Jason Hook (born Thomas Jason Grinstead; 1970/1971) is a Canadian guitarist, best known as the former lead guitarist of the American heavy metal band

Five Finger Death Punch Five Finger Death Punch, also abbreviated as 5FDP or FFDP, is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2005. The band originally consisted of vocalist Ivan Moody, rhythm guitarist Zoltan Bathory, lead g ...

. After his departure, he founded the heavy metal/hard rock band Flat Black.

Early life

Hook was born in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario.

Career

Early career, session and solo work (1994–2009)

Hook spent many years in Canada honing his craft and was eventually signed to Elektra with his band No Love Lost. The band recorded an album with producer

Beau Hill Beau Hill is an American record producer who is best known for his work with Ratt, Alice Cooper, Kix, Winger, Streets, Warrant, Fiona, and Europe. He also played instruments and sang backing vocals for some of the artists that he produced, as ...

in Los Angeles which remained unreleased. Now, on his own in Los Angeles as a session musician, Hook took a stint in the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

BulletBoys BulletBoys is an American hard rock/glam metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1987. The group's original lineup was composed of singer Marq Torien (formerly of Ratt, King Kobra, and Kagny & the Dirty Rats), guitarist Mick Sweda (formerly of King ...

. In 2000, he was hired by pop singer

Hilary Duff Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress, singer, author and businesswoman. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Hilary Duff, various accolades, including a World Music Awards, World Mus ...

as the guitarist in her live lineup; he also served as the session guitarist recording tracks for her. Hook also supported

Mandy Moore Amanda Leigh "Mandy" Moore (born April 10, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She rose to fame with her 1999 debut single "Candy (Mandy Moore song), Candy", which peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot ...

on her 2001 tour. Hook became a highly coveted session player in the L.A. circuit and went on to tour and record with acts like the Vince Neil Band and

Alice Cooper Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

. In 2007, Hook released his debut instrumental hard rock/metal album '' Safety Dunce''. He recorded his second solo release, ''American Justice'' (still unreleased), in 2009, which featured guest appearances from Alice Cooper and members of Five Finger Death Punch.

Five Finger Death Punch (2009–2020)

In early 2009, it was announced that Hook was joining heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch, replacing guitarist

Darrell Roberts Darrell Roberts is an American guitarist best known as a former member of the heavy metal bands W.A.S.P. and Five Finger Death Punch. Career In 2002, Roberts debuted as a member of the heavy metal band W.A.S.P. In 2005, he left the band an ...

. On September 22, 2009, Hook and his bandmates released ''

War Is the Answer ''War Is the Answer'' is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch. It was released on September 22, 2009, through Prospect Park. The album debuted at number seven on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling approxima ...

'', which landed them a number 7 debut on the Billboard Top 200 album. Five Finger Death Punch had great success in the following years including 14 number one songs and a total of 12 million albums sold worldwide. Some of the band's more popular hits were co-written by Hook, including "Inside Out", " Sham Pain", "Lift Me Up", "Battle Born", " A Little Bit Off", " Wash It All Away", "Coming Down", and " Remember Everything". In 2019, Hook had emergency

gallbladder In vertebrates, the gallbladder, also known as the cholecyst, is a small hollow Organ (anatomy), organ where bile is stored and concentrated before it is released into the small intestine. In humans, the pear-shaped gallbladder lies beneath t ...

surgery, which caused him to miss the remainder of Five Finger Death Punch's European tour. Guitarist Andy James of Sacred Mother Tongue replaced him for the remainder of the tour. Hook left Five Finger Death Punch in February 2020. His departure was officially announced by the band in October, with Andy James permanently replacing him. In an interview in 2021, Hook said about his departure from the band, "As for the reason I'm leaving… well, there really isn't just one. I've been in bands my entire life and I feel like I've done all the good that I can here. It's time to pass the baton and move on to new challenges."

Flat Black and guest appearances (2020–present)

During the pandemic, Hook kept busy with several different projects, including a feature on

Cory Marks Cory Gerald Joseph Marquardt (born October 11, 1989) is a Canadian country rock singer-songwriter better known by his stage name Cory Marks. He is signed to Better Noise Music. He has released three albums, '' This Man'' in 2015 under Big Star R ...

's 2021 single " Blame It on the Double" and a collaboration with Dorothy on the song "A Beautiful Life" (from the album '' Gifts from the Holy Ghost''). In 2023, Hook's new heavy metal band Flat Black emerged with new management in Shelter Music Group. In July 2023, the band signed with

Concord Music Group Concord Music Group was an American independent music company based in Beverly Hills, California, with worldwide (including the U.S.) distribution through Universal Music Group. The company specialized in recordings and music publishing. On Apri ...

Fearless Records Fearless Records is an American independent record label that was founded in 1994. Fearless is based in Culver City, California, and is best known for its early pop punk moments captured in the ''Fearless Flush Sampler'' and ''Punk Bites'' releas ...

. Flat Black's debut album ''Dark Side of the Brain'', co-produced by Hook, was released on July 19, 2024.

TV and film appearances

Hook appeared on the

History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...

's ''

Counting Cars ''Counting Cars'' is an American reality television series shown on History Channel and produced by Leftfield Pictures. The series, which was the third spin-off of '' Pawn Stars'', was filmed in Las Vegas, where it chronicled the daily activitie ...

'' on July 9, 2013. His motorcycle had broken down on the side of the road and the show's star, Danny "The Count" Koker, "happened to" come along and helped get Hook's motorcycle running. Hook later appeared in the episode receiving an

Ace Frehley Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley (, ; born April 27, 1951) is an American musician who was the original lead guitarist, occasional lead vocalist and founding member of the rock band Kiss (band), Kiss. He invented the persona of The Spaceman (a.k.a. ...

tattoo at Koker's tattoo shop. Hook also appeared in an episode of '' My Cat from Hell''. Hook appeared in the documentary film ''Hired Gun'' (2016).

Discography

;Monkeyhead * 2001: ''Monkeyhead'' ;

Bulletboys BulletBoys is an American hard rock/glam metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1987. The group's original lineup was composed of singer Marq Torien (formerly of Ratt, King Kobra, and Kagny & the Dirty Rats), guitarist Mick Sweda (formerly of King ...

* 2003: ''

Sophie Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Soph ...

'' ;Solo * 2007: '' Safety Dunce'' ;

*2009: ''

'' *2011: '' American Capitalist'' *2013: '' The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1'' *2013: '' The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 2'' *2015: ''

Got Your Six ''Got Your Six'' is the sixth studio album by American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch. It was released on September 4, 2015, by Prospect Park (production company), Prospect Park. ''Got Your Six'' sold 119,000 units to ...

'' *2018: ''

And Justice for None ''And Justice for None'' is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch. It was released on May 18, 2018, and was preceded by two singles released in December 2017 on their first greatest hits record. It is t ...

'' *2020: '' F8'' ;Flat Black *2024: ''Dark Side of the Brain'' ;As featured artist *2020:

& Tyler Connolly – "Blame It on the Double" *2022: Ra & Keith Wallen – " Incomplete" *2022: Art of Dying – "Long Shot"

References

External links

Hook's official websiteFlat Black official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hook, Jason Living people Canadian heavy metal guitarists Canadian male guitarists Musicians from Toronto Five Finger Death Punch members BulletBoys members 21st-century Canadian guitarists 21st-century American male musicians Alice Cooper (band) members Year of birth missing (living people)