Loudwire recently interviewed WWE Superstar Chris Jericho for “5 Questions.” You can check out some highlights below:
Jericho on the correlation between rock and wrestling fans: “It seems like rock ‘n’ roll and wrestling are almost for misfits in a way, you’re not an outcast but it’s not the norm like a football fan or pop music fan or EDM that’s kind of what the cool kids do. To be a rock fan and a metal fan you got to make a choice, same thing with wrestling. It’s almost like a secret society so if you’re a part of it, it never goes away. If you’re a metal fan and you meet someone else from across the world who likes heavy metal then suddenly you have something in common. They’re both highly intense forms of entertainment, very dependent on the audience, very aggressive and electric. When you’re performing live that reaction you get from the audience enhances the show whether I’m doing a Fozzy show or whether I’m doing aWWE show. If you have a good crowd then it makes it that much better. There’s a lot of similarities between the two but like I said it’s almost like a gang, if you like heavy metal or rock ‘n’ roll, you’re in a gang because it’s you against the world in a lot of ways. There’s more and more festivals and tours, that’s how bands are making their money but more and more people are coming out to shows to support their favorite bands.”
Jericho on what keeps Fozzy going: “Just the fact that we continue to grow, every tour, we sell more records, we get more of a fanbase and more doors open. We’d been touring UK and England for years but still we couldn’t get into Wacken Festival in Germany, the biggest music festival in Europe and they wouldn’t take us. Finally a couple of years ago we played Wacken. Then there’s Heavy Montreal, we could never get into Heavy Montreal, this was the first year we were ever invited. We’ve probably had to work twice as hard to get respect because I’m in the band, “Oh it’s some kind of wrestling thing.” I’m sure it’s the same thing Jared [Leto] went through with Thirty Seconds to Mars, I’m sure it’s the same thing Taylor [Momsen] goes through in The Pretty Reckless.
“People, at first, have a real opinion of what the band is before they’ve even heard the band because of who’s in it. I’m sure Slipknot went through it, “Oh they wear masks, how good can this be?” And then it’s like “F—k they wear masks!” Fozzy’s the same, it’s like “Oh it’s Jericho?” and then it’s like “Oh it’s Jericho!” We’re a great rock ‘n’ roll band, we put on a great live show and we have great songs if you continue to do that, anything else doesn’t matter. I could be a butcher, baker, candlestick maker, who gives a s— either the band is good or we’re not. I think we’ve been getting a lot of respect and it started with our peers and then fans of those bands. Anybody who sees us live will walk away a Fozzy fan.”
