Five Finger Death Punch Drummer Jeremy Spencer Talks ‘American Capitalist’

Today we had a chance to talk to Five Finger Death Punch drummer Jeremy Spencer and he brought us up to speed on everything from their new single 'Under and Over It', their new bass player Chris Kael, the new album 'American Capitalist', as well as the upcoming 'Share the Welt' tour. Listen to the full interview here.

Jeremy opened up our interview by saying that the band was "switching in to live mode" and gearing up to play the new material live, he then explained the lyrical motivation behind the new single 'Under and Over It':

"It was pretty much a tongue-in-cheek response to the haters that post stuff online...it's just a response, a little back-handed slap to what we deal with daily...reading stuff about us and the way people perceive us and things like that. It's all in good fun, I'm really proud of that song and I think that it's cool that we took a song that wasn't a safe radio approach. It's a little heavier than most things that are on the radio so, I'm really stoked about it being out there and being received so well."

Despite the heaviness of the new single, Jeremy said fans can expect a bit of everything on the upcoming record 'American Capitalist':

"There are a lot of heavy tracks its pretty much everything and we didn't really break the mold as far as what we do. We are who we are at this point there's gonna be some really emotional ballads, there's gonna be brutal heavy stuff, there's gonna be mid tempo things; this pretty much covers the whole thing...I'm excited about it. I think it sounds more mature, it's definitely where we are after all this time together and I'm excited for people to hear it. It's definitely my most difficult record to perform drum-wise which is why it's time for me to get busy learning it. I got two months so I'm gonna start today. I actually have to write a drum solo as well for the big tour...I'm looking forward to it though."

Five Finger Death Punch's cover of 'Bad Company', originally from the band of the same name, was a huge hit for the band last year. When asked if they had any covers lined up for 'American Capitalist', Jeremy said yes...and no:

"We had started working on a cover but we never finished it. It didn't really seem to fit in with the body work we had for the rest of the album. So there won't be any covers this time. Sorry."

When asked, he wouldn't unveil which song it was because "it may happen down the road someday" but just not on this album. Five Finger recently hired a new bassist, Chris Kael, that not many people had heard of. Jeremy told us more about how he got the gig:

"He was actually recommended by my drum tech Saul, they've been good friends for 20 years they grew up together in Kentucky where Chris is from...Chris has been out here in Vegas for a couple years and basically he had tried in numerous bands for years like we all had and he was close to just being done...he went to see some show, I forget what it was... and the light turned on like 'what are you doing? Dude you gotta go for this Death Punch gig.' He e-mailed Jason [Hook, guitarist] so we set up an audition for him and he came down and was the best of anyone we auditioned. Instantly right away, I knew it. I looked at Zoltan and said 'This is the guy, this is perfect'...it just really lined up in our favor."

Spencer unveiled that due to the bass tracks already being done by the time Kael joined, that he would not be on this record. The producer of the record Kevin Churko had already recorded the bass tracks for the record at that point. This is his second time working with 5FDP and Jeremy spoke about what it was like to work with Churko again:

"When I first started working with him I told him 'I'll never work with anyone else. You're in here for life'. We pretty much held him hostage, I love working with him--he's incredible. He worked under Mutt Lange for years so he learned from the master of production in my opinion. He's a drummer as well, so he and I really click and it's a pleasure to work with him because he's so talented and so cool. I cant imagine working with anyone else."

Five Finger's last album 'War Is the Answer' seemed to be reflective of what the hot topic in Washington was at the time of it's release. Once again the new record 'American Capitalist' could be named in connection with the current debt problems facing our country. Spencer explained that politics were a little out of his focal range:

"Zoltan [Bathory, guitarist] is certainly more into that than I am, I'm always practicing or doing stuff like that. The 'American Capitalist' thing for us is like; Everyone has a dream, everyone wants the good life, and if you work hard you can get there...everyone gets a shot--but really only the strong survive. You can either be the lion or the zebra. We're taking the lion approach, no prisoners."

Five Finger Death Punch hit the road in the fall for the 'Share The Welt' tour, Jeremy talked about how they settled on the lineup:

"Yeah, it's a big tour. I'm really glad we got the line-up we did...I think [All That Remains] is a great fit so is Hatebreed, Rev Theory...it's a diverse bill. I think its gonna be worth the money, it's gonna be an insane show."

Jeremy also reassured that the band will be headed to Michigan as part of this tour and hinted the band may even return to The Machine Shop:

"I would love to, I always have a great time playing there. Its always off the chain. Everyone is out of their mind and everyone's so nice and cool it's just one big party. I would love to play there anytime, hopefully we can make it happen."