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The Knockout Blow With ZOLTAN BATHORY From FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I refuse to let it go.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: This is all time battery from five Fingers that punch.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: It's me and the pineapple.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Let's go.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: I love the pineapple. Beautiful congratulations on twenty years of
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: five Finger Death Punch. When you look back at the beginning,
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: what moment first made you think this band is going
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: to last?
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Well, that it's going to last that we didn't know.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: We did have a moment, however, where we kind of
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: knew that we had something.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: And it was in a very beginning.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: We went to the studio to record the first voocal tics,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Like the first record was kind of.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Done in my living room.
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: The whole thing actually so young bands out there, you
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: can't do it at all, right, So we did it
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: in a in my house, and then we went to
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: this you recorded the first couple of songs, and then
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: we went back to my house and we had a
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: babies and bought that moment.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Me and I even were jamming around and thrashing around in
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: my living group, kicking over couches, like we were like, yes,
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: this is this is it, It's gonna happen. So we
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: had that early on as well, how long it's gonna last?
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: I mean even now, I look back and I'm like,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: oh my god, twenty years.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: It's crazy, crazy, isn't it.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: And that first recording, I imagine it wasn't in the
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: house you'rey now, wasn't I know?
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: It was not?
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: And best of Volume one spans two decades. How hard
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: was it narrowing down which tracks made the cut? Whether
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: any fights over.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Some choices or oh?
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: This was actually fairly easy because we simply looked at
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: the most popular thirty songs. Right, I mean, at this point,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: everybody knows the story of what happened, right, and so
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: this situation just was dropped on us and we were like, okay, well,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: you know, that's your move and the chess board, so
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: now we're gonna do our move and and so we're
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: gonna record these songs. And not that we wanted to,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: but I mean we had to have an appropriate response,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: you know what I mean. So basically, we looked at
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: the thirty most popular songs. These are the songs that
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: the fans are the most attached to you or this
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: is that, these are the songs that they listen to
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: the most.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: So let's do those thirty. So that was it.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, amazing, And what does Volume one say about the
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: legacy of five in the Death Punch, what's the story
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: you wanted it to tell, if there is one.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, the whole idea here is that every
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: single one of these songs in some way was a
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: soundtrack to somebody's life, you know, And that's something that
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: you don't really know when when the band starts out.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Of course, everybody thinks that they are going to be popular.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: That's why you're doing it. Like you think that one day.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: We're gonna play these big stages and we're gonna have
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: all these fans.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: So that's the dream.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: But you know, when it actually happens, then this part,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: you know, you don't really think about that that what
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: you have done, that music is literally somebody's, you know,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: as I said, a sountrack to their life. Sometimes I
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: run into somebody who, you know, thirty years old and says, hey, man,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: when you know, back in the days, I was a
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: little kid and I was you guys pulled me up
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: on stage and I'm looking at it like, dude, you're
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: like thirty, you have two kids, right, and that's the moment.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: You're, oh my god, we have been been around that long.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Like this guy was twelve thirteen years old and got
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: on stage with us, right, And so that's that's just surreal.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: In the same time, it kind of tells me that
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: story of how important that was. You know, we started,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: you do these things to pull kids on stage, and
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: I didn't really realize, none of us actually realized that
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: that's like a lifelong experience, of a lifelong memory for somebody.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, when I was a kid, if Methollic I
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: pulled me on stage or Wasp or any of my face.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Bands, you know, lose my shit. So I can see
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: how this is a big deal for them. That's it.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: That's it, And your music is a big deal to
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: a lot of people for you. Is it hard to
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: sometimes here say when fans are like, oh, you know
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: your song's changed or saved my life? Is that hard
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: as a musician to take on that responsibility?
