FOZZY/STUCK MOJO Guitarist Checks In From Europe

FOZZY/STUCK MOJO guitarist Rich Ward has posted the following message on his official web site:

"I'm sitting in an Internet cafe' in London and just wanted to drop everyone a note to say hello.

"We are all having an amazing time. Last night was the last FOZZY show and it was an amazing gig. I can't believe it — four shows in three days and all four shows were sell-outs. I was told that over a hundred people were turned away at both Nottingham and the London gigs. To those of you who didn't get in, we are coming back in late April for a few more FOZZY gigs and two weeks with THE DUKE band, so we'll make it up to you. I have to say that I'm having the time of my life. Eating pub food, watching 'proper' football on the widescreen and playing metal for some of the best music fans in the world.

"Our tour manager, 'Toad', hasn't slept in four days, so I gave him a few hours of rest last night and took over driving duties from Liverpool to London. Not only was it the first time driving a tour bus, but I was on the wrong side of the road and the wheel was on the wrong side of the car. I have to say it is pretty bizarre driving on the left side of the road, after spending my whole life on the other side. The good news is that I only almost killed us twice and that's when it started snowing in addition to wind gusts at arounds 30mph. This morning we picked Bonz [STUCK MOJO rapper] up at the airport while dropping Chris [Jericho, FOZZY frontman] off to head back to the States. It's cool to be back on tour again with the band and based on pre-sell ticket sales, this MOJO tour is going to be off the charts. The MOJO fans will have to come ready to get busy if these shows are to be as intense as the FOZZY shows. But with 10 years of MOJO tours under my belt, I know that MOJO fans are predictably some of the craziest on the planet so my expectations are high that these gigs will be as good.

"Before the London show, I hooked up with Darren, my U.K. label rep at Spitfire/Eagle records (my label for THE DUKE) and gave him a copy of mixes from THE DUKE record. I got a text message from him yesterday and it was cool to hear how excited he is about the record. Maybe excited is understating it. It's such a great feeling to work so hard on a record and have the label 'get it' and to share in my excitement. Thanks to all of you that have been such a big part of the buzz on THE DUKE record. I can't wait for you to hear it.

"As some of you have heard, I am getting married in May and all of you would most certainly approve. She is as sweet and fun to be around as they come and is the most drama-free person I know. She's my best friend and when she's on the [Rich Ward message] board, you should say hello. [Ward was previously married to ex-WCW 'diva' Daffney, whose real name is Shannon Spruill — Ed.]

"Well, I'm off for now. Going to have fun storming the castle for the next two weeks and doing my best to put MOJO back on the map. The MOJO tour ends in the U.K. and thanks to a good pal of mine over here (thanks Simon),I'm going to my first English football match ever. Going to see Man United play at home and I feel like a kid on the first day of school just thinking about the experience.

"Thanks everyone for being the biggest part of the success that I am having right now. Life has never been better and I could't have done it without you."