Fozzy at The Roadmender

Whether he is stepping into the ring, or onto the stage, Chris Jericho can be counted on to make a real entrance. A wrestler with numerous titles to his name, including plenty of World Titles, Jericho knows a thing or 10 about putting on a show, as he told Pulse’s Sammy Jones.

Later this month, Chris will bring the party to The Roadmender when his band Fozzy wrap up a 10-date UK tour in our neck of the woods.
Of course there are similarities between the two disciplines at which he excels.

“It’s all the live element of connecting with a crowd, and that could be wrestling or music or stand-up comedy or a Shakespearean actor on the stage. If you are doing something live, you want to connect with the audience and make them interested in what it is you are doing, and be the party host, so to speak, and lead them to where you want them to go.

“There are a lot of those same elements whether you are on the stage with Fozzy or in the ring with AEW,” he agrees.

Last August he enjoyed the double whammy of coming on to wrestle at Wembley Stadium while performing with his band Fozzy. The footage is incredible.
Surely you can never tire of a buzz like that?

“It was amazing, there was 80,000 people there and to me Wembley is home to the greatest gig of all time which is Queen at Live Aid. It’s combining two of my worlds at the highest of degrees; playing myself to the ring with Fozzy is something that has never been done before, but there’s a lot of elements to it – we started on a really high platform, and that’s where I did the Freddie Mercury ‘Ay-oe’s’” he says, talking me through the routine, “… and then the music started and I had to run down the steps and across an area and climb down a ladder to get to the floor to grab a microphone to start singing as I walked to the ring. It’s like, not only am I singing the song, I am also having to be a fricking gymnast to get there!

“Then I had to sing the song and I had to sing it right and in time, because I was 500 yards away from the band, and then once that’s all done, you think, ‘that was amazing but oh wait, I’ve got to wrestle an 18 minute match against Will Ospreay now!’

“When I was up there doing it I was thinking, ‘this is almost biting off a little bit more than I can chew’ and no-one else would probably ever do it, but it is a very Chris Jericho thing to do.”

Clearly the event left its mark on him. “It was a really cool moment, and something I will never forget, it was the biggest show I’ve ever had in wrestling and the biggest show with Fozzy at the same time…”

Fozzy has been a ‘thing’ for 23 years. Eight albums in and the band is still conquering new ears with an ever expanding fan base. The motto is ‘fan owned, band operated.’

“Twenty-three years in and Fozzy is bigger than we’ve ever been and better than we’ve ever been and I don’t know a lot of bands that can say that, and we still got a lot of growth going. This tour in the UK will be the biggest one we’ve ever had and that’s really cool considering we’ve been coming to the UK since 2005.”
Although the Fozzy line-up has been fluid over the years, the nucleus of Chris and guitarist Rich has remained firm.

“What Rich and I have really figured out is we are really good at letting each other do what he does best, we are not trying to step on each others’ toes.

“I think there was a time when both of us were being alpha males and thought we had to be in control of everything, and then we realised, somewhere around the third record, that this is a really good partnership, so it is a Mick and Keith, Steve and Bruce, Lars and James, where you have two guys who are both very creative. Rich is the musical director and he’s more the songwriter and I’m more of the ‘What’s the tour gonna be called?’ and ‘What’s the album cover look like’ and ‘What is the setlist?’ and I do more of the press stuff, although Rich does some too.

“He does what he does best and I do what I do best and we do things together and between those elements you’ve got a really great partnership. If it wasn’t that, we wouldn’t be here right now.”

When the man, widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time (or G.O.A.T as they say) wrestlers isn’t getting to grips with the opposition, working up a sweat on stage, or hosting his own long running podcast, we imagine he tries to catch a breath.

“I’m busy, but I’m not as busy as people might expect,” he admits, “I’ve had a lot of crazy stuff going on the past couple of months and I just got back from Vietnam on Tuesday, but you know, it’s Friday now and I’ve had pretty much the rest of the week off and I’m off until next Tuesday.

“Yesterday I didn’t do anything but sleep because I had nothing really to do, and I needed to sleep from being jet lagged and being so busy. Now I’m back on track and I’m home for the next few days sitting with my dogs, and my daughters went to school this morning and I’m back on normal dad mode. It does get super busy at times, but the beauty of it is in my job when I’m not busy I don’t have to do anything.

“It’s not like I have to go to work or get on the train at 9am. I can just hang out at home, so that’s the balance.”

And when he is home, he’s not averse to dealing with the mundane, “errands, and going to the bank, calling the lawn guys to work on some shrubbery or whatever the hell it is, just normal stuff,” he says, “… most of the time, like today, I’ve got a few things to do and then by 2pm I’m done and ready to grab a cocktail and just hang out…”

Jericho’s fan base is colossal, but you can never appeal to all of the people all of the time, and while he will call out negativity on social media, he’s not much fussed in making friends and influencing people. He’s got enough of the former, and stays true to himself.

“There are always going to be people with opinions online – some of them will love you and some of them will hate you, and you take them all with a grain of salt. I know people who don’t like me will probably never like me, so I don’t worry about trying to appeal to them.

“I take great pride and have great responsibility in keeping the people that follow my work and appreciate what I do, happy, and keeping them excited about the projects I’m doing and excited to be involved with anything that Chris Jericho is doing.”

Read the full interview in this month’s NN Pulse Magazine.

Fozzy brings the Spotlight tour to Northampton Roadmender on Monday, February 26. To book tickets visit theroadmender.com