FOZZY's CHRIS JERICHO: 'Judas' Is Becoming Our 'Enter Sandman' Or Our 'Pour Some Sugar On Me'

Chris Jericho spoke to Wes Styles of the 97.7 QLZ radio station about the excitement and anticipation surrounding FOZZY's new album, "Judas", which is scheduled for release on October 13 via Century Media.

"The band is on such a high right now, with the success of [the title track and first single] 'Judas'," the FOZZY frontman said. "After five months, the song is still rising on the charts, still selling huge, and you can tell the difference in the crowd reactions and the size of the crowds [at our shows], selling out quite often.

"When you have that elusive hit song, it becomes a whole different world for your band," he said.

Jericho confirmed that one recent FOZZY headlining concert actually saw walk-up ticket sales that were bigger than the presale numbers. "You're in the music business, you know that doesn't happen now," Chris told Styles. "And the presales was a good [number]… It wasn't like we presold four and we got eight; it was in the hundreds. And I'd never seen that playing… I don't know how many gigs we've played over the years… thousands. I'd never seen [that] with the walk-up [sales].

"I call it the 'Judas' effect," he continued. "It's been going on since May 5th when the song came out. All of these amazing things that are happening to FOZZY [are happening] because of that song. It's becoming our 'Enter Sandman' or our 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' or whatever… pick a song by whatever band, and that's what it is for us now."

According to Jericho, there is plenty more strong material to choose from on the "Judas" album, which was composed during late 2015 and most of 2016 while FOZZY took a break from the road.

"The good thing about it is that, and this is a true story, 'Judas' wasn't the overall first pick for the first single; there was a bit of a debate with the record company over three different songs," he revealed. "So we've got a couple in the chamber that, in the initial opinion, were just as strong as 'Judas', just as good, just as hooky, just as catchy."

He continued: "We've really found our sound over the last couple of records. There's a lot of diversity in FOZZY as far as we aren't afraid to take some chances, but it's still very much FOZZY. This record, more than ever, is very much focused on the hooks and the melodies. Some songs don't even have a guitar solo. 'Judas' doesn't have a guitar solo. The second single, 'Painless', doesn't have a guitar solo. It doesn't matter. We're not putting stuff in just because you have to, 'cause that's what rock bands do. We're really focusing on the song itself. And we wanted to put out an album that had eleven singles. And we think that you really could have eleven singles on this record. We wanted it to be like a modern-day 'Hysteria' [DEF LEPPARD] or 'Kick' [INXS] or 'Appetite For Destruction' [GUNS N' ROSES]. So that's kind of what we focused on, and I think we've got that."

While Jericho and guitarist Rich Ward helmed FOZZY's previous records, the production duties on "Judas" were handled by Johnny Andrews, who co-wrote FOZZY's "Lights Go Out" track back in 2014 and has written songs with the likes of ALL THAT REMAINS, THREE DAYS GRACE and HALESTORM in the past.

FOZZY will embark on "Fozzy Across America" later this month. The event will consist of three live performances in three separate cities and three different timezones in just one day — a feat that has never been attempted before by any other group.