2020.05.13 - Appetite For Distortion - Frank Ferrer talks PSSR, Mule Kick, and Guns N' Roses

Transcript of relevant parts:

Brando: I promise I would ask fans I would ask this how do you say your last name?

Frank: "Ferrer". If you are Latino, is "Fed-rer" If you're Anglo, it's "Ferrer".

Brando: All right. I don't want to butcher the Latino spice to it. So I'll just did the angle away Frank Ferrer. Frank, this is awesome. I feel this is a long time coming. I was telling you off the air that I wanted to come down and meet you because you're often in New York City and a stone's throw away from where I work at at I-Heart, one of our locations, and you're playing with your other band, Mulekick, at Marlene's Grocery. And normally I'm doing the Keith Sweat radio show behind the scenes, which is much different than what we're doing now, Sweat Hotel, but that's a company plug, so they'll appreciate it. So I can never make it down. So I appreciate that I get to see you though via Zoom. This is better than a phone call.

Frank: Nice to meet you. Hopefully you'll come down to one of those soon. Hopefully they'll be happening soon. Hopefully everything's happening soon, but yeah. You could come down.

Brando: And we will, and just a special hello to our mutual. He's more of your friend. I met him a couple of times. He's really nice, Tommy Longdon. Yeah. Who people make us see and like, who is that guy that looks like Johnny Bravo? Well, that's, that's-

Frank: [laughs] Johnny Bravo is great.

Brando: "That's Tommy."

Frank: I call him Tomas Londres.

Brando: First thing I got to ask is I know you're a local New York guy, but you're not in New York. So where are you located? Are you safe? Are you okay? Um, how are you?

Frank: I'm out in the desert in California. I moved out to California in 2018. Lived in LA for about a year or so. Then I bought a home out in the desert near Palm Springs, Coachella. Yeah, super safe here, it's quiet, you know, there's not a lot of people out here, you know. So it's great. Yeah, no, it's cool. I mean, my whole family's back East, obviously, because my kids live in New Jersey and stuff like that. So, you know, usually I go back home once a month or back to the East Coast to hang out with them or I fly them out here like I did for Christmas. But with the flying and the planes and everything's kind of weird right now. So I've been just... You know, staying at home, you know, quarantining, you know. So hopefully I get to see them soon. But yes, thank you very much. I am safe here in the desert.

Brando: That's like the first thing I heard, and I think I said this to you, Kristen and Mark, it's the new hello is how are you? Are you okay? And the new goodbye is stay safe. It's just a different world.

Mark Alexander-Erber: You know, it could be worse, more like my mother, typical Jewish mother when she calls you, the first thing she says to you is everything all right. It's actually annoying. Yes, everything's all right. It's like it's a negative. Is everything all right? Yes, it's fine.

Brando: I had to, that's why I have to explain to so many people why I am the way I am, because that's how it is. Like, are you okay? Because I don't know, I care about you. Even though I just met you, I want to make sure that you're all safe and sound. Because why the move though? I mean, is that more convenient for you? Because I don't know, as a New Yorker, I don't know if I can handle the pace of LA. I've never been out there.

Frank: I've been dying to move to the West Coast for a really long time. I worked out here in 2000 and I actually lived out here for the whole year that project was on and I just fell in love with it and at the time the circumstances weren't, it wasn't the right climate for my whole family to move out. So I went back home, but since 2000-2001 I've been dying to move out to the West Coast. I just love the culture, I love the heat. Believe it or not, I'm a New Yorker, man. I cannot stand the cold anymore. And I was cool until I bought a house. I used to live in apartments. I grew up in apartments my whole life. So somebody else was shoveling the snow, you know. And the apartments in New York City are really warm. They're always super warm. But once we got a house, we bought a house in New Jersey. Man, I couldn't stand it. I couldn't stand it.

Kristen Tully: Get the snow blower out.

Frank: Oh, what?

KT: Get the snow blower out.

Frank: God, I mean, if there was snow where you needed to use a snow blower, I would not leave and leave. I wouldn't leave the house. Stay home. That's going to school today. I'm not doing nothing. I mean, I couldn't. But so, yeah, so and obviously Guns N' Roses has given me the opportunity to move out here, you know. So, yes, I am closer to the band here. And, you know, closer to my bandmates, you know. So, yeah, so it was just the right opportunity to make the move. So I jumped on.

Brando: Right on, and I'm with you on the winter. I know global warming, whether you believe it or not, whatever's going on, it's terrible, but you know what, right now, I can deal with not the snow. I'm okay with whatever happens to my great, great grandkids. I don't really, maybe that sounds wrong, what happens to them, but I'm cold now, and it's been, it snowed for like five minutes out in here in Queens the other day. Like, I don't know what's going on, but.

