CHRIS JERICHO of FOZZY: From Note One To Note Done
An interview by Sarah Kidd.
Actor, professional wrestler, bonafide rockstar; there isn’t much that Chris Jericho hasn’t done or can’t do. Often cited as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Jericho has wrestled for everyone from the ECW, WCW through to the iconic WWE. His name is revered in the fraternity, after all he is the man that defeated not only Stone Cold Steve Austin but also The Rock … on the same night!
But Chris Jericho has another passion, a fire that burns in his belly which bears the name Fozzy.
As lead singer of the mighty rock n roll band, Jericho has graced stages worldwide alongside fellow founding member Rich Ward, delivering their own unique brand of rock infused alternative metal. Now New Zealand finally gets the opportunity to witness Fozzy live, up close and on a very personal level. Touring off the back of their stunning latest album entitled Judas, I caught up with Chris to discuss what Fozzy means to him and just what New Zealand audiences can expect of the man who can do no wrong…
Fozzy was created in 1999 and we are now basically eighteen years down the track, how do you personally see the evolution of the band?
“Well I mean, the biggest evolution of the band is that we’re bigger now than we’ve ever been thanks to the success of the Judas record, and you can tell not only by you know three top ten singles and twenty-five million views on YouTube and all that stuff but by us playing in countries that we have never played in before and just having people know us! And that’s obviously evidenced by the fact that we are coming to New Zealand for the first time where we’ve never ever had the opportunity before.
I think this is maybe our fifth or sixth Australian tour, but we have never been to New Zealand; and it was just like that with Italy and Spain and Czech Republic and Slovenia and all these other places that we had never been to before. You can always tell how the band is growing and the success of the record by how many people want to see you play; people that have seen you play before and people that never have.
That’s how you can always judge where your band is as far as momentum and right now we have the most honours we ever had in our careers because of this Judas record, so it’s very cool”
Yeah, very cool indeed. Now it cannot be denied that the world first got to know Chris Jericho as a wrestler and to this day you are still participating in both your music and your wrestling careers. Do you find that they feed into each other in any way?
“It’s very much a reciprocal form of entertainment because being in front of a live audience is being in front of a live audience; and the most important thing is to make sure that people have a good time and be kind of the party host so to speak.
Whether you are wrestling or whether it’s rock n roll or standup comedy, or you’re a Shakespearean actor, whatever it may be, connecting with the audience is the most important thing. And that’s something that I have been doing my whole life, you know not just in wrestling but in music. I started playing in bands when I was thirteen years old, at first, you’re scared, you get a little bit of stage fright and then you learn to own it and then you kinda learn to be … like I said the party host. And that’s a skill that is not easy to acquire but it’s something I have been doing ever since was I teenager and professionally since I was a teen – I started wrestling when I was just nineteen. But still always recording demos and playing in bands and that sort of thing.
So when I first started out in wrestling I wanted to be the ultimate rock n roll front man of the wrestling ring, you know the Freddie Mercury or the Bruce Dickinson … the Paul Stanley of wrestling; and once I started in Fozzy I took over all of those qualities that I had learned from rock n roll and brought into the [wrestling] business and then taken it back to rock n roll again, so let’s just say there are a lot of similarities between fronting Fozzy and being in the ring with the WWE for sure”
In many ways yourself and Rich Ward are the corner stones of the band, how would you describe your creative relationship?
“Well I mean it’s family, right? It’s a brother relationship at this point in time. We have done this and built this together which makes it extra special. Even though we started in 99’ I think it was basically 2010 when we sat down and said ‘Listen, let’s make Fozzy a priority and see how far we can take this’. And you can see how far the business has grown since that timeframe.
We have probably had to work twice as hard to get people’s respect just because of the fact that I am in the band. But once we get people’s respect we have it for life and I think that’s something that helps to distance us from other bands as it is the band that has Chris Jericho in it; but it’s not like a novelty or a wrestling thing; it’s the same thing as Jared Leto with 30 Seconds to Mars or Taylor Momsen with Pretty Reckless, the band just has someone that does other things.
And that’s ok; I think a lot of people at first were mad that Rob Zombie was making horror movies and then they realised that not only can he do horror movies, he’s doing it while being Rob Zombie on stage too, so who cares!
I think the only people that put limits on themselves are the kind of people that are negative, and I’ve never been the type of person to go with that type of vibe, if it’s something that I wanna do, and I feel like I can really do it, then I’m going to do it!
I think it’s one of the reasons why I have gone as far as I have in wrestling and as far as I have with dozens of other things that I have done as well”
I agree, I think truly creative personalities need to have several different outlets not just one.
“Yeah, I mean it’s also more about that branding yourself, if it’s good then go for it. You know I am not going to tell anybody that they can’t do something because I have done a lot of things!”
You were just speaking about the new Fozzy album Judas which has indeed been killing it; this album has seen you personally move away from lyric writing – Johnny Andrews taking more of that role. What prompted this change or was it just a part of the process?
