Rewind with Moongoose McQueen, 11/14/02

  

REWIND WITH…

Fozzy’s Moongoose McQueen

 

We last talked to Fozzy singer Moongoose McQueen on October 24, 2000. Since that time, it has been revealed that Moongoose McQueen IS Chris Jericho! Who knew? We’re always the last to know….

So even though Jericho has done a 3-Wind with us, this is still a Rewind because it’s with his alter-ego Moongoose McQueen. Fozzy released their 2nd CD “Happenstance” last Summer so we figured it was time to catch up with the world famous lead singer/huge rock star Moongoose McQueen!

1. What are you up to?

I’m sitting in a room in Wichita, KS, listening to Happenstance and enjoying my existence as the King Of Rock N Roll!!

2. Where you surprised that a lot of people didn’t get the whole Fozzy “back story” and were generally confused by all of it?

Not really. The whole idea for the back story was to give Fozzy another dimension, so we weren’t just a cover band. I definitely based the concept around The Blues Brothers, Spinal Tap and Tony Clifton. I really went overboard to keep the identities and the storyline of the band going at all times. It did confuse people because they’re not as smart as we think sometimes. I still get emails asking me if Moongoose and Jericho are two separate people. For the second record, I figured it was best to drop the Spinal Tap angle and continue on with the Blues Brothers, Traveling Wilburys attitude, where this was Chris Jericho’s band, but within the band he plays Moongoose McQueen, just like Dan Aykroyd plays Elwood Blues.

3. How did you feel about your Fozzy performance on Raw and Jerry Lawler talking over your song? Do you think it actually helped get your band over being that you are a heel and crowd didn’t want to like you?

The performance on Raw was classic. It made the band real to all of the WWE fans, who didn’t know if we actually existed. After that performance, they could put faces to the name and they had a song they could listen to. It helped the band immensely even though I’m a heel and they boo me every chance they get. I could bring out a sweet old lady, say she was my mother and they would start chanting, “she’s a crack whore” or something. People have been trained to hate whatever I do. But there’s still 20-30% of the audience who like whatever I do and they will like Fozzy. The same people who chant “Fozzy Sucks” when I’m a heel will chant “Fozzy” when I’m a babyface. The bottom line is that Fozzy rules and any exposure helps to spread the Fozspel!!

4. We had to send our questions twice because the first time you lost them. How is it that somebody of Moongoose McQueen’s fame and fortune has a laptop the loses emails?

My female porn star personal assistants were too busy giving me oral pleasure to alert me to the lowly emails from Metal Sludge at the time.

5. Which do you prefer and why?

Blackie Lawless or Ronnie James Dio = Dio- One of the most underrated metal singers ever. He smokes AND he looks like Carla from Cheers.

A Gold album or another run as Undisputed Champ = Gold Record- I’ve been the champ, ain’t never had no gold record. Plus, I’ll be the champ again someday anyway!

Slipknot or Mudvayne = Murderdolls

Touring with Warrant or feuding with Abdullah The Butcher = Feuding with Warrant. Arthur would whip Jani Lane’s ass!

Joe Holmes or Brad Gillis = Joe Holmes-It must be a world record to play guitar in a famous band for five years, yet never record a single song with them!!

Eyeliner and Hairspray or Bullet Belts and Corpse Paint = All four at once, like Paul Stanley!

Lord Edgar Bayden Powell or Andy Sneap = They’re both limey pains in the arses

Red Roof Inns or Holiday Inn Express = Johnny’s Motel- Hourly rates available.

Cinderella or Britny Fox = Cinderella-This band was unfairly labeled as a “hair band”. Could have been like the Black Crowes had they began in a different era.

6. In the CD Booklet there is a picture of Rich Ward looking at lot like Christian when he was in the Brood. Does Rich Ward have some secret desire to be like Christian?

Little known fact is that Rich Ward really is Christian. That’s why he disbanded Stuck Mojo and joined with me in Fozzy!

