Five Finger Death Punch is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 2005, the group's name is derived from classic oriental martial arts cinema.[1] The band originally consisted of vocalist Ivan Moody, guitarist Zoltan Bathory, guitarist Caleb Bingham, bassist Matt Snell, and drummer Jeremy Spencer. Bingham was replaced by guitarist Darrell Roberts in 2006, who was then replaced by Jason Hook in 2009. Bassist Matt Snell departed the band in 2010.
Five Finger Death Punch achieved commercial success rapidly; their debut album, The Way of the Fist (2007) has sold over 500,000 copies in the United States.[2] Their second album, War Is the Answer (2009), debuted #7 on the Billboard 200, sold more than 44,000 copies in its first week of release, and has gone on to sell more than 500,000 copies in the United States.[2] The band have released six Top 10 singles; "The Bleeding," "Never Enough," "Hard to See," "Walk Away," "Bad Company" and "Far from Home".
The band has played many major tours and festivals, including playing on the Jägermeister Stage (second stage) at Mayhem Festival in 2008 and the main stage at Mayhem Festival in 2010. They made performances at Download Festival during both 2009 and 2010. The band has also supported Korn on their Family Values and Bitch We Have a Problem tours, Disturbed on their 2008 Indestructible tour and Godsmack on their 2010 The Oracle tour.
History
Formation and The Way of the Fist (2005–2009)
Main article: The Way of the Fist
Five Finger Death Punch was founded in 2005 by former U.P.O. bassist[3] Zoltan Bathory and drummer Jeremy Spencer. Bassist Matt Snell joined in early 2006. Later that year Bathory contacted vocalist Ivan Moody, sending him some of the material the band had recorded and asked him to audition for the vocalist position. Moody flew from his home in Denver, Colorado to Los Angeles and quickly began recording material with the band..[4]
By the end of 2006 their debut album, The Way of the Fist had been recorded, entirely produced by the band. The album was recorded with Stevo "Shotgun" Bruno and Mike Sarkisyan and was mixed by former Machine Head and Soulfly guitarist Logan Mader.[5] After searching for a second guitarist, they found Caleb Bingham who played some shows with the band, but was later replaced by Darrell Roberts.[6] Shortly after recording the album, they signed a record deal with Firm Music, a branch of "The Firm".[7] On July 10, 2007, they released an EP, Pre-Emptive Strike exclusively through the American iTunes Store.[8] The Way of the Fist was released on July 31, 2007, selling 5,800 copies in its first week and debuted at number 199 on the Billboard 200. The album's lead single, "The Bleeding", was released on July 13, 2007.[9]
From July 30 – September 2, 2007, the band went on their first major tour cycle as one of the supporting acts on Korn's Family Values Tour.[10] They were also a supporting act of the North American leg of Korn's Bitch We Have a Problem Tour from September 22 – October 27, 2007.[10] They were set to tour with Chimaira and All That Remains from January through March 2008, but due to vocalist Ivan Moody developing cysts on his vocal cords they were forced to pull out.[11] He made a full recovery and they began to tour again.[12] They supported Disturbed on their Indestructible US Tour from April through May 2008.[13]
The Way of the Fist was re-released on May 13, 2008,[14] with 3 bonus tracks.[14] One of the bonus tracks, "Never Enough" was released as the album's second single on July 15, 2008. Later that year they were a part of the 2008 Mayhem Festival playing the Jägermeister Stage. The third single from The Way of the Fist, "Stranger Than Fiction" was released on September 17, 2008. The Way of the Fist was released through Spinefarm Records in Canada on November 4, 2008,[15] and in Europe on January 19, 2009.[16] In January 2009 Darrell Roberts was asked to leave the band[17] and was replaced by guitarist Jason Hook.[18] They ended their support for their first album playing the main stage at the 2009 Download Festival.[19]
War Is the Answer (2009–2010)
Main article: War Is the Answer
War Is the Answer was announced as Five Finger Death Punch's second studio album in May 2009.[20] The album was produced by Kevin Churko, who had previously produced Ozzy Osbourne's Black Rain, and mixed by Randy Staub, who previously had worked with Metallica and Stone Sour.[21] The album debuted at number 7 on the Billboard 200, selling over 44,000 copies in its first week of release.[22] The first single from the album, "Hard to See" was released on July 21, 2009, and entered US rock radio's Top 10 after only a couple of weeks on the charts.[23] To promote War Is the Answer, Five Finger Death Punch embarked on "The Shock and Raw" US Tour. Main support on the tour was provided by Shadows Fall, with additional support coming from Otep and 2Cents. Upon completing the US run of the tour, Five Finger Death Punch then brought the Shock and Raw tour to Europe, finishing off with a run of dates in the UK. Main support for these dates was again Shadows Fall, and opening acts for the UK portion of the tour were Rise To Remain and Magnacult.[24]
The second single from War Is the Answer, "Walk Away", released on November 2, 2009. The album also spawned two UK-only singles, "Dying Breed", released on November 16, 2009,[25] and "No One Gets Left Behind", released on March 8, 2010.[26] During March 2010, Five Finger Death Punch traveled to Iraq and played 10 shows for the United States troops.[27] The band's cover of Bad Company's song "Bad Company" was released as the fifth single off of War Is the Answer on May 17, 2010. On their way to perform at Rock am Ring and Rock im Park Zoltan Bathory, Matt Snell and Jeremy Spencer were detained by German police for alleged international weapons violations. After recognizing the event as a misunderstanding, German police released the band members and they appeared at both Rock im Park on June 4, 2010 and Rock am Ring June 6, 2010 as scheduled.[28]
Five Finger Death Punch also played the Maurice Jones Main Stage at the 2010 Download Festival on June 12, 2010.[29] While playing the song "Dying Breed", their set was cut due to too many people crowd surfing up to the stage. They were allowed to play one final song, "The Bleeding".[30] They played the main stage at Mayhem Festival 2010 with Korn, Rob Zombie and Lamb of God from July 10th until August 14, 2010.[31] On August 17, 2010 they performed the songs "Bad Company" and "Hard to See" on the ABC show Jimmy Kimmel Live!.[32] On September 16, 2010, The band released "Far from Home" as the sixth single from War Is the Answer.[33] They supported Godsmack on their "The Oracle 2010" tour from October 3 – November 4, 2010.[34][35] The song, "Dying Breed" was featured on the soundtrack for Namco Bandai Games' remake of Splatterhouse, released on November 23, 2010.[36]
Third album (2010–present)
The band began to record their third studio album in November 2010.[37] The album has a tentative release date for August 2011 and will contain at least 14 tracks. The album will be produced by Kevin Churko, who also produced the band's previous album, War Is the Answer.[38] In April 2011 both of Five Finger Death Punch's albums were certified Gold by the RIAA, 2007's The Way of the Fist and 2009's War Is the Answer.[39] Five Finger Death Punch announced in April 2011, that bassist Matt Snell had departed from the band in December 2010.[40]
Members
- Zoltan Bathory – guitars (since 2005)
- Jason Hook – guitars, backing vocals (since 2009)
- Ivan Moody – vocals (since 2006)
- Jeremy Spencer – drums (since 2005)
- Former members
- Caleb Bingham – guitars (2006)
- Darrell Roberts – guitars, backing vocals (2006–2009)
- Matt Snell – bass, backing vocals (2006–2010)
Discography
For a more comprehensive list, see Five Finger Death Punch discography.
- Studio albums
- The Way of the Fist (2007)
- War Is the Answer (2009)
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