FOZZY's CHRIS JERICHO On Upcoming Album: 'We Want To Make It Better Than What We Did Before'

FOZZY frontman Chris Jericho spoke to Icon Vs. Icon about the band's newly released single, "Nowhere To Run". The track is the first song to be made available from the band's upcoming album, tentatively due in the spring of 2020 via RED Music.

"It's really just one of those things where we had a tour coming up, and now we are on Sony Records, who are very much behind us," he said. "They wanted a new song to roll out with the tour, so we wouldn't lose the momentum that we have been building as a band. It's a song where [producer] Johnny Andrews and [guitarist] Rich Ward were going through some of the stuff they had and 'Nowhere To Run' is the one they picked out because of the strong chorus. It's another very hooky song like the ones FOZZY is known for. We have only one song that we tracked and recorded. We knew it was the right one. It's really a situation where you want to keep the ball rolling, but you also don't want to put something out just to put it out. This is a tune that we really thought would fit we are doing with the evolution of the FOZZY sound and vibe. Sony Music felt the same way about it, so here we are with another potential huge hit song on our hands."

Asked what type of pressure that puts on FOZZY when it comes to creating the next album, Jericho said: "The pressure is there because we want to make it better than what we did before. It has to be just as good, if not better, than what we did with 'Judas'. I don't see how it won't be, because last time around was the first pairing of Johnny Andrews, Richard Ward and Chris Jericho. Now, we've got that behind us. Anytime you work with someone for the first time, there is going to be a little bit of a feeling-out process. Once you get that out of the way, you can really get into the groove. On Johnny's part, you're talking about a guy who's written all of these hit songs for all of these bands, but he probably didn't know what he was getting with FOZZY either. Suddenly, when it comes through, we have this amazing working relationship and all of this success, so I think he's going to give it the extra bit of effort. That's not to say he wasn't giving a huge effort before, but I think now you're going to get the real A+++ stuff from the creative team that we've put together. It's exciting, like I said, because now we have the world's ear. With 'Judas', we had to open a lot of doors. There was the thought of 'What is FOZZY? What is this? Let's check it out.' Now that we've got their attention, people will ask, 'What's next for FOZZY?' When they hear 'Nowhere To Run', it will be, 'Okay, this is exactly what we wanted to hear, a continuation of this great rock 'n' roll band with killer songs and all of these hooks, who we've been waiting to hear the next level.' So, yes, there is pressure, but the only pressure is amongst ourselves because we want it to be better than anything we've ever done. I don't think it can't be better because the team has been assembled, and now we are razor sharp."

FOZZY has just launched its "Unleashed In The West" headline tour, which includes special guest Jared Nichols James, ending on September 28 in Atlanta. FOZZY has previously shared the stage with the likes of METALLICA, KISS, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, SLASH, SAXON, THEORY OF A DEADMAN, NICKELBACK, STEEL PANTHER and BUCKCHERRY.

FOZZY's seventh LP, "Judas", spurred hits like "Painless", "Burn Me Out" and title track, which spent five weeks at No. 1 on the "Big Uns Countdown" on SiriusXM's Octane channel and peaked at No. 5 on the Active Rock Mediabase chart. The song has over 34 million U.S. streams to date and the music video has over 31 million views to date.