Frank: Yeah, and all my buddies back east are telling me it's still cold there.

Brando: Yeah, it's gonna then it's gonna be 80 this weekend. So I don't I don't know what mother nature... What drug she's taken, but she needs to stop. I wonder... Let's talk about the normal times though. Where in New York did you grow up? Because I said to myself, and we'll preface it with what we were talking about before had this three bald guys on the call, you know, my hair was I wanted to be like Kristen, you know, maybe that was kind of my girlfriend said I made her watch for the first time the Ritz show, 1988 show for GNR, she's like she didn't realize... she didn't like how effeminate Axl was or whatever that aura. I'm like that's what I looked until I how I went bald. She's like I like you bald I like the beard anyway but I saw how good Frank looked bald and with the beard so I got the courage to shave it all off. Anyway where did you-

MA-E: [?] Are we choosing this? Like Frank, if you didn't shave. Yeah, you'd have hair.

Brando: It looks so good on him though.

Frank: I mean, it wouldn't be big, it wouldn't be thick, but I mean, it'd be like, you know, it's kind of thinning on top, so I'd just shave it.

Brando: It looks so good.

MA-E: You know the thing about Frank is though, I've been to dinner with Frank a few times in LA. We always have our favorite spots we go to. That one we went to last time, that formosa, that was awesome.

Frank: Yeah, that place is great.

MA-E: That was awesome. And he's a particularly good looking fellow, and I can say that as a straight male. He's a particularly good looking guy. And whether people know, I think the good thing about, I think if you're gonna be in the biggest band in the world, this is my take on it. I think if you're gonna be in the biggest band in the world, being the drummer in the biggest band in the world, I reckon is the best spot. I'll tell you why. Because you're in the biggest band in the world. But you've also, people who know the band know who you are, absolutely, and you can't miss him. But you also have a level of anonymity as well. So you can actually lead a, I suppose you could tell me if I'm wrong, a somewhat to a certain extent normal life, just in the everyday life, that your neighbours know who you are, and GN'R people know who you are. But I reckon he's in the best position out of anybody because he can have this incredible life on one point, but on the other side, you can completely switch off from it and be left alone. And I think that that is perfect. Am I right or wrong?

Frank: You hit the nail on the head. I mean, I love being able to be a regular guy. That's very important to me, you know? And also, you could add that the focus is on really like the three main guys, really. So, you know, I mean, that takes a lot of pressure off of me, you know, off of me, not so much playing-wise, but more like being on public and stuff like that.

MA-E: I reckon playing wise it would put more pressure on you.

Frank: Well, I mean, playing wise it's the heaviest gig I've ever had. But you're absolutely right, it allows me to be like a regular guy.

MA-E: And you know what, Brandon, and I'm not here to blow smoke to Frank because I've known him for a while and everything's cool and we do that to each other. He is the nicest guy. I mean you talk about, you know, we went to dinner, the last time we were in dinner, Jagger, my son was with us. Who is an up and coming great drummer and to sit there with the, and I said this to Frank, I said, if your aim is to be in a rock band, he's got the best rock and roll drumming gig in the world, hands down, hands down. And to sit there with my son, who's a great drummer and not at this level, because there's 17 years and Jack is 17 and Frank's 39. And...

Frank: This is the best Zoom chat I've ever had. I was getting better and better and better.

MA-E: But to sit there with him and listen to him and Jagger talking about punk music and rock and roll and-.

Frank: He's very knowledgeable you son.

MA-E: But you're such a nice guy. We talked about this before Brandon, on some of the podcasts, just to deal with this level of musician and level of nice guy. And it proves to me, it proves to me why guys like Frank get these gigs, not only are they sensational plays, that goes without saying, but they're good people. He's just a good person. And it just resonates. And I love that. And I feel honored to be in the position to be able to work with someone like that. Compliments are done.

Brando: And that ties into really Mark, where I was going with that was, I wanna know where you grew up. Because it's so relatable because you are just the regular guy. I'm like, that is a guy from my neighborhood who got the Guns. He's in my favorite band. Like I can't even imagine what he's going through because I'm assuming, correct me if I'm wrong, you're a fan in art. Like what is he going through? And he's, it's like when you watch one of those sing competitions or whatever, you root for your hometown. It's like, I got a hometown guy in Guns N' Roses, you know, and I think I said this off the air also, when you were doing, I went to, obviously a few New York shows, I'm doing the LJ thing along with you. I was like, yes, yes.

