FOZZY To Resume 25th-Anniversary Tour In April 2025; New Single To Arrive In The Spring

In a new interview with Matt Pinfield of 95.5 KLOS's "New & Approved" show, FOZZY frontman Chris Jericho reflected on the first leg of the band's 25th-anniversary tour, which launched on October 3 at Madlife in Woodstock, Georgia. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, we just finished kind of the first leg of our 25th-anniversary tour, which is crazy to think. We're gonna go out again, I think, in April and May, and we're gonna continue. We're gonna go to Canada. We do really well in the U.K. We always have. We'll go back there probably next year, next February."

He continued: "For the band to kind of be growing like we have — I mean, [FOZZY's 2017 breakout hit] 'Judas' has gone gold; it's on the way to platinum, almost there, probably about 90 percent of the way there. In this day and age, to have an almost platinum record is a pretty cool statement and a pretty cool, monumental accomplishment. So we're really proud of that. And getting a chance to play at Wembley a couple of times, and the shows that we've done in the U.K. are getting bigger and bigger, and in the States too. So it's been really cool to see kind of how the band has continued to succeed and, after all this time, still kind of on an upward swing. So it's a really cool time to be involved with FOZZY as well."

Elaborating on the success FOZZY has had at rock radio in the U.S., Jericho said: "We literally have eight Top 10 songs on the radio now. In the world of rock radio, you never realize how important it is until you start getting played on rock radio, and it really makes a difference. Not so much in L.A. and New York, 'cause it's more classic rock-oriented, but you go to the Midwest and Detroit and Cleveland and everywhere in between, Texas and up north, and rock radio is still very, very important."

Asked to speak about FOZZY's plans for the coming months in more detail, Chris said: "We're gonna continue the 25th-anniversary tour in April, back in the States again. I think we're actually coming through L.A, I believe. We haven't announced that yet. But, yeah, we're gonna be doing this for the next year and change. And the thing is, too, we're working on a few new songs. And I think that's gonna be our business model from now on as well — just release a song at a time. I think the days of the full-length album might be done for us at least, 'cause there's too many great songs that we didn't get a chance to really promote or focus on. [FOZZY's latest album, 2022's] 'Boombox' had 12 songs on it. All of them were great. Four of them went to Top 10, another three get played live, and the other five just kind of get lost in the ether. And I don't want to lose these songs in the ether anymore. So I think we're working on another song that we'll probably put out in April around that tour. And then we'll just continue going from there."

The first U.S. leg of FOZZY's 25th-anniversary tour ran through October 21 in Cleveland, Ohio. Support on the tour came from THE NOCTURNAL AFFAIR and CLOZURE.

Asked in a recent interview with Jacksonville, Florida's First Coast News how FOZZY has managed to stay a band for 25 years, Chris said: "You really have to give and take when you're in a band, and you have to kind of do what you do best and let your partners do what they do best. It's like being on a team. And if you get on each other's nerves, you just go kind of sit in the back of the bus or you go for a walk somewhere or whatever it may be. But it really is, at this point in time, it's a very cohesive, symbiotic teamwork. And it's been going great, man. So we've had a lot of — we're very fortunate to be able to tour the world playing rock and roll. So you really can't complain too much about that."

FOZZY's latest standalone single, "Spotlight", was released in October 2023 via Madison Records/The Orchard. The track 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 "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 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 guitarist Rich 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).