
Turns out they were playing around with that idea all along. So they asked Jeremy if I would be interested. They went through several guys, and then Darrell wasn’t working out for whatever reason. You should stick with Zoltan.” As they started to develop, it became an issue to find a second guitar player. I remember telling him, “This is really cool. When Zoltan and Jeremy were developing Death Punch, I was listening to their very first recordings. We were in several projects that fizzled, and eventually he worked on my solo album, Safety Dunce.

HOOK Jeremy was one of the first friends I made when I moved to L.A. GW Jason, how did you come to replace Darrell Roberts as 5FDP’s lead guitarist? A lot of times it just sounds like random aggression. The one thing I often find missing in metal is structure and payoff. The first record is basically all face-peeler metal, and I love it, but I’m more of a song guy. JASON HOOK I think War Is the Answer is more mature. I love shredding and all that stuff, but the song comes first. But the most important thing is always the song. The Way of the Fist was very metal this one is more hard rock. We have an established sound, and we definitely wanted to keep that, but we also wanted to broaden our horizons.

ZOLTAN BATHORY We all wanted to make a record that was a progression from The Way of the Fist.

GUITAR WORLD Did you have any specific goals when you went in to make War Is the Answer?