Frank: Yeah, no, and Madison Square Garden is a special place, for sure, 100%. I mean, first off, it's the most famous arena in the whole wide world. And, you know, my dad took me to go see Kiss there in 1977, and that's when I fell in love with rock music for sure I was like, I'm doing that. I didn't know what they were doing, I didn't know how they were doing it, but whatever they were doing, I was gonna do. And I was 11 when that happened. So yeah, no, so I grew up in Chelsea, like we're in Madison Square Garden, it's like we're up like 20 blocks away from Madison Square Garden. I grew up on 16th Street, 9th Avenue, in the Fulton Projects. And I lived there. I grew up, I grew up, I moved when I was like a teenager, I moved out of there and then lived in the Lower East Side, Midtown, Hell's Kitchen, you know, you know, as a New Yorker you have to find, you try to stay in one rank bracket, right? And it only lasts like one or two years and then you gotta move somewhere else, right?

Brando: Sure, sure, yeah, absolutely. Were you moving around when you were, were you young? Like, how long did you live in New York? And is that where you created your scene and your... What kind of student were you? Like if I can ask, were you?

Frank: Yeah, no, I mean, I mean, in Chelsea, you're walking distance from the, you're around the corner from the Limelight, that was on 20th Street, Snafu's, you had, I mean, I was a little too young for Max's Kansas City, but I was right on 6 17th Street. I had the Palladium on 14th Street where I saw Eric Carr's first show. CBGBs was walking distance. I mean, you know, I mean, everything was literally, if you want, anyone you wanna see the Cat Club, I saw Jane's Addiction at the Cat Club, maybe 150 people was in that place, you know? I mean, and you know, everywhere from an arena to a club was almost within walking distance from my mom's apartment.

Brando: Who was influencing you to go to those clubs and see the bands that you were seeing? Was it friends? Was it family?

Frank: Well, you know, I was, I didn't, how do I say this? So I grew up with a lot of Latino kids, you know, a lot of black and Latino kids. So most of them weren't really into rock. So I did a lot of exploring by myself. But once I found a group of people, you know, I will meet up with them somewhere. But, you know, back when I was a kid, you know, you got your information from the Village Voice, Bleaker Bob's-

Brando: How old are you? I want you to guess once, can you guess, I was curious.

Frank: I would say, seriously, I would say you like 30?

Brando: 36, I'll be 37 in September.

Frank: So alright-

Brando: I know the Village Voice which just ended recently, right?

KT: Village Voice still exists online.

Brando: Okay, yeah, the print version.

Frank: The print version you would get, it was like the LA Weekly. [...] So you found out a lot about that, about band [?] there. You know, Bleaker Bob's is a great place. Because Bleaker Bob's would have like Kerrang! magazine and all that stuff. So you would look at Kerrang! magazine and they would get all the imports. And yeah, man, you know, CBs was a hot spot, man. You go to CBs, you just go. Maybe somebody cool's playing, maybe not, but you know, you just go to CBs. Limelight, you know, great, I saw Ace Frehly at Limelight and Kiss came down and did a bunch of songs with him. Just, you know, I mean, it's great. New York was perfect. You know, my parents are from Cuba and their intention was to build a house in Cuba. My father moved to New York. He was gonna make some money, send it back home. They were gonna build a house and live in a house in Cuba. And Castro happened. So they stayed in New York. I mean, it's the greatest thing that happened to me. It's been my parents' decide to stay in New York, you know.

Brando: I mean, it just goes to show you those small decisions. Or that's not a small decision at that time, but that's obviously a life-changing one. So how did you find the drums? Why were you drawn to that? I mean, you were talking about Ace Frehley just now. But why? You know, it's not guitar, you know?

Frank: Yeah, no, no, I mean, of course I tried guitar. I mean, [?]. Well, my father was a Latin percussionist. So rhythms were very, very easy for me. It was something I grew up listening to and hearing since I was born. So the drums are very natural. I had a great sense of rhythm when I sat behind a drum set, you know? So, you know, you know, pocket is the most important thing a drummer, you know, needs to be successful, you know, finding the groove and thank God that's like my biggest strength is being able to sit in a groove. So it was easy, it was literally easy. Then, you know, then you had to figure out how to, because you would hear records and like how the hell are you doing that? Then you would go see bands, you could go see somebody play the instrument. They're like, ah, there wasn't YouTube, you actually saw the guy. What I ended up doing was like carrying equipment for drummers too, to get into gigs for free to watch them play.

