Fozzy

This article is about the heavy metal band. For the Muppet character, see Fozzie Bear.

Fozzy
Image:Fozzy-2k4.jpg Fozzy in 2004
Background information
Origin	San Antonio, Texas
Genre(s)	Heavy Metal
Years active	1999–present
Label(s)	Megaforce Records, ASH Records
Website	www.fozzyrock.com
Members
Chris Jericho (Vocals) Rich Ward (Guitars) (Back-up Vocals) Eric Sanders (Drums) Sean B. Delson (Bass) Mike Martin (Guitars)
Former members
Dan Dryden (Bass) Andy Sneap (Guitars) Ryan Mallam (Guitars) Mike Schneider (Guitars) Billy Grey (Guitars) Keith Watson (Bass) Frank Fontsere (Drums)

Fozzy is a heavy metal band, fronted by professional wrestler Chris Jericho, and also including musicians from Stuck Mojo and on their recent album, guests from other established metal bands.

History

Fozzy started out as Fozzy Osbourne, a cover band assembled by Rich Ward from whatever musicians he could find on a given week.

In 1999, Jericho met Ward in San Antonio after a wrestling show, and was invited to play with the band. Jericho sat in on a few sessions, but did not plan to play with them permanently.

In 2000, unable to wrestle for four months due to a severe ankle injury, Jericho re-joined the band and became its front man (under the persona of "Moongoose McQueen"), and the band went on tour. Later that year, the band shortened its name to Fozzy, and adopting the satirical back-story that the songs they covered were originally their own, but were stolen from them by other bands.

Fozzy's first two albums, Fozzy and Happenstance, consisted mostly of cover songs. Their third album, All That Remains, consisted entirely of original tracks (though a few of the songs were recorded by Ward's old side project Sick Speed).

In 2004, Jericho dropped the McQueen persona in favor of his wrestling stage name (his real name is Christopher Irvine). Previously, he had sometimes pretended that McQueen and Jericho were two different people.

Fozzy went down exceptionally well at the Download Festival at Donington Park on June 10 2005, despite playing relatively early in the day on the smaller Snickers stage. Jericho later mentioned Fozzy's success at Donington a month later during his feud with John Cena They were only the second band of the afternoon, appearing after opening band Flogging Molly and shortly before future Eurovision winners Lordi. Jericho performed on Friday in Donington with Fozzy, yet still featured in ECW One Night Stand two nights later in New York, wrestling Lance Storm in Storm's unofficial retirement match.

Exposure

Fozzy played "Eat the Rich" on the October 29 2000 edition of WWF Sunday Night HEAT (filmed at WWF New York), and played "To Kill a Stranger" on the August 19 2002 edition of WWE RAW (followed by an angle involving Ric Flair beating up Jericho). The video of "To Kill a Stranger" aired on WWE Confidential.

Fozzy's song "Enemy" was the official theme song of WWE's No Way Out pay-per-view event in February 2005. The music video for "Enemy" was released on the bonus disc of GuitarOne's February 2005 edition. The song was also featured on TNA iMPACT!, just a few days before TNA Bound for Glory 2006.

As of now, Jericho and Ward are the only remaining members of the first lineup.

Discography

Albums

• Fozzy (2000)
• Happenstance (2002)
• All That Remains (2005)
• Untitled Fozzy album (2008) [1]

Discography from Fozzy's official site

Singles

• "Eat the Rich" (2000)
• "Balls to the Wall" (2002)
• "With the Fire" (2002)
• "To Kill A Stanger" (2002)
• "Enemy" (2005)
• "It's A Lie" (2006)

DVD releases

• Fozzy - Unleashed, Uncensored, Unknown (2003)

Music videos

• "Eat the Rich" (2000)
• "Balls to the Wall" (2002)
• "With the Fire" (2002)
• "To Kill A Stanger" (2002)
• "Enemy" (2005)
• "It's A Lie" (2006)

Band Members

Current

• Chris Jericho - Vocals (1999 - present)
  
• Rich Ward - Guitars (1999 - present)
  
• Eric Sanders - Drums (2005 - present)
  
• Sean Delson - Bass (2004 - present)
  
• Mike Martin - Guitars (2002 - present)
  

Past

• Dan Dryden - Bass (1999 - 2002)
  • Was on the Fozzy album.
• Keith Watson - Bass (2002 - 2004)
  • Was on the Happenstance album.
• Mike Schneider - Guitars (2001 - 2002)
  • Was brought in as a third guitarist.
• Andy Sneap - Guitars (2001 - 2004)
  • Was brought in as a third guitarist.
• Ryan Mallam - Guitars (1999 - 2002)
  • Was on the Fozzy and Happenstance albums.
• Billy Grey - Guitars (2002)
  • Was brought in to replace Ryan Mallam.
• Frank Fontsere - Drums (1999 - 2005)
  • Was on the Fozzy, Happenstance and All That Remains albums.

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• Both Mike Schneider and Andy Sneap were brought into Fozzy to add more guitars. This would make the band have four guitarists at the time (Ryan Mallam and Billy Grey exchanged the fourth spot until Mike Martin came in to replace, while Rich Ward kept his position). Schneider evantully left and Sneap was kept as a third guitarist until he left. Neither Schneider or Sneap were on any albums.[2]
• The band once considered changing their name to Big City Knights.[3]
• Mark Tremonti, of Alter Bridge and formerly of Creed, does a guest solo in the song "The Way I Am" from the album All That Remains.
• Frank Fontsere (also from Stuck Mojo) is currently in the group Love Said No with Erik Rogers Stereomud, Bobby Burns (Soulfly/Primer 55) and Billy Grey (Soundevice)
• Butch Walker features on the track 'Over The Mountain'

References

• Fozzy Interview at MetalSludge.tv

External links

• Fozzy at MySpace
• Official Website
• Official Forums
• Official website of Chris Jericho
• Official website of "The Duke" Rich Ward

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