In a recent interview with Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station, Chris Jericho, the lead singer of Fozzy, discussed the band’s future plans. Talking about the importance of their latest single ‘Spotlight’ and continuing their current tour, Jericho plans to change their approach by releasing one song at a time, rather than waiting to release a full album in the coming years.
It took three years to release the album ‘Boombox,’ which the band started in 2019 due to quarantine and the epidemic. This situation, which they call ‘Chinese Fozzocracy,’ took a very long time according to the group. Speaking about the 12-song album ‘Boombox,’ Chris said:
“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.”
Exit From The Dead Song Graveyard
Not wanting their songs to go to waste, Fozzy took action to break this cycle. They wanted to hear great tunes like ‘Army Of One,’ ‘Omen’ and ‘The Worst Is Yet to Come.’ Explaining what the band wanted to do, Chris said:
“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.”
Old-School Music Fan Keeps Up With The Times
Jericho expressed his personal appreciation for full-length albums as an old-school music fan. But acknowledged the evolving music consumption habits, particularly among younger audiences. He said:
“Well, I like it because that’s how I grew up, but once again, you’ve gotta stay ahead of the curve 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.”
New Roadmap: Song-By-Song Development
The question that comes to mind is ‘Won’t they ever make an album again?’ Jericho explains his current road map:
“I’m not saying that; I’m just saying for right now, I like the song-by-song development. 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.”
The band aims to maintain its successful radio presence and continue building on their track record of Top 40 and Top 10 singles. ‘Spotlight’ is their latest single, accompanied by an innovative drone show music video, showcasing their commitment to evolving with the times. He said:
“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.”
In May 2022, Fozzy released ‘Boombox,’ featuring the hit song ‘I Still Burn’ and Top 10 singles ‘Nowhere To Run’ and ‘Sane.’ Earlier this year, the band toured with Ugly Kid Joe in the United States.
It’s worth mentioning that Fozzy underwent a drummer change in January 2022, with Frank Fontsere leaving the band to focus on other projects. Grant Brooks joined as the new drummer, and the current lineup includes Chris Jericho, Rich Ward, Billy Grey, and P.J. Farley.
You can watch the entire interview below.