FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH Changed Road Habits To Help IVAN MOODY Battle Addiction

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH guitarist Zoltan Bathory says that the band is doing its best to help frontman Ivan Moody battle "his demons" on tour.

The vocalist has been struggling with substance abuse and Bathory confirms the whole group has made behavioral changes to help their bandmate on the road to recovery.

Bathory tells Metal Hammer magazine: "You have to change the habits on the road — what happens, what's on the rider. You have to take off all the alcohol — even mouthwash. It's about trying to eliminate all of the triggers.

"He's been battling his demons, and when you're in a rock band, it can be really difficult to be on the road.

"If you have any kind of addiction or addictive personality, everybody wants to hang out and party. People are going to come up to you and say, 'Hey man, let me buy you a drink,' or 'Let's hang out.' For them, that's a big thing. They don't realize that to us, it was the same thing yesterday, and the day before that, and the past 300 days before that.

"But you don't want to be rude. It's just hard for people to understand that."

Bathory also talked about a possible direction for FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's next album, which will mark their final release for the Prospect Park label.

He said: "Since we have six records, I think now is the time when technically we could do any kind of album. This is the moment where we can sort of experiment.

"We have a couple of ideas floating around. One of them is to make a little bit of a retro record, just to have fun and do a thrash metal vibe, and then there are new ideas that are completely different, involving elements that we've never had before.

"Both directions are exciting, so we'll have to make a decision."

In May 2015, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH appeared on the verge of breaking up after Moody and drummer Jeremy Spencer got into an altercation on stage in Memphis. In August, a woman claiming to be Moody's wife reportedly filed for divorce citing an altercation in a Las Vegas hotel room. Earlier this year, the band was forced to cancel Australian tour dates after Moody was hospitalized for undisclosed reasons.

Prospect Park sued FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH in April, alleging that the group wanted to rush the recording of a new album without proper creative input from the label and in order to "cash in" before the anticipated "downfall" of Moody, who was revealed to be in rehab. As proof, the suit pointed to a series of texts from FFDP members and their representatives that read: "It's a matter of time before [Ivan] hits the wall, and once he does, it will be too late to sell," as well as a December text that read, "If Ivan does something stupid — dies [or] goes away to jail — when the catalog is a bust — then we won't be able to sell and we'll be trying to salvage what we can — IF we can... so it's imperative to make a move and sell."