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, look, it's it's not necessarily a responsibility.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: The responsibility that we have is that understanding that whatever
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: we say, whatever we do, the way we behave is
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: actually affecting people. And there are gonna be a lot
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: of kids who are looking at us and well, you
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: know we're gonna be there. Example, So there's a responsibility there, right,
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: So definitely. As for when we hear these stories, how
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: people are telling us that, you know, certain songs save
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: their lives, we have some crazy stories.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: In fact, I'll give you one.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So we were we were having a meeting read
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: and and a kid came into the meat greet and
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: gave us a red pencil.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: I remember this, and it was fifteen years ago.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: He gave us a red pencil and says, listen, I'm
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: gonna give you guys this pencil because I wrote my
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: suicide note with this.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: I was gonna go. I was done.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: My life was really crappy and I just wanted out,
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: and so I wrote my suicide note. And on that
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: very day, somebody sent me a music video. Your music video,
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: I think it was coming Down that was about this.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: What was about suicide and how it takes one friend sometimes,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: you know, to change the course. And he saw that
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: video and he said, I changed my mind. So I
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: bring you this pen and I'm gonna give you this
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: pencil because you know, because this was the pencil. And
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: imagine ten years later, we are in a muting greet
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: and this kid comes up. This time he's an adult.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Why we didn't recognize him, obviously, the grown up man.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: And he's like, hey, hey, guys, do you remember me?
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: I was.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: I want to give you guys a pencil that I
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: wrote my suicide note with.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: And I even was hold on for a second.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: He runs out of the dressing room, right, I mean
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: this this place we were in, runs into this dressing
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: room and comes back with in a minute with the
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: red pan.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Did I still have it it? Oh?
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know I carry this with me because this
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: right here justify your existence.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like right here, this is why we do.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: That's incredible. That is so incredible and such a nice
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: to say that he grew up. This guy grew up
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: and he's still around because of you guys.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: Look essentially, you know, so those those are like, you know,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: those are hitting hard because you never expected those things
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: and where they come from. And I know how those
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: things happen. And you know, obviously even when he saw
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: the pencil, I mean he broke that.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: This kid, and he was like, oh my god. You
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: know you guys still kept that and of course with it,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: And then we have a lot of you know, a
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: lot of soldiers and firefighters and first responders.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: We have this massive fan base from that, so the walk.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: Of life, and then then there are like real crazy
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: stories that you know, these guys are literally on the
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: battlefield and talking to us like, man, this, Without this,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: I would not have survived. That's that's you know, that's
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: always like, oh my god. So yeah, so you don't
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: think of these things when you and you write music.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: It's always an after effect. But I gotta say it's
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: it's it's amazing, and you know, it's sort of a
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: it's a checkpoint for us, right because sometimes, like, look,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: to be honest, sometimes I look around I'm on stage
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: and I'm like, oh my god, I'm on stage, jumping
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: up and done, shaking my head making noise. This is crazy, right,
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Like what am I even doing? So you have those
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: moments and that these are the things that remind me that, oh, okay,
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: this is okay.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a reason why you think.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: Exactly exactly, and you guys have had such an impact.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: I was gonna ask you to just choose one moment
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: with the interaction with the fan that really moved you,
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: But it sounds like there's too many to.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: Count, right, I than these these are the kinds and
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: there are crazy ones.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: I remember.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Somebody gave us an eye podot Yeah, like the a
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: little thing the music player before iPhones were alright, So
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: somebody gave us an iPod. Gave it to Ivan in
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: h We were in Iraq and it was charred and
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: and there was a bullet went through it and somebody
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: gave us this iPod Like I was that that was
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: either it saved his life or it was a friend
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: of his who saved his life. And it's like I
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: was listening to that punch when the you know this
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: thing got hit. Yeah, so there's crazy stuff like you
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: have some insane memories.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: Jeez, that's amazing. Yeah, wow, amazing stories. And it must
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: have affect you a lot to hear them all as well. Incredible.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: Getting back to some of my questions, Uh, the band
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: sound has evolved over two decades. When you listen back
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: to the early tracks, now, how do you feel about them?
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: Do they still feel like you?
