Interview: Chris Jericho

1 July 2011

Since leaving wrestling in September, Chris Jericho has toured with Fozzy, released his second book and been on Dancing With The Stars.

A couple of hours before Fozzy take to the stage at Moho Live in Manchester, front-man and former World Champion Chris Jericho talks to us about the band, WWE and Fozzy's plans for the future.

-How is it being back in Manchester?
It's great, man. We just got in this morning. Typical rock and roller, you get to bed at 3 and sleep until 3. It's good. We went for a little walk around, hung out for a bit.

-Is it nice being back in the UK?
We love the UK. We've been here almost 10 times in the last four or five years, and it really is a second home for us. It's the first country that ever really got what Fozzy does.

Always very friendly, very receptive. We're able to keep coming back and playing great gigs. It's just been a blessing for to have such a great fan-base over here.

-How was the first UK date of the tour last night?
It was great. It was in Nuneaton which we've never been to before. It was jam-packed, it was so f****** hot.

It was like...taking this bottle of water and pouring it over your head, just drenched, but that's the sign of a good rock 'n roll show.

-How has it been being back working with the band so much, after a lot of time spent on other projects over the years?
This is probably one of the most major projects now. We've been doing the band for 12 years, but the last few years is the most full-time it's ever been.

Chasing The Grail came out and got such great reviews, and we've just been touring non-stop since. I think we've done 10 countries in that point of time, which is the most we've ever done.

We were going to originally do a new record this summer, but we kept getting invited to do touring. It's been great. Fozzy is now my number one priority.

You know, when I was kid...I've been playing in bands since I was 12 years old. I always wanted to be in a rock n' roll band, and I wanted to be a wrestler. Those were my two dreams as a kid, and wrestling took off before music did.

-Going back to the beginning, Fozzy started as a covers band. What prompted the eventual change to writing your own material?
Well, it was weird. We played covers and then we got signed to a record deal by Johnny Zazula, the guy that signed Metallica and Anthrax back in '81 or '82 on Megaforce Records.

He signed us as a cover band. We were kind of a bit shocked, actually, but like any self-respecting musicians we took the money! It was fun at first, and then we did Happenstance, where we wanted to do half originals on that one.

We realised...you know what, we've got a great band. People kept saying, covers are cool, but we really love the originals. So, we went all-original and dropped the original concept of the band, which was more just a fun thing.

We realised, we've got a great band with great songs and great chemistry and we love doing this. So, let's just continue on. We thought about changing the name, but we already kinda had a fan-base.

If you look at some of the greatest bands of all time, the names are kinda lame. You've got Def Leppard, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, or Pink Floyd. It doesn't really make any sense anyway!

So, we thought, Fozzy's the name, we're going to stick with it and that's it. When we did All That Remains, we got such a great response for it. Chasing The Grail really put it over the top.

-You mentioned the extensive touring the band's done. Do you prefer that to being locked up in the studio?
Well, they're both fun. It's always great creating new music. I've written all the lyrics already for the next record. It's exciting, you get in the vibe of it.

Touring on this album has been a lot of fun, but this record is so eclectic that we've been able to play five, now we've done seven songs in the set. We keep adding songs because it's such a strong album, but it's almost getting to the point where we want to do something new.

It's a great balance. You write a song, and when it really comes together and play it live, it'll go over great. After playing together for so many years, we've put together a great set now, finally on this tour, that's the set we always wanted.

It's almost all originals, some really heavy, some more groovy, some super-fast. It's just a really cool set and we're excited to be playing it.

-How does the songwriting process work for the band, because in the past you've had other projects that meant you were away a lot?
In this day and age, the world is so small. I write all the lyrics, send them to Rich and he puts together the riffs that speak to him from the words.

We just go back and forth that way. That's the way Chasing The Grail was written and I think it's our strongest album.

We worked from scratch, working together, and found a really great balance writing these songs.

-With the internet changing the industry, it can be harmful. You mentioned that it was making the world smaller, so has the internet helped Fozzy?
Absolutely. The music business is very strange now. From the time we made our first record in 2000 to the way it is now, we don't really make a lot of money off albums, CDs, records, whatever you call them.

That's not really the point. Now, you do a CD as more of a souvenir so you can go and play live. We take advantage of that. We don't mind it that way, because we like to play. We'll play anywhere.

On this tour, we're doing Sonisphere, the biggest festival of the year, to Margate, at a small club on the seaside before we head over to Paris.

We love the fact that we can keep coming back, and that people want to see us all over the country. We don't think people should be forgotten about because they live in Margate and not in London, you know? We're happy to play anywhere.

-You've got Sonisphere coming up, and you've played shows like Download Festival in the past. Do any shows stand out in your mind?
Actually, this last year so far my favourite gigs were Manchester, the last time we played here was an amazing gig. Sydney, Australia, Paris, and then we played the Whiskey in Los Angeles. Those were the four gigs that stood out for me on this tour.

For whatever reason, the crowd was super stoked, the band was hot. We played LA and there was an atmosphere there like no other. It's cool that we can go from Manchester, Sydney, Paris, Los Angeles and everywhere in between and have fans that come.

We have a great worldwide fan-base to the point that we don't play in the States very much because we have so many other opportunities elsewhere.

We get a lot of hassle sometimes from people asking, like, 'why don't you play in your own country?' It's like, sorry man.

I think we're going to be coming back to the UK in November. Canada's been great for us, France and Australia been's a blast. We'll go where people want to see us the most.

-Do you notice a difference in atmosphere between countries?
Well, I'm not saying this egotistically but one thing we have a reputation for, and we're very proud of, is a great live show. We've very energetic, very crowd-friendly and we get people involved in the show.

