2015.08.15 - Soundreliance.com - Interview with Frank

The Current State of Guns and Roses - Q&A with Frank Ferrar at Whole Lotta Love bar in Melbourne August 14th, 2015

A photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy is probably the best way to describe the band (brand?) known as Guns and Roses in 2015. Apart from Adler's firing for wanting to work on being a junkie rather than Use Your Illusions, Izzy, Slash and Duff all left in the 90s citing an inability to work with sole remaining original member Axl . The band has been through so many incarnations since then it is actually up to fourth and fifth generation members, so far removed from the origins of the band they are nothing more than salaried session guys in Axls back pocket.

And this is where Frank Ferrar comes in, Guns and Roses fifth and longest serving drummer having been in the band since 2006 and replacing Brain who replaced Josh Freece who replaced Matt Sorum who replaced Steve Adler.  When I saw that he was doing a Q&A and a set with GNR wannabes (there was a Axl look-a-like who screeched his way through Welcome to the Jungle as well as some kid with balls out chops doing Sweet Child) at my local biker bar Whole Lotta Love, I was onto the case. A part of trainwreck formerly know and GNR was coming to my hood.

Frank Ferrar was in town to visit his girlfriend who he met at a mutual friends farewell drinks when he was here a couple of years ago touring with Guns. I fully expected him to be a rock star who wanted nothing to do with anyone, but when I met him he was exactly the opposite. He came across as a top bloke. Unperturbed I still wanted to grill him on the inside machinations of GNR.

Below are some edited parts of the Question and Answer session with Frank Ferrar, Guns and Roses current drummer at Whole Lotta Love on August 14, 2015 in East Brunswick, Melbourne.

The first questions during his Q&A involved what his first gig was (Kiss at Madison Square Gardens in the 70s), who his favourite band is (The Deftones) and what it was like being the second drummer in Tool (awesome), and how he got the gig in Guns (Brain was having a kid during a European tour so Tommy Stinson gave him a call to fill in and he stayed). But everyone wanted the dirt, so this is the current state of  Guns and Roses:

Q. Whose drum parts do you enjoy playing the most?

Ferrar: Adler and Sorum are iconic, I try to play somewhere between the punk rock of Adler and the professionalism of Sorum. Those guys really left their mark on Guns.

Q. Axl said last year that Guns and Roses have a sequel to Chinese Democracy and a remix of Chinese Democracy that were meant to come out this year.

Ferrar:  Axl hasn't told me that. There is something coming sooner than later, that is all I can say.

Q. Who will fill in lead guitarists DJ Ashba and Bumblefoots positions (they recently left the band):

Ferrar: That also will be announced sooner rather than later. (Someone shouts "Is it Buckethead?") laughs. I actually will be playing guitar. There will be GNR news very soon.

Q. What is your favourite Guns and Roses track to play live?
Ferrar: You Could be Mine. I like the more funky and grimy stuff like Brownstone, Rocket Queen and Jungle but You Could be Mine is the most fun to play.

Q. What's Axl like to work for?

Ferrar: He's great, he treated me like a band member from day one. He just wants to hear that 2/4 groove so he can move his ass. He's not a regular dude, super private, focused and wants everything to be really really good every night. He has tremendous trust in the band, we have insight into what he wants. I think I'm in the band because I have that sensitivity toward what Axl needs.

Q. How do you write new material with Guns?

A. People submit different things, usually by internet because everyone is spread out. Technology is such you don't have to be in the room.  Axl writes all the big piano ballads.

Q.  Izzy and Axl were rumoured to be writing again. Is any of this on the new album?

Ferrar: This is the gods honest truth I don't know anything about that.

Q. What's your take on the Axl Slash feud?

Ferrar: I don't know exactly what went down between those two but I haven't met Slash, he hasn't been around and he's not really welcome in the camp since I've been around.

Q. Why didn't Axl attend the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame?

Ferrar: Axl wanted the whole history of the band to be represented. He feels Guns and Roses is still alive and still has current members. That stuff is beyond me on a personal level, I'm just happy to play music for a living.

Q. Why did Chinese Democracy take so long to come out?

Ferrar: Axl is a perfectionist so it came out when it was ready to come out.

Your views on the current Guns and Roses?

Everybody's family changes along the way, people get divorced, bands are like families and things change. I love the original Guns and Roses but be happy that Axl is still creating music and still pushing forward and trying to reinvent himself and I just wish people would have more of an open mind on that. Everything is still kinda the same but different, just like everything in the world. The band is a living breathing organism.

Source: http://www.soundreliance.com/post/the-current-state-of-guns-and-roses-qa-with-gnr-drummer-frank-ferrar-7543457

Well, at least a little hope in there:

There is something coming sooner than later, that is all I can say.
... There will be GNR news very soon.

Uli wrote:Well, at least a little hope in there:

There is something coming sooner than later, that is all I can say.
... There will be GNR news very soon.

It fits with what Fernando's been saying.

Maybe Dj left because Slash is back in the band? :O No, I don't think that, but still...