7. What’s up with the red tips at the end of your hair?

To be perfectly honest, I saw Ozzy with the red in his hair about a year ago. I figured, it’s Ozzy..who will know that I stole the idea from him. Two months later, The Osbournes starts airing and Ozzy becomes America’s biggest star! Now everyone knows I steal my hairstyling tips from a 53 year old man!!

8. Was there ever any talk of having Fozzy perform your entrance music instead of Sevendust?

I wanted to have Dream Theater do it.

9. Now that Fozzy is on Megaforce, are you happy with the promotion they’ve done for Fozzy?

I think Megaforce has done a tremendous job with promoting Happenstance. We’re an independent band on an independent label, but they’ve worked very hard to get the band into the record stores. We’ve butted heads on many occasions, but that’s rock and roll. They’re a million times better than our piss poor first label, Palm!!

10. On a scale of 1 to 10, rate the following songs you’d want Fozzy to cover. 1 be no chance in hell and 10 being a song you’d totally want to do.

I Want Action by Poison = Ain’t gettin no action from the mighty Fozz!

Master Of Puppets by Metallica = I’d like to do Disposable Heroes.

God Of Thunder by Kiss = When we started as Fozzy Osbourne, we did a Kiss medley consisting of Lick It Up, She and I think Parasite.

Cherry Pie by Warrant = Nothin gonna Warrant any attention from the Huge Rock Stars.

Anything by Beautiful Creatures = I like the Creatures and their manager, Paul Gargonovitch.

No More Tears by Ozzy = OzZy rules, but his vocal range is very difficult for me to sing. We did Over The Mountain on the first record, but that’s why we used Butch Walker on some of the verses. Ozzy’s singing falls right between my high range and low range. I’d love to do Diary of A Madman or Believer though.

Give It To Me Good by Trixter = Trixter rules, especially their second record, Hear!

Slave To The Grind by Skid Row = I’d like to do Monkey Business. Sebastian has a great voice.

Wasted Years by Iron Maiden = Anything by Bruce is okay by me. Where Eagles Dare on

Happenstance was very hard to sing.

Pull Me Under by Dream Theater = I sang Pull Me Under with DT on stage in Toronto last year. I ruled.

Grab Them Cakes by Junkyard Dog = I’d like to grab Donna’s cakes..

11. If Fozzy had the opportunity to go out and tour for 2 months, what bands would you want to tour with?

I’d love to tour with Black Label Society as Zakk is a good friend and he digs Fozzy. I think we’d be great with Andrew Ridgely as well.

12. Which WWE wrestler has the worst taste in music?

To each his own, but D-Von Dudley’s favorite bands are Iron Maiden and Michael Jackson…quite eclectic, don’t you think?

13. What was the real reason the Shawn “Sports” Pop left Fozzy?

Sports didn’t get along with The Duke and as a result took it upon himself to leave Sick Speed and Fozzy. His loss, as Watty is a much better player and with the weak link gone The Fozz is a much better band!

14. According to SoundScan, the last Fozzy CD sold 28,318. And like you said in your 3-Wind, you guys sold another 5,000 not recorded by SoundScan and another 3,000 in Canada (but Canada doesn’t count.) Right now “Happenstance” is at 13,689 (as of October 2002). What is your best guest as to where “Happenstance” will eventually end up?

Actually, Happenstance is now sitting at about 15,000 US, 15,000 in Europe, 3000 in Australia, 3000 in Canada and 5000 in Japan. My goal between our two albums is to end up with 100,000 total worldwide sales.

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

End Of Days = Good track, but I was pissed it didn’t have a guitar solo in it.

Feel The Burn = This song should’ve got some airplay. We had a gang soccer chant at the end of the track that was a blast to record. All lyrics were written about ten minutes before we recorded the vocals.

To Kill A Stranger = My favorite track off of Happenstance. Written about what Jack The Ripper might of been thinking as he stalked the streets of London.

