In celebration of their new mini-album, Ready To Be, K-Pop girl group, TWICE stopped by our studios for an Audacy Check In with Bru.

The 9 member group consisting of Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu hail from South Korea and have seen tremendous success since forming as a group on the show Sixteen in 2015.

When asked what its been like to receive such amazing reception and love from the fans, Nayeon spoke for the group expressing just how grateful they all are. “It’s amazing to be love by so many people," she said, also thanking “everyone for giving us support,” looking at the camera with a cute little hand wave.

Curious about TWICE’s creative process, Bru asked the group how they go about their song writing process. Jeongyeon jumped in first, saying, “I have tried writing lyrics before. I try to write lyrics that match the mood of TWICE.” Dahyun followed up by noting, “I also think about our fans, trying to write feelings towards them.”

With only a few months into 2023, TWICE has “many things” planned for the rest of the year, as Chaeyoung teased without revealing too much, however did note that “as always we will work hard.”

Jihyo on the other hand wasn’t sacred to spill some deets. “So in 2023 we’ll be actually going on tour again, and we’re really looking forward to meeting a lot of our ONCE and receiving energy from them as well."

TWICE also shared just how much it meant to them to be recognized atrecent Billboard’s Women in Music event, as well as some of their career aspirations and goals, before revealing who their dream collab would be if they had a guaranteed yes. Their answer… Rihanna — duh. Fingers crossed their dreams come true.

Ready To Be, marks TWICE’s 12th album release and second all-English album following 2021’s The Feels.

Speaking a bit about their officially available new album, and what to expect, Tzuyu said, “this album… shows our strong will, to show everyone that TWICE is ready to welcome our true selves and breaking the prejudice and other peoples view.”

The group first gave fans an early taste of the album in January with the release of the song, “Moonlight Sunrise.” Explaining how choosing to release that track as the lead single was a unanimous decision, Jeongyeon said, “When we first heard 'Moonlight Sunrise' everyone in the group unanimously liked it, and having the song written in English we felt like we’d be able to relay our emotions to fans better.”

For all that and more from TWICE check out their entire Check In interview above.

Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Bru

In celebration of their new mini-album, Ready To Be, K-Pop girl group, TWICE stopped by our studios for an Audacy Check In with Bru.
The 9 member group consisting of Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu hail from South Korea and have seen tremendous success since forming as a group on the show Sixteen in 2015.
When asked what its been like to receive such amazing reception and love from the fans, Nayeon spoke for the group expressing just how grateful they all are. “It’s amazing to be love by so many people," she said, also thanking “everyone for giving us support,” looking at the camera with a cute little hand wave.
Curious about TWICE’s creative process, Bru asked the group how they go about their song writing process. Jeongyeon jumped in first, saying, “I have tried writing lyrics before. I try to write lyrics that match the mood of TWICE.” Dahyun followed up by noting, “I also think about our fans, trying to write feelings towards them.”
With only a few months into 2023, TWICE has “many things” planned for the rest of the year, as Chaeyoung teased without revealing too much, however did note that “as always we will work hard.”
Jihyo on the other hand wasn’t sacred to spill some deets. “So in 2023 we’ll be actually going on tour again, and we’re really looking forward to meeting a lot of our ONCE and receiving energy from them as well."
TWICE also shared just how much it meant to them to be recognized at recent Billboard’s Women in Music event, as well as some of their career aspirations and goals, before revealing who their dream collab would be if they had a guaranteed yes. Their answer… Rihanna — duh. Fingers crossed their dreams come true.
Ready To Be, marks TWICE’s 12th album release and second all-English album following 2021’s The Feels.
Speaking a bit about their officially available new album, and what to expect, Tzuyu said, “this album… shows our strong will, to show everyone that TWICE is ready to welcome our true selves and breaking the prejudice and other peoples view.”
The group first gave fans an early taste of the album in January with the release of the song, “Moonlight Sunrise.” Explaining how choosing to release that track as the lead single was a unanimous decision, Jeongyeon said, “When we first heard 'Moonlight Sunrise' everyone in the group unanimously liked it, and having the song written in English we felt like we’d be able to relay our emotions to fans better.”
For all that and more from TWICE check out their entire Check In interview above.
Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Bru

Listen as our favorite artists Check In for candid conversations about music and more.

