FOZZY's CHRIS JERICHO Is 'Concerned' About Lack Of Future Rock/Metal Festival Headliners

FOZZY singer and wrestling superstar Chris Jericho was recently interviewed for "The Jay Jay French Connection: Beyond The Music", the new podcast hosted by TWISTED SISTER guitarist Jay Jay French. You can now listen to the chat below.

Speaking about whether there will be another wave of metal bands who are able to ascend to an arena-level status to take the place of METALLICA, IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST upon their retirement, Chris said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I was talking to Andy Copping last year; he's the promoter for [the U.K.'s] Download festival. And I said, 'Where's the headliners 10 years from now?' When IRON MAIDEN [in] maybe 10 years — who knows? IRON MAIDEN could play for another 50 years. I'm just saying, as the years go by, the headliners remain pretty much the same. What happens when those bands are done? Who's replacing them that can a) draw a hundred thousand people to these countries, and b) know how to entertain that type of a crowd? Because it's not easy. A hundred thousand people — you've gotta really be locked in to get that type of a crowd behind you. So it's a little bit concerning to me. There's a few bands that are kind of picking up the torch, but not as many as there need to be to be able to populate all these festivals in the year 2030, let's say."

FOZZY has spent most of the last year working on the follow-up to 2017's "Judas" album.

Last summer, Chris revealed that FOZZY's next LP will contain 12 songs, including one cover.

In May 2020, Jericho told Australia's Triple M radio station that FOZZY has "so many great songs" written for the new LP that "it's gonna be hard to pick the singles."

Guitarist Rich Ward and producer Johnny Andrews once again did "the lion's share" of the songwriting for the new LP, which was recorded primarily in Atlanta, Georgia.

Released in August 2019, "Nowhere To Run" was FOZZY's third single to hit Top 10 on rock radio, following "Judas" and "Painless".

In addition to producing "Judas", Andrews previously co-wrote FOZZY's "Lights Go Out" track back in 2014. He has also written songs with the likes of ALL THAT REMAINS, THREE DAYS GRACE and HALESTORM.

In November, FOZZY appeared in its first global live streaming event from Madison Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

FOZZY is Chris Jericho (vocals),Rich Ward (guitars, vocals),Frank Fontsere (drums),Billy Grey (guitars) and Randy Drake (bass).