Metalcore band has heart for veterans with PTSD

October 3, 2014 at 12:05a.m.

Five Finger Death Punch puts a lump into the throats of its fans with its latest video for new song “Wrong Side of Heaven.”

Directed by Nick Peterson, the video pulls no punches in promoting awareness of veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Clip after clip displays in heartbreaking fashion how PTSD affects men and women’s mental and physical health, as well as family life, assimilation back home after service and job placement.

“That would be the intention, to get people to feel something,” said guitarist Jason Hook, calling from a tour stop in Syracuse, N.Y. “When we came down to deciding what to do for the single, it was [singer] Ivan that suggested this is something he was feeling for this subject matter and that he’d rather do a video that targets a cause rather than just having a bunch of us jumping in front of fans on top of a mountain.”

So far the video for “Wrong Side of Heaven” has garnered more than 3.6 million views and, more importantly, through a kickstarter campaign raised more than $210,000 to benefit various organizations joining together to raise awareness for veterans suffering from PTSD.

In case you can’t tell, Five Finger Death Punch isn’t exactly your quintessential sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll type of band. In fact, you may remember the band promoted suicide awareness with its tune “Coming Down” from 2011 album “American Capitalist.”

In addition to promoting causes, the band with metalcore tendencies also isn’t afraid of taking risks. For instance, when it came time to write the group’s latest effort, the outfit was feeling so prolific in the studio it decided to release two albums separated by five months.

The result is 2013’s “The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1” and its follow-up “Volume 2.” The two albums feature three No. 1 radio hit singles (“Lift Me Up” featuring Rob Halford of Judas Priest, “Battle Born” and “The House Of The Rising Sun”) and have combined sales of more than 600,000 units.

The group will co-headline bill with Volbeat.

“We’re a big fan of the Volbeat,” Hook said. “They’re a powerhouse new band at radio and at the end of the day when people look at the options to buy a concert ticket, they want to come and hear the songs they love. So I think it’s a good idea to try to get a bunch of bands having similar success on the radio. We figured that’s a good pairing of two bands people can come see and sing along to.”

It’s been a long journey for Five Finger Death Punch, but after nearly a decade together Hook said the current arena tour indicates the band has achieved a certain level of success.

“All the bands do the same amount of stuff but some catch and some don’t catch,” Hook said. “I feel like we’re lucky that we pierced this level a lot of bands have a hard time piercing. Headlining a sold-out arena concert tour is a very rare and special thing, and I know we all feel pretty grateful for it. And, if you go through our live set, you’re starting to hear eight or nine hits in a row.

“That’s the kind of catalog we’re fortunate to have and that’s the kind of catalog that gets people coming back. They want to sing ‘Bad Company’ and ‘Far From Home,’ ‘Lift Me Up’ and ‘Coming Down.’ So I feel like we finally landed at a place that is fairly safe, although I would never get too comfortable, but it feels pretty good.”