New FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH Guitarist ANDY JAMES Will 'Bring Something Cool' To Band's Upcoming Ninth Album

During an appearance on the latest episode of the "Scandalous" podcast, British musician Andy James, who joined FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH last year as the replacement for the band's longtime guitarist Jason Hook, spoke about the songwriting process for FIVE FINGER's upcoming ninth studio album.

"A lot of what's happening in the studio at the moment is hashing out ideas and stuff," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "I don't think I've heard anything yet that's fully done, finished or whatever. It's only been a few weeks anyway. We're just talking about direction — how it's gonna be, sound and all the rest of it. But, obviously, I'm coming into a process that's already established, so I'm only really kind of offering the odd opinion here and there when it's asked of me. So I'm kind of working my way up to being able to [say], 'Oh, yeah. What do you think of this?' or blah blah blah.

"It's gonna be a new process for the rest of the guys in the band, bringing in a new person," he continued. "'Cause, obviously, Jason was a big part of the writing for this band. There are a lot of similarities between me and him anyway. Ten years prior to even joining the band, I was a fan of DEATH PUNCH, so I'm well aware of his style and his playing, and I dare say some of that's even rubbed off. 'Cause in a lot of modern bands nowadays, there isn't really a huge amount of guitar solos being played. When you're listening to newer stuff that's a band, say like DEATH PUNCH that rose up relatively recently compared to a lot of other bands that might have already had that in the band, I suppose it's probably one of the only bands I would listen to that probably had guitar solos over some of the more modern stuff I listen to."

James added: "Coming into this process after doing eight records or whatever, I'm gonna be able to bring something cool, no doubt. I've kind of already thrown a few ideas here and there, and it's not been completely, 'No, that sucks,' or whatever. So, yeah. I don't know. We'll see how it goes."

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH recently entered the Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas, Nevada to begin recording its new album for a 2022 release. In addition, the band has commenced re-recording its debut LP, 2007's "The Way Of The Fist", for its 15th anniversary.

James made his recording debut with FIVE FINGER on the song "Broken World", which is featured on the second installment of the band's greatest-hits collection, "A Decade Of Destruction - Volume 2".

Each of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's first six albums — "The Way of the Fist", 2009's "War Is The Answer", 2011's "American Capitalist", 2013's "The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1" and "Volume 2", and 2015's "Got Your Six" — has gone either gold or platinum in the U.S.

The band has had two dozen songs hit the Top 10 on the Mainstream Rock or Hard Rock Digital charts, starting with "The Bleeding". FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's 2010 cover of BAD COMPANY's "Bad Company" was certified platinum for accumulating a million certified units.

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's No. 1 hits include "Coming Down", "Lift Me Up", "Battle Born", "Wash It All Away", "Sham Pain", "When The Seasons Change" and "Blue On Black".

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's most recent album, 2020's "F8", debuted at No. 1 on rock charts around the world, with Top 10 mainstream chart debuts in the U.S., Austria, Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and more. "F8" features No. 1 hit singles "Inside Out", "A Little Bit Off" and "Living The Dream".