Amidst the recent release of their greatest hits compilation, Decade of Destruction Volume 2, 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 band’s tour of Europe to address further complications. Says Jason Hook about his departure:
I 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 I’m leaving…well, there really isn’t just one. I’ve been in bands my entire life and I feel like I’ve done all the good that I can here. It’s time to the baton and move on to new challenges.
Guitarist Zoltan Bathory adds:
Jason 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 Jason’s 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 birthday… Some things are just meant to be.
And frontman Ivan sums things up:
I just congratulated Jason on his recent wedding, and I hope he finds peace and happiness. As for us, I’m really excited to keep working with Andy and I just can’t wait for this Covid madness to be over so we can go back out on the road.
Header image by F3 Studios / Stephen Jensen
