Five Finger Death Punch bassist Chris Kael got the audition for his new job via Facebook, he’s revealed.
And he made sure he’d seal the deal by wearing a combat sport shirt to the rehearsal room.
Earlier this year Kael replaced Matt Snell after he was fired at the end of 2010. He appears on 5FDP’s new album, American Capitalist, which the band say speaks in favour of the current form of US economic activity and its effect on global finance.
Kael tells The First 3 Songs: "
I heard they were looking for a bassist through friends of theirs. My old friend from high school is actually their drum tech. I heard they were looking so I kept telling him: ‘Saul, get me an audition – do what you can.’
"I’d been trying and I hadn’t heard anything. I went to see System of a Down; I was watching those guys and turned around and looked at the stage and it hit me: ‘If you want it, go after it.’
"So that night I went home and Facebooked Jason Hook, a real brief message: ‘I’m your guy. Call me. All I need is an audition.’
"He messaged me back the next day and asked, ‘How are your vocals?’ Other projects I had done before I did lead vocals, so I sent him a track. I guess they liked it because I was invited to do the audition.”
Guitarist Zoltan Bathory remembers how Kael arrived wearing a Muay Thai t-shirt. He says: "You never know what you’re going to get. It’s not just a musical thing that has to click, but personality.
"So he walks in as a laid-back guy, and I see the shirt and I ask him: ‘Do you fight?’ He says, ‘Yeah, yeah.’ It’s a hobby on the road touring."
Kael adds: "So he got a workout partner. I wore that shirt by design."
Bathory says the band knew during the first song they’d found their man. He explains: "Musicians know, some people who are not musicians may not – you have to have connections. It’s how bands survive. The first and foremost issue with bands on why they break up is personal. Therefore you have to have the right member – he was the right guy."
Thanks for the report to RockNewsDesk.com.
No.
Jason Hook isnt even an original member, so now they basically have only 3 orginal members.
Schmeh.