Muen Magazine

August 25, 2010

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH

FIRM MUSIC/EMI

Zoltan Bathory (Guitar)

Myspace.com/ffdp

By: Shauna O’Donnell

HEY GUYS THIS IS SHAUNA O’DONNELL AND YOU ARE LISTENING TO MUEN TALK BROUGHT TO YOU BY MUEN MAGAZINE AND THE GAUNTLET.COM. TODAY WE HAVE ZOLTAN THE GUITARIST OF FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH ON THE PHONE.

MUEN: HI ZOLTAN, THANKS FOR BEING ON THE SHOW.

Hey, Hey, Hey Glad to be here.

MUEN: YOU JUST FINISHED UP THE MAYHEM TOUR. ARE YOU TAKING A BIT OF A BREAK AT HOME RIGHT NOW?

There is no break for the wicked, I’ll tell you that. We have been on the road for four years. The last show was the Mayhem Festival, one of the bigger festivals that we’ve done. We did Download, which had 90,000 people, but this was a festival that was a tour. It was people every night. It was like a traveling circus. It was pretty awesome and it pushed the band a little higher on the totem pole so to speak.

MUEN: YOUR SOPHOMORE ALBUM WAR IS THE ANSWER DEBUTED AT #7 ON THE BILLBOARD 200. HERE WE ARE ALMOST A YEAR LATER. YOU GUYS HAVE COME A LONG WAY IN A SHORT TIME. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE KEY TO YOUR SUCCESS?

I don’t think there is one single key, you have to cover a lot of territory. So many stars have to align for a band, but if I really wanted to analyze it I think it’s the work ethic. We work all the time. The whole idea of being a “rock star” is a thing of the past. Bands can’t go around with a demo, shop it and believe that someone is going to care. You really have to do the ground and grunt work yourself. This band has been doing that since day one. Even though we have a great label, it is pretty amazing that we have this much success with an indie label behind us. Technically we are the only band on that label. It’s just a handful of people, but good people helping us. It’s because of that we have to do a lot of the work ourselves including videos, merch and everything we can do. Things are getting done in the way we want because we are doing it. There is no other person trying to interpret what we do. When you cut a video, it will be the vision of the director and it may not be the vision that you have. Well we cut most of our own video so it is what we want. It is hard work. We like songs with melodies, we like songs that are in a traditional sense. Sometimes I listen to bands that are just a bunch of intricate riffs, which is great for a little bit, but I am a fan of songs. I am happy to say that the rest of my band feels the same way about it. When we write songs, we all have the same questions. Is this a song? Is this something that you’re going to remember? Is it something that will touch people lyric wise? Is it something that creates a feeling in you? Does it have a certain melancholy that will touch you and take you back in time to whatever happened to you. These are the elements, that’s how we write. I think that is a very important part to the fans. Anywhere we go we come out and try to shake as many hands as we can. We come out and we socialize and it’s not just because this is our job. I remember the fans we had from day one when we didn’t even have a record deal. These guys had tattoos on them of the band logo. We were laughing saying “Hey guys, what if we never get a deal? You will be tattooed for life.” If you forget about your fans, they will forget about you. I think those are the elements of making this band.

MUEN: I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU HOW IT FELT TO HAVE SOME MANY PEOPLE WALK UP WITH THAT TATTOO.

It started really early when we had a couple of songs on Myspace and we had this crazy fan base that was absolutely hardcore. We thought it was crazy. To tell you the truth, it was one of the factors why the record label started to come to us. The first record was done by ourselves, we produced it, paid for it and the whole nine yards. The labels were looking at our fans and saying “Holy shit! This band is #1 on the charts on Myspace and music charts.” When they looked at our page and saw that people had tattoos left and right, it was a factor. The label said “There is something here; these guys are connecting to the crowd.” That’s a big part of it.

MUEN: THE SINGLE “BAD COMPANY” IS DOING VERY WELL. WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO COVER THE SONG?

What really happened was on our first album cycle we became a headlining band pretty fast. On one hand it’s really great. We have one record and we are already capable of playing pretty big places, not that it’s unheard of, but kind of. We were really proud that it was happening so fast because of the fans. We were in the position that we had to play over an hour of material and we simply did not have it. We had one record that was 45-50 minutes, so even if we played every single song we would still be under what is required of a headlining band. That was the time that we decided we needed to play some covers. These were the choices, we either played some songs that we had written that were not on the record or we play covers. We figured the cover would be better because at least people will know it. Then came the struggle because we have five guys with different opinions. It would have been very obvious if we picked up some 80’s pop song, everybody does that. The better ones were kind of taken anyway, so when you want to do a cover, it can be very tricky. We had a couple of great songs musically, but when it came to the lyrics Ivan said “There is no way in the world I would sing this.” The lyrics did not fit his personality or the band. It was a miracle that we found “Bad Company.” Another one that we covered was “Out of Nowhere” from Faith No More. Most of my band members are big Faith No More fans so it was a no-brainer. “Bad Company” was a lucky strike that nobody had done. That song was a huge success; if you don’t do it right it’s a suicide. Not many people will touch something like that. We started to play it live, it had such a success and so many people asked about it that we decided to record it on the second record. There was a demand, people wanted to hear it. We did it and it became our biggest hit. If you don’t ruin it, it will work. I’m glad we got to the point where we could cover it keeping the tradition. We didn’t ruffle too many feathers, but at the same time we could give it our own sound. It kind of sounds like Death Punch with guitars that are heavier and singing that’s harder.  We were really happy to pull it off without doing something blasphemous to the original song. So far we haven’t got any hate mail from Paul Rodgers so I think we are good. My guitar tech used to work for him for years and he said “Look if Paul doesn’t like something, you will hear it. You will know he doesn’t like it. If he doesn’t say anything then you’re pretty good.” I’m sure he’s heard it because the song is kind of #1/#2 on the radio charts right now. It is bouncing back and forth. There is no way that you can’t hear it, it’s on the radio 24/7. We didn’t get hate mail or a bomb with a lit wick on it, so we’re good. He doesn’t hate us hopefully.

