CHRIS JERICHO: FOZZY Is 'Very Proud' Of Having A Song Like 'Judas' That All Rock Fans Know

In an interview with Tyler D of the Delaware radio station 93.5 The Beach, FOZZY frontman Chris Jericho reflected on the extraordinary success of the band's 2017 breakout hit "Judas". "Judas", which reached the Top 5 on the U.S. rock chart and boasts 75 million views on YouTube for the music video, was certified gold in 2022 by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association Of America) for accumulating 500,000 certified units.

Asked if he knew when "Judas" was first written and recorded that it was going to be such a huge song for FOZZY, Chris said: "You never know, man. I mean, there's songs that we've done where I thought, 'This is gonna be a Number One song,' and it doesn't even get released as a single.

"The thing with 'Judas' is when I first heard it, I knew that it had to be the first song on the album, I knew that it would kick off the set, and I knew it had to be the first single," Chris continued. "And I think the record company originally wanted 'Painless' maybe as the first single. I was, like, 'No, it has to be 'Judas'.' Because I know what it's like for me when my favorite band's been gone for a while and they put out a new single or a new song, and it hits you the way it does. It's, like, 'Oh.' Like ANTHRAX just put out [a new single called] 'It's For The Kids'. And when they were playing me the songs for the [upcoming ANTHRAX] record ['Cursum Perficio'], I said, 'That's the one that has to be the first single, 'cause that's the one that tears my head off and makes me realize ANTHRAX is back.' And then you can get into the more involved and artsy songs, which are all great songs, but I want this face-ripping song for my new ANTHRAX. Same with when 'Judas' came out. It's like, we haven't had a song for a while. We had a little bit of buzz from 'Lights Go Out', which was our first Top 30 song. I was, like, I was like, 'That's the one that I wanna hear. That's the one that, that makes me go, 'Oh, FOZZY's back, man.'' And that's kind of what we did. And then right away, I remember I was hoping, like, somebody asked, 'How many views do you hope this video gets?' And I think 'Sandpaper' had three million, so I was, like, 'Well, I hope it gets to three million.' It did three million in the first month. I was thinking three million in, like, forever. It just kept growing and growing and growing and growing. I think now it's at 90 million or something. It's gone gold. It's gonna go platinum in about another year. You can hear it being played at football games, hockey games. It's in movies. It was in 'Cobra Kai'. And that's the cool thing about [FOZZY's latest single] 'I Know Evil'; it's gonna be in a new movie called 'Dead Of Night' that's coming out."

Jericho added: "When you get your songs into the mainstream, that's when you know you've got something special. And I think 'I Know Evil' is the first song since 'Judas' that made me feel like, 'Okay, this might be our best song since 'Judas'.' And, of course, if we never have another 'Judas', that's okay. We've got it. We've got our 'Enter Sandman'. We've got our 'You Shook Me All Night Long', and we've got our 'My Hero'. And it's, like, whether you get another one or not, it's okay. Everyone knows — not everyone, but if people know rock and roll, they know 'Judas', and that's all you need to get your foot in the door. Do you know how many bands would wish for one song like that, that everybody in the business knows, and all the fans of that type of music know? It's a very rare thing, and we've got it. So we're very proud of that fact."

Released in April, "I Know Evil" was the follow-up to "Fall In Line", which was made available in April 2025 via Madison Records. Prior to "Fall In Line"'s arrival, FOZZY released another standalone single, "Spotlight", which was made available in October 2023. All three tracks were helmed by FOZZY's longtime producer Johnny Andrews (THREE DAYS GRACE, ALL THAT REMAINS, HALESTORM).

Last September FOZZY surprise released its cover version of the OZZY OSBOURNE classic "Crazy Train". The track arrived two months after FOZZY released the official Lawrence Hinson-directed music video for "Fall In Line". The clip was filmed at HM Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada, based on a video concept by Hinson and Mark Willis.

FOZZY's latest album, "Boombox", came out in May 2022 and featured "I Still Burn", which has more than three million views on YouTube. It also included the Top 10 singles "Nowhere To Run" and "Sane".

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 guitarist Rich "The Duke" Ward.

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 (guitar) and P.J. Farley (bass).