In a recent interview on the On The Road To Rock podcast with Clint Switzer, FOZZY guitarist Rich Ward reflected on the success of the band he started 25 years ago with superstar wrestler Chris Jericho.
“We’re really blessed,” he said. “The FOZZY band started as a side thing for myself and Chris, and it just kind of evolved into this passion project, which then we take as seriously as you would anything else you do in your life. I mean, Chris is not going to do anything unless he feels like it’s gonna be successful, because he’s an apex predator, he’s a great white shark. Everything he does is incredible.
“The fact that he’s at his age and is still at the top in his industry, and he’s got four New York Times bestsellers and one of the most popular podcasts in the world and he’s one of the greatest frontmen that’s ever lived in rock and roll, and I’ll stand by that.”
Ward lamented the rise of “V.I.P. packages” as the seemingly only way for fans to get close to their favorite bands. These packages, often carrying hefty price tags on top of regular tickets, offer a range of perks – from autographed memorabilia and photo ops to soundcheck access and exclusive lanyards.
Rich said: “For a lot of fans, especially for old-school rock fans, there’s this kind of weird thing about V.I.P.s, charging fans to meet the band, and I would feel very odd about that as well. But we actually do a separate concert. So it’s kind of a mini-concert that we cap at a certain level, so it’s almost like a house party concert. And we use all of that money — nobody in the band gets to touch the V.I.P. money. All that money goes into production and the operation of the business. So it doesn’t enrich any of us. We set that aside as a way for us to buy new lights and to upgrade equipment and stuff.
“So we reinvest in the live experience that we give to the fans. And from the very beginning, we felt like that was important for us to do, is to figure out a way for us to reinvest in things that we need and also at the same time… It’s really cool for us, ’cause we get to we get to meet people. And it’s not just a grip-and-grin where you [go], ‘Hey, nice to see you,’ and it’s a line. We actually get to play songs in front of 20 people every day at soundcheck and have conversations and hang out, and I think those are really cool.”
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.