Five Finger Death Punch’s Jeremy Spencer Talks Drumming Influences

If you've listened to hard hitting tracks such as 'Way of the Fist' or 'Menace' then you know Five Finger Death Punch drummer Jeremy Spencer is a true force behind the kit. With their second disc of the year, 'The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 2,' Spencer and the rest of the band continue to pummel eardrums.

During their recent headlining trek we sat down with Spencer to talk about his passion of percussion growing up. He also chatted about his love of KISS and Metallica as well as some fellow drummers he considers as influential.

When did you realize you had a feel for the drums and wanted to do this professionally?

I got my first drum kit when I was six but I was terrible, I was six. I didn’t care though because I thought “Man, I’m in KISS now!” I have a drum set, I have KISS records, I’m in KISS. To me it was just living in this fantasy in my brain and over the years I started developing how to play. Then when I got [Metallica's] ‘Master of Puppets’ that really altered my whole way of thinking towards drumming. I was like, “Wow you can do that with your feet?” The extravagant arrangements were awesome.

I think it was the summer of my seventeenth year before my senior year in high school where I had a big breakthrough with drums and double bass really kicked in for me. I was excited and every waking second I wanted to do nothing but play double bass. That’s when I noticed a really substantial growth and I started jamming with a local band. We started doing some touring and it grew from there. I left for the West Coast at 19. I would say the summer when I was 17 I had my moment where I was like, “Holy crap, this can really happen. I’m starting to really be able to do the stuff on the records.” [Laughs]

Who are some of your drumming influences?

Lars [Ulrich] is a huge one. I think his songwriting as far as drum parts is still one of the best out there. There’s lots of guys Dave Lombardo, Tommy Aldridge, I think Gene Hoglan’s amazing. There’s so many death metal drummers these days, there’s so many guys that can shred incredibly. I like different styles of drumming, I like jazz, guys like Buddy Rich. I think Dave Grohl was a really killer hard rock drummer.

Any newer drummers that impress you?

I’m trying to think, he’s not new by any means but someone that’s finally getting his due is Ray Luzier of Korn. I’m happy for him because he’s just a shredder man. He’s a super, killer guy, he’s great.

Check out Spencer's drumming when 'The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell: Volume 2' arrives in stores Nov. 19. You can listen to the stream of the album by clicking the button below.