Brando: Wow, okay. So that's awesome that you were surrounded by it. Do you remember your first real band? Do you remember when you-

Frank: My first real band... I was in high school. I can't remember the name of the band. They were a cover band. And the bass player walked by my building one day, heard me playing the drums. I was in high school, so I might've been 15, 16. And he actually knocked on my door and he was like, hey, I live a block or so away, can I bring my bass over and we can jam? And I was like, sure, I never played with a bass player, I never played with another musician. I was like, you bet. So we started jamming together and he was playing in this cover band and I played a couple of gigs with them. One in Harlem and it was all like dance music now because the cover bands were hired for dances. So it's pretty much... But that was my first, I was in high school still. That was my first paid gig. That was the first time I was like, wow, I can make, cause I would have done it for free, yo. I would have done that shit for free. Well, it was the first time I made a little bit of money and I was like, wow. And then I had to convince my parents that I didn't wanna go to school, which was like really difficult.

Brando: Was that the decision then, like this is what I wanna do with my life, because I'm assuming they had different lives. I knew what I wanted to do. Like I said, I was 11 years old when I found out what I wanted to do. I just didn't know how to pursue it. And living in a... my father was very strict, so living in that household, I couldn't live that kind of lifestyle there obviously. It was get an education, have a job, you know. And I couldn't go to school, have a job, and play drums at the same time. It was really difficult. So I just kept my job and I kept the drums and I moved out. I tried school. I did a couple of years. I went to NYU for a year. Two semesters and then I went to Hunter College for a couple of semesters. And you know, I just wanted to play music. I mean I know education is very important. My older sister is a lawyer. My younger sister finished college. She was an executive at J Records for a while. So they're well educated, my sisters, but I just want to get out there and play.

Brando: Well, I mean, you're well spoken. You sound educated. I mean, what's with the formal education now anyway?

Frank: I'm dying of [?] though. I'm dying of [?].

Brando: You can if you want, you know? It's not my way, you know? [laughs] I love it. So how long has been, because like I said, I've wanted to meet you and come down before. I was actually shy about it. I go to Tommy, I was like, I just messaged him on Facebook, like, can you introduce me to Frank?

Frank: Tommy is sweet, man, Tommy's sweet.

Brando: I'm jealous, because he's friends with my crush, Lady Gaga. I'm like, you know her? [?] That was a little weird though. Kristen's laughing, that's okay. How long has Mulekick been going on though? Because that seems to be a long running project.

Frank: Mulekick started in '15, I think. So, Mulekick came about because one of my best friends in the world had this restaurant in Red Sty[?] called Bista Bourbon, like that Australian band, right? Isn't that an Australian band called Bista Bourbon? And that was the name of the place and he was gonna put a blues, hey, I'm putting a blues band on Tuesday nights. I was like, oh, Jesus Christ, blues band. I mean, everybody, we like the blues, but come on, man. I'm like, you should put a fucking rock band up there that's doing a classic 70s. And he was like, put one together. I was like, I was like, OK, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to ask two musicians that I don't get to play with a lot, two musicians that I love to play with, which is Rob Carlisle and Brett Bass on bass, who Brett Bass is also in Pssr, so we could segue there in a second. I mean, basically, Mulekick is basically Pssr, basically. So because the Rob Cloris, the keyboard player, played on the record. And all the keyboard is on that is Rob Cloris. I asked Rob Cloris, who's played with Black Rose and A Lot of Heavys[?], if he was available to do this weekly thing, and I asked Brad Bass. And I was like, either of those guys say, no, I'm not going to play. I'm not going to do it. And both guys said yes. Now Rob Bailey, who's also the guitar player in Pssr, I knew he'd do it. I knew he'd do it. I didn't bother to ask him. I was just like, yo, we got a rehearsal on Thursday for this. All right. I didn't know if Rob Cloris or Brett Bass would be available. And thank God they were into it and they did it. And I mean, the main reason I did it was because it was a quiet time. The whole Slash stuff coming back into the band, that whole quiet time after the pretty much the Chinese Democracy version of Guns pretty much ended. And when they were getting that together, that took a long time to get together. So we were quiet as a band. And I wanted to play and I tried playing around locally with some bands but I was like, you know, I want to just keep my level of musicianship really as high as I possibly can. And those guys I played with in Mule Kick who I ended up, who was basically Pssr, had that, you know, those guys are heavy, heavy players. And growing up in New York City, man, you had to be really good. You couldn't be okay. I mean, there was bands that kind of sucked. But it wasn't because those guys couldn't play, it was because they didn't have the music and stuff like that, you know, the songs. But you cannot, you couldn't get up on the stage when I was growing up and not be a good player. That's very different today. Today you don't have to be a good player to get up on stage. When I was growing up, you have to be, you had to be.

