|
| |
 |
| |
|
THE
EARLY YEARS
The
saga and legend of Fozzy began in 1999 in the backstage
area at the Alamodome in San Antonio at a WCW
show...that was the day that I met Rich Ward.
|
| |
|
|
Now I'd
seen Rich play live with Stuck Mojo in
Orlando the year before, but I'd not met him before.
I was a fan of his band and I didn't know until that day
that he was a fan of mine, but it was great to know that
the feeling was mutual. I was turned on to Mojo
by my friend Geoff, when I mentioned to him that I was
going to check out a Testament
concert. Geoff told me to make sure to check out Mojo,
who were opening, as they were an excellent band, so I
did just that.
|
 |
|
I was immediately
impressed by the band and was even more impressed by
their use of wrestling terminology throughout the set
and the arrangement of wrestling dolls on the amps
during the gig. I didn't introduce myself as I
didn't want to bug the guys, so I was glad to finally
meet up with Rich. |
Have you ever met someone
that you immediately felt a kinship with right off the
bat? That's what it was like when I began talking
to The Duke. We had similar tastes in
music, which was apparent when we found out that we were
both Journey and Stryper
fans! What are the chances of finding that
backstage! So we had a great chat and went our
separate ways. A few months later I met up with
Rich again backstage in Greenville, SC. This time
during our conversation, after discussing our various
beginnings in junior high school bands, we decided that
if the opportunity ever presented itself, that we would
get together and play a show that would consist of
nothing but covers of our favorite bands from
yesteryear. Rich already had played with a local
musicians cover band, that consisted of whoever happened
to show up that week, called Fozzy Osbourne
and he invited me to sit in whenever I could. I
agreed and once again we went our separate ways.
|
 |
Fast forward a few months
and I was sidelined from wrestling with a severely
sprained ankle, which was going to keep me out of action
for 4 months. When that happened, I called Rich
and we decided to once again unleash Fozzy Osbourne upon
the world, this time with me in the band. Rich
called a few promoters that he knew and a few weeks
later we debuted in Marietta, GA at a place called The
Hangar. The lineup consisted of me on vocals, Rich
on guitar, Mojo drummer Frank Fontsere,
Mojo bassist Dan Dryden and a guitar
student of Rich's named Ryan Mallam on
guitar. Needless to say, without a day of
rehearsal, we weren't exactly Dream Theater...but there
was something there. So much so, that the word
spread about the band so quickly, that we were offered a
record deal by Palm/Megaforce Records,
without ever being heard OR seen! The label head
honchos were very interested in the project featuring
members of Mojo and Y2J and so it was done...Fozzy was
signed.
THE BIRTH OF THE FOZZY
STORYLINE
It was at this point that Rich and I
decided that there were a million cover bands and
tribute bands in the world and it didn't need another
one...unless there was a twist. That's when we
decided to implement a Blues Brothers/Spinal
Tap/Traveling Wilbur's story line, where we
would all adopt characters and play it as if the songs
that the band were covering were really our songs that
were stolen from us while we were stuck in Japan due to
a bad record deal. We also decided to drop the
Osbourne and remain just Fozzy...although we entertained
the idea of naming ourselves The Big City
Knights for a short time. Glad we didn't
use that one!! Anyway, the label dug the whole
concept and they even tapped us to do a 30 minute "mockumentary" based
on the history of the band.
The movie was made, along with the
help of Dee Snider, Zakk Wylde, Mike Portnoy
and Sebastian Bach, all who were happy
to play along with the legend of how Fozzy had created
and influenced all things metal. The movie played
to rave reviews on MTV and Much
Music and the first record, FOZZY,
was released in Oct of 2000. The single and video,
EAT THE RICH was also well received and
enjoyed solid airplay. We played a handful of
shows, including WWE Sunday Night Heat
and that was it for almost 7 months.
I don't really know why it took us so
long to get back on track, but when we reconvened over
half a year later, we added another guitar player,
Mike Schneider. We now sported a
three pronged axe attack that got even more pompous when
our good friend and uber metal producer Andy
Sneap joined the band for the ricockulous
FOUR axe attack. Thankfully that
lineup only lasted for 4 shows...it was just too heavy
and preposterous for the ears to comprehend. It
was hilarious to see 5 Les Paul's (I
used to play guitar during the encore as well) on one
stage though!! We were still doing all covers at
this time but that was about to change...
|
|
BEGINNING TO CHANGE WITH
HAPPENSTANCE |
|
When it came time to do
the second record, we decided that in order for the band
to progress and grow, that we would do half covers and
half originals. We signed to Megaforce
Records and began to write our first batch of
real Fozzy songs. Granted, Feel The Burn
and End Of Days off the first
record were originals, but they were the last tracks on
the record that were worked on. We wanted these
originals to be top priority. At this point, Mike
Schneider left the fold as did Dan Dryden, who was
replaced on bass by Keith Watson. HAPPENSTANCE
was released in July of 2002 and featured the
originals To Kill A Stranger, the title
track, Crucify Yourself and
With The Fire. Happenstance was also
released around the world, which was the first time we'd
been heard anywhere |
 |
|
outside
of the US. We did a video for With The Fire that
was once again played by MTV2, Much Music
and Fuse TV. The vid was also
shown on Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Best Damn Sports
Show Period and The Craig Kilborn Show.
We also had a battle of the bands on The Howard
Stern Show and we played a hell of a lot more
gigs, including appearing on WWE Raw,
at the 2002 NAMM convention in L.A. and
playing in front of 25,000 people at the Bang
Your Head Festival in Germany with
Slayer, Gamma Ray and Rob Halford.