Happenstance = The best radio track we’ve ever wrote. Helped to put Happenstance at number one on 89.5 WSOU in NYC… a huge feat for us! It’s the song that got the most play for us across the US as well.

Crucify Yourself = Love the song, especially the mix of melodic and death vocals. When we played this song in front of 25,000 people in Balingen, Germany at the Bang Your Head Festival this year, people went crazy for it.

With The Fire = We’re filming a video for this song next week. It’s totally gonna rule. It’s our heaviest song and riff to date and my initial fave on the record.

Balls To The Wall = Wolf Hoffman said that our version was better than Accept’s! High praise to say the least. Another huge hit in Balingen as the crowd wouldn’t stop singing it for about 2 minutes after we stopped playing it.

L.O.V.E. Machine = I think our version is better than WASP’s. Rich had no desire to play this song, but I knew we could really rip this song up…I was right.

The Prisoner = One of my favorite Fozzy songs. Once again high praise as Adrian Smith said he really dug our version. We recorded the intro at 5 in the morning at the end of our last day of recording…we were absolutely delirious at that point!

16. Do you think Fozzy would have gotten a record deal if it wasn’t for your success as a wrestler?

At first no. But now I think the band stands on it’s own and has carved out quite a nitch for itself. 80,000 records sold ain’t too shabby, better than Union!

17. Other than anything we’ve ever asked, what’s the most insulting or stupid question you’ve ever been asked and how did you handle that?

One guy found out that I was Canadian and asked me if we had the same swear words up there. I said no, we use the cuss words, “Feezork” and “Rootebega”. Jackass!

18. What’s the story with Ronnie James Dio not wanting Fozzy to use his songs?

When we did the Fozzy mockumentary that aired on MTV, we wanted to use footage of us playing, “Stand Up And Shout” but his peeps said no. Can you blame them?

19. Some people have said that Fozzy is nothing more than a poor man’s Spinal Tap who does mediocre covers. Of course, we haven’t said, we’re just saying that is what some metal heads have thought. What are you thoughts on that?

The one difference between Fozzy and Spinal Tap is that our band can REALLY play. Rich Ward and Bud Fontsere have played in over 30 countries and are two of the best in the biz. Andy Sneap is one the most sought after producers in metal today. We are a kick ass rock band, who can back up everything we say and we’re proud of it. I’d put Fozzy up against any band in the world for sheer entertainment value live and on stage. We stole the show in Germany with Slayer, Halford and Nightwish last June, we stole the show at The Big Day Out in Atlanta with STP, Sum 41 and Filter last month and we’ll continue to do that every time we rock your town, assclown!

20. Time for Metal Sludge’s Word Association. We mention a name you give us your thoughts.

Bruce Dickinson = Along with Michael Kiske and Steve Perry, one of my favorite vocalists ever.

Manowar = Loin cloths baby, loin cloths.

Butch Walker = Underrated as all hell. Southgang, Marvelous Three and Left of Self Centered all rule!

Barry Bloom = Manager to the stars…after all he handles Chris Jericho AND Fozzy!

Sum 41 = Anyone who wears the Maiden sweat bands are okay with me!

John Cena = Future superstar, current jobber.

Iann Robinson = Digs the Fozz, hopefully he’ll play With The Fire on his show. Star Wars tattoos…wish I had the guts!

The Osbournes = Ozzy is funny as hell and Zakk is the king of guitar. Screw the St Louis DJ! Jack and Kelly are spoiled brats though.

Ric Flair = Legendary performer but has the horrible habit of cheering for the Chicago Blackhawks…Flames baby, Flames!!

Dan Dryden = Dan was a good guy, but he turned his back on my band. Good riddance junior!

In closing, as if you can’t tell from the preceding interview, I love this band and I really believe in Fozzy. If you’re curious, check us out..I guarantee you’ll dig us. After all, WE ARE HUGE ROCK STARS!! www.fozzyrock.com

PS-Thanks for the FU award. We didn’t think you assclowns had the balls!!

‘Nuff said!