Peaches Interviews Chris Kael of Five Finger Death Punch - August 2022

Peaches sat down with Chris Kael of Five Finger Death Punch right before the band's album, AfterLife, was released. 

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The Artist Interrogations podcast. Hey, Chris. How's it going? It is going well. How are you?

Doing fantastic. You are the 3rd Chris I've talked to within the last month. First, I had Chris Daughtry, then Chris Motionless, and now the most important Chris, Chris Kale, one of my favorite bands of all time, 5 Finger Death Punch. How are you doing, sir? I am good.

I'm good. And with those names, it's good to be surrounded by such talented Chris's, all at one time. That's perfect. How are you and the rest of the band gearing up for not only the tour, but also the new album, August 19th? Things are good, man.

We are super excited. We got the new record, like you said, coming out August 19th, Afterlife available everywhere. Already had a couple of songs that we put out because it's kinda like teases, but I'm looking really looking forward to having all those songs out, next Friday, August 19th. Also the day that we start our upcoming US tour with, Megadeth, The Who, and Fire From the Gods. So we are, it has been a very you know, as much as the world slowed down during the pandemic, we did not.

And, we're we are reaping the rewards with being able to get back out there with new material and, coming back out to be part of the healing, and we are super stoked about it. I love to hear it. I'm always curious when it comes to when you guys go on tour, where, like, what exactly do you guys do in between shows besides travel to the next city? Do you guys go to different restaurants, or what do you do? Oh, yeah.

Like, we go all over the place. It's, it's one of the best things about being in a touring, band that tours the way that we do. You know, lots of different restaurants, local favorites. I kind of, pull up Yelp and read the reviews for restaurants there. I also use bands in town all the time.

So if we have a day off in the city that we're playing, I always look to see if other bands are playing out there and kinda go check out shows and just kinda hang out. And then on top of that, you know, you're you're catching up on sleep when you can, hitting the gym, trying to stay healthy. And, yeah, just doing everything possible to stay out there and enjoy the, the process of touring the world. It ain't that hard to to enjoy, really. Yeah.

When it comes to working out, I need to say you would go to the gym and all that. I mean, do you guys listen to your own music, or do you try to step away from all that? We pretty much step away from it. Like, not so much in the gym am I listening to it, but I'll listen to it kinda like around the house. I listened to it a bunch this morning before I got on here and was doing the interviews, just keeping everything fresh.

Because by the time the record comes out to you guys, we heard each of these songs thousands of times from, the beginning. So, you know, it's all stuff that, we still enjoy listening to, but, I don't even know what I listen to during the gym most of the time. Slayer, it seems like. The classic go to. Yeah.

Slayer. Yeah. Exactly. Rain and blood, good pace, gets me hyped up, and then and that's, that's definitely a go to for me and the gym. For the tour set list, are you guys planning to play a mix of the old and new, or how are you guys approaching the set list for each show for this upcoming tour?

That is one of the hardest things when you've got, 9 records now, trying to find the, hour and a half of material that, is gonna keep you interested, keep the fans interested, and have a nice flow to the show. But I think we've done great with the song selection on this upcoming tour. Lots of stuff off the new record. Probably more songs off the new record than we've played other new records, before. I I wanna say we got 4, maybe 5, from the new record on there.

And then also, you know, the the I don't wanna give away the set list, but you'll be able to get it pretty quickly after we play the first one. I mean, I saw you guys back in 20 16 back when I lived in California. I went to the Honda Center and saw you and Shine Down, and, it was a phenomenal show. Do you guys still are you guys still planning on putting on the, Barney theme song as the opener and all that? We have an opener coming up with that.

I think it'll be, equally as as fun. Tremendous. Yeah. And for this upcoming album, Afterlife, is there a specific track on it that you're most excited for us to listen to that hasn't been released as a single yet? There is a song on there called Judgment Day.

Have you guys had the chance to hear the record yet? I haven't yet. I'm sure my boss, Victor, has, considering he gets the sneak peeks and all that. I kind of will just, hear hear it myself the day it comes out. Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna wet your appetite then.

There's a song called Judgment Night or, Judgment Day that's on there. It's it's a real kind of, it's a departure for us trying something new. And, it's just dark. And, to use Ivan's name, it's very moody. But it's got this huge sing along chorus, and it just kinda comes out of nowhere.

There's a good flow on this record of, you know, everybody always says, oh, we made it. We got the heaviest stuff on here, the most sing along stuff. This is our favorite record ever. I can say that with confidence, on this record. Some of the heaviest stuff we've written on here, amazing.

