FOZZY's CHRIS JERICHO Says There Aren't A Lot Of New Rock And Roll Bands Who Can Be Future Festival Headliners

FOZZY singer and wrestling superstar Chris Jericho was recently interviewed by YouTuber and music industry expert Rick Beato. You can now listen to the chat below.

Speaking about whether there will be another wave of metal bands who are able to ascend to an arena-level status to take the place of METALLICA, IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST upon their retirement, Chris said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's kind of scary. I was talking to Gene Simmons about this. I go to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame every year, and N.W.A. was on, and [they said], 'Everyone says that rap is dead,' or we say 'Rock is dead,' or whatever. And Gene said, 'Every type of music eventually dies.' And I was, like, 'What do you mean?' He's, like, 'Look at swing music and polka music and guys playing lutes by the fire. All of it kind of slowly goes away.' And I'm starting to wonder, was he right about rock and roll? Because when I was a kid, everybody was a in band. I remember jocks, I remember guys who were on the football team that bought a guitar and would come jam. Meanwhile, all the rockers, there was four or five bands in my high school alone. Now my son is 17, my twin daughters are 14. I don't know any of them who play music, or any of their friends.

"So the scary thing's this. I was talking to [U.K. concert promoter] Andy Copping on 'Talk Is Jericho' when Download got canceled in 2020, which is the biggest festival in England — a hundred thousand people. And I said to Andy, 'Who is going to be headlining Download in 10 years?' 'Cause now you can still rely on METALLICA and AC/DC and IRON MAIDEN and SYSTEM OF A DOWN reunited or FAITH NO MORE or those types of bands. AVENGED SEVENFOLD are building and SLIPKNOT. But who is the next generation of thise bands? Because with the exception of a GRETA VAN FLEET and THE STRUTS and a couple of others, there's not a lot of new rock and roll bands. Whereas before, there'd be 40 or 50 and you couldn't keep up with all of them."

FOZZY has spent most of the last year working on the follow-up to 2017's "Judas" album.

Last summer, Chris revealed that FOZZY's next LP will contain 12 songs, including one cover.

Guitarist Rich Ward and producer Johnny Andrews once again did "the lion's share" of the songwriting for the new LP, which was recorded primarily in Atlanta, Georgia.

Released in August 2019, "Nowhere To Run" was FOZZY's third single to hit Top 10 on rock radio, following "Judas" and "Painless".

In addition to producing "Judas", Andrews previously co-wrote FOZZY's "Lights Go Out" track back in 2014. He has also written songs with the likes of ALL THAT REMAINS, THREE DAYS GRACE and HALESTORM.

In November, FOZZY appeared in its first global live streaming event from Madison Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

FOZZY is Chris Jericho (vocals),Rich Ward (guitars, vocals),Frank Fontsere (drums),Billy Grey (guitars) and Randy Drake (bass).