Fozzy’s Chris Jericho had to work harder for respect from the rock fans.
The singer recently chatted with Neal Brennan of the Blocks podcast and talked about how he decided to form Fozzy 25 years ago:
“I’ve been playing in rock and roll bands since I was 14 years old. This is not something I just woke up one day and went, ‘Hey, I’m gonna get into a band.’ And another block in the music world was trying to convince people this wasn’t just a vanity project. And also too — I experienced it with wrestling, [people saying], ‘Oh, you’re too small.’”
People Doubted His Singing Ability
Jericho likened his wrestling experience to his music career:
“I experienced it with Fozzy: ‘You can’t sing. You’re a wrestler.’ It’s, like, why? What does that have to do with anything? … [Iron Maiden’s] Bruce Dickinson is an airline pilot. And it’s like saying, ‘Well, you can’t be an airline pilot ’cause you’re a singer,’ or, ‘You can’t be a singer ’cause you’re an airline pilot.’ It makes no f*cking sense. You can either do it or you can’t.”
He also advised ignoring naysayers:
“So we had to work twice as hard to get people’s respect with Fozzy, but now we just had our sixth Top 10 hit … and a gold record and world tours and all this other stuff. So you’ve just gotta stay with it. And if you know it’s gonna work, don’t listen to people who tell you you can’t do something, because everybody — not everybody, [but] the majority of people who don’t understand something will just say you can’t do it. And don’t buy into it.”
What Did Jericho’s Bandmate Say About Him?
Although he receives backlash from others, Jericho gets a lot of respect from his bandmates. In a new interview with the On the Road to Rock podcast with Clint Switzer, Fozzy’s guitarist Rich Ward praised Chris’ fronting skills, saying:
“We’re really blessed. The Fozzy band started as a side thing for myself and Chris, and it just kind of evolved into this passion project, which then we take as seriously as you would anything else you do in your life. I mean, Chris is not going to do anything unless he feels like it’s gonna be successful, because he’s an apex predator, he’s a great white shark.”
He continued:
“Everything he does is incredible. The fact that he’s at his age and is still at the top in his industry, and he’s got four New York Times bestsellers and one of the most popular podcasts in the world and he’s one of the greatest frontmen that’s ever lived in rock and roll, and I’ll stand by that.”
Fozzy released their latest single, ‘Spotlight,’ last October. On the other hand, the band’s latest album, ‘Boombox,’ came out in May 2022. Fozzy’s 25th-anniversary tour starts on October 3 in Woodstock, Georgia.