Powerhouse rock 'n' roll band FOZZY have released their new single and video "Nowhere To Run". Listen to the anthemic track, which premiered on Chris Jericho's SiriusXM radio show "The Rock Of Jericho" recently, HERE. This is the first song off the new record called 2020, coming in Spring 2020.
On this episode, wrestler, singer and all around good guy, CHRIS JERICHO discusses his band FOZZY's fantastic new album Judas, KISS and their work ethic, his upcoming Cruise, acting, The Jericho Network on PodcastOne and much more.
Our second interview is with EUROPE's Joey Tempest. He discusses the band's renaissance since 2004, their excellent new album Walk The Earth, a solo album, guitarist John Norum, North American touring plans and much more.
And we wrap up this episode with drummer Tony Brock of The Babys who discusses the band's new Timeless Anthology II album, working with Rod Stewart, producers Bob Ezrin and Ron Nevison, former vocalist John Waite and much more.
FOZZYhave announced that their seventh studio album Judas will arrive on October 13 via Century Media.
FOZZY have already experienced incredible success with the “Judas”single. The official music video has accumulated almost 9 million views in just a few months, and the song hit No. 1 on iTunes charts in eight countries. Vocalist Chris Jericho went to bat for the single, eventually convincing Century Media to release “Judas” as the new album’s flagship cut.After their hugest charting (#54 on the Billboard 200) and most successful record, 2014's "Do You Wanna Start A War" and subsequent tour finished at the end of 2015, the band began focusing on taking their future to a new level creatively and enlisted critically acclaimed song writer Johnny Andrews to produce the new record. With Andrews, Ward and Jericho (the team who created FOZZY's highest charting single "Lights Go Out") at the helm, FOZZYspent 2016 crafting their new masterpiece for a spring 2017 release.
"After the huge success of the Do You Wanna Start A War record and the tour that followed that saw us share the stage with such incredible bands as Kiss, Slash & Myles Kennedy, BuckCherry and Theory Of A Deadman, we decided to take 2016 off to recharge and write songs. But now WE'RE BACK with our best album EEEVVVEEERRR and are so excited to destroy stages all across the globe again! There is nothing like playing FOZZY rock n roll to our amazing friends worldwide and watching you guys smile, laugh and have a blast...after all, isn't that what rock n roll is all about? We believe that there's only three things you can count on in life: death, taxes and the fact that if you come to a FOZZY show, you are GOING to have a great time!! That's the FOZZY money back guarantee..."- Chris Jericho.
Chris Jericho talks about JUDAS the album exclusively for Australia:
The success of the single Judas is mindblowing!
‘’I think it's the right song at the right place at the right time. I think there's been a lot of goodwill towards Fozzy over the years with a slow and steady build. And I think that I had such a huge year last year in 2016 in the WWE that a lot of people wanted to check out why I left the WWE to go to Fozzy and they gave us a chance when they hadn't in the past. And as a result, heard this song Judas, which is our best song. So, hooky, so heavy, so dark the lyrics are very dark. Everyone can relate to those lyrics. I think like I said it's just a great piece of timing and that so many people check out the band that never had in the past. And then hearing this amazing song with these lyrics that everybody can relate to ‘’Everyone I've Ever Loved I've Pushed Them All Away’’
It's about making the wrong decision knowing that you're making the wrong decision listening to the Judas in your mind and betraying yourself. So, I think all those things combined with a killer video, a great team, the return of Paul DiLeo. All of these things really, just all kind of compounded at the right time to create this perfect storm of Judas which is now a top 20 billboard which is awesome.’’
What can we expect from Judas the album:
Well I mean if you like Judas the song, there was actually a big debate with the record company as to what the first single should be. There's so many great songs on this I think if this was like 1987 in the days of Hysteria and Appetite for Destruction when you saw a band that had five or six singles. This is that type of record. There was a lot of argument about whether Painless should be the single or Elevator or Weight Of My World and now Drinkin’ With Jesus is in contention so there's a lot of great songs on the record. It's very much a more compact album. It's very much more about the songs and very much, is this song a single if it's not if it doesn't have a single potential let's not even put it on the record so we have 11 singles on this record which is the way we wanted. It took a long time to get it right. We didn't even record a couple of songs that we wrote for it, they just weren’t right. So these are the best 11 songs that we that we have, all of them could be hits. And as we’ve seen with Judas I think this record is going to take us to a completely different level, all across the board.
The writing process is a lot different this time around:
Before it was always Rich who wrote the music and I wrote the lyrics. We worked with Johnny Andrews last record for lights go out which was our biggest song to date and we decided we wanted to use an outside producer for this record. You know like Kiss with Bob Ezrin or Metallica with Bob Rock. Not that we’re those bands but it's the same vibe that you want to do something different and there wasn't anybody named Bob available apparently. So we went with Johnny Andrews because we had really enjoyed working with him on Lights Go Out and he produced the record and he co-wrote all the songs with Rich. I submitted all my lyrics and three of them were used which are Running With The Bulls, Wordsworth Way and Three Days In Jail but the rest are all Johnny and Rich collaborations. So they write them and I sell them. It really doesn't matter. It's just whatever's best for the song. And we had a great songwriting team in Rich and Johnny and the contributions that I made, the lyrics that I contributed. And once again every song, not worried about if there's a solo on it, Judas doesn't even have a soul it's just got a really cool middle Queen section. A lot of it would always be like well let's write a song with a crazy solo in it in a 4-minute intro and all that's gone. It's very compact is very much what AC/DC did when they worked with Mutt Lang also a Robert. Lot of Robert's man. We need to find Robert but we found Johnny and it's even better for us.
