BACK-4-MORE with

FOZZY singer & WWE/WWF Superstar CHRIS JERICHO!

Chris Jericho is no stranger to Metal Sludge! Since 1999, he’s done 20 Questions, a Rewind, and a 3-Wind with us, and his former alter ego Moongoose McQueen also did a 20 Questions & a Rewind with us over the past 5 years or so. So you think we’d be all out of things to ask him about, right?

Wrong! We had plenty of catching up to do. Not only does Fozzy have a new album out, but Chris starts his own radio show on XM Satellite Radio channel 41 – The Boneyard this Sunday, March 6 at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, which just happens to air right before the Metal Sludge Radio show. So now we’re broadcasting buddies! Right Chris? No competition. We’re all in this together. Seriously!

Anyhow, it’s been nearly 3 years since we last talked to Chris, so let’s get it on!

1. What are you currently up to? You know how this works! This is the part where you plug your shit.

Just doing interviews to promote the new Fozzy record ALL THAT REMAINS, that came out in January worldwide. It’s doing well as it was given the critics choice of the week in Billboard magazine, the song Enemy is receiving airplay on 40 different stations across the US and the video is being played on MTV. We also just returned from a sold out tour of the UK and getting ready to return in a few months. This is also the 142nd interview I’ve done about ATR and they’re still coming in, so people are getting into the band, which is great!

2. Let?s get right to the point. What the hell happened to Moongoose McQueen? We heard that Moongoose revealed himself to actually be you, Chris Jericho. Why did he do that?

We first started the band in 98, as a group of friends getting together to play some of our favorite songs. A funny thing happened as we were offered a record deal after only playing 2 gigs! The record company was into the band cos of myself and Rich Ward and wanted us to do covers, so we did. That’s when I decided there were too many cover bands in the world already, so to add some creativity to the whole project, we came up with the story that the songs were really ours that were stolen from us while we were stuck in Japan. That was a fun concept for a while to be sure! We created alter egos and had a huge back story and it was fun. But as the band grew and played together more, we realized we had great chemistry as a band and as songwriters and we wanted to continue on by writing and recording our own material. We’ve always had original songs on our records, but this is our first record with 100% our stuff. We knew we’d have one chance to really make an impression and show what we could do and I think we’ve done that. So Moongoose is retired and living in the same lead singers’ rest home as Steve Perry, Dizzy Davidson and W. Axl Rose.

3. Why should people go out of their way to buy the new Fozzy record? Give us 3 good reasons.

a) The songs are fuckin badass! We spent alot of time writing, recording, mixing and creating them and we’re very excited about the results. I think everyone will be pleasantly shocked and surprised at how heavy and catchy the songs are.

b) Zakk Wylde, Marty Friedman and Mark Tremonti played guest solos on the record. Add that to the awesome guitar work from Rich Ward and Ryan Mallam and we actually have a record featuring a band who believe in playing solos again!

c) There is too much dispair and sadness in the world. In the post 911 society we live in, we should all join together and share in the kindness of our fellow man. We should sit together, share a drink and talk out our differences. ALL THAT REMAINS could be used as a coaster to put that drink on…

4. What happened that Fozzy ditched their old label and signed with Ash Records? Who the hell are they?

This being our third record, we decided that working with record labels is a very tedious and exasperating experience. I decided that for us, the best thing to do would be to start my own record label. Ash is my son’s name, so it’s a perfect moniker for the label. The most important thing about a label is the distribution… we thought that we had that covered, but it’s been a little problematic. I’ve heard from a lot of fans who couldn’t and still can’t find ATR, but the copies are out there. We’ve already shipped more than we did for our last record Happanstance, so I know that the stores are getting them. It’s all part of the learning process of having your own company I guess!

5. Rank the following singers on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being someone who sounds like they got punched in the windpipe one too many times, and 10 having a voice from beyond.

Aldo Nova = 3 – Kind of a generic voice, almost annoying. Fantasy is a great song though. I heard that he almost replaced Richie Sambora in Bon Jovi in the early 90’s as well!

Alice Cooper = 4 – Mostly uses the Ace Frehley Talking/Singing method.

Biff Byford = 7 – We played with Saxon in Germany 3 years ago and they are still drawing 30,000 people for festivals.

Blackie Lawless = 7 – Very unique voice. Nobody else sounds like him.

Brian Vollmer = 5 – Unimpressive Canuck warbler.

Bruce Dickinson = 25,000 – The king of metal vocalists. Watching the concert from the Hammersmith on the new Maiden Early Years DVD, is watching the master putting on a fuckin clinic!!

Dee Snider = 7 – Great guy with a more melodic Alice Cooper sounding voice. Also a very powerful singer, especially for a guy wearing pink.

Dizzy Dean Davidson = 3 – Bon Scott/Tom Keifer rip off.

Michael Kiske = 10,000 – The prince of metal vocalists. If he would’ve continued to sing metal he would be almost as legendary as Bruce. I heard that Steve Harris was considering replacing Bruce with Kiske before he got Blaze.