During
this time, Ryan decided to leave the band to go to law
school...what was he thinking?? Leaving the Fozz
to become a high paying lawyer...pshaw!! He was
replaced by Billy Grey, who remained
with the band until he left and was replaced with...Ryan
Mallam, who was replaced when he left by...Billy
Grey! Confused yet? I know I am!
It's like one of those Old Testament
chapters...Mike begat Ryan who begat Sneap who begat
Billy who begat Ryan who begat Billy...
Anyway,
we were still semi-playing along.... with the story
line, but as the band's notoriety grew, so did our
realization that it would benefit the future of the Fozz
if we dropped the story and focused on ourselves...being
ourselves.
|
| |
|
|
WHY IS THAT GUY
WEARING A PIG MASK ? |
|
Who is he?
Why is he here? Why is he wearing
a pig mask?
|
|
|
 |
|
Those questions have always been asked by our
fans regarding our esteemed mascot,
Arthur. Arthur was born when we
had our first rehearsal before our very first
gig, when I saw the pig mask that was used in
the Mojo video for Pig Walk on the floor.
I decided like every good metal band, Fozzy
needed a mascot and voila...Arthur was born.
I said that he was a close friend of ours who
was stricken at an early age by the horrible
disease know as Swinus...a crushing sickness
that turns the facial features of the afflicted
into that of a swine. He's been played by
a number of guys, but the character really
didn't come out of it's shell until he was taken
over by Richard Marcum.
Marcum was a guy who did the merch for Mojo back
in the day and a huge black metal fan. He
was also the perfect guy to play Arthur, as he
embodied the character. When he put the
mask on, it was like Superman putting on his
cape...he became that persona! He reached
his peak at the Bang Your Head Festival in
Germany when he went in the crowd and handed out
20,000 buttons bearing his face before our set.
By the time we hit the stage, he was the most
popular member of the band!! I'll never
forget the sight of a guy in a pig mask
introducing himself to Kerry King of
Slayer, as "Arthur from Fozzy"!
Even though he
doesn't have as prominent of a role as he once
did, as long as there's a Fozzy, Arthur will be
involved in some shape or form....oink oink
oink!!!
|
|
THE DVD THAT SHOULD
NOT BE
One day, I got fed
up with the fact that we had this awesome movie
of the band, that I basically co-wrote,
directed, produced, edited and starred in and it
was sitting on a shelf at my house. I knew
that we also had a ton of footage that we'd
filmed over the years that wasn't being seen as
well, so I decided to do something about it.
|
|
|
So I
bought a DVD making machine and myself and my good
friend Ed produced the first Fozzy DVD. It
included the movie, Unleashed, Uncensored,
Unknown, as well as the video for With The
Fire, and all the footage from all the shows and travels
we'd done. It was met with as rousing response as
the Fozzy Fanatics are very, very loyal. People
were very excited by the DVD and the reviews were the
same. Unfortunately, due to legal red tape
bullshit, we were forced to pull the DVD from the
market. It still bothers me that the movie is
basically lost forever, except for the people who were
lucky enough to have it. If you got one, hold on
to it, cos it's a collector's item and an underground
classic. Everyone who's seen it loves it and it
was the hit of Ozzfest last year...Zakk
knows it off by heart and quotes it to me every time I
see him!
|
 |
|
ODDS AND ENDS
In
between records over the last year, we've also appeared
on a couple of other compilation albums. We
appeared on the WWE Originals CD last
year, with the song Don't You Wish You Were Me,
which was written by Rich and I. It's the best
track on the record and a staple of our live show.
Rich and I also covered The King Of The
Nighttime World for the Kiss
tribute record Spin The Bottle.
Check them out if you don't have these tracks, cos we
stole the show on both the albums...as usual!
HERE
AND NOW WITH ALL THAT REMAINS
When it
came time to do ATR, we knew that it was time to drop
the story and embrace the kick ass rock band that we
knew we were...and we have. Due to time
constraints, Andy Sneap left the band and we were right
back where we started with a two guitar line up. We also
welcomed Sean B Delson into the bass
fold when Watty departed and Mike Martin
in on guitar when Ryan Mallam split. We now had
the perfect mix of pure heavy groove and ridiculous
shred and we were ready to record the record of our
career. Well, it took a little while, but we've
done that. This record is by far our strongest and
our best to date and everyone who's heard it agreed.
It's been well documented who guest starred on the
record, but I don't want to downplay the supreme efforts
of our band.
|
|
We all
delivered the performances of our career and on Jan 18,
2005 I know you'll all agree when you hear it.
We've got more publicity and buzz for this record then
we've ever had and I can't wait for you to hear it.
It's going to be released by our own record company,
ASH Records, which is exciting, as
we've had our share of craziness dealing with other
companies. We also just did an awesome video for
Enemy and the future is so bright we
gotta wear shades!
|
 |
|
THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOZZY
FANATICS
So
that's where we stand right now. That's the first couple
chapters of this epic story. But one important thing is
that we couldn't have made it this far and written this
much without all of you guys. You've helped us to
achieve our dream of playing in a touring, exciting,
kick ass rock and roll band and you've given us the
reason to continue. Without your interest and
support, the time spent and the demands imposed on us
from working on Fozzy would have been dropped a long
time ago. We've amassed an incredible fan base and
an incredible support team including Mark
Willis, Ed Aborn, Sean Grove, Richard Marcum, Noel St
John, Paul Hough, Zakk Wylde, Webmaster Lee Wren and
so many others, too numerous to mention.
We
can't wait to continue this awesome journey and see
where it takes us...hopefully it takes us right into
your town and we can go f**king crazy with each other!!!
Thanks from the bottom
of my heart and God bless you guys...
Spread the Fozzpel cos We
Are Huge Rock Stars!!
-Chris Jericho
|
| |
|
|
| |
| MERCHANDISE |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
