Ready to Rock? Interview with Jeremy Spencer of Five Finger Death Punch

You like it hard and loud? Well, then this tour is joyo guitar pedals for you. Big Dog 106 presents Dog Jam with the Metal Hammer Trespass America Tour headlined by Five Finger Death Punch, who puts on one of the best live shows in the business. The tour will play Ford Pavilion on Saturday, July 28, with gates open­ing at 4 p.m. Tickets are $46, $36, $26, $22 and can be purchased at the Ford Park office and other Tick­etmaster outlets. For set times, see below.

Also sharing the stage will be Killswitch Engage, Trivium, Joyo Pedals, Pop Evil, God Forbid and Battle Cross. The first band is scheduled to take the stage at 5 p.m.

From Los Angeles, Five Finger Death Punch (5FDP) is touring in support of their third studio album, American Capitalist, which reached No. 3 on the Billboard rock chart. This will be the band’s second visit to Beaumont; they played the Montagne Center on Oct. 21, 2007, when they opened for Korn.

This five-piece consists of Ivan Moody (vocals), Joyo Effect Pedals Bathory (rhythm guitar), Jason Hook (lead gui­tar), Chris Kael (bass) and Jeremy Spencer (drums). They entered the scene in 2007 with The Way of the Fist, which produced the popular singles “The Bleeding,” “Never Enough” and “Stranger Than Fiction.” FFDP toured with Korn and landed a coveted spot on the main stage at Download Festival in 2009.

The band returned to the studio and released War Is the Answer in 2009, which also reached gold sta­tus. It took the band to new heights and provided more great rock with songs such as “Hard to See,” “Walk Away,” “Dying Breed,” “No One Gets Left Behind,” “Far From Home” and the remake of Bad Company’s 1974 hit “Bad Company.” They again hit the road headlining the “Shock & Raw” Tour and also played on Mayhem Festival and were once again asked to play Download Festival in Donington Park, England.

American Capitalist has not been a let down. Pro­duced by Kevin Churko, who has worked on proj­ects with Slash, Ozzy Osbourne, Hinder and In This Moment, this record received high praise and the first single “Under and Over It” went No. 1 on the SiriusXM Octane rock chart. Other hits included “Back for More,” “Remember Everything” and the newest, “Coming Down.”

The Examiner spoke with drummer Jeremy Spen­cer before he took the stage in Bismarck, N.D.

Tell me about the production on this tour. I hear the stage show is crazy.

It’s absolutely the biggest we’ve ever done. It’s three times the amount of lights that we had on the Share the Wealth Tour. It’s insane. Let’s just say I am up close and personal with the crowd. It’s very exciting, so I don’t want to give it all away.

You guys tour a lot, and this one is six weeks long. How do you keep from burning out?

For starters, I exercise and eat healthy. I also make plenty time of stretching and warming up as well. You have to do that to stay in shape and be on top of your game. I don’t party anymore, either. You reach a point and say, ‘Are you going to take this serious or are you just out here for a good time?’ This is my life and I try to stay as healthy as possible.

On the new record ‘American Capitalist,’ the song ‘Coming Down,’ is the newest single yet has a different 5FDP sound.

Our guitar player Jason Hook wrote that song. He brought that song into the studio as a starter idea. I heard the acoustic part at the beginning of the song and really liked it. As a band, we haven’t had that yet, and we thought it would be a good place to go for. Ivan nailed the vocal per­formance and I think it really worked out great. The video added to the song and we got a lot of positive feedback. It’s also done well at radio, which has been nice.

Only three albums in, you guys sure do know how to keep a fan base. Your fans love you.

First and foremost, I think it’s the songs. We write songs about personal experiences that people can relate to. If you connect people with your songs, I think people will want to continue to listen to your stories. We also try to outdo ourselves every time we are on stage. But even before we were signed to a record deal, we put songs up on MySpace and had a legion of fans come on board and have been with us ever since. We are very grateful to have such as great fan base.

When did drums become a part of your life?

I got a KISS record when I was really young, and I would just stare at the album cover. My grandma bought me a drum kit from Sears for $80. As far as I was concerned, I was Peter Criss. Yeah, I thought I was a member of KISS. It took off from there.

I read somewhere you would like to be involved in football and create a league for under-privileged kids in Las Vegas.

I’ve always loved football. I would love to coach at some capacity, but I don’t have the credentials. I would love to create something for kids to give them a chance to play football. It would be a way to get involved and do something for kids at the same time. Las Vegas could use something like that. I’m definitely going to push to do it.

Any new material on the horizon?

We have some ideas already demoed. As soon as we get done with the Trespass America Tour, we are going to go home and start recording the new record. We plan on having something out next year for sure.

