In a genre so oversaturated with similar sounding metal bands trying to achieve success, how does one rise above another? Is it about being in the right place at the right time or is it about working hard, having the right package and being ready when the time comes? “If you’re not prepared when you’re in the right place at the right time, then you’re done,” says Five Finger Death Punch drummer Jeremy Spencer.
Five Finger Death Punch (the name comes from Kill Bill Vol. 2 when “The Bride” kills her mentor) have definitely seen their fair share of success since the release of their debut album The Way of the Fist in July of 2007. In fact, the album charted on the Billboard 200 in its first week, it was #199, but hey, they still made it. Moreover, the band made it to #3 on the Billboard New Artist / Heatseekers Chart. They recently logged a tour with Korn and Hellyeah, then began a headlining tour, but had to pull off because of vocalist Ivan Moody having vocals troubles. This summer, the nation can find 5FDP alongside bands like Disturbed, Slipknot, Dragonforce, Sevendust and 36 Crazyfists just to name a few.
5FDP, rounded out by Zoltan Bathory and Darrell Roberts on guitars and Matt Snell on bass, this five-piece metal outfit is just getting started. We had a chance to chat with drummer Jeremy Spencer via telephone while he was working on editing some drum tracks for new 5FDP material. “It’s going great,” Spencer said of the new material. “I’m reminded how much I really don’t like editing. It’s coming together really good, I’m really excited about the new songs,” he explains.
Popular Underground Magazine: You guys did a tour with Korn back in October. How did that go?
Jeremy Spencer: It was awesome. It was an arena tour. Some nights we would play for 10,000 kids and they would be singing the lyrics to our songs louder than we were playing and I was like, “Wow, the record has only been out for a couple of months and we’re getting this kind of reaction?” It was really exciting.
PUM: In an arena environment like that it’s got to be pretty awe inspiring.
Spencer: It’s totally cool. We have this big intro that starts our show and I’m the first guy out so I’d walk out on stage and hold my hand up and the crowd would go, “YEEEAAAHH!” It’s like, “You don’t even know who I am, but that’s awesome.”
PUM: Does the band have somewhat of a mission’s statement that you guys live by?
Spencer: We’re fans of old school metal. We grew up on old Metallica, Slayer and Pantera; bands that could write songs, bands that had the overall package. We want to deliver a great focused record that’s a lot of fun, with good song writing, good playing and we want to deliver a live show. The whole deal, the whole package, the logo, the fanbase, the fan club; we want to be the total package. I like a lot of the new material that’s out there, new bands that are out there, but it seems like it’s lacking somewhat in the songwriting. I don’t hear a lot of great metal songs. I do hear a lot of really good bands. I think our goal is to be as focused and do stuff that is true to ourselves and kind of bring back an older school approach.
PUM: One of the things I read in your Bio is that a lot of your music deals with anger and disgust. What are some of those things that you guys are talking about?
Spencer: Ivan pretty much writes his own lyrics. He’s lived a pretty full life up to this point so he has enough pain to draw from to make about five records. He pretty much comes up with that. He just hands it out in the song and it works out great because the music’s aggressive so it’s kind of a perfect combo.
PUM: The first record The Way of the Fist was released in July correct?
Spencer: It was released on July 31st.
PUM: Immediately within the first week it charted on Billboard at #3 on the New Artist Chart and was in the Top 200. What was your reaction to that?
Spencer: I’ve always read Billboard growing up and I always wanted to see where the bands were that I like. I just always kind of laugh. You know, “199 out of 200, at least we made it to the Chart. That’s kind of cool.”
PUM: Is that where you charted, 199?
Spencer: Yeah, it’s funny because we kind of thought people would buy it that first week because we had songs up on Myspace before we even got a deal. We had a lot of people interested. They were like, “Man, when can I get this?” We thought we may be on to something here and when we finally got a deal, it came out [and] I wasn’t really surprised, but I kind of was because I saw it in there and I was like, “Wow, we’re really officially in this.” We were expecting that there would be initial bursts of people that were going to just buy it. It was awesome.
PUM: When people hear your music, what do you hope they get from it?
Spencer: I just hope that they can find something to connect with, whether it be lyrically or a cool rhythm or something that just makes you feel good. We all work hard enough in our every day lives where we just want to put some music on and zone out and get your own little cool vibe.
PUM: You guys were recently on a headlining tour, but had to pull off because of Ivan having some vocal issues.
Spencer: We closed out the year headlining clubs on our own and it was really successful and a lot of fun. We had some cool bands open up for us on that tour. It did, after six months of touring, take a toll on Ivan, but he’s recuperating well and is about back to 100 percent. We’re excited to move forward in ’08.
PUM: That begs the question, how do you keep yourselves healthy and in check?
