With a tour set to start in one week’s time, Fozzy are ready to hit the UK shores. Rich Ward is one of the linchpins behind Fozzy, and we have already spoken about his and the band’s long-standing love affair with the UK in Part One of this interview. Here is Part Two of a fascinating chat with one of the most versatile, talented riff machines and songwriters in rock ‘n’ roll today.
One thing that always impressed me about Rich Ward and his songwriting with Fozzy, especially with some of the more recent songs, is the use of melody. With the level of heaviness that you have with Fozzy, there is almost, for want of a better word, an accessible access to the music for people who do not consider that kind of heaviness to be their music standard. I ask Rich if he is happy with that description.
“Yeah, I think so,” he says. “I’ve listened to lots of pop music. I don’t listen to lots of modern pop music, cause it’s not really made for me. But I love ’70s, ’80s and ’90s pop music. There’s something about that ’70s soft rock, that era of Toto, Asia, and Yes. I grew up on that stuff and then ’80s pop music. I love Duran Duran.
“There were interesting songs as well. They were made by real musicians and really thoughtful. I’m still influenced by that because they were still interesting songs. They were brilliant statements. But they were also spoken in a language that spoke to everyone. I love prog music, but prog music speaks to prog music fans, and Extreme Metal music speaks to Extreme Metal music fans.
“The Metal I grew up with was Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Ozzy. Those are my big bands when I first discovered heavy music. Those songs are very accessible. When you listen to Diary Of A Madman, those are like pop music songs with great riffs, when you really think about it. They’re just brilliantly written songs.
“Those are my influences. The exercise is that we have to write a song for the radio, or we have to write a song. That’s part of our DNA. Chris’s [Jericho] favourite artists are Freddie Mercury and David Bowie, and those guys were the greatest pop artists. They happen to be in cool rock bands, but at the same time, they wrote very hooky melodies, and so we’re lucky that that’s baked into the cake for us.”
The biggest Fozzy song that Rich Ward has written to date is Judas. With over 73 million YouTube plays, that must be a proud moment for him.
“It really is,” he says. “That was the song that took me from worrying about how to pay my bills every month, into finally realising what it was like to be a professional musician. In what we consider our traditional terms, we have a hit song. I’ve got a gold plaque on my wall.
“It’s very unusual because we didn’t write it thinking that it would be a big hit, because you love all your songs, right? There’s never been a time when I went, God, I can’t believe we put that one out. Most artists say this, but you always think your newest album or your newest song is your best. It’s just the natural thing because you’ve put your heart and your soul and your time and everything into these songs.
“So when we wrote Judas, we all knew it was great. But I don’t think we knew at the time it was gonna be received so well. We were very lucky as well because our singer, Chris Jericho, who most people may know is a famous professional wrestler, used the song as his entrance ring song.
“So every day he came out, that was the song played when he was on television every Monday night. And so it became well known by people even outside the rock and Metal community, just people who watched wrestling. This was so key for us because I think that’s true for a lot of other rock and Metal artists. Cannibal Corpse had a gold album because their song was used on the Ace Ventura: Pet Detective soundtrack, and it was in the movie.”
“Sometimes you just need an opportunity to have exposure outside of the normal avenue to your fan base. I remember when Stuck Mojo supported Type O Negative in America and the UK in ’96. That year, I Know What You Did Last Summer, the horror movie, came out, and the opening title sequence was Summer Breeze, their cover.
“I remember thinking how cool it was that this really heavy underground band was getting mainstream exposure on a Hollywood film, and now a whole new audience of people were going to recognise their music. I think that’s what all of us are hoping for. You’re not intentionally trying to sell out, but ultimately, all of us are hoping that other people will hear it.
“When I was a Metallica fan, I wasn’t one of the fans who was mad at Metallica when all of a sudden they became popular. I still loved Metallica. When I first heard Ride The Lightning, and then Master Of Puppets came out, it changed my life, as it did for most people. They were brilliant records, and I went for the ride.
“I’ll always be a music fan, and I don’t abandon. When Machine Head tried doing Nu-Metal in the ’90s, I didn’t abandon them. I always think it’s great when bands explore and try new things. I mean, Marilyn Manson’s done it, everybody’s tried. Queen did it on every album, trying to push the limits of who you are as an artist is always a good thing. If people discover you along the way from different ways and different avenues, then good on you.”
With Stuck Mojo and Rap Metal, was Anthrax and I’m The Man Rich’s inspiration? “Absolutely was,” Rich smiles. I’m The Man and Bring The Noise [with Public Enemy]. There were a few other bands that were underground at the time. There was a band called Psychefunkapus, and there was Orange 9mm.
“There were a few of these bands that I had heard, but I was a massive Anthrax fan. Still to this day, I listen to Among The Living and think it’s one of the best Thrash albums of all time. So that was a huge influence for us.”
With the awesome new track Fall In Line released recently, Rich Ward and Fozzy are still making music that really engulfs you. “I think that the real key for us now is that we’re in this mode where we’re working on a song at a time. We realise that it’s important to be as perfect as we can make it because it’s like a small bite. Or dinner, if you’re creating as a chef.
“So we know you have one chance to make a perfect meal for this customer. Our fans are loyal, and because we’ve been around a long time, we’ve built this incredible bond with our fan base. They deserve the best, especially when we’re only releasing one song a year.
“There may come a point where we’re releasing two or three songs a year. It really just comes down to how the material is. We’ve got three or four songs that we already have rough skeleton demos in the works.
“I think Fall In Line is about as good a song as we’ve ever written. It energised us that, this late in our career, we’re still capable of writing interesting songs. Songs that aren’t self-indulgent, because I don’t want to get into that phase where you’re writing for yourself, where you’re not going to reach out and speak to anyone else. I do think there are artists who get into those phases of their life.
“I’m focused, and I think working with a great producer helps, especially as I’m 57. When I was writing albums with Stuck Mojo, I was in my early 20s. It was a much different process. It was much more guttural. It was much more reactionary. It was based on emotions that I was having.
“Now writing songs is more of an intellectual process, and we listened to other albums. I’ll listen to a Queen album. I’ll listen to a Pink Floyd album, an AC/DC record, and we’ll write about things that we really loved about those albums. What was it that inspired us when we were kids from those?
“So we’re going through a lot of this exploration of what it was that made us such big music fans ourselves when we were younger.”
Fozzy’s headline UK tour begins February 2026, extending their 25th Anniversary celebrations to British stages. For the tour, Fozzy will be joined by MetalTalk favourites Tailgunner and Marisa And The Moths. Tickets are available from fozzyrock.com.