Listen as our favorite artists Check In for candid conversations about music and more.

Audacy Check-In

TWICE | Audacy Check In | 3.10.23

Girl In Red joins host Brad Steiner for an Audacy Check In to discuss her brand new sophomore album, I'M DOING IT AGAIN, BABY!, available everywhere April 12.

Girl In Red's 10-track follow-up to her 2021 debut is out now, featuring the previously released singles "Too Much," "I'm Back," "You Need Me Now?," with Sabrina Carpenter, and plenty more.

Norwegian-born singer, songwriter, and producer, Marie Ulven Ringheim, better known as Girl In Red, sat down with host Brad Steiner at the Hard Rock Hotel New York to get into details about how the new record came together, what she's got planned for fans on her upcoming supporting tour, and more.

In the past and documented on her first release, 2020’s If I Could Make It Go Quiet, Marie has admitted to not being the best when it comes to the dating scene, but these days she says she has a girlfriend now, “So I’m good. I’m set for life.” Now happily “in love,” this second album she says reflects how “I know everything I'm doing… I'm so professional.”

Looking back on the track “hornylovesickmess” from her debut release, where Marie sings about feeling weird about how things have changed in her life, she says, in all honesty, “probably not that much,” really changed. “I was probably hyping myself up way too much in that song. But, you know, in that song, I'm talking about being in Times Square and I'm looking at my face on a billboard… I feel like something similar is gonna happen in the next couple of days.”

“I have a girlfriend and I have a dog. I have a car, I have an apartment, and I'm touring the world. I didn't do that before,” she says of how things have steadily progressed.

Overall, Marie is ultra-excited for fans to hear the new album mainly because she believes “all the songs are really f***ing sick. That's like my most prideful moment, because I just think they're all really cool and funny, and just they all have such strong identities, in my opinion. Obviously, I'm very f***ing biased.” Reflective of her own personality, fans can expect the new release to be just as eclectic as her debut, only this time she’s spelling it with all caps.

“I think I've kind of regained some of my confidence the last couple of months, maybe the last year and a half, going into my twenties,” Marie says. After finding quite a bit of success with her first record, she admits, “I definitely lost a lot of my self-esteem. I was like, ‘Damn, I f***ing suck. I'm unlovable. I hate myself.’ I was in a really bad place and now that I have a girlfriend and I have physical proof that I'm not unlovable. Also, I've managed to find my way back to that playful self-esteem that I had when I was a teenager because you kind of lose that when you get older and you start seeing that you're not special and nobody gives a f*** and the world is ending.”

“I think that's kind of where I found the confidence with all these capital letters,” she explains. "‘I’M DOING IT AGAIN, BABY!’ is kind of like I found my confidence again, I found my self-esteem, and I realized nothing f***ing matters. So let's f****ing go!”

Getting to that happier place “takes a lot of time, and it takes a lot of hard work, and it takes a lot of realizing that you have to do the work yourself. And also, my go-to thing now is saying ‘yes’ to life…  Say ‘yes’ and stop being a p***y. That's what I did because I was constantly falling for my own kind of hinders. Life is really uncomfortable. So, I'm just gonna be uncomfortable, embracing the uncomfortableness and then just saying yes to life.”

Saying "yes" when Taylor Swift asks you to open for her on her world tour would certainly be one of those times. “I opened for her at the tour in four different cities. Eight shows, best eight shows of my life, especially watching her shows,” says Marie. “When you talk about the confidence and the things that give you the shot of adrenaline and confidence like that… Just pure humbleness, pure I don't know, maybe just like shock. Just getting that recognition is beyond insane. I think I was more like, ‘Wow, is this even real?’"

I’M DOING IT AGAIN BABY!is available everywhere -- and tickets for Girl In Red's 2024 world tour are on sale now.

Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Brad Steiner

Girl In Red joins host Brad Steiner for an Audacy Check In to discuss her brand new sophomore album, I'M DOING IT AGAIN, BABY!, available everywhere April 12.
Girl In Red's 10-track follow-up to her 2021 debut is out now, featuring the previously released singles "Too Much," "I'm Back," "You Need Me Now?," with Sabrina Carpenter, and plenty more.
Norwegian-born singer, songwriter, and producer, Marie Ulven Ringheim, better known as Girl In Red, sat down with host Brad Steiner at the Hard Rock Hotel New York to get into details about how the new record came together, what she's got planned for fans on her upcoming supporting tour, and more.
In the past and documented on her first release, 2020’s If I Could Make It Go Quiet, Marie has admitted to not being the best when it comes to the dating scene, but these days she says she has a girlfriend now, “So I’m good. I’m set for life.” Now happily “in love,” this second album she says reflects how “I know everything I'm doing… I'm so professional.”
Looking back on the track “hornylovesickmess” from her debut release, where Marie sings about feeling weird about how things have changed in her life, she says, in all honesty, “probably not that much,” really changed. “I was probably hyping myself up way too much in that song. But, you know, in that song, I'm talking about being in Times Square and I'm looking at my face on a billboard… I feel like something similar is gonna happen in the next couple of days.”
“I have a girlfriend and I have a dog. I have a car, I have an apartment, and I'm touring the world. I didn't do that before,” she says of how things have steadily progressed.
Overall, Marie is ultra-excited for fans to hear the new album mainly because she believes “all the songs are really f***ing sick. That's like my most prideful moment, because I just think they're all really cool and funny, and just they all have such strong identities, in my opinion. Obviously, I'm very f***ing biased.” Reflective of her own personality, fans can expect the new release to be just as eclectic as her debut, only this time she’s spelling it with all caps.
“I think I've kind of regained some of my confidence the last couple of months, maybe the last year and a half, going into my twenties,” Marie says. After finding quite a bit of success with her first record, she admits, “I definitely lost a lot of my self-esteem. I was like, ‘Damn, I f***ing suck. I'm unlovable. I hate myself.’ I was in a really bad place and now that I have a girlfriend and I have physical proof that I'm not unlovable. Also, I've managed to find my way back to that playful self-esteem that I had when I was a teenager because you kind of lose that when you get older and you start seeing that you're not special and nobody gives a f*** and the world is ending.”
“I think that's kind of where I found the confidence with all these capital letters,” she explains. "‘I’M DOING IT AGAIN, BABY!’ is kind of like I found my confidence again, I found my self-esteem, and I realized nothing f***ing matters. So let's f****ing go!”
Getting to that happier place “takes a lot of time, and it takes a lot of hard work, and it takes a lot of realizing that you have to do the work yourself. And also, my go-to thing now is saying ‘yes’ to life…  Say ‘yes’ and stop being a p***y. That's what I did because I was constantly falling for my own kind of hinders. Life is really uncomfortable. So, I'm just gonna be uncomfortable, embracing the uncomfortableness and then just saying yes to life.”
Saying "yes" when Taylor Swift asks you to open for her on her world tour would certainly be one of those times. “I opened for her at the tour in four different cities. Eight shows, best eight shows of my life, especially watching her shows,” says Marie. “When you talk about the confidence and the things that give you the shot of adrenaline and confidence like that… Just pure humbleness, pure I don't know, maybe just like shock. Just getting that recognition is beyond insane. I think I was more like, ‘Wow, is this even real?’"
I’M DOING IT AGAIN BABY! is available everywhere -- and tickets for Girl In Red's 2024 world tour are on sale now.
Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Brad Steiner

Girl In Red | Audacy Check In | 4.12.24

While it probably doesn’t seem like Glass Animals really ever escaped our ether and musical minds due to the sky-rocketing success of their song “Heat Waves,” the band did actually take a beat to make some new music, and now they’re officially back.