Spencer: It takes a toll on you when you’re on the road because you can’t really work out like you’d like to. When you’re off the road, you can go to the gym every day, eat better food and sleep in your bed. On tour, you start out of the gate really strong and you kind of just fizzle and deteriorate over the course of the months. By the end of that, we were all like, “Alright, it’s time to go home and die for a few weeks.”
PUM: Any tricks that you guys have picked up that will hopefully keep you going when on the road?
Spencer: Well, you can’t party every night. That’s for sure. I learned that the hard way. I came out like, “Let’s do it! This is a party in every city!” And your body is going, “Hey dude, are you checking the kind of music you’re playing? You cannot do that.” I learned as I went that you have to be smart about it and figure it out as you go. Certainly the party can’t happen every day otherwise it takes its toll on you.
PUM: That said, if you aren’t partying, what are you guys doing after a show?
Spencer: Well, I usually go shake hands with the fans, talk to people, sign stuff, then I’ll just go back to the bus and park myself away and get on the computer and chill.
PUM: Coming up this summer you will embark on the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival.
Spencer: Yeah, with Slipknot, Disturbed, Dragonforce, Mudvayne’s on it, Sevendust; great bands, we’re really excited. It starts July 9th and it goes until the end of August.
PUM: It sounds amazing, what are you hoping to get out of that?
Spencer: We just kind of started touching the surface as far as introducing the band to people with the six months we did last year. So we just want to keep working our record, The Way of the Fist and get it out there to as many people as possible, turn people on to the live show and more awareness for the band. We’re excited to tour with great bands, they’ve been around forever, their resume speaks for itself and we’re glad to be a part of it.
PUM: You had worked with a couple different producers on The Way of the Fist including Stevo “Shotgun” Bruno (Motley Crue, Prong), Mark Sarkysian (Spineshank) and Logan Mader (Machine Head, Soulfly), how was working with those guys?
Spencer: It was great, those guys are cool, they’re friends of ours and it was really easy. They knew how to achieve what we wanted so it was pretty painless. Logan Mader; great mixer. He mixed and mastered the record. He was in Soulfly as the guitar player so he was definitely schooled in metal, he knew how to get the sound that we wanted.
PUM: How did you guys get hooked up with that group?
Spencer: Zoltan seems to know everyone on the planet and so through mutual friends we started talking and it worked out. It was cool. Zoltan and I had known Stevo for a while before that.
PUM: You had mentioned that Five Finger Death Punch will be touring on the current record and obviously you’ll be on the road all summer, but is there anything else on the horizon for the band?
Spencer: We’re not planning on doing a whole new record yet. We are doing some new material now, I mean we need songs for soundtracks and miscellaneous things so who knows when we’ll actually get together and focus on record two. We’re really working Fist hard now and we’re going to run the cycle with it and see where we are and think about making another one.
PUM: You had previously mentioned that you had put music out on Myspace prior to the release of The Way of the Fist. How important do you think venues like Myspace are for a band these days?
Spencer: It’s an enormous opportunity. It’s great. It’s also kind of a catch 22 because if you’re not ready and you put stuff up premature, you might blow your one shot. What we did was; we mixed and mastered the record and then put songs up so it was our record already. We only had three or four songs, but it sounded like what the record is. That caught the attention of The Firm who believed in it enough to sign it and put it out there. It speaks for itself. It’s a great opportunity for bands, but like I said, if you do it prematurely, you might shoot yourself in the foot if it’s not quality.
PUM: What keeps you guys busy when you’re not on stage or not working on the band?
Spencer: I like trying to go to the gym and practice my drums. I like practicing, which I can’t do on tour. So I like to get back in a room by myself and play drums. I like to watch football, I’m a huge fan of football although it’s over now. Basketball is here, I’m a big sports fan. Zoltan is into Ultimate Fighting. Constantly, people are always writing. We’re always busy, but we are people and we like to chill and have time for ourselves.
PUM: What was your opinion on the Super Bowl this year?
Spencer: I actually really liked it. I heard some complaints that it was a boring game until the fourth quarter. I didn’t think so. I thought it was an awesome game. I thought the Giants executed great. I was thrilled to see it happen.
PUM: So any plans for a DVD or anything?
Spencer: Well, we have a lot of footage that we’ve stockpiled from the tours. We’re putting together a DVD. Who knows if and when it will come out, but our goal is to definitely do that at some point. We have lots of footage we’ve been going through. It looks great. We are going to make another video for the song, “The Way of the Fist,” and not for sure when that will be or if it will be on The Headbangers Ball, but they did play “The Bleeding” video.
PUM: Is there anything else that you would like to add that we didn’t touch on?
Spencer: Keep calling the radio stations, requesting “The Bleeding,” thanks for buying The Way of the Fist and we’ll see you out on tour in ’08. We’ll be out there pretty much all year. We love meeting new people and seeing new friends.
By: Adam K. Zakroczymski III - Senior Editor / Founder
