Five Finger Death Punch
Zoltan Bathory has laughed off speculation his disappearance last month was a stunt to publicise his metal band Five Finger Death Punch.
The musician sparked a massive manhunt in Las Vegas after he disappeared from a party following the band's show in Sin City and was found days later, just in time to begin their U.S. tour.
Bathory is adamant he was only out of touch with his bandmates because he had broken his cellphone - and was shocked to discover the dilemma had courted such publicity.
He says, "For a PR stunt, I could think of a million better things than 'woohoo, rock musician gets s**tfaced in Vegas and disappears for few days.' My cellphone ended up taking a dip in a swimming pool somewhere so I was off the grid for a couple of days. It was a raw weekend, and a lot of stupid stuff fits in 48 hours in Vegas.
“When I called my manager, he was like, 'F**k, dude, half of the country is looking for you.' I thought it was just a figure of speech, (but) apparently it wasn't - it was bizarre."