FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's ZOLTAN BATHORY Clears Up 'Massive Misconception' About His Band

During an appearance on the 18th episode of "The Metallica Report", FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH guitarist and founder Zoltan Bathory explained that, despite misconceptions behind the band's accelerated rise to success, he and his bandmates come from extremely humble beginnings and a militant devotion to hard work. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's always been a massive misconception when it comes to the press, when it comes to the audience, because this band grew really quickly. We connected to the fans and our growth was exponential. And everybody thought that there must be some [people from the music] industry going, coming in here with suitcases of cash and they made us. And that's exactly the opposite of the truth. The first record was literally created in my bedroom. The whole record — every single guitar, bass — everything was recorded in a bedroom. I mean, it was a little desk and a computer and just minimal amount of equipment, and we did everything there. And then on the end, we went to a better studio to catch the drums and then the vocals, and then went back to the home and finished it there. So it's a homemade record. That record is almost platinum now. So you can do it — everybody can do it; the technology allows you to. And we signed to an independent label where we were the only band on the label. And it never really changed. We never had a major label deal. The band never had tour support. So basically what we did, we designed our own merch. Like, I designed most of the merch and we had our own merch guy on the road. And we were just selling our merch and the merch would support the band. And so all the way, like right now, I mean, obviously we are here. And it's been always like that. It was always an independent band."

As previously reported, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH will embark on a full European tour of headline dates as well as festival appearances next summer. The tour also coincides with the European portion of METALLICA's "M72" tour on which FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH continues to tour stadiums around the world as special guest.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH celebrated the 10th anniversary of "The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell, Volume 1 & Volume 2" by releasing a limited-edition vinyl 6LP box set, as well as a digital version of the box set, on December 1, 2023.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's latest album, 2022's "AfterLife", was once again recorded at the Hideout Recording Studio, the Las Vegas, Nevada facility owned and operated by Kevin Churko, the Canadian record producer/engineer and songwriter who has worked on all of FIVE FINGER's albums beginning with the band's sophomore release, 2009's "War Is The Answer".

"AfterLife" is FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's first album with its latest addition, renowned British virtuoso Andy James, who replaced Jason Hook in 2020. James was previously featured on "Broken World", a song that was included on the second installment of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's greatest-hits collection, "A Decade Of Destruction – Volume 2", which came out in the fall of 2020.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH played its first show as the support act for METALLICA on the "M72" tour on August 6 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH was originally supposed to support METALLICA on several European shows this past spring but ended up canceling the dates in order to allow singer Ivan Moody to fully recover from a hernia surgery.

Photo credit: Hristo Shindov