“Well there wasn’t really anything behind it; we used Johnny to produce the record and we said ‘He’s the boss, anything he says goes’ and once you do that it’s like your opinions don’t matter anymore, Johnny’s the boss, Johnny’s the guy who’s calling the shots and we agreed upon that.
He’s got a lot of ideas, he’s a hit writer, he’s written I don’t know … forty top ten songs? Maybe more, so he kinda had the feel for the pulse of what was going on in modern rock radio and we knew that.
It’s not easy for us to do that especially when you are used to being in charge and in control all the time. But once you do it and realise that all that matters is the final product … that’s kinda where we started realizing you know what, the guy is pretty fuckin smart. He really knows what he is doing”
Was there an original concept behind the album, because when you think of the word ‘Judas’ it conjures up images of being betrayed, surrounded by liars etc.
“No not all, it’s just a really cool song with lyrics that everybody can relate to cause it’s not so much about Judas from the bible but Judas that is within yourself. It’s about betraying yourself, knowing that you’re making the wrong decision … it’s having another drink when you know you shouldn’t, or kissing somebody that you know you shouldn’t be.
It’s something that everybody can relate to and I think that’s why Judas became such a big hit, because not only is it hook, after hook, after hook, but it’s got a feel and a vibe to it that everybody can relate to and empathise with”
From the album if you had to pick one track to represent Fozzy to a person that had never heard of you guys before what would it be?
“It’s Judas. I mean that’s the one, that’s kinda the career defining hit for us. It’s a song that everybody knows from us, it’s become our ‘Enter Sandman’ our ‘I Wanna Rock n Roll All Night’ or whatever you want to say.
And I think once you get that song, that illusive hit single that everybody knows is a Fozzy song it puts you on a completely different level, so we were very fortunate to have that. Like I said it was something that we always knew was going to end up happening, we just didn’t know when.
We hit the ground running once it happened. Once we had the opportunity we went full force and we were ready for it you know? Our band is probably close to one hundred combined years of experience on stage. We know what to do, and there’s not a lot of bands that can captivate an audience from note one to note done like Fozzy does”
Johnny obviously has been a huge influence on the new album, but if you could work with anyone in the world alive or dead who would it be?
“I don’t live in fantasy land, I live in reality and Johnny Andrews is the guy I wanna work with. You know like I can’t think of anyone else I would want to work with than Johnny, because the results are there.
I could sit down and say ‘Let’s write a song with Paul McCartney’ or ‘Let’s write a song with James Hetfield’ but that might not necessarily end up being any good because our styles might not mesh.
With Johnny I know exactly what we have, it’s three minds that are working towards the same goal of putting out a great song and a great record and we’ve found that. So, it’s just perfect, the perfect match for us was to work with him.”
Fair enough!
“You could say that about Bob Rock, or Kevin Churko? No, I wanna work with Johnny Andrews because once you sit down at the table and take a bite of that steak where it tastes good, you’re going to not wanna try other steaks. Let’s stick with the one I have cause I like it”
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As you said Fozzy are coming to New Zealand for the first time, have any of you guys been to New Zealand before even just for a personal holiday?
“I was in New Zealand I think for a day a couple of years ago [on a wrestling tour], but it was a very short trip – I think we were on the way to Australia and we had a drop in for twelve hours or whatever it was. And it was a crazy crowd, it was jam-packed.
But I am looking forward to seeing a little bit of New Zealand and enjoying a bit of your countryside! I’m actually coming to Auckland a few days earlier with my wife so that we can kind of sight-see and just enjoy New Zealand for what it is, which is a very beautiful country.
And of course, there will also be a crazy rock show with a crazy bunch of kiwi’s as I understand. I know it’s gonna be crazy because I have experienced that in the WWE, but never experienced that from the rock n roll standpoint so I’m looking forward to it”
Yeah, we are definitely crazier on the rock n roll standpoint [laughs]
[laughs] “Yeah good!”
So, what can us crazy kiwi fans expect from a Fozzy show?
“Well it’s rock n roll with a smile. A lot of energy, a lot of electricity, we are the show. We don’t have dragons flying down from the ceiling, or pyro blowing off – other than from the drummer’s rear end – it’s all us.
It’s Van Halen in 1981 where everyone is having a great time on stage and it’s infectious. We expect a lot from our audience, we expect them to be making noise, and chanting and screaming and yelling and having fun the whole show because lord knows we are.
It’s a great time, there’s some great rock n roll songs, drink some beer, show your boobs whether you’re a girl or a guy, we don’t care, just have a good time, that’s what it’s all about.
It’s a show that you won’t forget, I’ll tell you that. I keep hearing it all the time ‘That was my favorite show I’ve ever seen, that was the best show I’ve ever seen’ – that’s not me saying that, that’s people that have come to the gigs so if you’re curious come check us out”
Fozzy are hitting Auckland’s Studio, The Venue on Wednesday 7th November for what promises to be a pretty wild gig. Tickets are still available from Silverback Touring, but get in quick as they’re selling fast!
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