Phil Labonte on Being Ivan Moody’s Choice to Potentially Replace Him in Five Finger Death Punch: ‘I Hope That Never Happens But Thank You’
Late last fall, All That Remains vocalist Phil Labonte had to step in to front Five Finger Death Punch after singer Ivan Moody had a bit of a meltdown onstage and it was decided that he would take a break from the remaining shows on the run.
Last month, Moody returned to the stage and welcomed Labonte for a guest appearance during Five Finger Death Punch's show in Corpus Christi, stating onstage, "[The band] asked me, if there was one person that they would pick to front this band if I was dead, I picked one of my oldest, greatest friends and one of the greatest f—ing singers in heavy metal today, Phil from All That Remains."
Loudwire Nights host Toni Gonzalez recently had Labonte in her studio, and she asked him about the compliment, one that takes on a little more significance after Moody's onstage blowup in the Netherlands last night (June 12) in which he proclaimed it was his "last show" with the band.
As to whether he'd consider replacing Moody if the FFDP singer did pass away, Labonte told Loudwire Nights, "I've known Ivan since he was in Motograter, so since like 2000…. I think the first time that I met him was at 2005, which is actually before Death Punch started and yeah, he’s a great singer, he’s a good guy and we’ve been friends for ages and ages and I’m, you know really proud to call him a friend, so it is a little morbid but I mean, that’s the kind of nice kudos that you kind of want to be like, 'Well I hope that never happens but thank you,' you know?"
The All That Remains singer was then pressed about whether he would consider becoming FFDP's singer if the opportunity arose, especially given that the fans were so supportive of his gigs last fall with the band. "Well I mean I got a job, you know," said the singer with a laugh. "So I mean, I guess I’ll have to … if that ever happened I don’t really want that to ever be a situation where I have to think about it seriously, you know, I mean come on, you’re talking about a friend - come on."
As Labonte stated, he does have a job, and All That Remains just released their Madness album a couple of months ago, so his availability to step in while in the midst of his own band just getting a new album out would definitely come with complications.
Even though Five Finger Death Punch had a blow up at the show in the Netherlands, there was a strong suggestion that all was expected to continue on as planned as they just announced a new European co-headlining tour with In Flames for late in 2017. Details and dates can be found here.
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