Russ Dwarf = Steve Perry is the best rock vocalist of all time!!!

6. How much beer did it take to bribe Zakk Wylde to lay down some tracks for the new Fozzy CD?

I have to buy beer for Zakk (and his son) until his 47th birthday…Actually Zakk is a great friend of mine as well as a Fozzy fan. He’s a huge fan of Rich Ward’s playing, so it only took a few visits with some of my Mafia friends to convince him to play on the song Wanderlust. BTW, Zakk’s solo on the song is ricockulously good!

7. Have you heard Rich Ward?s solo material? Can that be considered ?metal?? We heard even some of the Duke?s hard core fans thought it sounded like beefed-up Matchbox 20. What are your thoughts about that?

The Duke project isn’t metal, nor is it supposed to be. The record is a collection of great songs, some rockin, some not, but all catchy and memorable. Rich is one of the great hidden songwriters of our time and The Duke project shows another side to his genius. It comes out in April on Spitfire, so run out and buy 2 of them!

8. Last summer, you guest hosted the Metal Sludge Radio show on XM Satellite Radio channel 41, The Boneyard. That turned out not only to be one of the most popular editions of the Metal Sludge Radio Hour, but one of The Boneyard?s most popular shows to date! How cool was it to host our show, and have you ever considered a future career in radio because of that experience?

The pleasure was all yours! As a matter of fact, I did such a great job, that my own radio show, The Rock Of Jericho, debuts in March on Sunday nights, right before the Sludge hour. Let the battle begin!!

Chris Jericho receiving the award for being our first guest DJ on the Metal Sludge radio show, which can be heard every Sunday night at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT on XM Satellite Radio channel 41 – The Bonyard!

9. In our recent 2004 Sludgeaholic Choice Awards, you came in second place in the category of ?Most Fuckable Male.? First place went to none other than C.C. Banana, our 2003 Sludgeaholic of the Year, who beat you for the title by exactly ONE VOTE. You lost by one vote to a guy in a giant banana suit from New Jersey! How does that make you feel?

I feel as honored as I did when I won the Sexiest Manitoban award in a Winnipeg Sun poll. The first runner up was Burton Cummings, the 60 year old singer of the Guess Who, so there was some stiff competition! You’re right though… I am quite fuckable!

10. Of the following, which do you prefer and why:

Hand jobs or rim jobs =Hand jobs… rim jobs embarrass me!

Slik Toxik or Brighton Rock = Brighton Rock cos they featured Stevie Skreebs on bass…what a great rock name!!

Fred Blassie or Andre the Giant = Andre The Giant rules this world and the next!

Triceratopses or Pterodactyls = All Dinosaurs are cool!

Gary and Blair MacLean or Bob and Doug MacKenzie = Bob and Doug set back the progress of Canadians by 50 years EH!

Wayne Gretzky or Tim Horton = Wayne Gretzky is the God of Canada… plus I wanna bang his wife!

Wayne Newton or Tom Jones = Tom Jones has so much sex appeal, that when I met him, I threw MY panties at him!

Ripper Owens or Blaze Bailey =Ripper is the best live singer I’ve ever seen…

Pac Man or Donkey Kong = I always hated Donkey Kong… what the hell is happening in that game? Then again, what the hell is happening in Pac Man?

Anvil or Exciter = Anvil rules cos their singer is called LIPS!!! Plus, Exciter’s singer is also trhe drummer…very lame for a metal band!

11. There were some comments on the new record, including a quote by the Rock. Do you think he really digs the new CD, or did someone pay him to say nice things about Fozzy? Aren?t his musical tastes known to be a bit more ?lightweight??

All those quotes were legit… Fozzy doesn’t have enough cash to pay anyone anything! We used the Rock’s quote for the same reason we used Mike Piazza’s, we wanted to show the diversity of our fanbase…. or something…

12. We heard that when you were at NAMM several weeks ago, you met the one and only Sean Kelly, singer/guitarist for the soon-to-be multiplatinum band Crash Kelly. How on earth were you able to contain yourself in the presence of such a huge up-and-coming rock star like Sean? Did you manage to keep it together, or did you get all star-struck and make a complete ass out of yourself?

I freaked out so huge, that I’ve literally blown up my brain and forgotten everything about the whole experience! Maybe he raped me?

13. Yes or No, has Chris Jericho ever:

Been abducted by aliens = I was raped by a Mexican chick in Hidalgo, Texas once.

Had sex with a mermaid = I wish… Daryl Hannah like a mutha fucka!

Wrestled the Blue Meanie = Never one on one, but he was Stevie Richards? manager when I wrestled him.

Considered shaving your head = No, I have a weird shaped skull… like the guy from the Smokin In The Boys Room video….

Dug a hole to the center of the earth = Yes… I met Ron Keel there.

Harbored a tapeworm in your digestive tract = .

Jumped into an active volcano= I’ve never jumped into an active volcano, but I had sex with a prostitue without a condom.

