Rumors of bassist Matt Snell’s departure from Five Finger Death Punch have been running rampant online. While the audition flyer that made its way around Hollywood was fake, it still raised questions as to whether Snell was still in the band or not. Well now it looks like it’s official: Snell is out of the band.
Guitarist Zoltan Bathory confirmed the news to Harddrive Radio, saying that Snell has been out of the group since December. As for why the news has been held back for so long, Bathory explained the following:
“You know, we want to concentrate on our record, and that’s the most important right now, the third record, so that’s why it wasn’t really like publicly available information. As for reasons, we have contracts between each other and the contracts that we have between each other always protect the band members. Like we have a contract with Matt, you know. Word by word the contract says I can’t tell you anything that would hurt his career if he goes any further.”
Bathory also confirmed the news with GunShyAssasin.com in a statement that was posted earlier this week as well. However, when we asked management for confirmation after seeing this statement, they informed us that an official announcement would be made soon. While the Harddrive Radio interview is hardly an “official announcement,” there is audio of Bathory saying the above statement, which can be heard over at Blabbermouth. Thus, it’s safe to say that Snell is officially out of the band.
As for who the band will replace Snell with is still unclear. We’ll keep you posted if more develops.
