Five Finger Death Punch promises show to remember at Spokane Arena

Chris Kael was working behind a bar in Las Vegas when he heard the heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch was looking for a bassist.

“I’d pretty much given up on the dream of making music,” Kael said. “I had my basses and amps on Craigslist. I was getting ready to move toward a new life goal, and it took one more chance and that’s the one that hit.”

Kael says he shot off a Facebook message to one of the band’s members, and just a few weeks after he auditioned, he was officially a member. Since forming a decade ago, Five Finger Death Punch has amassed four Top 10 albums and a rabid international following, something that Kael found somewhat intimidating as a new addition to the lineup.

“I certainly had to carve my own niche,” he said. “(The band was) internationally known at that point. … I had to figure out how to get into a band so big and make my own presence known. I developed an online presence and kept directly in contact with the fans, and that seemed to endear them to me. They’ve been very accepting.”

Death Punch performs at the Spokane Arena on Sunday in support of its new album “Got Your Six.” It’s (appropriately, given the title) the band’s sixth LP, and it continues their penchant for mosh-pit-worthy songs anchored by big, crunchy guitar riffs.

“This one was meant to be played live,” Kael said of the new record. “We’re trying to pick it up a little bit, with some up-tempo, crowd-involved songs. Four-on-the-floor, hard-slamming songs meant to be sung back to us.”

There is a sense of strife, though, bubbling beneath the surfaces of the group’s hard-rocking party anthems.

“Things have been really good for Death Punch, but it’s also been emotionally taxing at times,” Kael said. “When you’re out there touring, you’re away from home, you’re not getting sleep. It gets to be rough out there, and you’ll hear some of that emotional turmoil we were going through in the lyrical content on this album.”

As for Death Punch’s live shows, Kael says they present the best way to experience the band’s music.

“We’re one of those bands that grew up watching KISS and Iron Maiden, bands that came in with these huge productions,” he said. “If you didn’t see the show that’s coming, you’re going to be pissed that you missed it and everybody’s going to be talking about it. You’ll be guaranteed to get a ticket the next time we come through town.”