Five Finger Death Punch Guitarist Jason Hook Talks ‘Lift Me Up’

2014-06-23

Story by Cat Badra

Exclusive: Five Finger Death Punch’s Jason Hook discusses working with Rob Halford and playing Mayhem last year

The 2014 edition of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival is up ahead, and this year’s festival will feature heavy performances from Korn, Avenged Sevenfold, Trivium, Asking Alexandria, Mushroomhead and more.

Five Finger Death Punch performed the main stage on the traveling festival last year. Guitarist Jason Hook says the bands playing Mayhem this summer are in for a treat.

“Mayhem is the best summer tour going,” Hook told Audio Ink Radio. “It’s the best time. Mayhem is our vacation. Every other tour is work. Mayhem is a vacation. It’s just fun. The whole tour is outside. The weather is great. There are lots of people and lots of music going on all day. It’s just a good time.”

Switching gears to Five Finger Death Punch’s music, the band released two albums of new music last year: “The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell,” in two volumes. The band’s early single, “Lift Me Up,” features none other than Judas Priest singer Rob Halford. The track went to No. 1 on the active rock radio chart.

“It was great,” Hook said of recording the song with Halford. “We all decided that when he gets here to sing the song, we’re going to leave the studio. There’s nothing worse than having a legend show up and offer to donate his vocals to your track, and you sit on the other side of the glass and stare him down. So, we all made a cautious decision to leave when he got there and let him relax, and then we’d all go to dinner when he was done.”

Hook was more than pleased with the outcome. “It was really just about him being comfortable, and he did a great job,” he said. “We all kind of hung out and shared some stories, and we all hugged, and said ‘goodbye.’ And the next time I saw him was at the Golden God awards in Los Angeles!”

Next up for Five Finger Death Punch is a hefty dose of touring. The guys will embark on a co-headlining tour with Volbeat this fall that will begin Sept. 16 at the Maverik Center in Salt Lake City and continue through an Oct. 24 show at the Joint in Las Vegas. Nothing More and Hellyeah will open on the run.

Photo by Anne Erickson




Cat Badra
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Posted by Cat Badra | Features, Interviews, Metal, Music, Rock

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