Huge anthemic, stadium feeling songs on here, stuff for old Death Punch fans, stuff for new Death Punch fans, and, even stuff that will pull those who have been living in a cave and haven't heard of this yet. I I know it was funny. I was listening to another I was re reading another interview. It was old Tanya. He was talking about, your guys' upcoming record, Afterlife, is inspired by Queen because you guys felt like writing whatever you guys wanted.

Would you agree with that statement? Oh, yeah. That was one of the best things about, writing a record with no, no real schedule. We were able to kinda do whatever we wanted to. We didn't know how long we're gonna have in the studio, so we were able to take up as much time to really let some songs grow and breathe and turn into, other animals that they might not have, were we under time constraints.

But with the pandemic and no touring, no nothing else, we were able to just focus on making sure that the song kind of veered off into areas that we hadn't, approached yet. And, man, I'm super excited. Very creatively fulfilled, artistically fulfilled, and and stoked to get out there and, and share this with all you guys out there. Yeah. I I mean, I've been counting down the days, really.

It's funny because we are we here as a station, we like to play albums from start to finish, and I'm thinking, of course, I'm gonna try my best to play your guys' record from start to finish right the day it comes out, for sure. Beautiful. We appreciate that. Thank you. It's it's, it's taking a lot of time on track listing.

Again, just making sure that the the album flows how we want it to flow. As as much as I enjoy, you know, Spotify and Apple Music like that, I I love being able to just put on a record from start to finish and go. So I love that you're doing that on the radio, doing it old school. Yeah. Of course.

I mean, we we don't like the fact that, like, other rock stations out there really just kinda, like, you know, they play the classic rock. I mean, we play heavier heavier bands, of course, you guys and all these bands you would never hear on the radio. So I'm very excited to hear this. And then also, I've been hearing a lot of word about The Retaliators. I believe you guys have some music involved with that film.

Yes. We got, pretty sure we got a song on there, but we actually acted in the movie as well. I'm on there with Ivan Zoltan and, Andy James made an appearance in there as well. So our, our first collective effort into, into acting. So adding actor to being a musician and now a, a stand up comedian as well.

So just out here living life and staying busy. But, yeah, that that movie comes out, September 14th, I believe it is. And, you can get the movie trailer and the pre order tickets over at retaliatorsmovie.com. And I really had to stretch for this role as well. Get out of my wheelhouse and and really dig deep into my acting skills because I played a biker enforcer.

Have you We have the threats. Have you found, like, this newfound respect for those a list actors like Daniel Day Lewis or Leonardo DiCaprio when it came to your first time acting and seeing what acting is like? Oh my god. There was a scene in the movie where Zoltan and I go in to talk to the boss of, the gang that we work for. And, we have to basically tell him that we fucked up and we get to deal with his rat.

And to see this professionally trained Broadway actor convey the emotions and expressions on his face that he did. I was watching this dude in awe, and I'm like, I am not an actor. I I can play an amped up version of me, which I always do on stage and everything else, dude. I'm good at that. But, it's a a whole unique set of, specialized skills that, man, just the emotions that he conveyed on his face.

Ivan does that a lot too, actually. Ivan naturally does it. I love watching him on stage on videos when people are taking stuff from the crowd. Just watching his facial expressions as well. He's he's very expressive, and I saw a lot of that in the main actor in that one scene with me and Zoltan.

So, watch those expressions change and likely see just the look of awe on my face that I probably could not hide because I'm not a real actor. I I'm excited to see it, Chris, and I thank you so much for joining me today, especially for all the years you guys have been together as a band. I mean, you guys have been the soundtrack to my high school career with basketball, my college career with basketball, and I can't thank you enough, especially for this upcoming record. Very, very, very excited for it. Well, thank you very much.

I appreciate that. I am originally from Lexington, Kentucky, so I hold a, a very, high, level of love for the college basketball game. I haven't grown up watching the University of Kentucky. So, next time we're up that way, I forget the date that we're coming up that way, but, we'll have to get, we'll have to find a basketball hoop and and do a little horse. Absolutely.

Yeah. And we'll see you at the USANA Amphitheater in October with Megadeth and The Who. That's right. Finishing up that leg of the tour right there in Salt Lake City, October 15th. Looking forward to seeing you guys.

Awesome. Thank you so much, Chris. I appreciate it. Thank you, and we'll see you soon. See you soon.

Alright. Bye. Bye. The artist's interrogations podcast is a production of Riverbend Media Group. For more information or to contact the show, visit riverbendmediagroup.com.