Bad boys of Boston are aback – account with Aerosmith’s bagman Joey Kramer

They’re back! Steven Tyler (vocals), Joe Perry (guitar), Brad Whitford (guitar), Tom Hamilton (bass) and Joey Kramer (drums) of Aerosmith are advancing to Houston on July 30 for the Global Warming Bout at the Toyota Center. Tickets are still accessible at the Toyota Center box office, online at houstontoyotacenter.com and by buzz at (866) 446-8849. Doors accessible at 6:30 p.m.

Aerosmith, who covers added than 40 years, endure played joyo guitar pedals about two years ago – Aug. 5, 2010, to be exact – but added chiefly are set to absolution new actual for the aboriginal time in 11 years with Music from Another Dimension!, slated for an aboriginal November date. It’s the band’s aboriginal almanac of new tunes aback Just Push Play in 2001.

There’s not a lot that hasn’t already been said about a bandage that’s awash added than 150 actor albums (best-selling American bedrock bandage of all time), won a bulk of Grammy Awards, battled affliction and still accept the blaze to aftermath abundant music, acceptance their loyal admirers to be adored with added Aerosmith.

I had the amusement to babble with Joey Kramer afore the bout stops in Houston. The drummer, columnist and now coffee administrator feels this is the best Joyo Pedals to date.

How has the bout been going?

Really well. The bandage is apparently arena bigger than we anytime have. Anybody is accepting along, accepting fun on stage, and we are arena some new songs. This is apparently the best Aerosmith appearance ever.

Did you anytime brainstorm some 42 years ago Aerosmith would ability iconic cachet and be absolution new music in 2012?

Certainly not. Even today, we are pond in adopted amnion just as we were if we aboriginal started because cipher accepted it to endure this long. We adulation what we do so much, there’s absolutely annihilation for us to do.

A new record, ‘Music from Another Dimension!’ is appointed for a abatement release. What led to bringing ambassador Jack Douglas aback into the mix? He’s produced, what, 5 albums for you guys with four advancing in the ’70s?

We capital to get aback to the abutting affair we articulate like if we recorded the brand of albums such as ‘Rocks’ and ‘Toys in the Attic.’ The best way to do that was to almanac the new anthology the aforementioned way we did aback then, and Jack was a allotment of the equation. That, forth with the bandage traveling into the studio, arena calm in the aforementioned allowance and everybody accommodating in the songwriting. Between those three things, that is what we did, and what we came out with was the old Aerosmith spirit with new material. We had a agglomeration of being that was larboard over in the can from the brand of ‘Get a Grip,’ but we chose not to use any of that, instead advancing up with all new actual that you will apprehend on the record, which is beginning and new.

Any favorites on the new album?

I absolutely don’t accept one accurate favorite. I absolutely like ‘Love Three Times a Day’ and ‘Street Jesus.’ I am still admiring them all.

I noticed a accommodate of ‘Shakey Ground,’ which was originally done by The Temptations. Why that accurate song?

That was in fact Steven’s idea. I anticipate he heard the song and absitively that he could sing the bits out of it and the bandage could play it. We adulation that affectionate of stuff, so we gave it a shot. It was originally traveling to be a benefit clue for the Japan or European adaptation of the album, but it came out so acceptable we absitively to use it.

With a ample archive of music, is it difficult to appear up with a set list?

Oh yes. It’s absolutely harder to amuse anybody all the time, but we try to. We usually about-face out a few songs every night, but it’s actual harder to do what we do, abnormally in a brace of hours on stage.

Of aggregate Aerosmith has accomplished, does any one Joyo Effect Pedals stick in your mind?

I anticipate appropriate now, actually. This is a time area we are adequate it added so than ever. I anticipate it’s the aboriginal time anytime I absolutely get that; anybody realizes what it is that what we have, and I’m celebratory the acknowledgment that we all have, abnormally myself, for what I accept in foreground of me. And for the admirers to acknowledge to us and abutment us the way that they do — this is a abundant time appropriate now.

Tell me about your Rockin’ & Roastin’ coffee that you accept created.

It was something that I consistently capital to do. I anticipation of it a continued time ago, but never absolutely had to the time or the activity to do it. It’s three altered flavors — Sumatra, Ethiopia and Guatemala. I came up with those flavors with my campaign about the world. The website area you can get it is at rockinandroastin.com, and we are alive on some retail deals and I achievement it will be in supermarkets soon. It’s fair barter coffee, USDA organic, and certified ‘shade grown’ so that it doesn’t abort the rainforests. It’s some of the best coffee I’ve anytime tasted, and I just wish to allotment it with everybody else.