The official music video for FOZZY‘s new single, “Spotlight”, can be seen below. The track was released ast week via Madison Records/The Orchard
With the superstar showmanship of frontman Chris Jericho, tag-teamed with guitar genius Rich Ward, FOZZY is a band that has always pushed the boundaries both sonically and artistically over its 20-plus-year career. From performing three shows across America in one day to filming a music video on one of the fastest hair-raising roller coasters in the world, the band lives up to its reputation again with the “Spotlight” clip.
Never falling short in creating innovative, imaginative videos, “Spotlight” is no exception in the FOZZY universe. Filmed by Exceleration Media and Firefly Drone Shows, the groundbreaking video features hundreds of live drones that light up the night sky to co-star in this first ever drone show music video. It’s a full-out assault on your eyes, ears, brain, and remaining senses, as Jericho braves the elements.
To fully capture the magnitude of the night flying drones for the video, FOZZY‘s creative team brought the concept to Firefly Drone Shows, who are recognized as the innovation leader in the drone light show industry.
Firefly Drone Shows co-founder Ryan Sigmon explains: “The concept was to design an exciting drone show based on the ‘Spotlight’ lyrics, and bring the drone performance to life directly behind Chris Jericho. The end result is a thrilling music video that took months of planning and programming to make possible.”
Ward says: “When we came up with the concept of doing a drone show video, we knew the only person who could pull this off was Chris. Who else could conduct hundreds of drones to streak through the sky while creating images 800 feet tall and over 1000 feet wide? Bringing a music video concept to life, especially one that has never been pulled off before, can be challenging because of the multitude number of unknowns. With that said, it was completely worth the challenge and we hope you enjoy ‘Spotlight’ as much as we enjoyed making it!”
“Spotlight” was helmed by FOZZY‘s longtime producer Johnny Andrews (THREE DAYS GRACE, ALL THAT REMAINS, HALESTORM) and sonically refined by mixer Jacob Hanson (VOLBEAT, AMARANTHE, ARCH ENEMY). The track demonstrates FOZZY‘s evolving sound, melding rock and metal with powerful emotion and musical might, epitomizing FOZZY‘s commitment to rock superiority.
Jericho states: “On the heels of our fifth consecutive top ten hit ‘I Still Burn’, our new song ‘Spotlight’ pushes the boundaries of FOZZY‘s sound while still retaining the punch and maximum riffage you’ve come to expect! And with the FOZZY mindset of the triple-hook rule, I still can’t stop humming the damn thing after dozens of listens!! This is going to be the perfect tune to sing along to live and in your car for a long time to come! It’s time to turn on the spotlight!”
This past July, Ward told Diesel of Greenville, South Carolina’s 93.3 Planet Rocks that “Spotlight” is “a fantastic song. Anyone who’s known me for any length of time always knows I’m [a fan] of dance riffs. I mean, [my longtime band] STUCK MOJO was just a dance band dressed up in evil, heavy metal riffs. I’ve always been a fan of both. And partially [that was because] I grew up in the late ’70s, early ’80s in the disco era. That was what music was popular; that was the most popular soundtrack, the most popular album when I was a kid. And I Is loved dance music — Donna Summer and KOOL & THE GANG. These are people that put out albums that I was always in love with. And I loved Dick Clark, I loved America’s Top 40, but I also loved ‘Soul Train’. This is part of my DNA.”
He continued: “So, this new song is a heavy metal dance song. It’s just perfect. It’s so suited for who I am as a guy and as a musician, as a songwriter. Jericho loves it. It’s [producer] Johnny‘s [Andrews] kind of brainchild. So we’re all dunking basketballs; [we’re] so excited about it. ‘Cause any time you have a new that everybody‘s on board…
“When you have a band and there’s a lot of personalities and people involved in it, there’s always somebody who’s holding their nose, going, ‘Okay, yeah. Okay. New song. Sure.’ And they’re trying their best to like it, but they don’t really, and they’re putting their best face forward on this,” he added.
“Everyone loves the new song. It’s a super-rad song.”
FOZZY‘s latest album, “Boombox”, came out in May 2022 and featured the song “I Still Burn”, which recently eclipsed two and a half million views on YouTube. It also included the Top 10 singles “Nowhere To Run” and “Sane”.
This past spring, FOZZY spent time on the road with UGLY KID JOE as part of the latter band’s first tour of the United States in 27 years.
In January 2022, FOZZY parted ways with longtime drummer Frank Fontsere and replaced him with Grant Brooks (THROUGH FIRE).
Fontsere was a founding member of FOZZY, having formed the group in 1999 with Jericho and Rich Ward (guitar).
When FOZZY announced Fontsere‘s departure, the band said that he was “stepping down to focus on his family and other projects.”
FOZZY is Jericho, Ward, Brooks, Billy Grey (guitars) and P.J. Farley (bass).