Five Finger Death Punch’s Ivan Moody Wasn’t Happy with the Band’s ‘Living the Dream’ Video
Five Finger Death Punch vocalist Ivan Moody – Story and photo by Anne Erickson
Ivan Moody from Five Finger Death Punch says he had nothing to do with the band’s controversial video for “Living the Dream”
Five Finger Death Punch released their “Living the Dream” video in 2020, when the pandemic was in full swing, and the video seemed to comment on the politics of the time, making it quite controversial. In a new interview with Metal Hammer, vocalist Ivan Moody says that he “didn’t agree” with the video and even explains that it caused some tension within the group.
The music video featured people wearing masks getting “compliant” buttons with a communist sickle emblem, zombies grabbing tons of toilet paper at the store, workers donning a Peoples Republic of America work uniforms and more controversial images. In the end, all the events end up being a nightmare experienced our forefathers, and then it’s over.
Following the video coming out, guitarist Zoltan Bathory released a statement trying to clarify the video, stating that “the mask segments are about hypocrisy on the highest level” and edging away from the idea that the video is an anti-mask message.
Speaking with Metal Hammer, Moody says a video like that “won’t ever be done in my name again.” Moody added that Bathory took the helm for the video, stating, “I showed up for two days and Zo told me to run across the grass, screaming and holding the American flag, so I was curious to see it. Then when he released it, I called him, 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.’ And it ended up going down like a fart in church!”
He added, “There was the mask thing and the awkwardness of the whole thing. That’s what he visualized, but it’s not what I had in mind when I wrote [the song]. For those who understood it, great. And for those who didn’t, I’m sorry, I didn’t agree with it either. I love Zoltan to death, that’s his opinion, but it won’t ever be done with my name on it again.”
Bathory was also part of the Metal Hammer interview, stating, “Obviously, that video created a lot of dust, and I really don’t want to kick up another s*** storm about it. But it was about the blatant hypocrisy of what was happening. You can do this, but the population can’t! As a band, we sort of withdrew from politics and that was the last political commentary, but it flew over people’s heads and we were accused of the craziest s***. It’s crazy, because music was a cultural weapon. And now punk music and rock music is the soundtrack to the establishment all of a sudden? But it’s like, ‘OK, we’ll just play music and create concerts.’ People are educated by clickbait headlines, but there’s so much else to talk about.”
Five Finger Death Punch’s new album, “Afterlife,” will drop on Aug. 19 via Better Noise music. The band will also hit the road this fall with Megadeth, The Hu and Fire From the Gods.
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