Mark Willis - Manager of Fozzy
By Gary Graham & Sue Powley
How's the promotional and preparation work going for your up coming Fozzy tours in Australia and the UK ?
Busy, busy, busy. There is a lot of paperwork required when you are crossing borders these days so a lot of careful preparation is required. Beyond the grueling immigration paperwork and travel itineraries there is the timing and overseeing of the marketing and promotion, preparing the merch and the crew and the gear and the support acts, etc. It is definitely not as sexy as being on stage!
Do you find it hard promoting outside the USA , having to trust other people to ensure your gigs are full and the promotional work is carried out before your tour?
Hard? That's relative. Working between extreme time zones can be taxing and tricky but it is not hard, I enjoy the challenges and I like the people I work with. John Howarth in Australia and Adam Elfin in the UK are pro's which makes my job manageable (no pun intended). Couple that with a great tour manager in Toby “Toad” Robinson and we rock!
You have a pretty busy schedule in the UK, traveling from top to bottom of the country, are you doing the tour all rock star in one of the giant tour buses or doing it the Van and Mini bus way?
The schedule is grueling on these guys. Jericho challenges me to try and wear him out. The guy is a machine. The first UK tour this year, FOZZY did an in-store appearance, then went and played a sold out matinee show in Manchester, loaded the gear back on the bus, drove to Liverpool and played a sold out show in Liverpool and then Jericho and the Duke DJ'ed until 3am, then they got back on the bus and drove to Gatwick so Jericho could catch a 9am flight back to the states where he wrestled that night. While dropping off Jericho , the bus picked up Bonz from Stuck Mojo and the rest of the guys drove to mainland Europe to begin the 17 day Stuck Mojo tour which started the next day. To answer your main question, the giant rock star tour bus waits for us at the county line and the splitter carries us the rest of the way to the gig!
Any funny Fozzy on the road stories you can share?
With the schedule that I just told you, you can imagine there are funny stories. You have to remember that I view the band from a different place than the guys since I am behind the scenes. Back when the guys all had alter ego's, Chris Jericho was hosting Sunday Heat on MTV and performing as Moongoose McQueen with FOZZY live on the show, which was filmed in a venue called The World in Time Square, NYC, so Jericho was gushing on live television about how much he loved Moongoose McQueen and then he would go backstage and the cameras would interview Moongoose and Moongoose would talk about what a stalker Jericho was and how Jericho had stolen all his ideas from Moongoose. So anyway, FOZZY performs 3 songs live on Sunday Heat and after the show is over, we are walking out of the backstage area and one of the security guards that worked at The World shook Chris's hand and says, “That Moongoose is a real asshole man, I think you are a really cool guy, don't let that guy get to you!” The guy had just watched Jericho on stage hosting and Moongoose on stage performing and he meant it! We were dying!
So how did you become the manager of Fozzy?
I am the Manager to the Stars dammit, I am the rightful manager to FOZZY, no one else could handle such huge rockstars! Well, that and I begged Moongoose and Duke LaRue' for the gig. They got tired of me following them around whining like a little girl so they obliged to shut me up!
When Fozzy first started they had a gimmick, with the whole Moongoose McQueen front man etc. When did that all start to turn around and was it a conscious decision to become more serious or was it something Fozzy just slipped into?
Yes, when we started, the back story was a cool way to masque the fact that we were an 80's metal cover band that was introducing some of the greatest songs of some of the greatest metal Heroes of our times and we were introducing those songs to a new generation. The first record we did 2 original tracks and our second release, “Happenstance” featured 4 originals and the reaction to the originals was much greater than the covers. We began to notice the chants for the originals at the shows. Rich and Chris got together and decided to drop the back story and release a serious full length all original record called “All That Remains” and it has been called one of the greatest guitar records released in the last 10 years. We knew we had crossed into serious territory when Billboard Magazine made All That Remains its Critic's Choice Pick the week of its release.
How much has it helped to get Fozzy over, having a WWE star as the front man?
That depends on who you are trying to get “over” on. To fans of wrestling it's a blessing while some people who are not fans of wrestling want to discount or discredit it before even hearing it, without even giving it a chance. All I have ever asked of anyone is give it a chance, then tell me your opinion and most everyone who hears it, loves it.
How difficult is it to schedule any Fozzy appearances around everyone's 'other' schedules?
The logistics can be difficult with members of FOZZY touring in 3 different groups and Jericho 's WWE schedule, but it's a good problem to have.
Fozzy seem to be very popular here in the UK , with this being the second tour would you say Fozzy are more popular here in the UK than back in the USA ?
I wouldn't say that, FOZZY is quite popular in the states as well. I will say that the UK is one of the bands favorite places to be. This is our third tour of the UK this year, we came over and toured up to and performed at Download, which was a great tour.
What do you think of the UK fans and how do they compare to their American counter parts?
As a manager, I love all our fans all over the world, they are all equally cool to me from my vantage point behind this computer monitor, that's a question best posed to the band guys.
For fans that have never been to a Fozzy show before what can they expect?
Absolute pandemonium, a gala, a huge arena show in a club. And without question, one of the best frontmen in the business and some of the best musicians you could ever hope to see. And I am underselling it!
How are the tickets selling for the tours?
Faster than our previous tours which were 85% sold out.
Right word association game, I will give you a name or a word and you in less that 20 words answer each one
‘The Duke' – A good man who I am fortunate to manage, his greatest attribute is being one of the best songwriters today.
Chris Jericho – Chris is a legend who may be the hardest working man in show business, I enjoy working with him.
Frank Fontsere – Frank knows 2 styles of drumming, hard and real hard, he is the human metronome, Mr. Meter!
Sean Delson – We call him Jesus cause he is that damn good on bass and a good human being.
Mike Martin – Super arpeggio, the shred mechanic, Mr. Finger's, an amazing, lightning quick, versatile guitarist.
The WWE – The ultimate male drama that's also an amazing marketing machine.
Legend – There are 2 legends in FOZZY, Chris Jericho and Rich “The Duke” Ward.
Ozzy Osborne – One of my musical influences, but Ozzy you gotta stop the touring man.
England – Beautiful home of real football. The weather reporters exaggerate the temperature, though, it never seems as warm as the reports!
Well I think that about wraps up this interview, I think we should give you the opportunity to sell the Fozzy tour to the UK fans, fire away.
The splendor of FOZZY is something that has to be experienced. Young kids, old kids, boys, girls, men, women, everyone's a kid at a FOZZY show and everyone leaves a FOZZY show saying the same thing, “Damn”. When was the last time you went to a show and walked out saying “Damn”? It's been a while hasn't it? And there is no way to eradicate that feeling except to go see another FOZZY show. It's impossible to explain the process you go through to get to that point when you find yourself standing there with FOZZY on stage in front of you and when the song ends, all you can do is utter the word, “Damn” ! A FOZZY show is a great time, experience just one and know what I mean.
Thanks again for taking the time to do this interview, we hope to catch up with you at the Legends gig, in Newcastle Upon Tyne, where Wrestle Zone UK will be doing some live interviews and reports from the gig.
Thank you for your support of FOZZY and for allowing me the cyber time to chat with you! See you on tour!
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