Zoltan Bathory recently spoke with June Archor about the origins of Five Finger Death Punch. He shared that martial arts films were a big inspiration behind the band’s name, especially the ‘Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique’ from Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Kill Bill.’ The guitarist recalled:
“When ‘Kill Bill’ came out, they had this five-finger exploding heart, whatever, technique. And so, we were sitting in a movie theater, I’m, like, ‘Man, that sounds so stupid, that should be a band name.’ And then pretty much here we go today.”
He said they shortened the name:
“Because five-finger exploding lotus technique wouldn’t be a good-sounding name. So I ended up picking Five Finger Death Punch. It’s sort of like an ode to kung fu and martial arts and this old-school Hong Kong martial arts cinema, basically.”
They Had Other Names In Mind
Bathory went into more detail about the name-choosing process during the interview. He continued:
“I started this band in 2005, and I started to record the first material that became our first album. And when you work on a new project—everybody can do it their way, but I always thought that don’t name it yet because I think what you’re saying, the musical content and your lyrics and how the band or the artist looks, and all those things together have to be a complete picture.”
The band thought of several options including Five Finger Death Punch and made a list:
“And as the band was developing, our sound was developing, this was probably the closest [to what we sounded like]. And all the other good names were already taken. So, you have to look at the dot com, [if it’s] available, but you have to pick a name that sticks out, a name that when you say to somebody, people take a second and look, like, ‘What?’ If it’s too average or it’s too simple, it’s really difficult to remember.”
The Band Is On The Road Once Again
Five Finger Death Punch announced a new US tour with Marilyn Manson and Slaughter To Prevail in March. The summer trek starts on August 2 in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and ends on September 19 in Houston, Texas.
The band will perform shows in Europe before the US tour. They will take the stage at several stadium dates with Metallica and headline shows with Ice Nine Kills.