Five Finger Death Punch are finally ready to slay Irvine with a long awaited album
The new album by Five Finger Death Punch is making its public debut in front of thousands at FivePoint Amphitheater this Friday, July 27. However, for the band that toiled over their long gestating seventh release, And Justice For None, it’s not new at all. In fact, they’re already looking ahead to what’s next after the tour is over.
“[And Justice for None] was actually supposed to come out a while back, but we had some legal things with our record label that we had to deal with, so that prevented it from coming out,” says drummer Jeremy Spencer. “Once those were all resolved, we could finally move forward and put this thing out. We’ve been living with it for so long that we’re almost ready to start recording something else, but we’re excited to share it with the fans.”
Although their latest record may have come out about a year later than it should have due to their issues with Prospect Park, And Justice for None kept Five Finger Death Punch’s streak going as one of the most popular (and best selling) hard rock bands in the world. With a dedicated fan base and commercial success that most acts only dream of, the headbanging quintet still hasn’t forgotten when they were merely one of the many Las Vegas-based rock acts in the late 2000s.
“Time seems to go by really fast because we’re always so focused on the present with what we’re doing in our daily bubbles, but those early records are certainly very important to us,” Spencer says. “They started everything for us, and I’m very proud of those records. When we first made The Way of the Fist, we just made a record that we wanted to listen to because we weren’t hearing that kind of stuff in music. Now, [Five Finger Death Punch] has just continued to grow and get more popular with fans to where we can headline big arenas and tour the country, and we’re grateful to be able to continue to do this in a day when it’s not really easy to be successful in the music business.”
Of course, with great rock power comes great musical responsibility. Gone are the days when the guys of Five Finger Death Punch could just get together to write, record, and produce an album without being interrupted by both professional and personal duties. That’s why records like And Justice for None mean more to the band than some of their “easier” releases, and also why a major tour like their current nationwide co-headlining trip with Breaking Benjamin gets the band to bring out all of the bells and whistles that their live show is known for.
“Everyone on the bill has had success on the radio, so there’s a lot of public awareness for this tour,” Spencer says. “I think it’ll be a big diverse crowd, and we’re friends with these bands, so we’re always excited to play with them” It’s going to be a night of everyone bringing full production and having a great stage show. The feeling of giving the audience the most bang for their buck is the primary motivator for the veteran rock act as they plan to fill their set with as many toys and as many cool visual things as they can.
“We want people to leave going ‘Man, that was incredible,’” Spencer says. “We want to leave an impression. We’re all fans of live shows and been to great concerts, and it’s cooler to see stuff going on than not. At a tiny club, sometimes you’ll see people just stand there, but if you’re headlining an arena or a festival or something, you need to put on a show. Otherwise, people will get bored by song three and they’ll go get beers.”
Five Finger Death Punch and Breaking Benjamin perform at the FivePoint Amphitheater,14800 Chinon Ave., Irvine, www.fivepointamphitheater.com ,Friday, July 27 at 6 p.m. Tickets start at $50, all ages.
Josh Chesler used to play baseball for some pretty cool teams, but now he just writes about awesome stuff like tattoos, music, MMA and sneakers. He enjoys injuring himself by skateboarding, training for fights, and playing musical instruments in his off time.