Ben caught up with Chris Jericho from Fozzy with a short overseas phone call to talk about what the future holds for the band.

Hey Chris, can you just tell us where abouts you are in the world and what you’ve been up to today so far?
I’m in Tampa, Florida. I’m just getting the job done man, doing business.

When people hear the name Chris Jericho they automatically think ‘wrestling’, but you’re actually a man of many talents…
Yeah, I guess you could say that…

Would you say that Fozzy is one of your main priorities now?
Music always has been my main priority. I’ve been playing in bands since I was twelve years old, so it’s always something that I’ve done. When I was a kid I always wanted to be in a rock band and I wanted to be a wrestler, those are the two things that I wanted to do with my life. The wrestling took off before the music did, but I never stopped playing music or writing songs. Now that we’ve been doing Fozzy for twelve years we’ve really started to pick up momentum and we’re making some waves, it’s pretty cool that I’ve had the chance to make both of these dreams come true.

Did you ever find it difficult to juggle the two – wrestling and the band?
Yeah, maybe from a time factor but I had such passion for both that it was never really in consideration, it was just something that I had to do. It’s always hard to juggle two careers, but if you believe in them and have a passion for both then that makes it a lot easier.

How does performing on stage compare to performing in the ring?
They’re both very similar; they’re both high energy forms of show business. There’s a lot of intensity and a lot of aggression. The basic point of performing in front of a live audience is connecting with them and making sure that they have a great time, so those two elements of music and wrestling are very similar for sure.

If you had to pick between the two would which one would you say is more rewarding?
The main difference is that, with wrestling, I pretty much did everything that you can possibly do. However, with Fozzy we’re gaining momentum, every single month we have more places to play, more records sold, more notoriety and more success. I think that Fozzy is growing whereas wrestling has peaked, this is what I’ve been working and waiting for for the past twenty five years, and it looks like it’s finally paying off. That’s a very cool feeling.

I imagine that you lead a very busy lifestyle, do you get to spend as much time with the band as you’d like?
Yeah, especially now. Recently it’s all been Fozzy, we’ve been to England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Australia, Canada, the States and now we’re getting ready to go over to Europe again, so we’ve done a lot of touring over the last eight months. It’s been almost exclusively Fozzy and it’s been a blast.

You just mentioned that you head over to the UK in just over a week, are you looking forward to it?
Yeah, we love the UK – it’s become a second home for us. It’s the first place that really embraced Fozzy before anybody else did. I think we’ve been over to the UK maybe ten times in the last five years, it’s been great for us. Like I said, we call it our second home and even to the point of us playing Sonisphere, that’s a direct result of our fans over there, they basically got us on the bill. It’s always a blast to come back to the UK.

Why do you think that the UK has embraced Fozzy more than any other part of the world?
I think that people in the UK just like whatever they like. You look at festivals over there and the line-ups are very eclectic. When we did Download it was My Chemical Romance, Billy Idol, Megadeth, Black Sabbath, Garbage and everything else, there’s really no specific rule that you have to be a rock fan, or a metal head, you can be whatever you want to be. People just like what they like and I think that’s really helped Fozzy, no matter what was being played on the radio at the time or what was in magazines, people just liked our band.

What do you enjoy most about touring over here?
I think the fans mostly, they’re definitely the best Fozzy fans in the world. The crowds are great, it’s a lot of fun across the board. You can’t replace loud fans, sold out venues, what more can you want?

How does touring as a musician compare to touring as a wrestler?
When you’re on the road you’re on the road, essentially. But when you’re with the band you’re doing it all together. With wrestling we’d go around in huge buses, but with Fozzy we don’t really have that.

You released your fourth record last year to excellent reviews, how did this feel?
It felt great. When you put a lot of time into making a record you want people to listen to it and like it, so when people do that it’s a great feeling.

Do you have any plans to write a new record with Fozzy?
Yeah, we’re already working on it right now. Chasing the Grail came out in January 2010, so we want to ideally get it out within a two year time frame. But you never know it could be March, April next year, but all we want to do is keep the momentum going, man. We have a lot of buzz surrounding the band right now and the best thing we can do is release another great record.

Are you going to be showcasing some new songs whilst over in Europe?
No, we haven’t really got that far yet. We’re going to be doing some songs that we haven’t done in a while, but as far as anything brand new, not yet!

You’re also going to be playing Sonisphere, do you enjoy the festival experience?
Yeah, absolutely! How could you not? It’s cool to be a part of it, I mean we’re playing at the same festival as Metallica, Anthrax and Motörhead. It’s huge for us because we’re playing to a lot of people who have never heard our music before. When we’re headlining our own shows we’re preaching to the choir, but at festivals you’re in uncharted waters, it’s a great way to get your name out there.

Taking that into consideration, do you think that this adds more pressure to a band such as yourselves?
It definitely puts pressure on you, but in a different way. When you play your own show you’ve got to captivate the audience for an hour and a half, but when you do a festival it’s only forty five minutes to an hour, they’re both very important in different ways and they’re both such a rush. It’s a challenge, but it’s a blast either way.

Earlier this year you were on Dancing with the Stars, how did this come about?
I actually don’t know! They called me a couple of times before to ask me if I wanted to do the show, but one time I was too busy with Fozzy, but this time I thought I’d give it a go and it was a blast. I had a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it, it was great for me and it was great for the band.

Is dancing something that you’ve done before?
No, I’d never danced before!

Did you find that your fitness levels helped you more than some of the other contestants?
It definitely helped that I was in shape, yes. Being a musician actually really helped too, I was able to get into the rhythms easily and follow the beat better, so that definitely came in handy.

Finally, you have a very busy year ahead of you, do you have any plans to take a break at all?
Not really, you can’t really afford to take a break in this business. We get on a plane next week and head to the UK and Europe to do our stuff!

Interview by Ben Connell