Five Finger Death Punch is just doing its job

Jason Hook sounds like a businessman.

Although he’s best known as the rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and riffmaster of L.A. metalheads Five Finger Death Punch (to play July 27 at Freeman Coliseum), he delivers the details of the band’s recent activities in the efficient snap of a senior vice president. He sounds like a man who owns a band instead of a man who just plays in one, and he’s proud of the band’s work ethic and innovation.

“We built this little portable studio on our last headlining tour, and we still have it with us,” he told the Current. “We basically just like to keep the muscles working as far as the creative part of the job goes.”

Speaking of FFDP’s long-awaited follow-up to last year’s American Capitalist, Hook explains that the rolling studio isn’t a substitute for a real recording session, but just a way to remember ideas that occur on tour and make them permanent.

“When it comes time to stop touring and get back into the studio for another record, it’s better to have lots of material to choose from than to be starting from scratch,” he said. “That was the whole idea — to force ourselves to document ideas so we could keep moving forward.”

While the band will do their new album up proper, they intend to incorporate as many musical flourishes from the tour recordings as possible once it’s time to commit.

Of course, if FFDP is a business, business is good: not only did they generate massive interest on the strength of an Avengers tie-in (their cover of Faith No More’s “From Out of Nowhere” featured on the soundtrack to the record-breaking film), but they’re headlining their biggest concert tour since coming together in 2007. As the top-billed band for Metal Hammer’s “Trespass America” festival, they’re the most public face of the venerable British headbanger magazine’s first attempt at breaking into the rewarding U.S. tour market. In a year where the summer metal festival circuit is stuffed to overcapacity, Metal Hammer hopes to come out on top by assembling a lineup featuring some of the best-selling bands in heavy music.

Even speaking of the Avengers deal, Hook indulges in the language of well-performing departments and inventory management.

“Our management team is always trying to connect the dots,” he said. “While we’re out here touring, they’re trying to network and make things happen. The movie people wanted something that was previously unreleased, and that taught us a lesson — it’s always good to have more stuff in the vaults.”

Hook, who insists that Five Finger Death Punch is 100 percent prepared for the biggest headlining tour of their career, recognizes the importance of being asked to front for metal’s biggest overseas magazine in their attempt to invade America. His business acumen slips a little when he talks about how they prepared for the challenge.

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