Few modern metal bands are as volatile as Five Finger Death Punch. The Las Vegas five-piece have had their share of ups and downs over the years, many of them revolving around combustible frontman Ivan Moody.
The singer, who is now sober after struggling with alcohol addiction over the years, has admitted that he performed drunk in the past. Moody had an infamous onstage meltdown in 2015 in Memphis, Tennessee in 2015, prompting the rest of the band to walk offstage and abandon the show. Another incident the following year saw a seemingly inebriated and emotional Moody apologising to the crowd for a sub-par performance at a show in Worcester, Massachusetts, blaming his issues on his mother’s illness.
More recently, the singer admitted to tensions with 5FDP guitarist and founder Zoltan Bathory over the controversial ‘anti-mask’ video for 2020’s Covid-era single Living The Dream, directed by Bathory. “I called [Zoltan], like, ‘You implemented your own platform into Five Finger Death Punch, and now I’m gonna have to answer for it, because I’m the singer,’” Moody told Metal Hammer in 2022, adding: “I love Zoltan to death, that’s his opinion, but it won’t ever be done with my name on it again.”
In an in-depth interview in the new issue of Metal Hammer, Bathory addresses the relationship between the two men. Asked if the turbulence within 5FDP – who recently released their tenth studio album Legacy – has ever made him consider ending the band or firing Moody, the guitarist admits that he could sometimes “kill” his bandmate, but they remain “brothers” despite it all.
“Never,” says Zoltan, on the question of splitting the band. “Because I always respected that Ivan is the middle finger of this generation – a hand grenade with a loose spring. That’s who he is. I always looked at that as amazing: he’s uncorruptible. I could tell him, ‘Ivan, you’ll lose a million dollars if you don’t feel like doing these shows’, and he’d say, ‘Fuck off, I don’t care. I don’t give a shit.’ So he’s hard to manage, but I could, because I respected that he’s as punk rock as punk rock can get.
“Sometimes I want to kill him,” the guitarist continues. “Sometimes I’m making plans, thinking about what supplies I need, where I hide the body. But then I’m like, ‘Man, then I don’t have a singer who can do all these things.’ So you stay with the fantasy. And I’m pretty sure he’s plotting, too – ‘If I could just tie some dynamite to his backpack…’ We’re brothers, but we understand who we are and how to work together, and what’s worth fighting about and what isn’t.”
Bathory talks about any regrets he may have had over the band’s 20-plus year career. “Maybe the stress of it. I always worked 150%,” he tells Hammer. “People imagine a rock band is stripper poles and disco balls and mountains of whatever drug is your choice. I like the business aspect, because it's all strategy. But at the same time, it takes time. If I hadn't stressed, maybe it would've worked out anyway. But then again, it's a butterfly effect. Would I change anything? Absolutely not. I wouldn't be me; I wouldn't be here.”
Read the full interview with Zoltan in the new issue of Metal Hammer, on sale now. Order it here and have it delivered straight to your door.
