Rich 'The Duke' Ward - guitars for Fozzy

Rich Ward is the consummate blue collar Rock n’ Roll star. He was a founder of the highly-influential Stuck Mojo of the 90s and early 2000s, the rhythm guitarist for the Adrenaline Mob supergroup, along with megatalents like Mike Portnoy and Russel Allen, and since 1999, has been the co-lead guitarist for Fozzy. Ward could be called the co-frontman too, if he weren’t sharing the spotlight with Chris Jericho. Yes, that Chris Jericho. . . one of pro-wrestling’s all-time greats, who also happens to dedicate his “spare” time to recording podcasts, writing books, and singing/songwriting for this mainstream, successful Heavy Metal band. I had the opportunity to sit down with Rich Ward for an interview before the Fozzy show at Club Red in Mesa, AZ, in September 2019 (see the MetalAsylum.net concert review). I met up with Ward and Chris Jericho backstage, and was immediately made to feel welcomed - - not an obligation or intrusion. The three of us headed back to the green room, where Jericho reminisced about playing at Mesa’s old Club Red with Saxon, when it had been in a different building. Fozzy’s touring opener, Jared James Nichols, was hanging out and playing guitar as we walked by.

I told Rich that I was aware we were slotted for about 15 minutes, and that I’d respect that, but he shrugged and said he had plenty of time. Even during the course of the interview, I paused a few times to indicate that we were probably out of time, and he demurred, saying he wanted to keep talking. That’s the kind of guy he is with his fans and media; he’s well aware of his ability and career accomplishments, but he doesn’t convey any ego or condescension. I gave my usual pre-interview warning that I can sometimes be a wiseass, and asked him not to take any jokes the wrong way; he laughed, saying, “I’m 50 years old. It takes a lot to offend me.” I told him I just always say that, because sometimes rockstars can have “Do you know who I am?” attitudes. He responded by saying, “There’s none of those guys in this building tonight.”
We then sat at a little folding table and the conversation just took off. Fifteen minutes stretched out to about an hour, with Jared James Nichols jamming away in the background. I was going to transcribe the highlights to text on this page, but I think that does Rich a disservice. Even if you’re unfamiliar or not a fan, you should listen to hear his talk, to get a sense of the intelligence, warmth, and love for the music that this guy exudes.
Check out a transcript of the first few questions below, then click the link to listen to the audio. You can hear him talk about guitars, growing up with music in the 70s and 80s, his first car, Stuck Mojo, Adrenaline Mob, Fozzy, Chris Jericho, finding balance for everything in life, and calling out a certain aging performer who has clearly stopped practicing. . .
Oh, and if you listen really closely, you'll hear Jared James Nichols jamming in the background.

1. We're on.

The Duke: Before we got rolling, we were talking about guitars. You play guitar left-handed. I'm a lefty, and our opening band is the Jared James Nichols band; he's a lefty and so am I. Jared and I both started playing right-handed guitars because we just didn't know there was even such a thing as a left-handed guitar. I think when I first started playing guitar it was 1980 or 1981, so you can imagine there were a lot fewer left-handed guitars even back then.
My dad bought me my first guitar that I owned by myself. My first guitar, a friend of mine, he and I went in on it together. So we bought a guitar for $30 bucks at a pawn shop, and then we would alternate nights. So $15 each (laughs), you know, so each of us would practice, and then we would get together and help each other learn, so it was kinda cool. And then eventually my dad said, "OK, well you're sticking with it." So he went to the same pawn shop and bought me my own guitar. It was a 1966 Fender Mustang for $35. And the neck was so warped that it literally looked like Robin Hood shot arrows from it (laughs). Which is good, I don't think everybody should start with a badass guitar. You should have to fight a little bit. You know, it's like if you help buy a brand new super badass M5 BMW for your 16-year-old, it's like, where do we go from here? Let's start with an old Corrolla and work up.

2. So let's go there. What was your first car? Was it a beater?

The Duke: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, it was a Honda Civic hatchback. My parents let me drive their cars when I was a kid, but when I first lived on my own, it was a 1982 Civic hatchback, and it was great, because I could fit a full stack in the back. I could go and gig. And people were like, "why would you have a Carolina blue hatchback?" and I was like, well it was $800, and secondly, you can pop the backseats down and fit all the gear you ever wanted. And I still am that guy. I have an older Nissan Frontier pickup, because I can fit crap in the back. In my heart, I'm still that same kid. When my friends say, "let's jam," I wanna be able to throw my crap into the back and just go.

3. Awesome. I'm glad I asked. So you said you started playing guitar around 1980. When did you know that Rock n' Roll was not just a hobby, but it was your life, like, "this is what I'm gonna do?"

It was pretty much my life, ever since I can remember, so even like late 70s, buying albums was it for me, like I couldn't wait. And back then the big thing was compilation records. K-Tel and a few other different manufacturers were putting out these amazing. . . so you'd get Boston, Kansas, Ted Nugent, ZZ Top, all on the same record, and you'd also get, like, 10cc, some kind of Yacht Rock-y kinda stuff, and you'd also get a little Elton John, you know, a B-side, so it was really my version of Spotify, where you were exposed to different styles of bands that maybe you didn't know. And then, I guess it would have been around the time that I got my first guitar, I started buying magazines, Creem, Hit Parader, Circus, and then I became aware of what was going on in the L.A. scene, what were the big British Metal bands that were coming over. . . Music has always been a part of it. I actually never considered music was going to be a career until Stuck Mojo. I formed Stuck Mojo with 3 other guys in 1989, and it probably wasn't until 1992 that I thought there was a possibility that this could be a career. Even in 1989 I was still working jobs and trying to get local shows. But goals were just different. It wasn't like "I wanna open up for the Red Hot Chili Peppers when they come to town," it was like "I wanna open up for the popular local original bands." And back then the scene was amazing. This was pre-internet, and everybody was standing outside the doors when a concert let out, and you'd and you'd have 4 or 5 competing bands handing out flyers, saying "Come out to the Metallica show," or, whatever, "Queensryche's in town" or "Def Leppard," and it really became a community where you started to learn from other bands. How were they drawing and earning a bigger audience? It really came down to networking, you just had to do it face-to-face, you couldn't just send friend requests (laughs). Stuck Mojo rehearsed every night, not because we wanted to make it, but because we wanted to be the best band in Atlanta. People would say, "you mean you never considered getting a record deal?" And we thought that was impossible. The idea of making an album when you're 20 years old? Maybe 20-years-olds now think in terms of "We're gonna make it," but back then, we just wanted to be the best little league team there was. We weren't even thinking about going pro, we just wanted to be the most badass dudes from Atlanta; we wanted to own this local club scene and kill. Then we had a chance to open for 311 in '92 or '93, and our audience started to explode, because we were starting to play in front of a couple thousand people at that show. We started to get this thing: "Maybe this could happen." All those years of shagging fly balls in the backyard, maybe I could be a professional baseball player. But there was never a time during any of that when music wasn't #1.

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Official website: Official page: https://www.fozzyrock.com/fozzy/