MA-E: It's interesting what you say. So, if you're off the, so let's talk about now, you're off the road for a little bit. And you're out, obviously you've got drums out there, you've got something out there. Do you find that, is it like a tennis player or a football player, you've got to keep that level of intensity?

Frank: I play drums every day. Every single day.

MA-E: And when you play, are you doing rudiments or are you playing Guns N' Roses songs?

Frank: Right now I'm working on some double bass stuff just so I can get another part of my brain open. I'm not necessarily that I want to play it with the band or with anyone, but it's just something challenging, something that I've never, haven't really done in the past. I did it when I was really, really young, when everybody was doing it, you know? And then I stuck with single kick. But so no, yeah, no, I'm working on double bass stuff. I'll play along to a lot of Guns N' Roses stuff, especially the Chinese Democracy stuff, because, you know, Brain Mantia who played on the record. I mean the drumming on that record is just so good, you know, so I'll play a lot of that stuff too. And it's funny cuz brain is out here also, he's out here in the desert.

Brando: He's been on the show a couple times. He's awesome.

Frank: Brain has been on the show a couple times?

Brando: Yep, he's so great.

Frank: As soon as we're done, I'm gonna walk over and go see him.

Brando: Oh, tell him I say hello. [?] he has to follow up because I wanted to have him on a third time cuz he's one of the most highly rated guests that I've had on these-

Frank: Dude, maybe we should do one together? We should do a Drummer's Forum one.

MA-E: Oh my God, you're gonna make him a heart attack. He's gonna get a heart attack.

Frank: We should get Brain, and we should get a couple of other drummers and do just like a Drummer Forum vibe, you know?

Brando: What do I have to do? Like signing a contract to be your best friend? Like, what do I gotta do? Yes, no, that sounds great, Frank. We will. Just to show you, I'm professional, we will table that, we'll come back to that. But we wanna focus on Pssr. See, I wanna make sure I do you right this time, right?

Frank: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, we're getting to Pssr because we're talking about the guys at Mule Kick pretty much ended up being in Pssr.

Brando: And then you're practicing because Mark is asking some great questions. And it's like, how do you, because it's funny when people ask me, do I listen to podcasts? Because I'm part of one now. I listen to, I don't, I listen to music and I listen to sports radio. So obviously there's not a lot of sports going on right now. So it's talking about all these athletes, how do they stay in shape and how are they gonna get in shape and baseball is gonna be 80 games. If basketball is gonna have a three week playoff, how do you do that? So I often make sports comparisons to music. I've said Guns N' Roses are like the Yankees. I root for the uniform. I'm a fan of different rosters. You know, that's who I root for. You know, you may have your favorite players, whatever, but I root for the emblem, as I wear my Guns N' Moses t shirt from Israel.

MA-E: Is it Guns N' Moses or Guns N' Noses?

Frank: Moses.

MA-E: Oh, Moses.

Brando: You can say that, you can say that.

MA-E: I like that. I'm allowed to say it, I'm allowed to say it. .

Brando: We'll call you Mark Alexander Erberwitz to make it really sound like...

MA-E: Ergerberg.

Brando: Sorry. This is going off. It's going crazy. So, that's how you're keeping up to date with everything. So, do you practice for X amount of hours a day? Because you say you do it every day.

Frank: I try not to practice more than two hours. I only have so much drumming left in this very young 39-year-old body. I don't want to burn out. But I play every single day though.

MA-E: Brandon, if you knew how old Frank was, you'd just fall over. He looks so good. Like, seriously.

Brando: I think I may have tweeted, as I have obviously a GN'R thing, may have tweeted happy. Was it your birthday recently? Wasn't it?

Frank: March 25th.

Brando: Isn't it like 50? 54, what?

Frank: 54, yeah.

MA-E: He looks amazing. And you know what? My first thing you're saying, don't say it.  

KT: How old are you? I would have guessed maybe 42.

Brando: I would have guessed that, but like I said, I only...

KT: And Billy Idol, who, not that they're old, but like, you know, they're the same age as you and you look a lot younger.

MA-E: And you know that that's the end of your relationship with Billy Idol now, because this is still recorded.

KT: I love them! It's nothing against them. They know-

MA-E: They look good.

KT: You look like you're younger than me almost.

MA-E: Billy is not 54.

KT: No, no, but you know, all the other guys in the band are in their 50s.

MA-E: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brando: You know what, let me ask since-

KT: You look super young.

MA-E: Yeah, but you know what, Brandon, you missed what Frank was saying, I'm telling you. Frank mentioned the night, did you mention the nightclub in New York, the Twilight?

Frank: The Limelight.

MA-E: Limelight, limelight. I was just watching a Miami Vice episode. I love Miami-

Brando: As one does.