On heals of sharing cryptic posts, making A LOT of references to what we now know to be their next album title, I LOVE YOU SO F***ING MUCH, and finally dropping their brand new single "Creatures in Heaven,” the band’s lead vocalist Dave Bayley checked in with Audacy’s Brad Steiner to chat all about it at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York.

Discussing what it was like to put on the pressure of “Heat Waves” when going back into the studio, Dave admitted, “it was hard actually… It’s quite a surreal experience having that kind of song like that especially when it was, I’m gonna say the C word — COVID. We kinda watched it, we were spectators, we couldn’t go out into the world and like see it happening. We were kind of sitting in underpants at home… like just getting emails… like ‘people seem to like this song,’" which he noted was, “cool, wicked,” and “great.”

“So coming back into the world,” he continued, “I think we’re all a little bit lost. And you know the natural place for us is to just hide in the studio, alone, be a little bit isolationist about it, in our underpants, yeah and that’s it. We just kept it as it always was, just sit down, focus, work on making the best thing that you can, without thinking about the past.”

Wiping their social media and starting from scratch for this new era, one thing they’ve been able to do this time around is start this new musical phase with fan meet-up focus groups to introduce Glass Animals’ new sound with the lead single, "Creatures in Heaven.”

At first joking that things went terribly, jesting that “someone threw up,” and that “someone flipped over a table and left the room,” and that he “got punched” and “that someone bit off my ear,” Dave then shared how things actually went down, expressing, “it was actually amazing, it was really emotional."

As many artists have noted in the past, by they time we hear a song, they’ve listened to it so many times, “you get a little like immune to it.”

And though “it’s really sad song, and when I wrote it I was really sad,” Dave admitted, he’d “gotten used to that feeling.” However, when “you get to the room, and you hear people listening, see people listening to it for first time, you hear that again and you feel it.” So the first one, we pushed play and I forgot how sad a song it was, everyone started crying and then I started crying and it was like ‘oh my God, this is more than I signed up for today.’”

Recently sharing that every song on the album is “written for someone or the concept of someone,” Dave elaborated further that while some of them are very specifically about one person, "some are kind of more an amalgamation of people where similar thing happened.” The common thread is they’re all “very very personal.” Answering Brad’s question about if someone would be able to deduce if a song is about them, Dave conceded, “I think some people can probably work it out.”

Revealing he’s feeling slightly nervous about the level of vulnerability on I LOVE YOU SO F***ING MUCH, Dave shared that while the last album was personal, "it was very much about things happened long time ago,” so there was this “level of detachment.” And with “Heat Waves,” “being such a personal song," along with “a lot of the other songs in the last record,” because of all the “positivity” and “kindness that came back from the people” it gave Glass Animals the “courage to do something, to push further,” which is “always the goal with the record.”

Discussing his conceptual way of writing songs, Dave’s main goal is to do things differently, to do “something new.” Adding, “I’d hate to do something that’s been done before by someone else.”

Also explaining what a peanut butter vibe is, something Brad has been wondering about for 10 years, Dave said the best way to describe it, is that childlike feeling of eating a big ole scoop of peanut butter off a spoon. He also delved into some of the bands more iconic and memorable lyrics, like “My girl eats mayonnaise / From a jar while she's getting blazed,” from “Season 2 Episode 3.” Brad asked Dave to share what he thinks will be the most unique lyric on the new album.

“Oh, that’s a good question,” Dave noted, “There’s a song on the new album and the first line is  — what the H is happening? What is this? I just woke up in the trunk of a black out 99 Toyota Corolla.”

Before concluding the conversation, being that they were in the Hard Rock Artist Lounge, and the Hard Rock is known for its unique collection of items. Brad inquired what would Glass Animals’ contribution be. And we can guarantee its not what you’re thinking… because it’s actually not a what, but a who.

To find out, and listen to the entire interview, press play above.

Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Brad Steiner

While it probably doesn’t seem like Glass Animals really ever escaped our ether and musical minds due to the sky-rocketing success of their song “Heat Waves,” the band did actually take a beat to make some new music, and now they’re officially back.
On heals of sharing cryptic posts, making A LOT of references to what we now know to be their next album title, I LOVE YOU SO F***ING MUCH, and finally dropping their brand new single "Creatures in Heaven,” the band’s lead vocalist Dave Bayley checked in with Audacy’s Brad Steiner to chat all about it at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York.
Discussing what it was like to put on the pressure of “Heat Waves” when going back into the studio, Dave admitted, “it was hard actually… It’s quite a surreal experience having that kind of song like that especially when it was, I’m gonna say the C word — COVID. We kinda watched it, we were spectators, we couldn’t go out into the world and like see it happening. We were kind of sitting in underpants at home… like just getting emails… like ‘people seem to like this song,’" which he noted was, “cool, wicked,” and “great.”
“So coming back into the world,” he continued, “I think we’re all a little bit lost. And you know the natural place for us is to just hide in the studio, alone, be a little bit isolationist about it, in our underpants, yeah and that’s it. We just kept it as it always was, just sit down, focus, work on making the best thing that you can, without thinking about the past.”
Wiping their social media and starting from scratch for this new era, one thing they’ve been able to do this time around is start this new musical phase with fan meet-up focus groups to introduce Glass Animals’ new sound with the lead single, "Creatures in Heaven.”
At first joking that things went terribly, jesting that “someone threw up,” and that “someone flipped over a table and left the room,” and that he “got punched” and “that someone bit off my ear,” Dave then shared how things actually went down, expressing, “it was actually amazing, it was really emotional."
As many artists have noted in the past, by they time we hear a song, they’ve listened to it so many times, “you get a little like immune to it.”
And though “it’s really sad song, and when I wrote it I was really sad,” Dave admitted, he’d “gotten used to that feeling.” However, when “you get to the room, and you hear people listening, see people listening to it for first time, you hear that again and you feel it.” So the first one, we pushed play and I forgot how sad a song it was, everyone started crying and then I started crying and it was like ‘oh my God, this is more than I signed up for today.’”
Recently sharing that every song on the album is “written for someone or the concept of someone,” Dave elaborated further that while some of them are very specifically about one person, "some are kind of more an amalgamation of people where similar thing happened.” The common thread is they’re all “very very personal.” Answering Brad’s question about if someone would be able to deduce if a song is about them, Dave conceded, “I think some people can probably work it out.”
Revealing he’s feeling slightly nervous about the level of vulnerability on I LOVE YOU SO F***ING MUCH, Dave shared that while the last album was personal, "it was very much about things happened long time ago,” so there was this “level of detachment.” And with “Heat Waves,” “being such a personal song," along with “a lot of the other songs in the last record,” because of all the “positivity” and “kindness that came back from the people” it gave Glass Animals the “courage to do something, to push further,” which is “always the goal with the record.”
Discussing his conceptual way of writing songs, Dave’s main goal is to do things differently, to do “something new.” Adding, “I’d hate to do something that’s been done before by someone else.”
Also explaining what a peanut butter vibe is, something Brad has been wondering about for 10 years, Dave said the best way to describe it, is that childlike feeling of eating a big ole scoop of peanut butter off a spoon. He also delved into some of the bands more iconic and memorable lyrics, like “My girl eats mayonnaise / From a jar while she's getting blazed,” from “Season 2 Episode 3.” Brad asked Dave to share what he thinks will be the most unique lyric on the new album.
“Oh, that’s a good question,” Dave noted, “There’s a song on the new album and the first line is  — what the H is happening? What is this? I just woke up in the trunk of a black out 99 Toyota Corolla.”
Before concluding the conversation, being that they were in the Hard Rock Artist Lounge, and the Hard Rock is known for its unique collection of items. Brad inquired what would Glass Animals’ contribution be. And we can guarantee its not what you’re thinking… because it’s actually not a what, but a who.
To find out, and listen to the entire interview, press play above.
Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Brad Steiner

Glass Animals | Audacy Check In | 4.8.24

Joining us for an Audacy Check In today is Five Finger Death Punch's Zoltan Bathory, talking with host Abe Kanan about the band's brand-new single featuring DMX, their upcoming summer tour, and much more.

