Interviews: Five Finger Death Punch vs Shadows Fall

Rock Sound talks to frontmen Ivan Moody and Brian Fair about drinking in Osaka, blacking out onstage and freestyling lyrics.

Posted Wednesday, 4 November 2009 in

Shadows Fall and Five Finger Death Punch are teaming up for a UK tour later this month so we got frontmen Ivan Moody (FFDP) and Brian Fair (SF) together for a chat about life on the road…

What’s the best city in the world to get into trouble in?
FAIR: “For me, it’s Ōsaka, Japan, and for one reason: Rock Rock Bar.”
MOODY: “Oh, the Rock Rock, man! Your picture is up in there!”
FAIR: “Yeah, and it’s this tiny bar and they have every metal CD ever in the jukebox. There are always great people in there, and I always end up sake-bombing myself into oblivion. I fell out of a tree once after partying there – I’ve still got the scars on my shin. I remember walking down the street with Jamey [Jasta] from Hatebreed, he was holding me by the dreads as I tried to throw a tire at a cop. I was like, ‘You guys don’t even carry guns here!’ I don’t know why shit like that happens to me, but it always happens in Ōsaka.”
MOODY: “For us, it’s Vegas. We’re based there, but you can find trouble anywhere – it just depends what kind of trouble you’re talking about. In Dallas, it’s the Clubhouse [Vinnie Paul’s strip club]. If you’re on the East Coast, it’s probably Boston, because the kids are so fuckin’ out of their heads.”

What do you remember about your first shows with your current bands?
FAIR: “Mine was at the Infinity in Springfield, Massachusetts, a club that no longer exists. We opened for Nile and Cryptopsy. I had only been in the band for two weeks, and I was full-on freestyling some of the lyrics because they were the ones that Matt [Bachand, guitar] and Phil [Labonte, former Shadows Fall frontman, currently of All That Remains] had written before I was in the band. It was a blast. I wouldn’t wanna hear the audio, though!”
MOODY: “My first show with Five Finger Death Punch was in Los Angeles, opening for DragonForce and All That Remains, which was really cool. It was a sold out show, and we went on first. I pretty much did the same thing Brian did – I was improvising half the night. You kind of lose your footing after being away from it for a bit, because you know, after Motograter [Moody’s previous band], I didn’t get onstage for two-and-a-half or three years, so I was rusty as hell.”

What have been your worst shows ever?
MOODY: “I passed out onstage with Death Punch, and with Motograter more than once. We’d paint up and then have to go out and play in 120-degree weather. With Death Punch it was down in Corpus Christi, Texas. We played this warehouse that had no ventilation and about five songs in, I went back toward the drum kit and blacked out for a second and woke up with my head on Jeremy [Spencer]’s kit. So that, for me, was the worst show ever. I had heat exhaustion and I’d been up drinking the night before, so the fans paid for that one.”
FAIR: “It’s tough to pick one. When we did the Damageplan tour I had strep throat that led to laryngitis. I had to get steroid shots just to be able to perform every night. Luckily, we were friendly with the other bands, so Peter [Dolving] from The Haunted would come out and sing a song with us, Pat [Lachman] from Damageplan would come out and then we’d do an instrumental. To me, those shows were terrible because it drove me crazy that I couldn’t just get up there and do my thing. It was a helpless kind of feeling.”
MOODY: “I remember we played next door to you guys in New Orleans on that tour. You were at the House Of Blues. I came over and you had your little notebook and you wrote, ‘Can’t talk’.”
FAIR: “Luckily, we didn’t have to cancel any shows. I remember that Dimebag [Darrell] heard me talking to someone before a show one night and he was like, ‘You’re playing tonight? Dude, you’re a soldier. I’ve had singers that would cancel a show for a hangnail!’ I figured if Dime was approving, it was all good.”

Catch the two bands on tour together on the following dates:

NOVEMBER
24 - WOLVERHAMPTON Wulfrun Hall
25 - GLASGOW Garage
26 - MANCHESTER Academy 2
27 - LONDON Electric Ballroom, London
29 - OXFORD Carling Academy
30 - NORWICH Waterfront