ZOLTAN BATHORY Says FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH 'Always Operated On A Shoestring Budget'

Pablo of the Minneapolis, Minnesota radio station 93X conducted an interview with FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH guitarist Zoltan Bathory at this year's Rock Fest, which was held July 14-16 in Cadott, Wisconsin. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's new record deal with Rise Records following the completion of its contract with Prospect Park:

Zoltan: "It's kind of a thing [where] people can read between the lines; I don't really have to throw grenades into the whole thing. This [upcoming album] is our last record with the label that we've been with. We've accomplished a lot of great things together — there's no doubt about it — and there's a next chapter in our lives, and this is what it is. And hopefully it doesn't become an ugly ex-wife, you know what I mean? That's kind of the idea. I wanna remember this like, you know, us and this label… We are the only band on the label, so I look at it like it's us and this label together did something great, as in we're an indie band, it's an indie label. [We're] the only band — as I said — on the label. And we didn't have the… You know, like people imagine. It's, like, 'Yeah, it's a major-label band, it's an industry machine, and all there is is millions of dollars budget.' It's all bullshit. None of that ever happened. This is a truly independent band. We recorded our first album on our own, and this label put it out. And pretty much we always operated on a shoestring budget, but smart. You know, 'work smart, not hard' — that's kind of [our] motto. So we did really great stuff [together], and now we will accomplish our last album [for Prospect Park]. The idea is always that our career [will] keep moving, and this record just has to be great. If we can finish it tomorrow, then it's finished tomorrow. If it takes another year to finish it, then that's what it takes."

On how FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH manages to be creative and make new music while touring almost constantly:

Zoltan: "Everybody in the world today has kind of A.D.D Between your mobile devices, information is coming at your at a hundred miles an hour at any given moment, no matter where you are. So I think we're used to that; we're always in motion. And we've always been working anyway; the band is sort of… everybody is a workaholic. This is what we do. In fact, I can't really go on vacation and shut down my phone. I can't do that. You know what I mean?! And that's just what it is. We all have a studio at home, and then we have Kevin's [Churko, producer] studio in Las Vegas, so he's there. So somebody is always working on something. And I think it's about efficiency. If I'm working on something in the studio, then Jason [Hook, guitar] and Jeremy [Spencer, drums] are working in theirs. And then when I'm going home and working on some pre-production of mine, then they're in the studio. So we're always just kind of bouncing around."

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH recently announced a new co-headlining arena tour with SHINEDOWN that will kick off on October 18 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Support on the trek will come from SIXX A.M. and AS LIONS.