The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Its own thing
Rock act Fozzy no longer is known just for its pro-wrestler frontman
Fozzy is no longer just Chris Jericho’s band.
Oh, the professional wrestling icon still fronts the hard-rocking quintet, but after nearly 20 years and seven albums Fozzy has proven itself to be credible beyond Jericho’s notoriety. The group’s latest album, “Judas,” has spawned a top-five rock hit in the title track, and the group maintains a slate of live performances that keeps it as busy as any other band on the circuit.
And, Jericho notes, Fozzy has no plans for anything but more growth and success in the future.
Jericho (nee Irvine) says by phone that Fozzy’s recent success “doesn’t surprise me at all because I know how great this band is, and I knew it would be just a matter of time before we got to the next level. We always continued to grow with each record, but this is the one that’s taken us to a completely different world with all the success of ‘Judas.’ So, yeah, I’m not surprised at all and very happy with the progress that we’ve made.”
The “Judas” track, according to Jericho, 43, is “based on betraying yourself. It’s not the Judas from the bible, some outsider that’s going to come in and stab you in the back; This is you stabbing yourself in the back and betraying yourself, making the wrong decision. Even though you know it’s the wrong decision, even though you know it’s not going to end up well, you do it anyway. That’s why it’s such a huge hit -- the lyrics really resonate with people.”
For the “Judas” album, Jericho opened up to lyrical contributions by others, particularly producer Johnny Andrews, who wrote most of the material with guitarist and Fozzy cofounder Rich Ward.
“In the past I’d written a majority of the lyrics,” Jericho notes. “On this record I submitted my lyrics, same as always, and ended up with three out of the 11 songs rather than nine or 10, and I realized it didn’t really matter. It was my job to take Johnny’s lyrics and kind of internalize them. I’m the one who has to sell them. I’m the one who’s introducing them to the world. That’s my job.”
Jericho says he’s gratified to see Fozzy recognized as a band in his own right, even though he knew that was always the case.
“That was the mission,” he explains. “This has never been Chris Jericho and the band. Me and Rich and Frank (Fontsere, drummer) have been playing together since day one, so it’s never been me and a cast of characters. And now more than ever anybody that still has some kind of a holdup that Jericho is a wrestler is just holding onto it for the sake of just being difficult. At this point in time we’ve proven by far that this is a great rock ‘n’ roll band with great music. I would put our band up against any other band on the planet and go toe to toe with them as far as knowing how to connect with a crowd and knowing how to put on a great rock ‘n’ roll show.”
Fozzy has, however, “always had the respect of our peers,” according to Jericho, which has led to many solid friendships in the hard rock community.
“They’re not doing it as a favor to me,” Jericho says. Zakk Wylde and Vinnie Paul, all the guys in Steel Dragon are fans, Matt Shadows from Avenged (Sevenfold), Paul Stanley from Kiss. Slash called and asked us to tour with him; He wasn’t doing it because he likes Chris Jericho, he was doing it because he knew Fozzy would be a good addition to his show and his fans would like us. But it’s up to us; We’ve got to put out the material and be the type of band those guys can champion.”