FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH Singer: 'My Own Bandmembers Wouldn't Return My Calls'

Singer Ivan Moody of Las Vegas metallers FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH has revealed to Revolver magazine that he had a serious drinking problem while the band was touring in support of its last album, "American Capitalist".

"When I sang, I was a totally functional alcoholic," Moody admitted. "I could do my job. But then half of the tour for 'American Capitalist', I couldn't even tell I had been onstage. I would literally wake up the next day and say, 'Where the hell are we? What did we do last night?' And someone would go, 'Well, we played a show in front of 20,000 people.' And I'd go, 'Fuck, I wish I remembered.'"

The situation deteriorated to the point where Ivan's FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH bandmates were running out of patience and had even threatened to replace him with another singer.

"While I was drinking myself into oblivion, I lost all contact with my three kids and my family," Moody said, "God, I can't believe I'm telling you this. I got to a point where I wouldn't wake up in the day at all. I'd just sleep through it and then wake up and go to the bar and then go back to bed. I had just gotten divorced, so I was going through women like water and it just turned into a pattern. I felt gross. I felt like a junkie. My own bandmembers wouldn't return my calls and I lost multiple tour managers, crew members. I can't tell you how many friends stopped talking to me. It's really sad sometimes that you have to go to that extreme bottom to find your way back up, but it's true."

"We never actually punched each other," FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH guitarist Zoltan Bathory told Revolver. "We'd shout at each other and go toe to toe like we were going to throw down. I would draw a line in the dirt in the parking lot and say, 'Dude, step over that line and I'll take you out and we're going to fucking go.' It came to that point many, many times, but I always knew that there's no way I would ever let him go. Deep down, he knew I would never leave him behind and I knew he would never run away and not come back. We're a band. We had some rough times, but real bands work through that stuff."

According to Moody, he finally decided to get sober after a heart-to-heart conversation with KORN frontman Jonathan Davis, who struggled with drugs and alcohol early in his career.

"I went on his bus and he sat there," Ivan recalled. "He lit me a cigarette and he looked me in the eyes and said, 'First things first, dude. You need to get off the juice. You've got the most talented band and you're a great performer, but you're fucking up and I've been there.' What he was saying was so potent because he was someone I had looked up to my entire life. I was crying when I walked off the bus. It hurt me because I knew he was right."

The experience served as a lyrical inspiration for FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's fourth studio album, "The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell", a two-record set whose first half will be released on July 30.

The deluxe edition of "The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell Volume 1" will come with a bonus 15-track live CD titled "Purgatory (Tales From The Pit)", plus a redeemable limited-edition T-shirt.

A box set limited edition is now available for pre-order at the band's webstore. It contains the deluxe version of the album with the bonus live CD, an early free download of an exclusive new track, a FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH lunch box and assorted other collectible items.



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