Having conquered the wrestling world over the course of his 22 year career (and counting) in the squared circle, Chris Jericho has set his sights on the music world with his band Fozzy. Jericho formed the band with acclaimed metal guitarist Rich Ward over ten years ago and now, after the release of their fifth studio album Sin and Bones, it appears that Jericho and Fozzy have hit their stride. entertainment.ie music editor John Balfe caught up with Jericho for a chat, covering everything from their new album to meeting George Lucas.

Fozzy will play Cyprus Avenue in Cork and The Academy in Dublin on November 23rd and 24th respectively. Tickets are still available at usual outlets nationwide.

Sin and Bones, your fifth studio record, has been receiving some high praise. Fozzy have been hailed as "one of the best metal bands out there", another review employs the word "masterclass". You must be happy with the reviews?

It's funny, the "masterclass" one was written by a guy called Malcolm Dome. He's one of the most famous metal journalists in England, so to get a review like that from him blew me away. You know, when you do a new record you always say 'this is the best thing we've ever done' and everybody honestly believes that, but you never know for sure if everyone else will feel the same way. I do think the record is the best we've ever done and that each record has been a step forward from the last. The sales have been the best we've ever had, the highest charting record we've ever had, the fastest selling record we've ever had so it was nice to know that our instincts were shared by others.

How does a typical Fozzy song come together? For instance, there's a song on the new record - 'Storm The Beaches' - about the D-Day landings. How did that come to be?

A song about storming the beaches in Normandy was, to me, just a very metal concept. I had this title called 'Storm The Beaches' which I thought would be a good start, then I just found this letter that one of the survivors had written to his mother, so I just started writing lyrics based on that. I gave seven pages of lyrics to Rich (Ward, Fozzy guitarist) who turned it into a song. It was a real collaborative, but it just started with a song title. All my songs just start with a title.

Did you have an idea for the overall tone that you would like the album to have, or does it organically find its own identity?

We wanted to have a record that was very cohesive, that flowed together, much in the same way that the Metallica Black Album does. We've called Sin and Bones our Black Album and what I meant by that was the Black Album is very diverse but the tone is the same and it binds the whole record together. If some songs didn't fit that mould they didn't make it to the final cut. +

You'll be kicking off your European tour towards the end of November here in Ireland with a couple of shows, one in Cork and one in Dublin. Do you have good memories from playing in this part of the world?

We have always considered Ireland and the UK to be a second home for us. For whatever reason, ever since we first came in 2004 people have really embraced us and really dug the sound of Fozzy and what it is we do. We had a UK tour booked and there was no Ireland and I said we have to go back to Ireland. It worked out that we were able to come through to Cork and Dublin. All the shows we've had in Ireland have been great and the crowds have been amazing.

Which was your first passion, music or wrestling?

I started playing music when I was 12 years old. I wanted to be in a rock band and I wanted to be a wrestler - those were my two dreams. Wrestling took off first but I still continued to play music and record demos. We started Fozzy in 1999 when I was at the top of the mountain in wrestling but at the bottom of the food chain with Fozzy but I had the same amount of passion for both. Now that we've kind of gotten to a higher level with Fozzy over the last few years, I decided to put my full effort into Fozzy and build the rest of my schedule around that. Since we did that, the band has grown in leaps and bounds. I love both of my passions and I'm very fortunate that both of those dreams came true.

You've spent over two decades on the road entertaining people in one way or another. In all that time, have you figured out what it takes to energise a crowd?

There's never any secret but there are tricks you can use. Each crowd is different and you have to judge each crowd on its own accord and on its own merit. I have twenty-two years experience of being a live performer, which always helps, but every crowd is to be judged separately. Sometimes it's very easy and sometimes it's a little more difficult. When you come to places like Ireland there's really not a lot to be done, people are already having a great time and that makes it so much easier as a performer.

Do you get the same feeling twenty minutes before a big gig as you get twenty minutes before a big wrestling match?

Yeah, because you're going out there live without a net and that's a great feeling. When you stop being nervous is when you should retire. I'm always a little nervous for anything I do because when complacency sets in that's when I feel it's time to move on to something else.

Mick Foley was in town a few months ago for one of his comedy shows. I recorded a podcast with him then and asked him if there were any other wrestlers who he felt would be able to make the transition to comedy and, without hesitation, he mentioned you. Is that something you'd ever see yourself doing?

I don't know about stand-up comedy, but I did do some improv comedy in Los Angeles for about a year with an improv group called The Groundlings. Will Ferrell was a Groundling, so was Phil Hartman and this was before I went back to the WWE in 2007. A lot of it was about committing to a character. I don't know if I'd ever become a stand-up comic per-se, but I sure did love doing the improv comedy.

I was going through your Twitter and came upon a picture of you with George Lucas. What was all that about?

I'm working on a show in the States and George Lucas is one of the consultants. My first day of work I walked in the door and there he was! There's been three people in my life that I've met where I freaked out : Wayne Gretzky, James Hetfield and George Lucas. I kept my cool, talked to him and asked if I could get a picture. As soon as I got it I walked around a corner and was like "fucking George Lucas!!!"

What was it like meeting James Hetfield?

The first time I met James I kind of flipped out but since then I've gotten to know James a little bit and we've become friends. Not that we're talking to each other on the phone, but every time I see him we have a good conversation. Once you get over the fanboy part of things, you realise he's just a guy and he's a pretty cool one at that. It's always cool to meet one of your heroes who then becomes a peer.
 

Fozzy will play Cyprus Avenue in Cork and The Academy in Dublin on November 23rd and 24th