Five Finger Death Punch guitarist, Andy James, recently appeared on the Scandalous Podcast talking about various topics including the songwriting process for the upcoming ninth 5FDP record.
Among the topics covered are Andy relocating to Las Vegas in January 2021 from the UK, building a studio in his new place, writing in the studio for 5FDP’s ninth album, preparing for the bands upcoming festival shows and the current vibe in the band. Andy also talks about his solo albums, his signature Kiesel Guitars and how his experience has helped him approach songwriting.
When asked about the current songwriting process within Five Finger Death Punch, James said, “A lot of what’s happening in the studio at the moment is hashing out ideas and stuff,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve heard anything yet that’s fully done, finished or whatever. It’s only been a few weeks anyway.”
“We’re just talking about direction — how it’s gonna be, sound and all the rest of it. But, obviously, I’m coming into a process that’s already established, so I’m only really kind of offering the odd opinion here and there when it’s asked of me. So I’m kind of working my way up to being able to say, ‘Oh, yeah. What do you think of this?’ or blah blah blah.”
“It’s gonna be a new process for the rest of the guys in the band, bringing in a new person, cause, obviously, Jason [Hook] was a big part of the writing for this band. There are a lot of similarities between me and him anyway. Ten years prior to even joining the band, I was a fan of Death Punch, so I’m well aware of his style and his playing, and I dare say some of that’s even rubbed off. ‘Cause in a lot of modern bands nowadays, there isn’t really a huge amount of guitar solos being played. When you’re listening to newer stuff that’s a band, say like Death Punch that rose up relatively recently compared to a lot of other bands that might have already had that in the band, I suppose it’s probably one of the only bands I would listen to that probably had guitar solos over some of the more modern stuff I listen to.”
“Coming into this process after doing eight records or whatever, I’m gonna be able to bring something cool, no doubt. I’ve kind of already thrown a few ideas here and there, and it’s not been completely, ‘No, that sucks,’ or whatever. So, yeah. I don’t know. We’ll see how it goes.”
James joined 5FDP as an official member in October 2020 following the depature of Jason Hook. Since then the band has already released one song featuring Andy James – Broken World – which appeared on the bands second greatest hits compilation album, A Decade of Destruction Volume 2 (2020). James also appeared in the bands latest music video for Darkness Settles In from the bands F8 (2020) album. Clips have also surfaced online of James during takes for 2021 version of The Bleeding as part of the bands re-recording of 5FDP’s debut album The Way of the Fist (2007).