Jericho’s band emerges from wrestling shadow

At times, the golden championship belts Chris Jericho amassed as a pro wrestler felt a little like an albatross dragging down his music career.

Because of his success as a wrestler, the Winnipeg-born Jericho said metal fans were reluctant to take his outfit, Fozzy, seriously.

But that, he says, has changed.

"We've really turned the corner where people really don't care that Jericho's in wrestling too," the World Wrestling Entertainment star said on the line from his Florida home Thursday.

"When it comes to Fozzy, it's not like we're onstage giving each other bodyslams or wearing wrestling tights.

"Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden is a pilot, but that doesn't mean that all their songs are about airport lavatories. They're two separate things and I think people understand that and have really got on board with what it is we do."

'Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden is a pilot, but that doesn't mean that all their songs are about airport lavatories.' —Chris Jericho

Fozzy released their fourth album, Chasing the Grail, earlier this year and will travel to Canada this weekend for a trio of shows in Ontario — their first in the province in five years.

The band got their start back in 2000 when they were signed by John Zazula, a music executive with ties to Metallica and Anthrax.

Jericho said Zazula wanted the band to play cover songs, and encouraged them to craft a goofy backstory in which Fozzy were true metal innovators who had spent decades in Japan only to find out that other bands had stolen their songs.

They also wore wigs.

"We were kind of a little bit confused by it," Jericho concedes now. "But like any self-respecting musicians, we took the money and did what we were told."

Jericho was already a prominent name in pro wrestling, known for his inimitable sense of humour as well as his sprightly in-ring ability.

So the launch of Fozzy was accompanied by a fair bit of hype.

"The record company spent a lot of money on us," he recalls, citing a 30-minute MTV mockumentary on the band that aired just as they were getting off the ground.

"Johnny Z said to us one day: 'How does it feel to know you're going to be the next Metallica?' We were like, 'the next Metallica?' We're playing cover songs and wearing wigs in the band."'

That hype made it a little more difficult years later when, in Jericho's words, the band hit rock bottom. They had struggled to carve an identity and couldn't elicit the sort of popularity needed to provide a return on the record label's investment.

So in 2005, they reinvented themselves, dropping the spoof gimmick and putting out their first album of original material, All That Remains.

"(That album) really surprised a lot of people as to how good it was and how mature it was. And I think Chasing the Grail trumped that in spades."

Indeed, Fozzy seems to have settled into its sound on its latest record — heavy metal that proudly flaunts the influence of '70s stalwarts like Black Sabbath.

Took singing lessons

Jericho's singing impresses (he took lessons in the five years since All that Remains), as does the capable shredding of guitarist and co-songwriter Rich Ward.

"I think this is our tightest record, it's definitely our best-received, it's our biggest seller," said Jericho, who added Fozzy draws thousands of fans to shows in the UK, where they have their most ardent followers.

"It's just really cool to know that after 10 years of working this band, that people are really getting into what we're doing. At first, there's always a little bit of hesitation because this guy's a wrestler and how could he possibly be in a band and blah, blah, blah.

'At first, there's always a little bit of hesitation because this guy's a wrestler and how could he possibly be in a band and blah, blah, blah.' —Chris Jericho

"And now it doesn't matter."

Jericho plans to document Fozzy's struggles in his second memoir, which he says will be called Undisputed: How to Become World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps.

He says the book — a sequel to 2007's A Lion's Tale — will be out in February.

Hiatus from westling

Jericho took a two-year hiatus from wrestling beginning in 2005, during which time he studied acting and mulled ideas for his return, because he didn't want to be a "nostalgia act."

He found inspiration in the Coen brothers' Oscar-winning 2007 film No Country for Old Men and its shotgun-wielding villain, Anton Chigurh.

Upon his return to the ring in 2007, Jericho developed a new character — a remorseless, suit-clad heel who never fails to draw a reaction from the crowd.

"A lot of guys don't understand that wrestling is show business and it's acting," said Jericho, whose real name is Chris Irvine.

'We're like Shakespearean actors'

"Wrestling is a modern-day morality play. We're like Shakespearean actors out there."

'I grew up in Winnipeg, so you're pretty tough when you grow up there.' —Chris Jericho

While Jericho's 40th birthday is looming in November, he says nagging injuries are not a concern.

"I grew up in Winnipeg, so you're pretty tough when you grow up there," he said.

"Yeah, physically, I'm cool. Mentally is where I suffer a little bit of burnout. That's why I left in 2005 for a couple years.

"I haven't had that same feeling for a while. As long as I'm creatively stimulated, I'm happy."

And, for now, he says that's certainly the case.

"At this point in time, the work I'm doing is better than anything I've done in my career. I can walk away from the WWE tomorrow and know that I've done everything that you could ever do in wrestling, but I still enjoy the creative element of it, and I like helping the younger guys.

"I'm still basically in the prime of my career and I have the world in the palm of my hands to do whatever it is I want to do.

"I still enjoy being in the WWE though and I plan on continuing for as long as I feel like I want to."