MUEN: YOU GUYS DID A GREAT TAKE ON IT. ARE YOU WORKING ON A NEW ALBUM?

We were going to take a break after Mayhem. That was the plan, we were going to go and do a third record. I think attention spans are not that great these days, life is busy and everyone is on the run. I don’t think bands can afford to sit there for two to three years between records. It doesn’t work these days. If people want to hear it, give it to them. If they don’t want to hear it you will know and you will just go away anyway. Right now there is a big demand for the record so we have been in limbo of like “Hey we have to do a third record soon because we have enough to write about and we are doing good. This will be the time to do something new.” At the same time, with Mayhem, we built this huge stage set. We went out of our way to really build a show. Everybody is talking about the show this time, it’s not just a band that you are going to see, that play a couple of songs and then says “Whoo Hoo! We are a heavy metal band.” It’s a little bit more, there is a stage show where things are moving, drum sets are elevating and there is a lot of stuff going on. We always wanted to do this anyway, to give more than a rock show. The band is getting invitations left and right. The final decision was to do another run. We were looking around either to do a headlining tour or team up with somebody. We ended up teaming up with Godsmack since they are coming out with a big tour anyway. I think it’s great because Godsmack is more of a hard rock band and we are kind of metal with a little bit of hard rock. Our audience overlaps, but at the same time there will be people that are not necessarily going to come out to a heavy metal show. We figure that we have a #1/#2 song right now and Godsmack just broke into the top 10 again with their new single. It is coming up fast and will probably be #1 in a couple of weeks as well. They added Drowning Pool which is another band with songs on the chart. There will be three bands on the tour with current hits. I think it will be a melodic kind of hard rock/metal sort of tour. It’s going to be a little different; it’s not going to be about the mosh pits. I think Godsmack is rolling out with some crazy stage set too. I can’t wait to put ours into an inside arena. At Mayhem we had all these tricks, but it was daylight and the sun was just setting when we were playing. If you add lights to what we have it will be even better and bigger looking. To tell you the truth, Godsmack’s drummer is one of my drummer’s favorite drummers. Shannon Larkin is a beast! There is a musical respect as well. Sully writes solid songs and Godsmack has a history. Even though we are different musically, I respect songwriters that write songs that will move people. He is one of those guys. It will be interesting; I’m looking forward to a friendly, good tour. Drowning Pool is a different story. We have played with them millions of times and we are very close with them. I think it is important for the bands to get along, it makes a difference.

MUEN: HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED HAVING A GUEST SPOT ON A RECORD?

Yeah, we are pretty tight with Korn as well. We have the same management and we’ve toured with them three or four times. If it wasn’t for them being completely busy all the time, there was going to be a song that we could maybe get Jonathan to sing on. The same thing happened with David Draiman from Disturbed. He is a very good friend of ours and he is somebody that came before us, but we are moving around in the same genre. He is one of those guys who gives me advice. He has a track record of writing great songs and having a really successful career. He is one of the guys we were thinking of having sing on something. They were in the middle of their recording so we couldn’t do it. Collaborating with other artists is always fun, we may be able to pull it off on the third record. It’s the same thing with mixing, when you mix a record there is an interesting thing when it comes to picking your sound engineers and mixers. Every single one will have a different interpretation of what you do. They kind of put a fingerprint on your record. The second album was mixed by Randy Staub who did Metallica and Motley Crue. He makes big sounding records, so we really wanted him. If I had a “bucket list” that would be one of them. These things are always like that. One of the other things on the “bucket list” is having a couple great guest singers on a record.

MUEN: THE SONG “HARD TO SEE” WILL BE FEATURED ON GUITAR HERO: WARRIORS OF ROCK.

Yes, it will be. I think my signature guitar will also be featured with it. You can see when you pick guitars on the screen. You will be able to pick my signature guitar, it’s pretty awesome. It’s another milestone. I was happy about Guitar Hero when it came out because young people are focused on a lot of these games more so than music. I thought it was great that these guys were bringing back great songs and also guitar players like Herman Li of Dragonforce. He is probably our generation’s Guitar Hero. I’m happy to say that he is a good friend of mine and I love the guy. He is an amazing shredder. People like that because of these games are getting a little bit of a spotlight. I think that is good for the future of music. The fifteen year olds now are starting to get influenced by these guys. I’m looking forward to music years from now when those kids will be in a band that will be successful.

