FOZZY's RICH WARD Explains Why He Always Cleans Up The Dressing Room After A Show

In a new interview with Soundsphere, FOZZY guitarist Rich Ward was asked if he thinks about his legacy a lot. He responded in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "No, because I've made a lot of mistakes and you just can't go back on those things. My priorities have changed over the years, the way that I've interacted with my bandmates and interacted with my managers and promoters. It's down to stupid things that they annoy some of my bandmates, but after the show I clean up the dressing room. And the reason I do it is because I know somebody else has to do it. And it's one of those little things that… It's not only taking pride in myself and my bandmates of wanting to not feel like we're falling into some cliché where you just destroy the dressing room and go on 'cause somebody else has got that or you mess up your hotel room. I think, more than anything, it's building a reputation not just on being the best band and the best guitar player but also giving respect to the opening bands, giving respect to the people who you tour with, your bus driver. Those are other ways that are almost just as important in other ways. Shaking the hands of the local crew guys for busting their ass for you all day long at the gig. Just because you say you're going to do it doesn't mean every day I'm a hundred percent. But these are things I'm making conscious efforts of. And part of it is just seeing the ugly side, the ugly underbelly of rock and roll and seeing how other bands act. And I go, 'Man, that looks ugly. I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna do the opposite.'"

He continued: "People always like to try to think that it comes down to one person or two people, but being in a band is a group effort, just like being a professional football team. It really is. You can have fantastic superstars, but if you've got one superstar on the field and 10 people not doing their work, you will not win. And you can have 11 superstars that don't work well together. It's all about chemistry. How does the team work?

"My goals are really to improve every year on the things that I keep learning from."

Last month, FOZZY postponed the remaining dates of its previously announced summer/fall 2022 "Save The World" tour due to a throat injury suffered by the band's lead singer, wrestling superstar Chris Jericho. According to FOZZY, Jericho sustained a bruised larynx in August at the AEW "Quake By The Lake" event in Minnesota where he squared off against Jon Moxley for the interim AEW world championship.

FOZZY is continuing to tour in support of its eighth full-length studio album, "Boombox", which came out in May. The follow-up to 2017's "Judas" features FOZZY's anthemic single "I Still Burn", their newest Top 20 hit at Mainstream Rock radio. The official music video for "I Still Burn" recently eclipsed one million views. The 12-track collection, produced by Johnny Andrews, also features the Top 10 singles "Nowhere To Run" and "Sane".

In November 2020, FOZZY appeared in its first global live streaming event from Madison Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

This past January, 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 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 Chris Jericho (vocals),Rich Ward (guitars, vocals),Grant Brooks (drums),Billy Grey (guitars) and P.J. Farley (bass).