FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's CHRIS KAEL: 'Against PHIL LABONTE From ALL THAT REMAINS's Advice, I Actually Go To Therapy'

During the latest episode of the "Beardo & Weirdo" podcast, hosted by FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH bassist Chris Kael and comedian Craig Gass, Kael addressed ALL THAT REMAINS frontman Phil Labonte's recent claim that "therapy is for women" and that "men don't solve their problems by talking." Noting that he is not currently involved in a romantic relationship for the first time in a long time, Kael said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Against Phil Labonte from ALL THAT REMAINS's advice, I actually go to therapy." After Gass described Phil's comment as "one of the dumbest fucking things I've ever heard in my life," Chris clarified: "I understand what he's saying, though. There's some truth in there… He basically said that men don't need therapy. We need to take action. We get our good feelings in life from doing. Which is true, but he's telling this in an interview. The interview — you're talking about feelings and whatnot. You're doing therapy in that interview. You're not going to a therapist."

Chris continued: "So, it has definitely helped me out, with therapy, going in... It's almost like a meditative thing for me. I'm taking a pause from everything else going on in the world. I'm focusing on me, making plans for the future, talking about things that upset me. And not for nothing, I'm clearly still very angry. So, channel that stuff into music. And even it gives me song ideas a couple times, really opening up and being vulnerable about stuff, and, like, 'Oh, there's a song idea.'"

Kael also elaborated on his belief that listening to heavy or extreme music can process frustration safely rather than increase hostility.

"It's a simmering rage in there all the time," Chris explained about his state of mind. "I don't know where it comes from. But we were talking to Frank Bello [of ANTHRAX on this podcast] just the other day, and he was talking about this music being an outlet for that sort of stuff. God bless music for you all for keeping me sane. [Laughs]"

Labonte made his original controversial comments in June 2026 while speaking to Bill Bailey of Today's Boondoggle Podcast about Phil's 2024 op-ed, "The Silent Crisis: Why Society Is Failing Men And Boys", in which the singer highlighted rising male disengagement from education, work, and community, alongside increasing rates of depression, addiction, and suicide.

Labonte told Bailey: "Look, for the better part of the past three decades, men have been told that they are the problem. You saw it in the '90s when every single sitcom had the doofy husband, and the woman was the smart one, and thank God for her because without her, that poor schlub would just run his life into the ground. And that was the standard kind of thing. And it's been like that. And that's not the way that reality is. Raising a family is a team effort. Mothers are super important, but fathers are super important too. And you see a lot of kids that are being raised by single mothers. You've got divorces at all-time highs. Generally, it's initiated by the female. Young men are not going to college. They're not graduating college. They're checking out of society. They're deciding that it's not worth it to try and find a girlfriend. Most kids nowadays — I don't know the numbers — but most kids have not gone on a date. There's not nearly as many young men and young women getting together that are dating. Gen Z is the least sexually active generation in a long time. You see abortion is at an all-time high. All of these things are directly downstream from feminism and the massive influence that the left and feminist ideas have on society."

Phil continued: "The idea that a woman can be the boss babe and a mother at the same time is a total lie. You cannot do both. You can do one or the other. Women are deciding that they want to go to school and have a career, and then when they hit their 30s, they're scrambling to try and find a man, but men have checked out or they've already found — or they're going for younger girls that are looking for families and stuff. Male suicide is at an all-time high. Men are, like I said, they're checking out of society. They're deciding to anesthetize themselves with video games and pot. All these things are absolutely terrible for a society. And so the op-ed was kind of to outline this stuff, and now there's a bill that's in the House — it's in committee, I think — and it's to start the White House council on fathers and sons. It's based on the framework that was created during the Obama administration, which was the White House council on women and girls, and then it was changed during the Biden administration, I believe. I forget what the Biden administration called it, but it was something very gender neutral. And so there is a framework there. So hopefully we can, we can get this passed and have the White House actually talk about this because this is a crisis that is a big deal for society."