MA-E: As one does in lockdown. And they started the series 2 in 1985 or '86. And they were in New York. They did that big two hour special in New York. It was called the Chronicle Sun[?], right? I mean, I love Miami Vice. Anyway, Tubbs was in there talking to Crockett and said, hey, let's groove on up to the Limelight. And this was in mid 80s. So he sort of gave away his age there a little bit too.

Brando: Well, I mean, you can see it every, it's not Wikipedia, Wikipedia, everything.

KT: Until like 2004 or something, didn't it? It was open.

MA-E: The Limelight?

Frank: Well that's right, no right. It lasted until the 2000s. No, no, right, that's right, that's right. It did. It did. They made that movie, right? It's that movie about it.

Brando: What's the movie? I wonder if I saw the movie.

MA-E: Yeah, what movie? You're cutting out, Kristen, too, by the way. I know.

Brando: Your webcam is too long.

KT: You guys are all skipping.

MA-E: No, no, you're frozen. You're gonna hate this because you're all frozen on a funny face.

[laughs]

MA-E: Oh, that's even worse. Just turn your camera.

Brando: Oh, that's not a good one.

MA-E: That's not a good one, Kristen. We've got to make sure we go live with this.

Brando: Maybe she needs to sign out, sign back in. Or put a smiley face over. That's too bad.

MA-E: Kristen, kill your camera straight away!

Brando: I'll make it. I'll make it better.

MA-E: Looks like she had a stroke. Anyway. They were doing that piece up.

Brando: Yes, and then you're practicing, but then that relates to, as we were talking about, Frank, looking young and practicing and everything. And you said you practice no more than two hours a day. What Guns N' Roses shows are three hours, three and a half hours. So how hard is it for you? Here we go, Kristen's back. So how hard is it for you to go from the two hours or can you do the three? Is it that extra gear for a show?

Frank: Well, yeah, that's one of the reasons why I only practice, I try not to practice more than two hours, because we play such long shows. When we rehearse the band, the band rehearsals could be five hours. If we're working on stuff, if they introduce a new song into the set, I mean, we could be at a rehearsal for five, six hours. I mean, that's a lot of drumming. So I try not to burn myself out, but that's the main reason why I...

Brando: Okay, the rehearsals are that much more, that's what you're like...

Frank: No, no, rehearsals will be... The shortest rehearsal will be four hours, and a long rehearsal will be six hours. I mean, I'm playing, it's not like just hanging out, I mean, we're playing. We're working on stuff. Like I said, they introduce a couple of songs to the set, hey, let's try this song, or we haven't played this in a while. You know, before you, I mean, how does that part go? I mean, that happens at rehearsals. And so rehearsals tend to be really long.

MA-E: What's the body of songs? How many songs, if you go out on a typical arena tour, how many songs would they be that you could pick from for a different set?

Frank: I mean, 40 probably.

MA-E: Wow, it's unbelievable.

Frank: Probably 40. I mean, I have to sit down and count, but I would imagine 40. We play like 27 of them. We play almost all of them, you know.

KT: Do you have a say in the setlist or it's kind of like, here's the setlist?

Frank: Me personally? I mean, I don't know about having a say, but I can make suggestions. Hey, we haven't played this in a while, stuff like that. But I mean, it really comes down to what the band is really comfortable doing on a certain night. We'll have a certain set of songs that we'll do every night, but then there'll be, you know, audibles[?]. Hey, let's do this one tonight, or we're ready, let's ready to do that one tonight. And if you're a fan, you know, you could go through and see when we've played this song at this show, played that song at that show. Usually those are audibles[?].

Brando: Do you have a favorite right now? Or does it change?

Frank: Right. Well, I love You Could Be Mine. I think it's the funnest rock and roll drum song I've ever played. I love the drum parts, the Sorum drum parts are dope. So that's, oh, I always get really up to play that. It's punk rocky, it's, you know, it's kind of has a AC/DC feel, but at the same time it has kind of like this punk rocky, tribal thing at the beginning of it. So it's like, I get to play all my favorite genres in one song. But I like Locomotive, you know, we've done Locomotive once or twice already. That's a great song to play. You know, Coma's a fun song to play, it's a long song to play. I gotta save my energy for that one. When we play that live, that's a really, it's a, you know, that one takes a lot out of me to play. It's a great tune, you know. But I would say my favorite is definitely You Could Be Mine.

Brando: If I can ask, and I said this to you off the air, you can always plead the fifth. You know, there's always like rumored set lists and everything that are out there. You never know if they're real or not or Photoshopped. We've seen some alternate songs. It did happen with Slither. We saw it on a leaked set list, and then it came in the set, so Slither happened.