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Yes? Absolutely so.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: You know one of those things that kind of happened
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: to us is that generally when you're talking about the band, right,
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: you can categorize them like, well, these bands sound like this,
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: this and this right, so there's there's a there's an
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: obvious but would I say a plateau of of influences
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: that you can you can listen, and I guess we
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: kind of have a sound that people refer to us
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: now like it sounds like that punch, you know, So
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: it's sort of we carved that or sound, and that
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: was that was one of the reasons I think that
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: we were it became successful because of the time, right,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: what we were doing was a little bit different, just
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: different enough that it was considered our own thing. And
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: so I feel like that sounds even though obviously there
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: is a there's a little bit of an evolution, you know,
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: and then which is contributable to various factors. One obviously
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: we grow as musicians and we don't want to keep
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: repeating the same thing. Another thing is also what changes
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: is the venues to be playing it. Right, There's a
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: big difference when you're writing songs and you're playing in
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: like little hardcore clubs these there are certain songs that
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: do live there, that's what it meant to be. There's
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: also a big difference when you play arenas and stadiums.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: There's a whole different energy, whole different vibe, and anybody
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: who is in a music business and tells you that
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: it does not affect them is lying to you. It's
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: one hundred percent affecting you. That where these songs will
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: be performed has definitely an influence, right, So you know,
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: so in some way we still have the heavy core,
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: but it did become an orient event, right and so
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: this so we started to write these orin anthems.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: It just naturally happens.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: It's it's not something that you know what you should get,
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: you should do should.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: That's not how it naturally kind of happens, you know.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: So I feel like I feel like that's one factor
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: that but definitely played a role that in evolution some
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: band member changes, you know, like that's also affecting obviously
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: the sound. But but I feel like that the core
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: of it is is still there.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: You still recognize that, Oh that's that punch. I think.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: I think it's a recognizable and no regrets, you know,
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: no regrets. There's nothing that I can go back in
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: the past and I say I would do that differently.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: You know, there's a moment when you have to let
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: go of your art.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: If you're impeccable, you do your best whatever the best
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: is for you, right, if you did the best, that
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: is the best for you. You know that you turn
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: every stone, you know that you did your best. Nobody
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: can criticize that. It's like, you know what, this is
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: the best I can do, and I'm not gonna change
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: or stop because you have a different opinion. I'm gonna
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: do what's the best I can do, and then all
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: criticism whatever.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Comes to you will sort of fall off because this
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: is the best.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: Now, we were kind of lucky that our best was
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: I guess pretty good, or at least these people liked it,
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: you know what I mean.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: But yeah, there is no there are no regrets. We
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: are very proud of what we have done in these
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: twenty years.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: Oh good, and you should pay. And speaking a little
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: bit more about ragnas and even smaller venues, do you
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: sometimes miss that smaller venue energy?
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: You know a lot of people probably would say, yes,
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: I'm not gonna lie, that's not really you know, because
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: because you know, there is a there's a comfort obviously
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: that comes with playing these these giant places. But you
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: know that's sweaty little clubs that we used to play, right,
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, they had that there was a vine, right,
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: there's definitely.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Was was a vibe. But but.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: That was to this feeling of of our career is
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: going and the band is getting bigger. So there was
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: this excitment excement job. Also, you're going to grow at
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: this club, right, So so I don't think that it
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: would be the same if we went back and just
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: played these low clubs of fun, because that excitement that's
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: going to grow.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Out of there, I don't think that's there.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: So I mean, it's so every moment in time has
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: a reason to be there.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: And I mean I can only speak for myself.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: I don't know how the rest of the guys wild
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: in the man, but you know, I love walking out
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: when there's a sea of people and when you hit
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: that first note and and that that energy that comes
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: back from a crowd of fifty sixty seventy people is
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: there's nothing you can, you know, compare up to. So
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: I love that feeling so so for for me first,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: and I would say I like where we are.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: Likely that's a good answer. It's hard to you know,
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: I dismiss that excitement that you were talking about about
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: playing these huge arenas.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: It must be insane, right it is.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: And if you could go back and give two thousand
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: and five one piece of advice before launching five and
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: a death punch. What would it be?
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Oh, I guess don't.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: I would say I would tell myself that don't work
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: that hard. I'm crazy, that sounds, you know, especially the
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: first ten years. I mean every weeking hour I spent
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: on the band. Like there was no time outside of
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: the band. There was nothing that I you know that
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: you know that I would put enough energy into beside
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: the band.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: It was.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: It's the kind of idea that you want to do
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: everything and then some right like they're just saying that
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: you know that there's no traffic, gem on the extra mile,
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: you know.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: So so I was always on that extra mile. I
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: always worked really hard.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: I you know, from early morning to fall into bed,
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: I would just tell myself, enjoy the ride, you know,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: look at the windows sometimes, you know, just walk around
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: the city. Not every moment has to be you know,
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: done with, you know, all this work. I think it
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: would still have happened. You know, I might have you know,
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: I might have over you know, was overworked a little bit.
