FOZZY's CHRIS JERICHO On RANDY BLYTHE Incarceration, Hypothetical PANTERA Reunion (Audio)

On July 24, Rustyn Rose of Metalholic.com conducted an interview with FOZZY singer and WWE wrestling superstar Chris Jericho. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below. A couple of excerpts follow.

On LAMB OF GOD singer Randy Blythe facing manslaughter charges in the Czech Republic over the death of a fan at one of the band's concerts more than two years ago:

Jericho: "It's hard, man, because the bottom line is, unfortunately, someone died, and that's the worst thing. But I knew Dimebag [late PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN guitarist 'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott, who was killed onstage in December 2004], he was a buddy of mine, and the fact that he was shot and killed on stage, it changes the dynamic of having a guy come on stage for the fun, headbang or whatever, like you use to see in Ozzy [Osbourne] videos in 1985. When someone comes on stage, it's cool, but when they stay too long, you start getting that warning, that radar, 'cause you don't know. I mean, that was proven already. I don't know what happened [at the LAMB OF GOD concert in 2010] — I didn't see it, if Randy did push this guy or whatever — but the point is I understand where he's coming from. And it could just as easily have been anybody in a band where security doesn't do their job. I mean, that shouldn't even be an issue anymore. If someone wants to climb on stage and jump off, they should get two or three seconds on stage and that's it. And when you wanna jump off, then let the fun continue. But when you stand there for too long, even if you're not getting violent, people wanna grab the mic, everybody wants to be a singer, everybody wants to be a part of the show. You just can't do it anymore; times have changed. So I feel terrible for Randy. I would like to see him just come home so that he can get a fair trial and let's find out if he's even guilty before you sentence him to a month in prison or whatever the hell it is. But that's the problem when you play overseas — they make their own rules when you go to other places in other countries. And like I said, unfortunately, somebody passed away, but I would like to see [Randy] get home so they can have some kind of a trial and find out if he really is guilty or not and judge him accordingly."

On the hypothetical PANTERA reunion, with Zakk Wylde [BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE) filling in for Dimebag:

Jericho: "I'm not sure exactly what my thoughts are. I mean, I would love to see it, if it was done for the right reason. I think Zakk is the perfect guy, and maybe the only guy that could actually replace Dime for a show or two because they were such good buddies and so close and, obviously, two guitar heroes from their generation. But it's not just that — there's so much more, obviously, between Vinnie [Paul Abbott, Dimebag's brother and ex-PANTERA drummer] and Phil [Anselmo, ex-PANTERA singer], those guys need to hammer out a lot of things for this to even be a thought. But if they did hammer it out and they did decide to do a one-off tribute to Dime, I think Zakk would be the perfect guy for it; I think it would be badass, I think it would be amazing. But it will never happen — not because Dime isn't here, but because Phil and Vinnie, I think, just have this blood feud that might never go away. So that's the first thing that has to take place. But if it did, I think Zakk would be the perfect choice to do a couple of shows with them as a tribute to Dime."

FOZZY will release its new album, "Sin And Bones", on August 14 (one day earlier internationally) via the group's new label, Century Media Records.