Chris Jericho On Fozzy’s Upcoming Album, Kevin Smith & Diving Into Iron Maiden
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Wrestling fans alone would think Chris Jericho has been staying busy enough during the pandemic being “Le Champion” on AEW Dynamite week in and week out, but he doesn’t let his foot off the gas when it comes to the music business either.
Jericho spoke with Chad Childers of Loudwire to discuss one of his latest ventures performing with the virtual musical super group, The Wheelblocks. Chris took lead vocals in the collaboration as he and other musical artists from the music industry took time to release a cover of the Iron Maiden classic, “Aces High.” Joining him in the venture was another familiar face to wrestling in Nita Strauss who is very good friends with Mick Foley and has appeared on numerous WWE events. Jericho gave all the details regarding the project.
“I got a call a few months ago from Phil Demmel, a longtime friend of mine, and he said, ‘Hey I’m setting something up, we’re going to do “Aces High.” Would you like to sing it?’ I said, ‘Absolutely, so who else is in the band?’ He said, ‘Well, we got Nita Strauss who is super and Josh V. who is also a great drummer in his own right with Three 6 Mafia.’ So I asked, ‘Who do you have on bass?,’ and he didn’t have anybody. I had just been talking to [Avenged Sevenfold’s] Johnny Christ, and I said, ‘Well, let’s have Johnny do this.’ Avenged Sevenfold is certainly very Maiden influenced, so I figured he could do this and would know the track and that’s how this all came together.”
“The way I look at things is I never do anything half-assed, and I never do anything small. So when you see what Phil is doing with this supergroup shall we say, you see it goes up on Instagram, but for me it kind of disappears after that, so let’s do something more with it. Let’s do a really cool video and send it to radio and let’s build a buzz with Loudwire and let’s see how far we can take it. Not just because of the star power involved, but you’ve got the song and the whole enormity of Iron Maiden and all those sort of things.”
Chris also took a bit of time to talk about his latest Kevin Smith venture, which happens to be a role in an upcoming horror film, Killroy Was Here.
“We filmed it a couple of years ago, like a Creepshow type of anthology, and I was happy to continue the relationship with Kevin. He cast me in the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot and I had done that. But with Killroy Was Here, it really blew my mind because I’ve known Kevin for a while and I don’t live far from him in Sarasota. He had asked me if I wanted to do something when I was in L.A. and he was like, ‘I’ve got an hour if you want to come play with us.’ That’s how he describes a shoot, and I wasn’t sure if it was some kind of cameo or a bit part.
“But we did it so long ago. He had a heart attack and then there was the pandemic and Jay and Silent Bob came up and he didn’t really tell me much about it and then out of nowhere this trailer’s out now. It looks crazy. I think a horror movie from Kevin Smith in the middle of a pandemic is just a no brainer, so I’m sure he’s fielding offers from everybody. So I’m really excited about it. It was great to be in Jay and Silent Bob and that was more of a cameo, but this is more of a heavy lifting 10 to 15 to 20 minute piece that I’m kind of the star of the show with, so I’m kind of excited for that to come out.”
Jericho does give details about his plans with Fozzy and they sure do have plans, specifically a new album that’s getting a bit of a name change.
“We have all the songs written at this point. There’s 12 songs and I just sequenced them the other day and put them in order. Most of them are still in demo form. We were rolling back in March when this thing hit, but then we had to shut down shop for a bit. At the time, it was called 2020, but now who wants to be reminded of 2020? Plus, by the time we put it out, it’ll either be late 2020 or more likely 2021.
“But we’re on it again, and I think because we’ve had more time to hone in on the songs, and every band says this, but I feel this is the strongest material that we’ve had. It’s taking the Judas record to the completely next level. I feel like we’re in the big leagues, and this extra time will help us to record something really special and everyone is behind it 1000 percent. We seem to be on that wavelength as it is, so I’m looking forward to getting back in the studio. Doing the Kuarantine songs and the Wheelblocks has helped to keep me vocally in shape. I can still do this and almost sing a different style, real high and bringing G4’s to a Fozzy song. After “Aces High,” it’s like, “Holy shit, I can do that.” So it’s been great to keep in shape, and I can’t wait to get back in the studio and bang out these tunes. It’s going to be a real special record when it’s ready to come out.”
Wheelblocks wasn’t the only music supergroup Jericho has been a member of since the quarantine. He was actually a part of Kuarantine an 80’s KISS cover band. Jericho gave the details of that in an exclusive interview with WrestleZone Managing Editor, Bill Pritchard. You can check that out below: