Guitarist RICH WARD Offers FOZZY, STUCK MOJO Updates

FOZZY/STUCK MOJO guitarist Rich Ward has posted a lengthy message on his official web site reflecting on the success of his recent solo album, "My Kung-Fu Is Good" (released under THE DUKE banner) and his future plans for both FOZZY and STUCK MOJO. An excerpt from the posting follows:

"A lot of you were disappointed when FOZZY 'no-showed' for our battle of the bands on 'Raw' a couple of weeks ago. For one, we as a band were not available for the date that Vince wanted us to perform. Beyond that, we played 'Raw' before while Jericho was a bad guy and it didn't fit into the 'any publicity is good publicity' category. I'll leave it up to you to fill in the blanks and figure the rest of the story out yourself. I know it sucked to watch the way the show unfolded, but you can understand that if we told anyone what was happening, the news could have gotten out and got us in deep doo doo with Vince and the WWE. Uncle Vince has been good to the FOZZ, so there's no reason to jeopardize that relationship.

"Now on to the 'FOZZY on a stage near you' news. We are gearing up for a tour of Australia in September and in the month of October we will be doing a massive tour of the U.K. I've done at least eight tours of the U.K. and, of those tours, most consisted of less than a week's worth of shows. This tour consists of a full two weeks of shows and we're still adding dates as we speak. After the U.K. dates, we will be doing a one-month North American tour. U.S. and Canadian dates are being booked as we speak and those dates will take us into the holidays. I can't express how excited I am about these tours. This will be my first time in Australia and the U.K. is one of my favorite places in the world, so the next couple of months will be heaven for me.

"Now, a MOJO update for your reading pleasure. I have been working on some new music and Bonz is working on lyrics for a new album. My favorite songtitle so far is 'Yoko!' You can guess what that song's about. Man, this shit is going to rule. The working title for the album has been changed to 'Tension' and I think this one will stick. Another idea is one that I have been collaborating with multimedia giant Ed Aborn on. The idea is for the second half of the album to be a 30-minute, epic skull crusher that chronicles a possible endtimes scenario (you know, the end of the earth as we know it). I won't reveal the details of the story because it will make your head explode and you haven't even read the lyrics or heard the track yet. *jumps in the air and does a death metal growl* We rule! As for MOJO shows, we are in the southeast U.S. for three shows this month. There are also dates being put together for a possible late October tour of the U.K. As of now, it looks like MOJO, PANIC CELL and FOUR WAY KILL will share the stage for a two-week tour that will run into early November. OK, Brits, if you think you might be getting sick of me already, this will push you over the edge. As some of you already know, I got married in England this past May. I mentioned earlier that I love Great Britain and after coming over for the first time for the wedding, my wife does as well. So, we are planning to come over before the tour starts to enjoy some time with friends and to do a honeymoon part two. The thought of attending a few English premier matches along with eating treacle sponge and curry for a month just confirms the existence of a generous and good God."

Read the rest of Ward's posting at DukeRocks.com.