When can Australian fans we can expect a tour:
We've been waiting to come back to Australia since 2013. We were lucky enough to tour there twice in 2013 on the Soundwave tour with Metallica and then with Steel Panther, great times. Australia is one of our favorite places to go. We've been there I think four or five times now with Fozzy but we haven't been there since the Do You Want To Start A War Record came out which is 2014. I remember we listened to the demos for Do You Want To Start A War Record in our hotel room on that tour with Steel Panther so we got to make it back there. That's one of our goals and I know there's a lot of people waiting to see us and we are super excited about Australia. One of our favorite countries to tour in, Foztralia, Fozzy in Aussie has to happen again. So we're looking forward to doing that on this tour cycle. Hopefully in 2018 for sure.
In the show's only interview, STUCK MOJO & FOZZY guitarist RICH WARD guitarist RICH WARD discusses Stuck Mojo's latest album Here Come The Infidels, their history and various line-up changes, new singer Robby J. Also, he talks about his work with FOZZY, the band's beginnings, carving out a name for themselves, working on a follow-up to 2014's Do You Wanna Start A War and much much more.
Quotes from the interview:
Line-up changes (time 1.46) - "Sometimes it's difficult to find the chemistry and make things work."
(Time 2.41): "We've never announced that were breaking up because for us it never made sense. I never had any intentions for this band to go away forever. I love it."
The new album & new singer (time 10.40): "I'd always love to have an opportunity for old school fans... To win them over with the music."
(time 32.28): "Music is not a means to an end for me to just make money or to be famous... I want to make records that I'm passionate about."
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FOZZY To Release New Full-Length Studio Album 'Do You Wanna Start A War' July 25th!
Pre-Order The Album Now At iTunes And
Instantly Receive The Track 'One Crazed Anarchist'
FOZZY have announced they will release their highly anticipated, new full-length studio album 'Do You Wanna Start A War'(Century Media Records) in Australia and New Zealand on July 25th! Fans can now pre-order the 12-track album at iTunes and receive an instant download of the song 'One Crazed Anarchist.' Preview the track now and watch the new lyric video premiering exclusively at Revolver. Recently, the band unveiled a new lyric video for the debut single 'Lights Go Out,' which shows the band in a stunning new light. FOZZY have just finished a U.S. run performing at festivals across the country including Rock on the Range, Carolina Rebellion, and Rockfest along with many other shows. FOZZY will be performing June 14th in the U.K. on the main stage of the Download Festival.
Led by the inimitable duo of guitarist Rich Ward (co-founder of the influential underground band Stuck Mojo) and vocalist Chris Jericho (famed WWE superstar and media personality), the band FOZZY has really always been about one thing: having fun. Produced by Ward'Do You Wanna Start A War' is the bands follow-up to their acclaimed 2012 release 'Sin and Bones' and sixth studio effort since 2000. Featuring 12-tracks, the new album includes the debut single 'Lights Go Out,' alongside the title track and the return of the Theremin in 'Bad Tattoo.' As described by Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stone Sour, 'Do You Wanna Start A War is dark, dense and sharp. Sonically and lyrically, this feels like it's going somewhere big. I love it!'
What started out for guitarist Rich Ward as a weekend cover band, called FOZZY OSBOURNE, soon became an internationally signed act with the biggest star in professional wrestling, Chris Jericho, as its lead singer. With adopted stage names and an elaborate backstory written for the movies, the band's early recordings consisted mainly of cover songs ranging from Black Sabbath and Dio, to Iron Maiden and M'tley Cr'e. Jericho's singing ability and overall passion for music makes one wonder just how he is able to find the time to excel in pretty much everything he does, while Ward counting Zakk Wylde and Synyster Gates as fans, is probably one of the greatest, and unjustly so, underrated guitarists in rock and metal today. It was these qualities that pushed the band to drop alter egos get rid of the backstory and write original music.
Over the course of the next seven years, the band did just that; three albums worth to be exact. The records were fit in between Jericho's wrestling, TV and writing career. It wasn't until their last release 'Sin and Bones' though that the band really started to hit their stride. Jericho was winding down his involvement with sports, the band was touring more than ever before and their live show was as strong as ever sharing the stage with such music luminaries as Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold, Steel Panther,Shinedown, and many others. The entertainment, the fun factor, the showmanship were all there and in full force. More so than any point in the bands' career.
By the time 'Do You Wanna Start A War' is released, a horde of seasoned and newfound fans will have seen FOZZY live and heard new tracks off the album. They will have witnessed one of the greatest performances they've ever seen, they will have witnessed one of the best frontman in any genre of music sing some of the catchiest songs they've heard in ages and most importantly, they will have had the best time in their lives doing it.
FOZZY is Chris Jericho on vocals, Rich Ward on guitars and vocals, Frank Fontsere on drums, Billy Grey on guitars, and Paul Di Leo on bass.
FOZZY: 'Do You Wanna Start A War' tracklisting
Do You Wanna Start A War
Bad Tattoo Lights Go Out
Died With You
Tonite
Brides of Fire One Crazed Anarchist
Unstoppable
Scarecrow
No Good Way
SOS
Witchery