I think that's one of the reasons people come to see us, because they'll have a great time. People in the UK are a bit crazier. It's always a bit hotter, a bit sweatier. I think people know our songs a bit better here, for whatever reason.

So, we do love playing here. It's always very high-energy, high-intensity. That's the way we like it.

-It's changing now, but Fozzy has had a reputation for being 'the band with Chris Jericho in it'. Are you getting over that now?
You have to. I mean, a gimmick is a gimmick. KISS wore paint. It's cool at first, but if the music is no good, the gimmick only lasts so long.

You got a tonne of other bands wearing paint that never made it because the music wasn't as good. I think that's what Fozzy has always had. We've got great songs and a great live show.

The fact that Chris Jericho is a wrestler helped and hindered us a little bit. A lot of people were like...this can't be any good, because it's the band with the wrestler singing.

I also like to say that only people who don't like Fozzy are the ones who've never heard us! Most people who listen to the band go...holy s***! We missed out, this band is great.

That's how we like it. You don't like that album, how about this one? You didn't like that show, how about this? You didn't see us last time, we'll come back again. We'll keep sticking it to you, and keep knocking on your door, until eventually you have to give up and let us in.

I think most of the time, people really dig what we're doing. It will always be the band with Jericho, the wrestler, in it. I think at this point in time, people don't really care.

Bruce Dickinson is an airline pilot. That doesn't mean Iron Maiden sings about little bags of peanuts, lavatories and sitting in Seat 3D.

It's not like we ever played wearing wrestling tights singing songs about Suplexes. It's a completely different thing.

If Jamie Foxx can win an Oscar for singing Ray Charles songs, I'm sure Fozzy can continue to play rock n' roll music.

People don't care if I'm a butcher, baker, candlestick maker, they just like the music and that's all that matters.

-With wrestling, and now being with the band, has it been hard being on the road so much?
Well, I haven't wrestled since September. This takes the place. I love being on the road, I'm a road-dog and always have been. In years past, I've juggled Fozzy and WWE.

It was ok, but the band has so much momentum now, it's such a blast to be on tour. Look at the bus we're sitting on now. It's a great bus, it's a lot of fun.

The fact that we've been able to get to this level after all those years is very gratifying after all the hard work we've put into it.

-Is Fozzy the priority for you, then?
Yeah. Just by the fact that this is what I've been doing for the last 8 or 9 months. People are like, when are you coming back to the WWE?

I have no plans of coming back. Like I said, as a kid I wanted to be in a band, and I wanted to be a wrestler. I've done everything in wrestling.

Now that Fozzy has so much momentum, I'd be crazy not to take advantage of this and take it as far as we can go.

-Do you think WWE will cope without Chris Jericho?
The WWE will always carry on. It lasted without Bret Hart, it lasted without Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan.

I was just a spoke in the wheel there. I had a great time. I think I made my impact there, and the WWE will be around long after Chris Jericho left. It's more the brand name of the WWE that keeps it going at this point.

-You have your third book planned. How's that going?
I haven't done a damn thing yet! I've signed the contract and wrote some ideas down for it.

You take advantage of it while I the iron is hot, once you sign the deal. There's no way I'm going to even think about writing it for another year or so.

It's a very taxing project. It takes a long time to write a book. There was three and a half years between A Lion's Tale and Undisputed, and I think there'll be the same between these two. Maybe a bit quicker, but two years minimum.

-Did you enjoy the reaction to your first two books?
Yeah. The first one was really cool. It was a great surprise, because I didn't know what to expect. The second one was just through the roof.

It was Top 10 on the New York Times Best Seller list, Top 5 in Canada and in the UK. It did great all around the world. It was a better seller, by far, than A Lion's Tale was.

It was a huge success on top of a huge success, so it was really cool.

-Moving to Dancing With The Stars, do you have a plan to do anything like that again?
When you do something like Dancing With The Stars, it opens the door in so many ways. 5 million people watch WWE, but 25 million watch Dancing With The Stars.

My fan-base just went through the roof. I don't think I've ever met so many 65 year old ladies in my life saying 'you're my favourite!' It's all good, it really increased the potential of the Chris Jericho brand.

If I can get a gig up there maybe hosting a show or doing some acting, and do Fozzy the rest of the time, I'd be very happy. We'll see what happens.

-You've done stage acting too. Do you miss that?
I love acting, I love playing a character. It's a lot of fun, but that's why I love playing with Fozzy live. The gratification of a live audience.

The instant vibes you get, the instant reaction, it's so cool. I find that you really do step in character when you go on stage, you're not yourself.

You really get into the music and let the vibe carry you to places you wouldn't normally be. I'd like to do more acting, but it's fun playing the lead singer of Fozzy and really getting into that role.

It is part of being a party host and making sure people are having a good time. It's a lot of fun.

-What are the plans for Fozzy for the rest of the year?
We've got this tour until the end of July that's taking us to Germany, France, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland. Then, we're going to work on the new record in August and September.

We're going to do a tour of Canada in October, then come back here, apparently, November. Back in the UK again, Ireland and Scotland included this time.

We're trying to go to Japan in December. Hopefully we'll have a new album out in the winter of 2012.

-What message would you like to give to your fans?
I just can't thank the fans in the UK enough for embracing us the way they have. We're just so excited to be playing here.

We're going to continue to tear the house down wherever we play, and build the Fozzy fanbase.

We'll give everybody who digs us what they want, which is kick-ass rock n' roll music and a great time.

Female First - Alistair McGeorge