• 15:45
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, do you feel like now you can relax and
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: take that time out?
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: I guess yes.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: I as a band who you know, obviously we have
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: more and more people with us working for us, working
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: around the band, so it's easier to delegate tasks, or
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: for me, it's still difficult, you know, Like you know,
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: I designed the merch I you know, I do a
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: lot of run mainly the band's business, you know, and
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: organizing most of most of the things. So it's difficult
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: to give that over to other people because, you know, because.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: I had to learn that. Like, look, if I get eighty.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: Percent out of somebody, what I would do, accept that
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: it's pretty good because the trade off is either I'm
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: going to do it and then it's all my time
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: as goes into it, or I delegate it and it's
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: hopefully going to be close enough to what I wanted.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: You know. Yes, so that's that's kind of that.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: I had to find a balance, and so it was
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: still hard to you know, to give up. Okay, you
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: do this, you do that, but you know, but I'm
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: better at this now.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Good.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: It sounds you're a lot like me. It sounds like
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: I like to control situations and if I can do it,
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: and now I can do I want to do it all,
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: but I'm giving it over to someone else. We've got
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: to do it though.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Sometimes, right.
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, And with so many bands falling apart before
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: the ten year mark, what's the secret to fiving the
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: Death Punch's longevity?
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Oh, I'm not sure that. I'm not sure I'm the
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: right person to give that advice because the enter twenty
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: years was always on the verge of following. Really.
• 17:24
  Speaker 7: Oh yeah, I mean, like, you know, it's like imagine
• 17:26
  Speaker 7: a bunch of dudes on the road, so you know,
• 17:29
  Speaker 7: so everybody is very different people, especially Ivan and myself,
• 17:33
  Speaker 7: as opposite or personalities as we could be.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: That's why it kind of works. We are like the
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Yin and Yang sort of.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, right, I guess. But if I wanted to get
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: given advice, it would be probably what's really important, Right,
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: what's really important? The big things, Those are the only
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: things that you should argue about.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Give you an example, like let's say we go to
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: the studio and let's say the guitar solo is a
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: little bit too long, and I feel like, yeah, it's
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: a little bit too long, and let' see the other
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: guitar player says.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: Oh, I think it's perfect. It isn't worth the argument.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: You're gonna write another one hundred songs, right, So, so
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: don't swead the little things, right because those little things
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: are the things that erode the band exactly, so you know,
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: so basically, just just just look at the big issues
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: and deal with those the small don't spend the small things.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: I guess that's that's not my invention. Somebody probably said
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: this before, for sure said this before. Don't spend the
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: small things kind of like that, you know, that's that's
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: that's the idea. Like a personal insult on somebody will
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: will live with that person forever, right, So, so be
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: careful how you you know, how you talk about certain
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: things and try to withdraw emotions from various conversations and
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: just try to stay factual.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: And you know, I guess that's that that's the idea, definitely.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: And we all know that you love your jiu jitsu.
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: Do you think your training in jiu jitsu and discipline
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: has helped you with relationships within the band?
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: David, I would say that, not just the band, but
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: I think I think my entire life career, everything sort
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: of happened. I believe because I was a martial artist.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: I was a martial artist before I started to play guitar.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: So I started martial arts when I was nine years old.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: I started with judo and that kind of followed my
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: whole life. And and what happens with martial arts that
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: it's not a casual what do you say, exercise? Right,
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: So it's kind of like you can play various sports, right,
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: you can play football, you can whatever I would bring up.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: You play those sports. When you're doing martial arts, it's different,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: You're not. You become a martial artist, right, So when
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: you say when you say I become a martial artist,
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: that comes with a set of what we call it
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: the bushido, the way of life, various virtues that you
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: know that is kind of engrieved in you as a
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: martial artist.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: It's a code of life.
