By Craig Lindberg

Five Finger Death Punch has accomplished in a short time what takes most bands a lifetime to achieve…mainstream success. In a genre that, at best, provides loyal underground followings at festivals and small venues, FFDP has risen above the clichéd “mainstream” to assault the masses with their debut album The Way of the Fist.

On the strength of the unconventional ballad “The Bleeding,” the members of FFDP have been exposed to a crossover audience most of the band thought they may never see. The re-release of The Way of the Fist has also produced the hit “Never Enough,” a song that ironically deals with the pressures that come with mainstream success. Constant appearances and touring had taken their toll on FFDP singer Ivan Moody, who suffered strained vocal chords due to the band’s relentless schedule, forcing them to cancel a number of gigs.

Being featured on this summer’s Rockstar Mayhem Festival has kept the FFDP juggernaut moving into their headlining tour this fall; it comes to The Palladium on Saturday, October 25th.

Pulse had a chance to speak with FFDP guitarist Darrell Roberts about the upcoming tour, mainstream radio, and things that go bump in the night.

Pulse: How was the Mayhem experience this summer?
Darrell: Sick. Touring with bands like Slipknot and Disturbed can only be described as sick. Every day was just a sea of people. We would get done with our set and have 400 kids waiting to meet us in the Jager tent. It got so crazy they started giving out tickets for our meet and greet to keep the line down so the other bands on the tour could do their meet and greet.

Pulse: Your headlining tour kicks off in a few days, what are the differences in preparation for your own tour vs. a festival tour like Mayhem?
Darrell: We have a lot more say in the stage show, lighting, effects, that sort of thing. Not to mention a much longer set. Festivals are cool for the experience, seeing and meeting a lot of other bands, exposing more people to our stuff…nothing compares to your own tour though.

Pulse: FFDP has achieved some pretty significant mainstream success with “The Bleeding,” a ballad of sorts, but still a very heavy song, was there a concern that it wouldn’t take off as a single, and for that matter, would it have mattered to you guys?
Darrell: Yeah, we weren’t sure it would get played. We wanted to be on the radio so we recorded a clean version for mainstream radio, it was still a heavy song but really the only “radio-friendly” song on the initial release of Way of the Fist.

Pulse: “Never Enough” has also received considerable airplay. How did that song come to be on the re-release?
Darrell: We were touring constantly. Family Values, Korn, Hell Yeah. Ivan started getting sick. After the Hell Yeah tour they wanted us to go right back out with All That Remains and Chimaira. A few stops on that tour Ivan could barely speak. He saw his doctor and found out he strained his vocal chords from overuse. We had to cancel a bunch of shows to let him rest. During that downtime we started recording a couple tracks at Jonathon Davis’ studio in LA. Ivan was feeling better, came in and lay down some vocals. The song’s basically about you being told what to do in this industry, even if it’s not in your personal best interest. We re-released Way of the Fist and it ended up being our second single.

Pulse: You guys are playing the Palladium the end of Oct. It’s a good time of year in this area, especially if you’re a horror fan. Any favorite horror movies?
Darrell: Oh yeah, everyone in the band is a huge horror fan! I’d have to say the first Friday the 13th, to this day that movie can hold its own with anything out there, it’s just plain creepy no matter how many times I watch it.