Five Finger Death Punch Have Confirmed New Line-Up After Jason Hook’s Departure
Earlier this week Jason Hook posted, and then deleted, a video to Instagram in which he mentioned that he has parted ways with Five Finger Death Punch.
In the video he said “I just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to all of the fans of Five Finger Death Punch for all of messages that youāve been sending me about you know what. Iāve kinda been issued a gag order, so Iām not saying anything. But Iām very excited about the things Iām working on and Iām looking forward to sharing them with everybody. And when the time is right there will be a mutually agreed on press release between me and my guys and thatās it.”
The band have now released the aforementioned press release to their social media pages, confirming the guitarists departure and announcing his replacement. In the lengthy social media post the band revealed that Jason parted ways with the band back in February on their European tour after he had to miss some shows for emergency gall bladder surgery. His replacement Andy James, filled in for Jason on those shows he missed.
You can read the full statement with a quote from Jason here:
FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH confirms it parted ways with guitarist JASON HOOK back in February 2020, during the band’s sold out European arena tour.
After his recovery from emergency gallbladder surgery at the end of last year, JASON HOOK had to leave midway from the bandās tour of Europe to address further complications.
āI have had the pleasure of meeting so many of you in person. Thank you for the endless stories of how our music has touched your heart in some way! But the best part of being on tour the last 12 years, by far, has been playing my guitar and seeing the joy on your faces every night. I will miss that more than anything. As far the reason Iām leavingā¦well, there really isnāt just one. Iāve been in bands my entire life and I feel like Iāve done all the good that I can here. Itās time to pass the baton and move on to new challengesā ā Says Jason Hook about his departure
FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH has released eight studio albums and two greatest hits compilations in 13 years and toured relentlessly in-between records. They are often called the āhardest working band in the industryā with very little personal time left outside of the band. At Jasonās suggestion, all parties came to a mutual agreement, that itās best if he steps away from his rigorous band duties altogether. Consequently, Jason handed over the torch to the band’s new lead guitarist, renowned British virtuoso ANDY JAMES who is also featured on āBroken Worldā, one of the five previously unreleased tracks on Decade of Destruction, Volume 2.
āJason is an incredible guitar player so we had to find someone on the absolute top of their game. Someone like Andy James who was already a well-known virtuoso and had the chops to step into Jasonās shoes. Andy completed our European Tour with us back in February so he was already tried by fire. We instantly clicked both musically and personally so he was the obvious choice. We even have the same birthdayā¦ Some things are just meant to be,ā explains ZOLTAN BATHORY.
āI just congratulated Jason on his recent wedding, and I hope he finds peace and happiness. As for us, Iām really excited to keep working with Andy and I just canāt wait for this Covid madness to be over so we can go back out on the road,ā adds IVAN MOODY.
Check out ‘Broken World’ from the upcoming ‘A Decade Of Destruction Vol 2’:
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