Five Finger Death Punch Sued By Label For “Attempting To Cash In” Before Frontman Goes Completely Off The Rails

Shit seems to have hit the fan in the Five Finger Death Punch camp, with the band’s label taking them to court over some pretty gnarly allegations.

Prospect Park claims the band – who recently pulled the plug on their Australian tour supporting Black Sabbath after frontman Ivan Moody was hospitalised for undisclosed reasons – are trying to crank out a new album before the troubled singer ends up in rehab (or worse) and that haste is making for some pretty dodgy music.

Court documents obtained by TMZ have the label directly accusing 5FDP of “shamelessly attempting to cash in before the anticipated downfall of their addicted bandmate”, and claiming that certain members of the band have even admitted to them that 5FDP are trying to smash out the new tunes before “Ivan does something stupid — dies — goes away to jail”.

Moody’s wild and unpredictable antics have been well-documented over the years with bizarre onstage meltdowns and assault charges, however it’s believed that the band’s recent Aussie tour cancellation may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back with regard to the label.

Among the allegations, Prospect Park also claims that the band’s sound is getting stale and needs more creative input, which seems to be pretty much just a fancy way of saying that their new music sucks.

Anyway, the nitty-gritty of the thing seems to hinge on a clause in 5FDP’s record contract that prevents them from recording a new album until nine months after the release of their last one, which they’ve allegedly not complied with.

And they apparently also owe the label a greatest hits collection, which they allegedly haven’t come through with either.

The court document states (via Blabbermouth):

“Regrettably, with the encouragement and assistance of their entertainment lawyer and business manager, the members of 5FDP have unequivocally repudiated their contractual obligations to permit Prospect Park to determine the recording elements of a new record and a greatest hits record. In doing so, the members of 5FDP are shamelessly attempting to cash in before the anticipated downfall of their addicted bandmate. By this action, Prospect Park seeks to hold 5FDP true to its obligations under its written recording contract, thereby allowing Prospect Park to obtain the benefit of the bargain it struck in that agreement, and at the same time, to prevent the band from disregarding the health and safety of a bandmate and destroying itself.”

Meanwhile, the band are counter-accusing Prospect Park of “desperately trying to use 5FDP as leverage” to sell off the label.

But whoever is telling the truth, the scary message behind the whole thing seems to be that Ivan Moody is not in a good way.

Maybe instead of spending all of their time and energy on self-interested legal manoeuvrings, both 5FDP and Prospect Park should be trying to get the frontman the help he needs?

UPDATE 10/05/16: Five Finger Death Punch’s long time producer has spoken out about the ongoing legal battle.

Watch: Five Finger Death Punch – My Nemesis

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