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: So right, so so you become a martial artist, that
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: means you start thinking differently and again just to make
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: it practical and give you examples of what just not
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: so you know ambiguous.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: For example, as a martial artist, right, you will have
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: to fight.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: You know, you have to fight other kids on the
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: map for example, right, like I have to go and
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: you know, and and had to have to fight. And
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: what that means that you have to come through your adrenaline, right,
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: you have to come through your body first and foremost.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: Then you will have to deal with the inevitable, like
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: this will happen right now. And what that teaches you,
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: what parallel developed in you is that you can't you know,
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: can brush this under the ruck. It will happen right now.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: So the procrastination part of your personality start disappearing. Then
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: the idea is that Okay, well I have to I
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: have to fight. And sometimes you get into bad positions
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: what you're going to do?
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Right, and it's there's that.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: Perseverance like I think I can get out of this, right,
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: I think I you know, so does start developing. Then
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: comes the idea that things that you see as an obstacle,
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: like I have to fight this kid, now, that's that's
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: an obstacle in many ways, right, that turns into a
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: challenge because you start to look at it like can
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: I beat this guy?
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Can I win this? Can I?
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: You know?
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: And then then what's the parallel of that, Well, things
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: happen to you in life obstacles, right, But if you
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: look at these obstacles as challenges, it's a totally different
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: way of dealing with with with life.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: And so what happened with that?
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: If I look at and try to parallel with this
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: the bad, it's you start to look at everything was
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: a challenge, so you start dealing with the impossible. When
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: when you know, like like like everybody tells you that
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: how difficult it is to you know, to succeed with
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: a band, it's one in a million. But to me
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: it was like, oh, that's a challenge, right because but
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: it's so in so for most people it's an obstacle.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Well, you have to get up recording, you have to
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: know the right people.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: These are all obstacles. To me, it's all challenges. So
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: to me it's like, yeah, let's go right, the bigger
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: the guys more. I want to fight him, you know,
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: you know what I mean. So that's kind of thing.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: And another thing that also develops crisis management, which is
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: necessary for a band in my opinion. Crisis management to
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: me means that I can get into a bad situation,
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: but once I master martial arts, what happens it's not
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: just how do I get out of it?
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: But how do I use this unfortunate situation.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: To my vantage, that parallels crisis management because some crazy
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: stuff happens right with the band, and you know, everybody
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: would look at it.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Like, oh my god, Oh my god, and I'm thinking, oh,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: that's press, you know. So that's just a different way.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: So I would say that because of martial arts, you know,
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: I look at the world very differently.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: I have, you know, it rewirened my mind.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: I think differently, And I think that's a massive, massive,
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: you know, help both in the career, handling the band,
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: handling everything around myself.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, you can draw parallels. I guess. It really
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: sounds like it's changed the way you think about situations
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: and approach situations.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: It's almost like at one point you kind of have
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: to decide that is the world happening to me?
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Or am I happening to the world. So I mean, and.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: It's a very very serious distinction, Like you do have
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: you can sit on on the fence and you can
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: be sometimes this sometimes that you're going to have to
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: make this decision and if you decide I am happening
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: to the world, which in my opinion is a correct
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: way to look at it is because look, this world
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: was here when you were born, right, So if you're
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: born into this world, the rules and most of the
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: things were established. So once you came here, I'm gonna
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: I'm here now, so I'm going to impact this right,
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: I am an impactor, every one of us can.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: You can choose that dot.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: Path that I'm here, and whatever I'm going to do
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: in this world will change it right to the degree.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: Some people change it on a large scale, some people
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: change it a little bit.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: But you're definitely impacting the world.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: So if I accept this that I am happening in
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: the world, then it comes with the responsibility as well,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: because everything that I will do and say impacts this world,
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: I'm responsible for them. If you understand responsibility, then you
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: can never be a victim. That's it, and that's the
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: most important. You're never a victim of circumst sense. Yes, right,
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: so that's the difference. So I feel like that's also
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: sort of something that came from martial art, that I'm
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: happening to this world.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: The other I can be a victim.
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: No, and we're only responsible for our actions and how
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: we react. And yeah, yeah, I love that. I could
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: talk to you for hours about philosophy and life. It's amazing.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: It's my favorite subject.
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: So yes, and last question I should get back to
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: talking about your work, your recent work, and I love
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: this the new I Refuse with Maria Brink is huge.
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: How did that collaboration come together and why was Maria
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: the perfect voice to bring into that moment?