Frank: Well, I mean, that's the point I was trying to make before was that there's a body, right, that's like 40 tunes, and any of those 40 tunes could be played at a show. Not all 40, but any of those 40 tunes could be played at a show.

Brando: Can I ask, what is the rumored Hard School? Is that something that the band has practiced?

Frank: Well, I think I'll just wait till the band makes any kind of formal announcements when it comes to songs like that. Any rumors, I'll just let the band make a formal announcement before I comment on it.

Brando: Yeah, no, that's fine by me. That makes a good, nice, awkward transition back to...

Frank: It's not awkward. I mean, it's not awkward.

Brando: No, I know. I'm making it awkward.

Frank: I'm just saying that I'll let management and the band worry about anything about rumors.

Brando: No, sure, sure, sure, absolutely. And I'm just making it awkward. If you listen to the show, when you come on again with Brain, this is again my Jewishness. I make it worse than any...

Frank: Trust me Brandon, it's not awkward.

MA-E: Making it awkward, Brandon.

Brando: I can't! So how did your relationship, your relationship, we'll talk more about GN'R, we will, with Mark happen? How did that, when did your bromance kick off?

Frank: Mark, when did we meet first? I know we met before, one time a while ago with...

MA-E: I'll tell you how it's, well, very, very early on.

Frank: I know we met a couple of times before.

MA-E: We met when Rose Tattoo was on the label, when Rose Tattoo supported GN'R on the Australian tour. And I was at the Brisbane or Sydney show, no, Brisbane, I think it was. And the first time I met you, you were coming down the game playing and at the back of the stage, Rose Tattoo were doing their sound check. And I've got a photo of it actually because we took a photo with Jagger. And that was great. And then that was the first time we met. And then Richard Fortus introduced me on email to Dizzy, like within that six months saying, look, he's got this unbelievable, what's it called? Rock Ain't Roll Easy, it's on my wall there, rock album that he's been holding on like a baby for five years, not like a baby, but the album like a baby, like it's his newborn kid. And we released it for him worldwide. And so I started that relationship with him. And then with you, I think I was introduced to you, I think, by somebody, another contact of ours, a mutual friend in Australia, I think you just ended up joining us and-

Frank: Oh, right, right. That's how we got, that's right. I was trying to figure out how we got connected. But right, right. I mean, Rick, I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

MA-E: So we got introduced and then it all went from there. And then every time I'm in LA, we do a dinner or we've been out a few times in LA. We love Jones's up there on Santa Monica, best steak in LA or one of the best steaks in LA. God, I can't wait to get back to LA. Jeez, I miss it.

Frank: Yeah, you're supposed to be out here by now, right?

MA-E: 100%. I should have been there ages ago. And I just feel it's like what you said at the beginning, you know how you, I reckon you either love LA, California, or you don't. And I absolutely love it. I think it's got the best elements of Sydney with the weather and everything else, but it's just got so much more than we have to offer here. But yeah, so we go out for dinner whenever we see each other. And then in fact, we're working on now, we'll talk about it, we're working on a third single for Pssr at the moment to come out and a few other interesting things that we're doing and pushing it out worldwide. So it's fabulous that Frank's got the time because one of the best things about Frank being on this is that Brandon can stop emailing me every week, begging me to get Frank on it.

Brando: Almost every other, maybe.

MA-E: Yeah, maybe every other, maybe.

Frank: Brandon, just real quick, just to give you, just to backtrack us a little bit. One of the main reasons why, and cause John, I mean, I'm sorry, Mark just touched on it. One of the reasons was because you get the energy, the same energy from New York or Sydney, you get that energy, but you get the sun and the beach. It's the same energy, but the complete opposite of New York, you know? So that's why one of the reasons why, what was that?

KT: It's slowed down, like you can relax. I walk so fast because I'm a New Yorker and people are always like, where are you going? And I'm like, why walk? How do you realize how much we move and how our pace is? So go, go, go. And you come here and you're like, oh, what the hell was I doing?

Brando: I got that, you know, quick because it's boring about myself. But when I got my first radio job in Cape Cod, which is much different than New York, I was like that. People would smile at me walking past me on the street. What the fuck is your problem? They're just being nice and smiling at me. And so I got that and I actually did try to move out west or down south where snow does not exist. But radio is a funny business and I got a good job now. So I'm stuck in New York.

Frank: I do that all the time too. I'll go back to New York and I'll be like, hey, how you doing? Hey. And I'm like, oh, shit, I'm in New York.

Brando: So is Pssr a New York band? It's a New York band.

Frank: I will say that it's a New York band.

