FOZZY Announces 25th-Anniversary Tour

FOZZY, the band featuring wrestling superstar Chris Jericho and STUCK MOJO mastermind Rich "The Duke" Ward, will embark on a 25th-anniversary tour this fall. The trek will start October 3 at Madlife Studios in Woodstock, Georgia and run through October 21 in Cleveland, Ohio. Support on the tour will come from THE NOCTURNAL AFFAIR and CLOZURE.

FOZZY is a band that delivers a truly rock 'n' roll experience — a sonic assault of headbanging riffs, energy, and most importantly, amazing songs. The backbone of FOZZY's sound comes from the killer combination of Grant Brooks on drums, bassist P.J. Farley and Billy Grey leading the charge on guitar shredding solos. With every audience in every country, every show is a guaranteed electric performance, fueled by the crowd chants of "FOZZY! FOZZY! FOZZY!"

Jericho says: "It's hard to believe that a band that was once accused of being a 'wrestler's vanity project,' has now amassed six Top 10 Mainstream Rock Radio hits, released eight albums, toured the world in over 20 countries, and earned a GOLD RECORD.....but we have and we've been doing it for 25 YEARS. Not many bands can say that, and out of the ones that can, not many of those can say they are currently at their creative, artistic, and commercial peaks. Yet FOZZY can and we are damn proud of it! That's why we are so excited to bring our 25th-anniversary celebration to your city over the next 18 months, starting in October. We have built a reputation of being a band you don't wanna miss, and we take great pride in that because it’s the truth!"

He finishes: "So, as always, crank up the music, buy your tickets early, and wear a helmet. Because this is our 25th-year rock 'n' roll party…and we aren't f'ing around. See you soon!"

FOZZY on tour with THE NOCTURNAL AFFAIR and CLOZURE:

Oct. 03 - Woodstock, GA - Madlife
Oct. 04 - Jacksonville, FL - Underbellys
Oct. 05 - Tampa, FL - Orpheum Theater
Oct. 06 - Destin, FL - Club LA
Oct. 07 - Birmingham, AL - Saturn
Oct. 10 - Greenville, SC - Radio Room
Oct. 11 - Charlotte, NC - Underground
Oct. 12 - Leesburg, VA - Tally Ho Theater
Oct. 13 - Lititz, PA - Mickey's Black Box
Oct. 14 - Albany, NY - Empire Live
Oct. 17 - New York, NY - Gramercy Theater
Oct. 18 - Philadelphia, PA - The Foundry
Oct. 19 - Columbus, OH - The King of Clubs
Oct. 20 - Flint, MI - Machine Shop
Oct. 21 - Cleveland, OH - The Winchester

In a November 2023 interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station, Jericho spoke about FOZZY's plans for the coming months. He said: "[Our latest single] 'Spotlight' just came out a few weeks ago, and we're on tour right now. And, obviously, radio is so important, as you know. So [we're] just kind of focusing on this right now, I think the idea for us over the next few years is to just release one song at a time rather than waiting two years and putting out a full record."

He continued: "The 'Boombox' record, which we started in 2019, because of the lockdown, the pandemic, it took three years to basically get it released. We were calling it 'Chinese Fozzocracy'; it took such a long time. And 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. I didn't want to waste those songs — 'Army Of One' and 'Omen' and 'The Worst Is Yet To Come'. Those are all great tunes. 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."

Jericho went on to say that he, as an old-school music fan, personally still appreciates the full-length album concept. "Well, I like it because that's how I grew up, but once again, you've gotta stay ahead of the curve," he explained. "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.

"Are we ever not gonna do another record? I'm not saying that; I'm just saying for right now, I like the song-by-song development," Chris clarified. "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.

"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."

"Spotlight" was released in October via Madison Records/The Orchard. The song's accompanying video was filmed by Exceleration Media and Firefly Drone Shows and features hundreds of live drones that light up the night sky to co-star in this first ever drone show music video.

To fully capture the magnitude of the night flying drones for the video, FOZZY's creative team brought the concept to Firefly Drone Shows, who are recognized as the innovation leader in the drone light show industry.

"Spotlight" was helmed by FOZZY's longtime producer Johnny Andrews (THREE DAYS GRACE, ALL THAT REMAINS, HALESTORM) and sonically refined by mixer Jacob Hanson (VOLBEAT, AMARANTHE, ARCH ENEMY).

"Boombox" came out in May 2022 and featured the song "I Still Burn", which recently eclipsed two and a half million views on YouTube. It also included the Top 10 singles "Nowhere To Run" and "Sane".

In the spring of 2023, FOZZY spent time on the road with UGLY KID JOE as part of the latter band's first tour of the United States in 27 years.

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 Rich Ward (guitar).

When FOZZY announced Fontsere's departure, the band said that he was "stepping down to focus on his family and other projects."