Five Finger Death Punch Customized Mic Stand to Be Unveiled Jan. 21

Attention gear thieves! You may want to think twice about trying to break into Five Finger Death Punch's trailer, because you won't be able to physically lift an item like their brand new, custom-designed, 180-pound steel microphone stand, designed by the U.K.'s Alchemy Studios, who fashion merch, art and jewelry and have done so since 1977. Vocalist Ivan Moody will unveil this show-stopping, skull and spike encrusted stand, which was created by five craftsmen over 120 hours, at their show on Jan. 21 in Anaheim, Calif.

"The Alchemist gets into your bones ... or is it the Alchemist's bones get into your work," head designer Geoff Kayson posed to Noisecreep. "When Zoltan of Five Finger Death Punch asked Alchemy Studios if we could make his band a unique mic stand, we couldn't resist the offer. Weeks of creative and developmental work, followed by industrial-scale, white-hot, heavy-duty foundry stuff, gave us the most inspiring challenge we'd encountered in a long time. But Al Qa-deathpunch has been worth every minute of it."

The stand is subversive, with a gun pointed straight at the person standing behind it. The band had input into the design as well. "Zoltan said they'd like a classic Alchemy design, but also asked if we could emulate the theme of their new album and world tour title, 'War Is the Answer,'" Kayson said. "Jeremy's 'Drums From Hell' already pointed the way and suggested a natural en suite style that we could develop."

The impetus for the Alchemy/5FDP collaboration was born when the entities met at the Golden God Awards in London, where the band was christened with the Best New Band Award. The award statuette was designed and produced by Alchemy. "The band have been fans of Alchemy for years and have been wearing Alchemy jewelry and apparel," Kayson said. "Around July of 2009, I got an email from Zoltan asking if Alchemy would be interested in designing and making a state of the art mic stand for them. Seemed like a nice idea! We loved the challenge."

While this is the first time the company has developed a mic stand such as this, it certainly won't be the last. "We have since developed an appetite for it, and it's cultivated a bigger creative nursery here," Kayson said.