Labonte added: "Suicide among men my age — 50 and above — the rates are up. Men have to have meaning. Men need something to do. The idea that men can go to therapy and that's gonna solve their problems is ridiculous. Therapy is for women. Men don't solve their problems by talking. Men solve their problems through action. So men should be doing things with other men, like building things, going out and fixing cars, whatever it is. But those kind of activities are what will help a man feel accomplished, help a man feel like he's got purpose. Just going and talking to a therapist, that's not what fixes men. That's not what fixes men at all. Men need goals that are achievable, and they need to make progress to those goals. That kind of stuff is what will help a man feel empowered, feel good about himself. That's the kind of stuff that men need. And the idea that all of society is telling men, 'Oh, you should be more like women,' or, 'You should go to therapy,' none of these things help men. And the evidence is in the statistics. The evidence is in the suicide rate. It's in the depression rate. It's in the fact that men are checking out from society. These ideas don't work for men because men and women are not the same. And this is not in any way an attack on women, but men and women need to be treated as if they are men and women. They're two different, different psychologies. And that's not to say that there aren't men with more feminine characteristics or women with more masculine characteristics, but broadly, men are different than women, and they need different things to make them feel emotionally fulfilled and psychologically acceptable."

Days after Labonte's original comments were published, former CRADLE OF FILTH keyboardist Lindsay Schoolcraft, whose new solo album, "Harrowing", details her struggles with mental health and surviving narcissistic abuse, was asked by BLABBERMOUTH.NET for her opinion on what Phil said. She responded: "He's not a healthcare professional, he's not a psychologist, he's not a therapist."

She continued: "This is my opinion and I'm not a professional either — I have a lot of male friends in therapy and it's done them a world of wonder and has transformed their lives because you can do healing work and then you can do growing work, and there's life coaching. You can come out on the other side. You don't have to struggle.

"Discouraging people from going to therapy, especially men — that's an extremely toxic, masculine view that is ultimately an opinion from the patriarchy that has done a lot of damage to society and is the reason why it's crumbling right now," Lindsay noted. "I don't know… I think he probably does need to go to therapy and is a scared little boy who cares too much about the scared little boy inside, his inner child and is scared of what his macho homies are going to think of him."

She continued: "There should be no shame in getting help. If your brain is broken, you need a doctor. If you broke a bone, you're not going to leave the bone broken; you're going to get help. You're not going to get a Band-Aid. You're going to get it reset and cast and x-rayed. That's what therapy is. It's healing the brain. But I don't think that's a very good message, especially for young men who could be struggling."

On June 22, Labonte shared a video on his X account in which he responded to Schoolcraft's remarks. He said: "Last week I was on a podcast, and it got to the topic of mental health and stuff. And I said that therapy is for women. Now, studies have shown that therapy does actually work better for women, that men have a lower success rate, for a variety of different reasons. And that really upset people — like, this true thing that I said really upset people. There were a lot of people that were coming to my X page and really worked up, and there were a lot of people that even went to the band's Instagram page. And most of the time they were saying basically straw man arguments, saying that, 'Oh, you don't think that men should talk about their problems. You don't think that men should do this,' and da, da, da. I didn't say that. I said that therapy is for women. But there was another thing that happened a lot, and it was a lot of people were doing ad hominems, like this particular lady here, Lindsay. I don't know her at all. But there was a lot of people that said, 'Oh, he needs therapy.' They were ad hominem saying, 'You're a little boy,' blah, blah, blah. 'You shouldn't be saying these things,' and, 'You're just a scared little boy, and you should go to therapy.' And I'm, like, 'Why are you saying that I should go to therapy?' I've already told you, therapy's for women."

Labonte, who has described himself as "a right winger", is the founder and lead singer of ALL THAT REMAINS, a platinum-selling rock band with multiple Billboard-charting releases. He is also a contributor to "Timcast IRL", a popular podcast hosted by renowned American YouTuber Tim Pool, and an advocate for issues affecting men and boys.