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Zoltan Bathory
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Zoltan Bathory
Zoltan Bathory (born in 1978) is a Hungarian-American entrepreneur musician and martial artist. He is the founder and rhythm guitarist of Las Vegas-based heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch. In 2010, he won the Metal Hammer Golden God award for "Best Shredder". Five Finger Death Punch has released nine studio albums and is one of the most successful modern metal bands.
He is an actively competing martial artist, a first degree black belt in jiu-jitsu and 4th Degree Black Belt in judo, and 2021's Jiu-Jitsu American Nationals Silver Medalist. in Black Belt Masters Super Heavy Division. Bathory is also a founding board member of the veterans nonprofit Home Deployment Project in Las Vegas and sits on the Board of Advisors at VETPAW (Veterans Empowered to Protect African Wildlife), an anti-poaching organization operating on the African continent, composed of US combat veterans.
Bathory is involved in several business ventures across sports, apparel, beverage, and artist management. He is a co-owner and chairman of the Professional Grappling Federation (PGF), a professional jiu-jitsu league featuring NFL - NHL style franchised team-based competition format. PGF events are broadcast on UFC Fight Pass the UFC’s official digital streaming platform.
He is also one of the founders of Alphadog (2004) and later Epic Roll (2020) sports and athletic apparel manufacturers, and an investor in Once Upon a Coconut, a premium coconut water brand launched in 2020. In addition, Bathory has been involved in artist management and development, working with rock and metal bands including Bad Wolves and Fire From the Gods.
Bathory grew up in Hungary during the country's final years under communist rule. Under the Hungarian education system, students were separated into specialist schools based on aptitude. Bathory was recruited to a mathematics-focused program with multiple math classes per day, with the aim of becoming a scientist. He also began training in judo at age nine through the state-sponsored athletics system, and started playing guitar at twelve, building his first instrument from a coffee table cut into the shape of a B.C. Rich Warlock and painted with military green tank paint. He began playing in bands at fourteen and completed his first tour at eighteen. Bathory completed a degree in micro-electronic engineering, during which he designed and built his own amplifiers and distortion pedals. He subsequently studied commercial art and design, and established a design studio during his school years. He emigrated to the United States with a guitar, a bag of clothes, and a Hungarian-English dictionary, teaching himself English by translating books word by word. In the United States, he worked as a pencil artist for comic book studios before becoming an art director on merchandise projects for the WWF, NASCAR, and Star Wars, while simultaneously playing in bands in New York City.
In 2000, Bathory relocated from New York to Los Angeles, which was better suited for rock and metal at the time. While continuing to work as an art director on digital projects for the film and music industries. By 2004, he had transitioned to working in the space industry for organizations including the X-Prize , Ansari Space Alliance, and the Rocket Racing League, while writing music throughout. Bathory's earliest lineups in Los Angeles included Uros Raskovski of Steelheart, Philippe Mathys of Hydrovibe, and Nadja Peulen of Coal Chamber. In 2004, Bathory and Mathys temporarily joined the post-grunge band U.P.O. for their US tour. After the tour, Peulen entered talks to rejoin Coal Chamber and Mathys went on tour with Hydrovibe. Bathory continued writing and recruited drummer Jeremy Spencer through a music magazine advertisement. The two began recording at Steve Bruno's Clown Records studio to the material Bathory composed. Bathory named the project Five Finger Death Punch, and soon recruited bassist Matt Snell from the disbanding Deadsett. He also had identified vocalist Ivan Moody, whose band Motograter was dissolving, as his choice for frontman, but at Snell's suggestion first they gave Deadsett vocalist Kyle Zemanek a tryout. After a brief stint, Zemanek departed. Moody then flew to Los Angeles, auditioned, and joined as the vocalist Bathory had originally envisioned for the project. Lead guitarist Caleb Andrew Bingham joined the initial lineup but was later replaced by Darrell Roberts, formerly of W.A.S.P., who co-wrote one track with Bathory. Three songs were uploaded to Myspace, where they rose to #1 on the platform's charts. The band was signed by management company The Firm, and the self recorded self produced album, The Way of the Fist was released on July 31, 2007.
Five Finger Death Punch went on to become one of the most commercially successful hard rock bands of the 21st century, accumulating over 13 billion global streams. The band has released nine studio albums, seven of which were certified Gold or Platinum by the RIAA, and has earned 29 top 10 singles and 17 number one hits on the Active Rock chart. The band set a record with 11 consecutive number one entries on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, the longest such streak in the chart's history. Five Finger Death Punch held a top three position on Billboard's Hard Rock charts for over five years and became a global arena and stadium headliner, concluding a two-year stadium tour with Metallica in 2024.
The B.C. Rich Warlock shape that Bathory had cut from a coffee table as a twelve-year-old in Hungary led to a long association with the brand. In 2009, B.C. Rich launched three Zoltan Bathory Artist Signature models based on the Assassin platform, featuring Rockfield Mafia humbuckers and handgun cylinder-shaped knobs. Bathory later partnered briefly with Dean Guitars before moving to DBZ/Diamond Guitars in 2014, where he had previously designed several models in their catalog including the Bird of Prey and Halcyon, and had used Diamond amplification for over a decade. He has since returned to B.C. Rich and currently plays the Shredzilla Z6. His current rig consists of a Kemper Profiling Amplifier for preamplification, EVH power amplification and speaker cabinets, Thønderson and DiMarzio pickups, Dunlop Heavy Core strings (.013–.070), and Dunlop Speed Picks.
