk about that yet either. It\u2019s coming out in November though, and we\u2019re excited about that record.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell Volume 1<\/em> was released in Europe on July 29th, 2013, in Japan on the 31st, and on August 2nd in Australia, all via Eleven Seven Music. The album\u2019s North American release occurred on July 30th through Prospect Park.<\/p>\n

Interview published in August 2013.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH – Lifting You Up Anthony Morgan August 2013 Five Finger Death Punch (l-r): Chris Kael, Zoltan Bathory, Ivan Moody, Jeremy Spencer and Jason Hook Los Angeles, California-based metal outfit Five Finger Death Punch embarked on the Share The Welt tour across North America from mid-October 2011, the dates in question organised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,753],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-five-finger-death-punch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14347"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14467,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14347\/revisions\/14467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}