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: So it's not a well known historical fact that Maria
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: and Five Things in that line has a long history actually,
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: So so what really happened Back in the days before
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: in this moment and fighting that munch existed, There was
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: a there was a fairly popular local band in Hollywood,
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: Los Angeles, and and this banding name was That Set,
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: and this band did pretty well but just never just
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: never exploded. And when this band fell apart, half of
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: the band went to in This Moment and the other
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: half went to Five Thing in that lunch. So they
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: were originally this band, that set, So we both got
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: some parts of that that band, so we had a
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: common you know, trail from there and our bass guitarists
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: at the time, Matt, who came from that set, was
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: the sound engineer on the original In This Moment demos.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: He was a sound engineer, so he was mixing the demos.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: Then they got signed very shortly after we got signed.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: So career careers kind of paralleled, and we were always
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: in each other and ended up touring together for you know,
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: for a few times actually, And so when we're doing
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: these twenty years of you know, history, we already knew
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: that we wanted to put that that song she was
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: gonna be a single back in the days, but we
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: already had three singles at the time on the record,
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: so we didn't put out this song, and you know,
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: it was kind of like.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: A missed opportunity.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: So we thought, well, we can't put it out as
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: a single as is, but if you put a feature
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: on it, done, it's kind of a new song. So
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: this full fills the idea of we wanted these years
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: and years ago to be a single. Now it got
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: to be a single because it has a feature, and
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: who else would be somebody who knew even before that
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: lunch was a thing, or even before in this moment
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: was a thing.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: So that was kind of the.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Perfect idea of you know what it should be her
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: and her voice was perfect. And then the coincidence when
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: we were talking about it and we reached out to
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: Maria like, hey, would you do this, and she happened
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: to be in Las Vegas in the moment we called her.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: We all live in Las Vegas, Yeah, and she was
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: in Vegas in the studio when we recorded all or records.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: So like that's you can't ignore it, you know, you
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: can't the university speaking, Yeah, that's it.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Right, right right, So I can't think know that coincidence.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: So that's kind of was the perfect you know, and
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: it came out amazing, So it's, you know, very proud
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: of it.
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: Perfect it was meant today And just quickly, is there
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: any chance that we will see you guys down under soon?
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Oh? I really would like to.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: You know, we are talking about twenty twenty six Giant
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: World Tour and the world too will be basically for
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: our twentieth anniversary. So that's that's in the conversations already.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: And you know, we haven't been in Japan, Australia, New
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: Zealand for a long long time, so.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: This is this is time. Yes, you know, we have
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: a lot of friends in Australia.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: We're keenly aware of that because you know, obviously I
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: can see the data and I can see where we
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: get the most you know, the most upset people in
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: the world is in Australia.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Because we haven't been there. Yeah, for a long time,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: they're like man even even Brazil. Oh God, I show,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: are you guys leaving us out? So ye are you doing? Definitely?
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: I know, I know we're guilty.
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: No, No, that's so exciting, so good to hearse. Alton,
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: thank you so much for your time today. It's been amazing.
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: Congrats on twenty years.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, thank you so much.
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: I don't want to die alone. I don't want to
• 29:34
  Speaker 5: live for say he can. I refuse to let this
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: go because my soul is breaking. I don't want to
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: let you know. My heart is just so j he did.
• 29:48
  Speaker 5: I refuse to let it show. I refuse to.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Let it go.
• 29:57
  Speaker 6: This ol on time a life, it's a dream. Just
• 30:06
  Speaker 6: wake me up when it's all over. I'm tied a
• 30:14
  Speaker 6: ride between.
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: I refuse.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: Who is walked alone?
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: That sus the backless tea can.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: I refuse to let you in because that's a bitch
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: number shaken, it's not a jewel.
• 30:39
  Speaker 6: Get off inside my.
• 30:42
  Speaker 5: Spirit's feet and I refuse to take the fall.
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: There's no chance it all.
• 30:51
  Speaker 6: Up. Wus on time for dreaming its way. It's over
• 31:08
  Speaker 6: from time between it was sad and the day It's
• 31:23
  Speaker 6: not your way, wy with over. I'm time, can't try
• 32:04
  Speaker 6: please days. So I'm tied by fen Just wait me up.
• 32:20
  Speaker 6: I listen, so I'm chime to dream. Please wait for me.
• 32:33
  Speaker 6: So I'm tied cry.
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: Flea.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: I refuse, I refuse,