CHRIS JERICHO On Next FOZZY Album: 'We're Gonna Take The Time It Takes To Get It Right'

FOZZY frontman Chris Jericho has confirmed to the FM99 WNOR radio station that the band will enter the studio later this year to begin recording its new album, but that the follow-up to 2017's "Judas" won't arrive until 2020.

Jericho explained (see video below): "We were just listening to some new riffs today, and Rich [Ward, guitar] has been working for the last three months with Johnny Andrews, our producer, to write some new stuff. And I think the idea is to have a single out maybe in September, 'cause we're doing a tour in September that's based around this support slot that we have with IRON MAIDEN in Los Angeles — at the stadium in Los Angeles. I'm still not sure how that one came about, but we put together a whole tour based around that show, and the idea is to have a single out about September and maybe a new [full-length] record in January or February next year."

According to Chris, FOZZY will take the time it needs to make a worthy follow-up to "Judas", whose title track has over 29 million YouTube views, was No. 1 on iTunes charts in eight different countries and spent nine weeks in the top ten on the Active Rock Charts in the USA.

"The thing is you can't rush something like this, because 'Judas' had three Top 10 singles on it," he explained. "So it was a huge breakthrough for us — it really took us to the next level. Your next record has to be better — not as good; it has to be better. And so there's no reason to rush it. I find in this biz, 'Here today, gone later today,' if you make the wrong decisions, is very easy, and also, 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder.' So while people are waiting, as long as we know we've got some of this, like, 'Wow, this is very, very good, and we're gonna really continue this build that we've got,' then we'll be ready. Until then, we're gonna take the time it takes to get it right."

There is no danger, however, that FOZZY fans will undergo the same struggles experienced by followers of GUNS N' ROSES, who spent more than a decade waiting for the arrival of "Chinese Democracy" before it was finally released in 2008.

"I guarantee it won't take 14 years to put out the next FOZZY record," Chris said. "And I think you see that with [other] bands — METALLICA [taking] eight years between records. I don't think there's any reason for that — especially not for us. We wanna get it done, but we don't wanna rush it. But we also know there's a black hole, like a window that you have to go through. If you wait too long, people forget about you. So I think it's been… It'll be two years in October [since the release of 'Judas']. Probably another six to eight months after that's the perfect time frame."

FOZZY just signed a major deal with Sony Music and Jericho told Loudwire in a recent interview that he is open to releasing music in any way that the label suggests. He said: "Maybe we just do nine singles and don't do a full album. We're excited to do a record if they want us to, or if they want us to release singles like they do in the Top 40 world, that's fine too. All that matters is that people hear your music and get a chance to see you live."

FOZZY's fall tour starts on September 5 in Denver and wraps on September 28 in Atlanta. The trek includes a September 14 date in Los Angeles opening for MAIDEN.