Sniffed glue with an Eskimo = I am an Eskimo.

Shit your pants in the ring = Yes, 3 times

Been arrested =Yes 3 times… and I shit my pants then as well.

14. If you could jello-wrestle any wrestling Diva, living or dead, which one would it be and why?

I’ve already jello wrestled 2 of them and finger wrestled 3 others. I’d like to play jelly Twister with Candace Michelle though….

Trish Stratus & Chris Jericho, MuchMusic Awards 2003

15. What do you remember most about writing or recording the following songs:

Prisoner =We recorded the intro at 4 am in a total delirious daze after being in the studio for 16 hours.

Feel the Burn = We recorded the soccer chant together in the studio and we all needed breath mints…serious halitosis!

With the Fire = It started with a bass line that our ex bassist Keith came up with. It was supposed to feature another soccer chant at the end but we went with the death metal growl instead.

Happenstance = Rich wrote the melody line in the chorus from a direct rip off of a disco song… which one? You tell me!

To Kill A Stranger = I wrote these lyrics as if I was entering the mind of Jack The Ripper. Whitechapel is where he commited the crimes and 1888 was the year he did them in.

King of the Night Time World =I worked with grammy award winning producer Bob Kulick on this. I’ve still never met Fred Coury, who played drums on this.

Don?t You Wish You Were Me =Great song, bad production. It sounds like it’s recorded inside of a ring bell.

Nameless Faceless = The chorus was sung by Miles Kennedy from Alter Bridge… I’d rather have sang it myself, but I can’t deny that he did an awesome job!

Born of Anger = Yelling like a lunatic… I don’t know how Tom Araya does it!

Enemy =Thought it was the worst song on the record when we first did it, now it’s the best!

16. A hypothetical question: If Vince McMahon gave you control of WWE for a week and let you change anything about it that you wanted to, what 3 things would you change? Be honest.

I’d be champion

I’d no longer have to wear dress clothes on 5 hour car rides.

Fozzy music would be used for every wrestler’s theme songs…and people’s ears would be failing in protest worldwide…

17. Name one good thing about:

Girls =

Tacos =

Steroids =

Manitoba =

Wearing tights =

Wearing lipstick =

Acid washed jeans =

Chia Pets =

Condoms =

Arkansas =

One good thing is that I like girls who eat tacos, when they’re off steroids because in Manitoba when they wear acid wash tights with lots of lipstick, it helps their shaved Chia pets enjoy the condoms imported from Arkansas much more…

18. Fuck, Kill, and Marry: Of the following people, which one would you fuck, which one would you kill, and with which one would you want to enter into holy matrimony?

HHH, Stephanie, Ralphus

I’m disqualified from this question cos, I’ve already married and had sex with Ralphus and now I wanna kill him… sniffle….

19. How much longer do you think you?ll be performing as an arena stuntman?

I retired last year. Now, there’s an imposter Y2J on Raw… don’t tell anyone. Do you really think I’d walk around with hair like that if it was really me?????

20. The Last of Chris Jericho:

Last car you bought =2005 Ford Explorer

Last person you punched = Wrestler Scott D’More

Last video game you played = Donkey Kong

Last fast food drive-thru you hit = Wendy’s

Last celebrity you had dinner with = Jenna Jameson

Last interview you did (before this one) = With a website in Poland earlier today

Last CD you purchased (other than your own) = Annihilator-All For You… Jeff Waters rules!

Last time you cashed in your Canadian Tire dollars =.

Last time you watched The Muppet Show = .

Last time you got drunk = Last night by myself in a corner of the room, flicking the llights on and off whilst crying myself to a miserable sleep… I think.

21. Time for Metal Sludge?s Word Association! We mention a name, and you give us your thoughts.

Sean Delson = Awesome bass player and a frickin stand up comedian. A great guy to be around on the road.

James Hettfield = My all time favorite Rock Hero…even after I saw Some Kind Of Monster!

Jasmin St. Claire = Just the way I like my girls…hot, slutty and proud of it. She also knows her metal which is a plus.

Marty Friedman = Crazy talented guitarist

Richard Marcum = The only Arthur Fozzy will ever have.

Chris Holmes = I wish the vodka was real… it’d be a much better moment…

Steve Perry = Best rock singer of all time. I know where he lives and I plan to knock on his door to say hi very soon!

C.C. Banana = like DD Plantain much better… he’s much more sociable at parties!

Zakk Wylde = Great friend, legend, smelly scumbag…

Lemmy = I got to drink a shot of JD in a limo with him in Phoenix…don’t get much more rock than that!

Forgot to mention that the vid for Enemy is the second most requested vid on ifilm.com out of thousands… check it out! Thanks for the interview.

For more information on Chris Jericho and Fozzy, check out the official Fozzy Web site at www.fozzyrock.com.

And don’t forget to check out Chris Jericho’s new radio show “The Rock of Jericho,” which airs right before the Metal Sludge Radio show beginning March 6, 2005 on XM 41 – The Boneyard! How cool is that?