“Well I’ve been on the road since 1990, so I’m no stranger to all that stuff,” he admits candidly, “and I think at certain times I’m probably the worst of all of them when it comes to certain things – especially when it comes to the straight vodka. The groupies and blow are all fine and dandy but the straight Grey Goose… that’s where my expertise lays!”
Shenanigans aside, Jericho is amped to be heading back to Australia for the second time this year, having played Soundwave Festival in February and March. “Absolutely… we like Australia and we think Australia likes us,” he declares, “which was really apparent at Soundwave this year when the crowds that we had for our set early in the day really blew me away. I mean, thousands of people… to get that sort of a crowd at 2.30 in the afternoon, it’s like, ‘You know what? I think we’re doing something right here!’”
As assertive as ever, Jericho quickly debunks the theory that it might have been surprising to have been asked to come back so soon.
“Well I dunno if it was a surprise, I think it was more warranted,” he counters. “It shows that the people who organise Soundwave were paying attention. Like, we were like a destination band at Soundwave – people grabbed their programs at the beginning of the day, looked at the set times, said, ‘We’re gonna go see Fozzy at this time.’ Like I said, the response we got was off the charts. So for me it’s kind of a no brainer to bring us back again because we obviously did our part at Soundwave.”
This time round Fozzy’s old school heavy metal grooves are standing shoulder to shoulder with the sleaze-dripping party rock anthems of headliners Steel Panther and Buckcherry.
“In some ways it makes perfect sense,” Jericho says of the lineup, “’cause I think all three bands are very entertaining live bands and all very exciting live bands, and all very much have the same kind of motto – which is, have a great time!
“We’re making sure that people have a blast at these shows, and it’s good time metal. That’s one of the reasons Fozzy has been so successful over the past few years, because we’re very versatile. We could open for Slayer, Shinedown, Steel Panther and get great reactions with all of those fans.
“So it’s kinda cool for me, because as I said, it’s a perfect match for that reason. Sometimes fun is almost a dirty word in rock’n’roll and this is gonna be a fun show. I think everybody knows that. And when you do shows like this it really works ’cause you’re getting new fans for all the bands. So I think it’s actually a really good mix.”
All that’s left is to ask is – how much fun will be had? “One HELLUVA party, man!”
BY SHANE PINNEGAR
