FOZZY’s CHRIS JERICHO Doesn’t Rule Out More Full-Length Albums In The Future

In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station, FOZZY singer Chris Jericho spoke about the band’s plans for the coming months. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “[Our latest single] ‘Spotlight’ just came out a few weeks ago, and we’re on tour right now. And, obviously, radio is so important, as you know. So [we’re] just kind of focusing on this right now, I think the idea for us over the next few years is to just release one song at a time rather than waiting two years and putting out a full record.”

He continued: “The ‘Boombox’ record, which we started in 2019, because of the lockdown, the pandemic, it took three years to basically get it released. We were calling it ‘Chinese Fozzocracy’; it took such a long time. And the thing that I realized about it is that we had 12 great songs on it, but out of those 12 great songs, three of them went to radio, were all Top 10, three more of them we played live and did great, and then the other six songs just kind of disappeared. You don’t play them live or release them to the radio. They kind of go to the FOZZY dead-song graveyard. I didn’t want to waste those songs — ‘Army Of One’ and ‘Omen’ and ‘The Worst Is Yet To Come’. Those are all great tunes. So what we wanted to do, starting with ‘Spotlight’, is release a song at a time and give each song its due, send each song to radio, play each song live. And then you can really see what kind of legs it has and if it can be another classic for us like ‘Judas’ or ‘I Still Burn’, in that vibe. So I think that’s kind of what’s gonna happen for us in the future, is starting to really concentrate on a song-by-song basis.”

Jericho went on to say that he, as an old-school music fan, personally still appreciates the full-length album concept. “Well, I like it because that’s how I grew up, but once again, you’ve gotta stay ahead of the curve,” he explained. “And the way that people consume music nowadays, especially younger people, it’s all playlists and it’s on shuffle and it’s YouTube videos and that sort of a thing. So I think, as much as I hate to say it, because I still love the concept of a full album and the whole ebb and flow of putting together the track listing and all that sort of thing, I just think it’s almost becoming a little bit archaic. So I think, once again, as we’ve always done, we stay ahead of the curve rather than kind of stay ensconced in what was working before.

“Are we ever not gonna do another record? I’m not saying that; I’m just saying for right now, I like the song-by-song development,” Chris clarified. “And plus, it’s all about content nowadays. We hear, ‘Content, content, content.’ I’d rather have a new song released every three or four months rather than every one or two years. Like I said, I think it’s just the way of the world right now. We’re gonna work and go about things that way and see how that changes or doesn’t change the success of the songs that we’ve had.

“We’ve had seven consecutive Top 40 singles right now, and then ‘Spotlight’ will probably hit number 10, which would be our six consecutive Top 10 single. So we wanna continue this roll that we’re on as far as just being, I guess, a radio band at this point in time.”

“Spotlight” was released last month via Madison Records/The Orchard. The song’s accompanying video was filmed by Exceleration Media and Firefly Drone Shows and features hundreds of live drones that light up the night sky to co-star in this first ever drone show music video.

To fully capture the magnitude of the night flying drones for the video, FOZZY‘s creative team brought the concept to Firefly Drone Shows, who are recognized as the innovation leader in the drone light show industry.

“Spotlight” was helmed by FOZZY‘s longtime producer Johnny Andrews (THREE DAYS GRACE, ALL THAT REMAINS, HALESTORM) and sonically refined by mixer Jacob Hanson (VOLBEAT, AMARANTHE, ARCH ENEMY).

“Boombox” came out in May 2022 and featured the song “I Still Burn”, which recently eclipsed two and a half million views on YouTube. It also included the Top 10 singles “Nowhere To Run” and “Sane”.

This past spring, FOZZY spent time on the road with UGLY KID JOE as part of the latter band’s first tour of the United States in 27 years.

In January 2022, FOZZY parted ways with longtime drummer Frank Fontsere and replaced him with Grant Brooks (THROUGH FIRE).

Fontsere was a founding member of FOZZY, having formed the group in 1999 with Jericho and Rich Ward (guitar).

When FOZZY announced Fontsere‘s departure, the band said that he was “stepping down to focus on his family and other projects.”

FOZZY is Jericho, Ward, Brooks, Billy Grey (guitars) and P.J. Farley (bass).