5FDP’s Chris Kael gives the inside scoop on touring with Metallica in this exclusive interview with 107.7 The Bone on the bands 2024 US Tour.
Chasta and Baby Huey from 107.7 The Bone sit down with 5FDP’s Chris Kael.
In this interview, Chris opens up about everything from his junior high facial hair envy to his incredible journey from bartender to rocking out with FFDP. He shares the story of how a chance message to Jason Hook led to a life-changing audition and the gig of a lifetime. Plus, he reveals how a snarky comment from Five Finger Death Punch’s former bassist [Matt Snell] ignited his ambition to make it big in the music world.
Chris also dives into his passion for stand-up comedy and personal fitness goals – yes, he’s deadlifting an impressive 550 lbs! He discusses how he stays connected with fans, even delivering custom basses during the pandemic. Reflecting on the immense effort behind major events, Chris expresses his deep gratitude for his career and the inspiration he’s drawn from music over the years, from his early days with Rick Springfield to the success of his own band.
Check out some extracts from the interview below and keep scrolling to listen to the full conversation from backstage at 5FDP’s the Shoreline Amphitheatre show.
On touring with Metallica for the past two years:
Well, I tell you the coolest thing about that whole thing is James Hetfield [Metallica frontman] knows my name. He knows my name! Metallica was a HUGE influence for me growing up. [Metallica’s late bassist] Cliff Burton’s still my favourite bassist. I sing because of James Hetfield. I was listening to all the ’80s hair-metal stuff, so Motley Crue, Skid Row, and that’s all a real high register. And I’m, like, ‘Oh, I can’t… I got nothing there.’ And then I heard James. I’m, like, ‘I can do that.’ And he’s the reason I play my bass so damn low.
On whether touring with Metallica is “old hat” yet:
No, no, none of this is. I’m lucky that… I mean, there are days when ‘this isn’t enough.’ But I pull myself back: ‘Hold on a second. You used to be in the service world at the Hard Rock and hated that. You were just mad, listening to crazy heavy stuff just to keep everybody away to get you out of your bad mood.’ And now we’ve got Marilyn Manson out here with us right now, doing shows with Metallica, traveling all around the world. The platform that we’ve got allows me to do the other things that I do, whether it’s fan interactions with the bass packages, the vests, any of the charity work that we get to do, the comedy stuff. I mean hell, I got to be the movie ‘The Retaliators’. I had to get out of my comfort zone. I played a biker enforcer. Just watching the Metallica machine, it’s massive.
Keeping things fresh musically in Five Finger Death Punch:
I guess I can probably speak a little bit for Zoltan [Bathory]. I think it just comes down to writing for you. We’re lucky that when he first starting writing stuff, way back on ‘The Way of the Fist’, that stuff, began resonating with people but he wasn’t writing it for other people, he was writing it for himself. He was just like “Hey, this is something I’m proud of, that I enjoy, throw it out there…”.
Because if you try to chase something, you’re not going to catch it. If you just do what you do naturally, that’s going to resonate with people more than “Oh I just need to write this type of song.”
Sometimes you’ll have a record that you’re writing and you’ll need a little something and you kind of know what you need in there, but you’re not writing it for anybody else, other than that you know “Oh I know that I need this for this record to be complete.” That would be about the only time that you’re like “okay I need to try to do something here.”
But most of the time, ideas are out there and when the universe opens it up, you better capture that because it’s going to go to somebody else, you ain’t ever getting another chance to capture that moment. So capture every single moment.
That goes with music, with interactions here, everything. Be aware. Be present. Know when doors are being opened by the universe. Go through that door because even if that’s not the right door for you, it’s going to lead you to another direction that you wouldn’t have even known had you not just listened and taken the chance.
On ‘This Is The Way ft, DMX’ and why it was important for 5FDP to do this song with DMX:
It all came into line for me when we doing the video with Hype Williams. Hype Williams is a good friend of DMX and even he was like “How did you guys get to do this song!?” and that’s all outside the scope of my [remit]… I play bass!
Go back and watch [Zoltan’s] videos [to learn more about how the collaboration with DMX came to fruition], I’ll tell you about how cool it was when Hype was like, “Dude, DMX, would have loved to have been in here. He would have been over on the side getting everybody amped up just going crazy.”
And could feel that presence with Hype being in there. He was really wanting to bring that out and yeah man, I’m not a huge hip-hop guy but DMX was a big guy for me. I think I like hardcore, metal and then like gangster type rap. That type of stuff. The hard edge stuff. I love yell rapping. I love comedians that yell, anything that yells I love it.