MUEN: THERE IS ALSO A VIDEO FOR “BAD COMPANY” NOW AS WELL. IT IS LIVE FOOTAGE OF THE IRAQ TOUR.

There are a couple of things about that. First of all, I don’t care who thinks and what they think about the war. It’s your personal opinion. Once we are at war regardless of what reason, just or unjust, once we are at war it is your Godamn responsibility to protect your country, stand up for it and do whatever needs to be done. Most wars in the history of mankind were unjust. We were in a situation to support our troops and I was really proud to go over there. The whole band was proud to go over there. It was to some degree dangerous and there were some events that were really close calls. We were there in the days of election so there was a lot of shooting, but we signed up for it. To tell you the truth, there was nothing I would trade the experience for. I got to see things that people, no matter who you are, cannot see unless you are in the military. We went there and entertained these guys who are in the desert without much of anything for years some of them. They reacted more appreciative because they knew we didn’t have to be there. I could sit home on my ass and be comfortable, but I chose to be there. For me, it was like we were doing our part. I’m proud to be here and we have calluses on our hands from shaking hands. I must have shaken like 12,000 hands in a week at least. The video is experiences that we had, some were funny and some were crazy. In Baghdad we were playing and some helicopters came over the stage and started shooting flares into the night. We were like “Holy shit! This is happening right now.” Even funny things like you look out and see 3,000 soldiers going mental in front of your stage and all of them are armed. These guys have a rifle on their back or a pistol. I’m looking at the mosh pit and it’s going crazy and I was like “I hope everyone is safe and there are no grenades in the mosh pit.” It was absolutely crazy, but it was worth every minute. If we could, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Dangerous or not, I don’t care, it was an honor to do it. We are still keeping in touch with a lot of soldiers that we met there. When you are out in the boonies and you’re in danger, a different kind of friendship happens. There were personal body guards; we all had two guys of special detail loaded up with guns to protect us. When you know this guy will die for you and his job is to protect you, there is an interesting relation that develops with these people. Those friendships are forever. We had hundreds of hours of footage; we wanted to give something more, so we figured the “Bad Company” video would be appropriate to use the footage for. People can see what is going on there. We made it more of a documentary style, it is not necessarily flashy.

MUEN: YOU GUYS DID A GREAT JOB WITH IT. THIS OCTOBER YOU WILL BE PLAYING THE LOUD PARK FESTIVAL IN JAPAN.

It’s on the schedule; I don’t know that it’s going to happen or not yet. Usually when we book stuff like festivals it is way ahead of time. It’s a shaky kind of date, we will see if we can or cannot go. We are going to do this tour with Godsmack right now and I have no idea if it will interfere or not. You can’t just really go to Japan. We were talking to the military and there is a possibility of going to Japan, not just for a festival, there are a lot of military bases around so we would play all of those as well and that way it would make sense. It’s not on our schedule so people don’t really know, but we go out of our way to play military shows just to the troops. They aren’t on the schedule because there is no reason for it, but we do them a lot.

MUEN: SPEAKING OF SHOWS, RECENTLY YOU WERE ON JIMMY KIMMEL. I WAS SO PROUD OF YOU, IT CAME OUT SO GREAT!

That’s a real thing, I’ll tell you that. I mean we play shows and every time we play we are like “Yeah! Let’s get em!” We get all pumped up and the bigger the crowd the better. When it comes to the TV situation and you are removed from your element, there are things like certain words you can’t say on TV, so we have to think of all the songs we can’t do and what songs we have to alter. There are multiple cameras everywhere and we don’t have our regular crowd.  The crowd is part of the show, it’s an energy exchange. Heavy metal to us has always been a tribal thing because otherwise you can watch it on TV. Why would you come out and see a show if you were not part of it? It is really weird for us to be removed from our people that we have this tribal experience with and that we are all part of. It’s a different world. This was our first TV show, hopefully more will follow. We hit it off with those guys. Our whole stage set wouldn’t fit on there, but we brought as much as we could. They appreciated that, we didn’t just put on our jeans and our t-shirts and just go out there. It was a little bit more than that and it looked cool. It was a different feeling, I would have to get used to it when the crowd is removed. Jimmy Kimmel is doing something really good for rock and heavy metal.

MUEN: I DEFINITELY AGREE. THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE INTERVIEW AND AS ALWAYS I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK IN EVERYTHING YOU DO. BEFORE I LET YOU GO WAS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD OR SAY?

I would like to thank all of our friends and everybody that helped this band on our way up. No one will be forgotten. The only thing that saddens me is now that the fan base has gotten so big I cannot pay that much attention to all those individuals. I still know the names and faces of all the fans that were at the first show. I remember them by first name because I remember them from five years ago when we were just a band. Now that the band is bigger, I simply cannot answer 1,500 emails a day, but for everyone, no one is forgotten and we appreciate everything that the fans give us. We try to give as much attention as we can because we know that we got here because of them. I just want them to understand that.