FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH frontman Ivan Moody says that the band’s controversial music video for the 2020 track “Living The Dream” caused tension between him and the group’s guitarist Zoltan Bathory.
During a brand new interview with Metal Hammer, Ivan says the video “went down like a fart in a church” and that “it won’t ever be done in my name again.”
If you haven’t seen it for yourself, the “Living The Dream” video was widely perceived to be an anti-mask statement, which depicted mask-wearers as communists and slaves.
Moody says he gave Bathory free reign on the video’s concept: “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!
“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 it. 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.”
During the same discussion, Zoltan went on to defend the video, saying: “Obviously, that video created a lot of dust, and I really don’t want to kick up another shitstorm 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 shit.”
He continued: “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.”
You can read the full interview with FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH in the latest issue of Metal Hammer.