FOZZY's CHRIS JERICHO On 'Judas' Success: 'We're Bigger In Every Country Than We Were The Album Before'

Metal Master Kingdom conducted an interview with FOZZY frontman Chris Jericho prior to the band's November 28 concert at The Rockpile in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. You can watch the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On how producer Johnny Andrews became involved in the songwriting process for the band's 2017 studio album, "Judas":

Chris: "We had worked with Johnny on the 'Lights Go Out' single from the 'Do You Want To Start A War' record. It was our biggest-charting single at the time. When we started to work on this record, we decided we wanted to have a producer. In the past, we were always the producer — [guitarist Rich Ward and I] always make the decisions ourselves between the two of us, all the songwriting as well. We thought, 'Let's bring Johnny in to work the whole record with us.' Johnny is very much a songwriter first and he had a lot of great ideas. He and Rich worked a lot of good stuff out. It was a little bit hard at first, because he's now in charge. Whatever he says goes. Sometimes you didn't want to hear it. 'This is our band. What the hell does he know?' Then we realized he had a real vision for the record and we all got on the same page very quickly and realized we're working toward the same thing. It's not about individual egos, it's about what's best for the record, what's best for the songs, what's best for the band and we achieved that."

On some of the highlights from the recent Chris Jericho Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager At Sea cruise:

Chris: "Just pulling out of the harbor with FOZZY playing 'Judas' in front of a sold-out crowd three years after the inception of the idea when we did the Kiss Kruise. Then, as soon as we landed after that cruise, I said, 'I can do my own. I want to do this.' It took a long time to prepare. Lots of work, lots of aches and pains, ups and downs, but we did it. That was a great highlight. Band-wise, PHIL CAMPBELL AND THE BASTARD SONS, THE STIR was great, SHOOT TO THRILL, the AC/DC tribute band, the girls, the matches… I mean, just there was so much stuff going on that it was almost impossible to see and do everything you wanted to do, and that was by design; that's the way I wanted it. We're working hard to hopefully announce the second one."

On whether FOZZY has begun work on the follow-up to "Judas":

Chris: "We're about to. I mean, that's the idea is keep the momentum rolling. We had so much on this tour and really have gone to a completely different level. Every country is different, but we're bigger in every country than we were the album before. It's exciting to me, because I know a lot of doors are open now that weren't before 'Judas' came out, and now that it has, we had three Top 10 singles on the record. There's a lot of people who are really keeping an eye on FOZZY who have some really big influence to the point we're opening for IRON MAIDEN in September at Banc Of California Stadium in Los Angeles. We would never would have got that a year ago or two years ago or at least I don't think we would have. We're expecting a lot more of those opportunities as the band continues to build and continues to grow."

"Judas" was released in October 2017 via Century Media.