Chris Jericho Believes Fozzy Have Come Into Their Own

Posted on Feb 15th 2010 1:00PM by Amy Sciarretto Comments

In the middle of our interview, Chris Jericho's cell phone rings. His ring tone is the 'Master! Master!' vocal from Metallica's 'Master of Puppets.' He jokes, "Ah, Hetfield is calling me!" But it's clear that Jericho, who used to pen a column in the now-defunct Metal Edge, is a dyed-in-the-wool metal fan whose passion and enthusiasm for the genre is more infectious than a communicable disease from a hooker. With the new album 'Chasing the Grail,' Fozzy's fifth overall, they've come into their own.

"After this record, the stigma of the 'wrestler band' will be gone," Jericho told Noisecreep. "The first record was all covers, with the gimmick. I was baffled that we had a record deal in the first place. We had the back story, like a Blues Brothers idea, and the second record was half originals, half covers." After appearing on a 'battle of the bands' on Howard Stern's radio show, Jericho and his maters "realized we had great chemistry and good players and decided to do original stuff and get rid of the characters, costumes and gimmick."

While Jericho admits that many bands survive on gimmicks, he was willing to part with that in Fozzy. He said, "Kiss had paint, but you can't put paint on a record. It all comes down to, 'Are they good songs or bad songs?' When they're good, it doesn't matter if you are a butcher, baker or candlestick maker."

By their third record, 'All That Remains,' Fozzy were ready to go for broke. "The album was all originals," Jericho said. "We cleaned the slate and we had Zakk Wylde, [Creed's] Mark Tremonti and Marty Friedman play; we had some heavy-hitting guys, so people knew this was legit."

Even though 'Chasing the Grail' is their fourth studio album, Jericho considers it their second, since it's all originals. He said, "People may say, 'the singer is a wrestler,' but Bruce Dickinson is a pilot! Now, this [band] isn't 'Jericho's fun time thing,' but a kick ass rock 'n' roll band. It took time, but it happened over the past five years. We must be doing something right!"