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Zoltan Bathory
Zoltan Bathory (born in 1978) is a Hungarian-American entrepreneur musician and martial artist. He is the founder and rhythm guitarist of Las Vegas-based heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch. In 2010, he won the Metal Hammer Golden God award for "Best Shredder". Five Finger Death Punch has released nine studio albums and is one of the most successful modern metal bands.
He is an actively competing martial artist, a first degree black belt in jiu-jitsu and 4th Degree Black Belt in judo, and 2021's Jiu-Jitsu American Nationals Silver Medalist. in Black Belt Masters Super Heavy Division. Bathory is also a founding board member of the veterans nonprofit Home Deployment Project in Las Vegas and sits on the Board of Advisors at VETPAW (Veterans Empowered to Protect African Wildlife), an anti-poaching organization operating on the African continent, composed of US combat veterans.
Bathory is involved in several business ventures across sports, apparel, beverage, and artist management. He is a co-owner and chairman of the Professional Grappling Federation (PGF), a professional jiu-jitsu league featuring NFL - NHL style franchised team-based competition format. PGF events are broadcast on UFC Fight Pass the UFC’s official digital streaming platform.
He is also one of the founders of Alphadog (2004) and later Epic Roll (2020) sports and athletic apparel manufacturers, and an investor in Once Upon a Coconut, a premium coconut water brand launched in 2020. In addition, Bathory has been involved in artist management and development, working with rock and metal bands including Bad Wolves and Fire From the Gods.
Bathory grew up in Hungary during the country's final years under communist rule. Under the Hungarian education system, students were separated into specialist schools based on aptitude. Bathory was recruited to a mathematics-focused program with multiple math classes per day, with the aim of becoming a scientist. He also began training in judo at age nine through the state-sponsored athletics system, and started playing guitar at twelve, building his first instrument from a coffee table cut into the shape of a B.C. Rich Warlock and painted with military green tank paint. He began playing in bands at fourteen and completed his first tour at eighteen. Bathory completed a degree in micro-electronic engineering, during which he designed and built his own amplifiers and distortion pedals. He subsequently studied commercial art and design, and established a design studio during his school years. He emigrated to the United States with a guitar, a bag of clothes, and a Hungarian-English dictionary, teaching himself English by translating books word by word. In the United States, he worked as a pencil artist for comic book studios before becoming an art director on merchandise projects for the WWF, NASCAR, and Star Wars, while simultaneously playing in bands in New York City.
In 2000, Bathory relocated from New York to Los Angeles, which was better suited for rock and metal at the time. While continuing to work as an art director on digital projects for the film and music industries. By 2004, he had transitioned to working in the space industry for organizations including the X-Prize , Ansari Space Alliance, and the Rocket Racing League, while writing music throughout. Bathory's earliest lineups in Los Angeles included Uros Raskovski of Steelheart, Philippe Mathys of Hydrovibe, and Nadja Peulen of Coal Chamber. In 2004, Bathory and Mathys temporarily joined the post-grunge band U.P.O. for their US tour. After the tour, Peulen entered talks to rejoin Coal Chamber and Mathys went on tour with Hydrovibe. Bathory continued writing and recruited drummer Jeremy Spencer through a music magazine advertisement. The two began recording at Steve Bruno's Clown Records studio to the material Bathory composed. Bathory named the project Five Finger Death Punch, and soon recruited bassist Matt Snell from the disbanding Deadsett. He also had identified vocalist Ivan Moody, whose band Motograter was dissolving, as his choice for frontman, but at Snell's suggestion first they gave Deadsett vocalist Kyle Zemanek a tryout. After a brief stint, Zemanek departed. Moody then flew to Los Angeles, auditioned, and joined as the vocalist Bathory had originally envisioned for the project. Lead guitarist Caleb Andrew Bingham joined the initial lineup but was later replaced by Darrell Roberts, formerly of W.A.S.P., who co-wrote one track with Bathory. Three songs were uploaded to Myspace, where they rose to #1 on the platform's charts. The band was signed by management company The Firm, and the self recorded self produced album, The Way of the Fist was released on July 31, 2007.
Five Finger Death Punch went on to become one of the most commercially successful hard rock bands of the 21st century, accumulating over 13 billion global streams. The band has released nine studio albums, seven of which were certified Gold or Platinum by the RIAA, and has earned 29 top 10 singles and 17 number one hits on the Active Rock chart. The band set a record with 11 consecutive number one entries on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, the longest such streak in the chart's history. Five Finger Death Punch held a top three position on Billboard's Hard Rock charts for over five years and became a global arena and stadium headliner, concluding a two-year stadium tour with Metallica in 2024.
The B.C. Rich Warlock shape that Bathory had cut from a coffee table as a twelve-year-old in Hungary led to a long association with the brand. In 2009, B.C. Rich launched three Zoltan Bathory Artist Signature models based on the Assassin platform, featuring Rockfield Mafia humbuckers and handgun cylinder-shaped knobs. Bathory later partnered briefly with Dean Guitars before moving to DBZ/Diamond Guitars in 2014, where he had previously designed several models in their catalog including the Bird of Prey and Halcyon, and had used Diamond amplification for over a decade. He has since returned to B.C. Rich and currently plays the Shredzilla Z6. His current rig consists of a Kemper Profiling Amplifier for preamplification, EVH power amplification and speaker cabinets, Thønderson and DiMarzio pickups, Dunlop Heavy Core strings (.013–.070), and Dunlop Speed Picks.
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