Five Finger Death Punch's ninth studio album, AfterLife, was released back in August of 2022. and their new deluxe edition with bonus tracks, including the single "This Is The Way" featuring late rap icon DMX is out now.

“We always thought he's kind of the ‘metal head’ of Hip Hop,” Zoltan says. “His delivery, the dog bark, the whole attitude… There are obviously other Hip Hop artists that I really like, but we always thought, how cool this would be to do something with him, because of that attitude. This conversation of trying to do something together has been going on for years and years, maybe 5-6 years, and for obvious and more reasons, he was not available from periods of times that we could really work with him, and then when he was available, that's in the last couple of years. It never really came to fruition because, unfortunately, he passed. However, what came out of it, since the conversation continued, we had access to some of these masters that he recorded.”

“Obviously people around him, the family, the estate, the producers, everybody, his friends, is super protective about his legacy, his art, everything [that] has to do with him,” he continues. “So we had to be super respectful and we worked through the channels, got the green light to use some of these songs, some of his lyrics, and then we arranged the song… it's a true collaboration. We have our part, and then where there's a part that both DMX and Ivan [Moody] sings the same thing, and there's a part that the verses are all DMX -- and we kind of tone down the guitars there so you can really hear what he's saying. His cadence, his flow is DMX, you can't mistake it… if you know DMX, there's no mistake.”

Because of publishing issues and red tape, the band was unable to include the song on AfterLife as intended, but luckily fans get to hear it “as it was meant to be” on the record’s deluxe edition, which also includes “a couple of really cool acoustic bonuses that we had,” says Zoltan. “The feedback was incredible,” he adds. “Everybody thought this is super respectful to him, the arrangement and the song, everybody loves it. Everybody thought, ‘Man, this is a hit and this might be the last thing we hear from DMX. And if it's the last thing we hear from DMX, then it's a proper track.”

“That's how Hype Williams got involved too… as this was making its way within the community, we thought, ‘OK, how are we gonna do a video for this song?’ Hype did the movie ‘Belly’, and he worked on [DMX’s] music videos. He was very, very close with DMX.” After sending Williams the track, he immediately responded saying he wanted to be a part of the project. Then he told me his whole story… how close he was and he was like, ‘You don't even know what you guys are sitting on, this is huge.’”

5FDP is about to hit North American cities this summer and fall with special guests Marilyn Manson and Slaughter To Prevail. With dates fast approaching, performing the song live would be the next logical step. “The way to do this I think would be, we would have to have guests,” says Zoltan. “We would have to have guest rappers,” he says, rather than incorporating a backing track. “We’re definitely working on figuring out how and who we could install as a guest to do it together.”

Looking ahead to this fall’s Aftershock festival happening October 13-16 in Sacramento, CA, where 5FDP are co-headliners amongst metal titans Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Slayer, Pantera, Disturbed, Slipknot, and Mötley Crüe, as well as an opening spot for Metallica coming up, Zoltan says it’s “crazy” to think how many people will be seeing them for the first time, some who may not even give a band named Five Finger Death Punch a fair chance. “I can tell that we're turning them,” he admits. “I can tell that especially after the show… after every show there's a jump in visitors and a jump in downloads and jump in statistics. When you bring in new people, that's what you can really see. Festivals, same thing. There are people who came to see very specific bands, right? People who are not necessarily your fans. That's your chance to pick up people or expose your music to people that either didn't give you a chance, or didn't hear before, or they read it online… You gotta have haters though, because if you don't, then you're not doing it right.”

Tickets for 5FDP's Summer/Fall tour are on sale now.

Don’t miss our full Audacy Check In with Five Finger Death Punch's Zoltan Bathory above -- and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists on Audacy.com/live.

Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Abe Kanan

Joining us for an Audacy Check In today is Five Finger Death Punch's Zoltan Bathory, talking with host Abe Kanan about the band's brand-new single featuring DMX, their upcoming summer tour, and much more.
Five Finger Death Punch's ninth studio album, AfterLife, was released back in August of 2022. and their new deluxe edition with bonus tracks, including the single "This Is The Way" featuring late rap icon DMX is out now.
“We always thought he's kind of the ‘metal head’ of Hip Hop,” Zoltan says. “His delivery, the dog bark, the whole attitude… There are obviously other Hip Hop artists that I really like, but we always thought, how cool this would be to do something with him, because of that attitude. This conversation of trying to do something together has been going on for years and years, maybe 5-6 years, and for obvious and more reasons, he was not available from periods of times that we could really work with him, and then when he was available, that's in the last couple of years. It never really came to fruition because, unfortunately, he passed. However, what came out of it, since the conversation continued, we had access to some of these masters that he recorded.”
“Obviously people around him, the family, the estate, the producers, everybody, his friends, is super protective about his legacy, his art, everything [that] has to do with him,” he continues. “So we had to be super respectful and we worked through the channels, got the green light to use some of these songs, some of his lyrics, and then we arranged the song… it's a true collaboration. We have our part, and then where there's a part that both DMX and Ivan [Moody] sings the same thing, and there's a part that the verses are all DMX -- and we kind of tone down the guitars there so you can really hear what he's saying. His cadence, his flow is DMX, you can't mistake it… if you know DMX, there's no mistake.”
Because of publishing issues and red tape, the band was unable to include the song on AfterLife as intended, but luckily fans get to hear it “as it was meant to be” on the record’s deluxe edition, which also includes “a couple of really cool acoustic bonuses that we had,” says Zoltan. “The feedback was incredible,” he adds. “Everybody thought this is super respectful to him, the arrangement and the song, everybody loves it. Everybody thought, ‘Man, this is a hit and this might be the last thing we hear from DMX. And if it's the last thing we hear from DMX, then it's a proper track.”
“That's how Hype Williams got involved too… as this was making its way within the community, we thought, ‘OK, how are we gonna do a video for this song?’ Hype did the movie ‘Belly’, and he worked on [DMX’s] music videos. He was very, very close with DMX.” After sending Williams the track, he immediately responded saying he wanted to be a part of the project. Then he told me his whole story… how close he was and he was like, ‘You don't even know what you guys are sitting on, this is huge.’”
5FDP is about to hit North American cities this summer and fall with special guests Marilyn Manson and Slaughter To Prevail. With dates fast approaching, performing the song live would be the next logical step. “The way to do this I think would be, we would have to have guests,” says Zoltan. “We would have to have guest rappers,” he says, rather than incorporating a backing track. “We’re definitely working on figuring out how and who we could install as a guest to do it together.”
Looking ahead to this fall’s Aftershock festival happening October 13-16 in Sacramento, CA, where 5FDP are co-headliners amongst metal titans Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Slayer, Pantera, Disturbed, Slipknot, and Mötley Crüe, as well as an opening spot for Metallica coming up, Zoltan says it’s “crazy” to think how many people will be seeing them for the first time, some who may not even give a band named Five Finger Death Punch a fair chance. “I can tell that we're turning them,” he admits. “I can tell that especially after the show… after every show there's a jump in visitors and a jump in downloads and jump in statistics. When you bring in new people, that's what you can really see. Festivals, same thing. There are people who came to see very specific bands, right? People who are not necessarily your fans. That's your chance to pick up people or expose your music to people that either didn't give you a chance, or didn't hear before, or they read it online… You gotta have haters though, because if you don't, then you're not doing it right.”
Tickets for 5FDP's Summer/Fall tour are on sale now.
Don’t miss our full Audacy Check In with Five Finger Death Punch's Zoltan Bathory above -- and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists on <a href="https://www.audacy.com/live">Audacy.com/live</a>.
Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Abe Kanan

TWICE | Audacy Check In | 3.10.23

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