Five Finger Death Punch is without a doubt one of the most popular rock bands in the world today.
But it hasn’t been an easy road. The band has suffered plenty of obstacles to get to the top
and today we’re going to explore how this band became so big,
while also transversing so much adversity including in-fighting,
lineup changes, critics hating them and much more. Stay tuned for the full story.
Five Finger Death Punch of FFDP or 5FDP as it’s known, was founded sixteen years ago in
2005 by guitarist Zoltan Bathory and drummer Jeremy Spencer. The band’s name was inspired
by classical martial arts movies. The band would spend 2006 rounding out their lineup with original
bassist Matt Snell and vocalist Ivan Moody joining the group. The band also hired a second guitarist
with former WASP member Darrell Roberts also joining FFDP and they would cite Pantera,
Voivod,and W.A.S.P. as some of their influences. By the end of 2006,, the band had recorded
and self-produced their first album “the Way of the fist.”
It wasn’t too long after the band recorded their debut album that they signed a recording
contract with Firm Music. The band would release a statement following their signing
describing their music as and i quote “ metal... undiluted, raw as metal was always meant to be.
In fact, for FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH it was important that everyone involved at any stage
of this recording was a diehard metalhead." July 2007 was a busy month for the band.
They released an EP titled Pre-Emptive Strike exclusively in America through the itunes store
in addition to releasing their first single called the bleeding and their debut LP The Way of the
Fist by the end of the month. The way of the fist would enter the Billboard 200 charts at number 199
and it eventually peaking at no. 107. It was certified gold 4 years later and their first
three singles including The Bleeding, Never Enough and Stranger Than fiction all charted
on the US mainstream rock charts in the top 20. To support the album, the band got high profile
touring slot opening for Korn, All That Remains and Disturbed.
By the end of that tour the band would already have a lineup change with guitarist Darrell
Roberts being fired. He would soon be replaced by Jason hook. And according to Jeremy Spencer's Book
Death Punch'd, Roberts firing supposedly had to do with alcohol and in-fighting.
Spencer summarized that basically Roberts stopped being a functioning member of the band.
By 2009 the band would put out War is the answer followed by 2011’s American Capitalist. Both
albums would be certified platinum and only helped to boost the band’s profile.
And by late 2010 news leaked online that bassist Matt Snell was fired,
but the band wouldn’t confirm the news until April of the following year.
The members of FFDPwouldn’t state the reasons for his firing but Zoltan Bathory told Harddrive Radio
that contractual obligations stopped the band from discussing it any further before adding
that the bassist’s departure wouldn’t impact their sound as Matt wasn’t a writing member of
the band. Snell would be replaced by Chris Kael And as the band’s profile grew, success also
brought hardships for some members of the band. In 2012 frontman Ivan Moody admitted that his
substance abuse problems almost cost him his job revealing to Team Rock Radio "When I sang,
I was a totally functional alcoholic,"I could do my job. But then half of the tour for 'American
Capitalist', I couldn't even tell I had been onstage. I would literally wake up the next
day and say, 'Where the hell are we? What did we do last night?' And someone would go, 'Well,
we played a show in front of 20,000 people.' And I'd go, 'F**k, I wish I remembered." he'd say.
His substance abuse problems would hamper his time in the band for the foreseeable future.
During a 2016 during a concert in Massachusetts he cut the set short claiming his mother was
dying that night, despite the fact that she was in good health at the time.
A year later In 2017 during a june concert in the netherlands he announced he was leaving
the band. Following that show he would temporarily leave the band and enter rehab
and was replaced by Bad Wolves singer Tommy Vext for the remainder of the tour.
He wasn’t the only member struggling with substance abuse as bassist Chris Kael (Kale)
would reveal to radio station KLAQ that he was battling depression and wasself medicating with
drugs at he same time. He would also spend time in rehab to straighten out his life.
By 2013 the band would enter the studio to work on what would be their fourth studio album,
but the resulting sessions were so productive that the band had enough material for two albums.
The following year they dropped two albums a month apart The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous
Side of Hell Volume 1 and 2. They would both go platinum. One of the singles the band released
from Volume 1 was thetitle track whose music video shed light on the plight of homeless veterans.
This serves as a perfect segway to talk about why the band has connected so well with their fans,
specifically members of the US military and law enforcement. Zoltan Bathory was born in
Soviet controlled Hungary and has voiced his support for democracy. One doesn’t need to look
very far at the military themes in the band, the titles of their albums have some sort of
reference to the military or war with titles like A Decade of Destruction, Got Your Six,
War Is The Answer, the Way of the Fist, Pre-Emptive Strike. It’s obvious that the topic
of the military is close to their heart and their work. But they’re not the first metal band to
sing about soldiers or the military, but they’ve taken it one step further in how they connect with
their core fans. They work with military and law enforcement organizations as well as non-profits.
They’ve teamed up with the USO to perform for soldiers serving overseas and even helped Us
military veterans who are fighting poachers in east africa. They also hire veterans with Bathory
telling Loudwire Generally the band employs a lot of veterans anyway, in the past and in the future.
Every time you can help with something it’s great, so we had many drivers, those were veterans,
guitar techs — so it’s an ongoing thing and every time we can employ veterans we do” he'd say.
During an interview with Sterogum frontman Ivan Moody told the publication
a moment that really stuck with him saying “When we were over in Iraq playing our USO tour,
I had one soldier come up to me, and he laid a burnt iPod down on the table.
He didn’t ask me to sign it. He wanted me to keep it. I looked at him a bit funny at first.
He told me one of his closest friends went out on a mission and didn’t make it back. Let’s leave it
at that. When they found him and his things, his iPod was stuck on ‘The Bleeding.’ The last thing
he was listening to before he went was one of our songs. I literally teared up" he'd remember.
From 2015onwards the band continued to release albums including 2015’s Got Your Six,
2018’s And Justice For None and this year’s F8 (Fate). In late 2019 it was revealed that
guitarist Jason Hook was done with the band. He had to pull out of the band’s European
Tour due to emergency Gull bladder surgery and announced his departure shortly after. He would
release a statement regarding his departure saying “As far the reason I’m leaving… well,
there really isn’t just one. I’ve been in bands my entire life and I feel like I’ve
done all the good that I can here. It’s time to pass the baton and move on to new challenges.”
Also leaving around this time was Drummer Jeremy Spencer who would leave the group due to health
issues with his back. Both members would be eventually replaced. That does it for today's
video guys thanks for watching. Let me know in the comments section are you guys a fan of five
finger death punch. yes or no. And let me know which future topics you'd like to see me cover
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