FOZZY's CHRIS JERICHO: 'I've Never, Ever Phoned In A Performance'

Chris Jericho, who formed FOZZY in 1999 and has been able to juggle his music career with his highly successful stint as one of WWE's most consistently exciting performers, told Lazer 103.3 in a new interview that many of the band's fans are not aware of his involvement in professional wrestling. "They might not know, or they might not care as much," Chris said (hear audio below). "I always go back to THE PRETTY RECKLESS with Taylor Momsen or THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS with Jared Leto. We're just people that have other careers, but when we're on stage, it's rock and roll, man."

Although Jericho admits that his status as a wrestler might have damaged FOZZY's credibility with certain people, he believes that it ultimately shone a spotlight on the group at a time when he and his bandmates were finding their feet as a recording and touring act.

"I think Chris Jericho's name probably hurt the band as much as it helped the band at the start, and we had to work twice as hard to get people's respect, I think, in some ways," he said. "But once you get that respect, you've got it for life, you've got it for real, 'cause people know this is real.

"I think at this stage of the game, [people think], 'Yeah, Chris Jericho is a wrestler, but his band is killer," he continued. "What a great rock and roll band FOZZY is.' And I think the people that thought I was gonna be onstage doing body slams and singing about jumping off the top rope, those people are long gone now — they know what FOZZY is. Much like THE PRETTY RECKLESS is not Taylor onstage wearing her Cindy Lou Who costume, delivering lines from the ['How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'] movie; it's rock and roll. So I've never been ashamed of the fact that I enjoy doing two things; I've worked my ass off to get to where I am doing both of those things. I might be the only person in the history of the world that's done both at this level, and that's fine. If that makes me a pioneer or a groundbreaking type of entertainer, then that's cool with me too."

Asked if he ever takes the time to enjoy all the positivity surrounding his many projects, Jericho said: "It's funny, 'cause one of my catch phrases with the WWE is "Drink it in, man.' And that really is something that I believe in. You have to sit back and proverbial 'smell the coffe' and 'smell the roses' and just enjoy the success that you've had. I don't take any of it for granted. I've never, ever phoned in a performance on stage or in the ring or a podcast; anything I do, if it has my name on it, it's gonna be a hundred percent Jericho. And if I don't think I can do that, then I won't do it. So, to me, all of these things… You have to enjoy what you're doing, you have to respect the people that appreciate what you do, and the best way I can respect them is by giving a thousand percent to every performance that I give in any situation. And I think as a result, I've got a great fanbase of people who trust that when Chris Jericho is doing something, it's gonna be quality. You might not always like it, but at least you know that I'm committed to it, and I think that's the most important thing."

FOZZY's latest album, "Judas", came out last October via Century Media. The production duties on the disc were handled by Johnny Andrews, who co-wrote FOZZY's "Lights Go Out" track back in 2014 and has written songs with the likes of ALL THAT REMAINS, THREE DAYS GRACE and HALESTORM in the past.

Jericho recently told WDHA-FM 105.5 FM that FOZZY will re-team with Andrews for its next album.