Just before Fozzy’s fantastic recent show at The Waterfront in Norwich, myself and new resident Rocksins photographer Dave Barson were very lucky to sit down with Fozzy axeman Billy Grey, here’s what he had to say for himself:
Jamie: Well this is Jamie from Rocksins, we’re with Billy from Fozzy, and we’re being treated to a strip right now, just for something different…
(we borrowed the support bands dressing room for the interview, and they were still getting dressed!)
Billy: Yeah (laughs)..from Death Valley Piledriver!
Jamie: Ok, you guys have been on tour for over a week now, and you’ve probably done quite a few of these, what is the one question you’ve heard most that you don’t want to hear in this interview?
Billy: Hows the tour been going?! (laughs)
Jamie: I had a horrible feeling you were going to say that (laughs)
Billy: Thats ok, the tour has been going great. It keeps getting better and better with every show, and we’re on show number 10
Jamie: How many shows have you got left to go after tonight?
Billy: 5 more, including a couple of French shows.
Jamie: What was the main reason behind not doing a London show on this tour? Was it because of the two shows back in May?
Billy: Yeah thats it, cos of the shows back in May this time we wanted to go to all the other cities we didn’t get to hit last time
Jamie: Fair enough. Is there any one date on the tour so far that stands out as being the best one so far?
Billy: I gotta say, the crowd of Belfast Ireland is one, and Manchester was a great one too! So I’m hoping tonight, here in Norwich, we’ll raise the bar even higher!
Jamie: One of the crew was just telling us that Rich (Ward) has been throwing speaker stacks out into the crowd on a couple of the shows so far, that sounds pretty crazy…
Billy: Yup! He throws it out into the crowd, and they crowd surf it all the way to the back!
Jamie: Has anyone dropped it yet?
Billy: Not yet, but a guy did do a stage dive the other night, and it was like the parting of the seas and he just landed face first on the concrete
Jamie: That is not cool
Billy: Not cool at all!
Jamie: Ok, so we’re in the middle of October now, do you guys have any major plans for the rest of the year once you’re finished in France?
Billy: Once we’re finished in France we’re gonna take a couple of weeks off, I’ll go back and play with my band, I play in a band called Dangerous New Machine, I’ll be playing a few weeks with them on a tour. Rich n the other guys who are in Stuck Mojo are gonna do a Mojo tour, and then at the end of November we are gonna do some Canadian dates and then go to Australia right after that.
Jamie: So will you get Christmas at home?
Billy: Yeah, I will get Christmas at home.
Jamie: Thats a pretty busy rest of 2010…
Billy: Yes it is!
Jamie: Is it right that your current arrangement with Fozzy is that you are doing Fozzy again so long as it fits in with Dangerous New Machine? (Billy was previously in Fozzy around 2002 and rejoined earlier this year)?
Billy: I try to make it work out for both of em. Fozzy, the guys in Fozzy are nice enough to be flexible with me and like I said everyone has their other projects, Mojo is doing their thing and Chris is obviously a busy man too, so its worked out good so far!
Jamie: That all sounds good. Do you have any plans set up yet for 2011?
Billy: Hopefully a new record, a new record and more touring and hopefully that will happen ASAP.
Jamie: I’m not sure what Chris’s current situation is (with the WWE). I met him back at the London show in May and he said that he would like to spend a lot more time on Fozzy…
Billy: Yeah, he’s on a hiatus now which has allowed us to do this tour here and will allow us to do what we’re gonna do through the end of the year, so we’ll see what happens.
Jamie: Really random question, we’re hoping you haven’t had this one before…
Billy: Ok…
Jamie: Theres a thing here in the UK called Movember, where guys don’t shave for the whole of November to raise money for Cancer Charities and stuff like that, so out of everyone in the band, if none of you shaved for a month who would have the best beard and moustache?
Billy: Ahhh ok (laughs), I would say Frank Fontsere the drummer, he would have the best and fullest beard of them all! Thats a good question too!
Jamie: I know Fozzy has been doing the VIP experiences with the fans before the shows, how have those been going?
Billy: Thats been great, you get to meet the fans and hang out, you get to eat and get a little personal with them, tell them about how you shave your pubic hairs and stuff like that, its been real fun.
Jamie: Have you had a good British curry since you’ve been here?
Billy: Yes, quite a few
Jamie: Any particular city you would recommend as having the best curry?
Billy: Thats a hard one right there. With me not being the biggest curry fan, thats a hard question for me.
Jamie: Thats fair enough, what would you prefer?
Billy: You know I prefer more of the old school British food, like the meat pies, I love the stuff like that.
Jamie: With Dangerous New Machine, do you have any upcoming plans for a new album this year or next year?
Billy: We’ve just released a new album this summer, we’re gonna have lots of touring coming up and hopefully it will all work out, maybe even do some dates with Fozzy or Stuck Mojo.
Jamie: Any plans to get Dangerous New Machine over to the UK?
Billy: Oh yes! We’re trying to sort that out right now, definitely, maybe in the middle of next year?
Jamie: Maybe festival season?
Billy: That would be great
Jamie: On the subject of the festivals when I saw Chris back in May he mentioned that at the time you guys were in negotiations to play Bloodstock Festival, and that obviously didn’t happen…
Billy: It didn’t happen but this coming Summer I know…ninety five percent…we’re gonna be doing the Sonisphere Festival and quite a few others so we should be able to roll with those this Summer.
Jamie: With Sonisphere it has gotten much bigger this year and I think it was up to festivals in around ten different countries, would you be looking to do all of them or just the Sonisphere in the UK?
Billy: All of them, certainly all ones in Europe and the UK, thats what we’re trying to make happen.
Jamie: Obviously as we said earlier its around day 10 of the tour now and you guys have time to kill between the shows, do you guys have any records on the bus you’d recommend to everyone apart from Fozzy, Stuck Mojo and Dangerous New Machine?
Billy: I tell ya, I would recommend the band thats on tour with us, Symphony Cult, they’ve got a good record. The guys from Death Valley Piledriver, they’ve got a great record, and those two bands are both great to watch live. As for on the bus, we’ve been watching a lot of concert DVD’s, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, stuff like that.
Jamie: How did you guys end up picking the support bands? I know Death Valley Piledriver were out previously with you guys on the short tour in May
Billy: Rich and Mark whos the management and Chris, they knew the bands and they brought them on board.
Jamie: Ok, well I think that is pretty much it, thank you very much for your time!
Billy: Thank you!
