FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's JEREMY SPENCER: 'We Are Not Proud' Of Memphis Onstage Meltdown

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH drummer Jeremy Spencer has denied that the band came close to breaking up after the group's abbreviated performance last month in Memphis.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH reportedly played six songs at the Beale Street Music Festival on May 1 before the rest of the band left the stage while frontman Ivan Moody stayed behind, rambling to fans.

Asked about the rumors that FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH was on the verge of splitting up following the incident, Spencer told Anna Dave Bertram of Sweden's Access: Rock at this weekend's Sweden Rock Festival (see video below): "No, that wasn't even close to happening. It was a bad night. I mean, we were getting ready to go on. There's thousands of people there, and we're trying to get these sound issues sorted out. It's frustrating, we start to bicker amongst ourselves, and [we were] just in a bad mood. Ivan took it a little harder than the rest of us, and he's not happy about what happened. But we're human, and we reacted, maybe, in a way we shouldn't have. We kind of had a little bit of a fight in front of everyone, and we didn't mean for that to happen. And hopefully we'll get to go back there and make it up to the fans that paid their hard-earned money and travelled all that way to see us. It's not like we're proud of what happened; we're not. It's a shame, and we hope to fix that and go there and make it better."

He continued: "We've been together ten years. That's a long time to be in a marriage together. So there's ups and downs, like in anyone else's relationship. But, unfortunately, it just happened in front of thousands of people — and on YouTube. But whatever…"

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH guitarist Jason Hook recently blamed alcohol and lingering resentment over Spencer's book for the Memphis incident, telling the "Three Sides Of The Coin" webcast that "what happened, in my estimation, was that for whatever reason Ivan decided to get shitfaced drunk — I'm probably not supposed to be talking about this — but he started to lose his temper onstage towards, basically, the rest of us, being the band. And, you know there's only so much of that we can handle... Jeremy decided that he had enough and he got up and left. Well, it's pretty hard to play a concert without the drummer."

Hook promised that, "That's the first time that's ever happened and that will be the last time that's ever happens because we've talked about it quite a bit and that's just unacceptable, and I think everyone understand that it's never to happen again."

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH guitarist Zoltan Bathory, meanwhile, told The Pulse Of Radio the incident was blown out of proportion online by fans who felt the group was in trouble. "In 10 years, how many shows we've played, I have no idea, but way over 1,000, probably 2,000 shows," he said. "We had one show when things weren't going our way, and from this band that's kind of a surprise... And the first time in history we had one of those and immediately it was like, people were like, 'Omigod, they're breaking up!' Dude, it's one show out of thousands and thousands... It's rock 'n' roll, you know? Shit happens. And we had one of those, and because this band is so well known about being an absolute machine on stage, immediately the rumor was, 'Omigod, I think they're breaking up!'"

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH began a European run on May 30 at the Rockavaria festival in Munich, and will kick off a North American tour with PAPA ROACH on September 4 in Lexington, Kentucky. The group's sixth album, "Got Your Six", comes out August 28.