MA-E: Definitely, definitely. And it's just got a New York vibe.

Frank: Yeah, yeah. Low East side. I mean, you know, one of the reasons I left New York was because of the grime, Pssr's grime, bro. Grime, grime. Grime, you know.

Brando: Well, with a name like that, because I didn't know what it was, because it's spelt P-S-S-R, I thought it was a branch of communism. I didn't know what it was Pssr. Sorry, I've been holding that joke. I was like, I'm gonna tell that to Frank and all. Hopefully he laughs.

Frank: Back in the PSSR, that'd be a good song.

Brando: Do it, do it, do it, do it. So did that band, was that band in the works by the time you met up with Golden Robot?

MA-E: That's why we met.

Frank: Yeah, that band, Richard Fortus and I were in a band that was signed to Sony in the 90s called Honky Toast. Best time ever. We did one record and it got dropped just like everybody else, every other band in the whole wide world. And out of the ashes of Honky Toast, Pssr arose. Eric, the singer of Honky Toast, is the singer in Pissr, Eric Jacobson.

Brando: Okay. He's got a unique sound. It's a, I was trying, cause it really doesn't fit anything. So I want people to go in and to listen to it with an open mind, but it's like a Bon Scott meets Jet. Like it's just like an old school, just rock, but with great choruses.  voice.

Frank: I'm a Bon Scott fanatic so when I heard his voice, I was like, I'm playing with that dude. I'm a Bon Scott fanatic. I'm half Australian, you know that, right?

Brando: Say that again? Oh, you're half Australian?

MA-E: But what half?

Frank: Hello! It's a family radio show. I'm being... No, seriously, I would say Bon Scott meets Iggy Pop. That's what Eric sounds like to me.

Brando: Yeah, okay. I can hear that, absolutely. That's a great description. So you're talking about more singles, but the first one, because Richard Fortus is on it. So is he just on the lead single, or is he on the record, or was that just kind of like a... How did it come together, I guess? Like what can we expect?

Frank: I would consider Fortus as part of the family. He's not in Pssr, but he's kind of in Pssr. Like he's played Pssr gigs and he's come up and played with us at Pssr gigs. So he's kind of like an extended arm, kind of like how Rob Corus is also keyboards. It's kind of like another extension of Pssr. Like he's not officially in the band, but he can come and play with us whenever he wants. I'll put it that way. Just like that.

MA-E: He's on Busted, the first single Busted, he was on, which he can get on online now. Killer song, great song. Great song.

Brando: Oh, I'm assuming that there were plans that, like how is it gonna work out for you with Pssr, and if Guns N' Roses and this whole thing, the world didn't end, what were the plans for Pssr this summer? And were you able to-

Frank: Well, the plans were to get together when Guns was down, you know, obviously. So, you know, when we would take a break, I'd go to New York and we'd go do some Pssr stuff, you know, that was the plan, you know, and then, you know, whenever we take an extended break then, you know, do Pssr, you know, as much as we can. But yeah, the plan was to do both, you know, that was the plan.

MA-E: The one good thing, well, not that anything's been good about the lockdown, but the good thing about the lockdown, if you want to find something good is that Frank can do this because normally he's on the road. And so to get him for an hour is not always that easy. So we're sort of, we're re-looking at a whole lot of things with Pssr at the moment and we're looking to reignite a couple of things because Frank and the boys are available which is really exciting because it needs to, it needs to get out there this band. It's a great, forget the connections, forget all that, forget the place. The music is fantastic and it's going to resonate with a lot of people.

Brando: Well, you know, I hope you get back with the guys in Pssr and I get to hear more because I know a lot of things are unfortunately on hold, but I'd be remiss if I didn't, you know, bring up Richard Fortus again. Is he, forgive me if you've spoken about it in other interviews, but is he the one that suggested you, or did Brain suggest you? If you can kind of just tell us about your, you know, how you came into Guns N' Roses and that story if you could.

Frank: Well, obviously, well, not obviously. So I've been playing with Richard Fortus on and off in bands since 1992, I believe. We were in Love Spit Love together, Honky Toast, Psychedelic Furs, you know, Pssr, he played with Pssr, bunch of local bands, other artists, you know, Tommy Stinson, and that's how Tommy comes to the picture. So Richard played on Tommy's solo record, and then whenever Tommy would come in to do gigs in New York, he'd get local musicians, you know, Tommy Stinson does that in different towns, show up somewhere and have local musicians play. So whenever Tommy would come into the New York area, Richard would get me and another bass player who has actually played in Pssr too, Winston Roy. And we'd come and be in Tommy's band in New York. So I was playing with Tommy and Richard while they were still working on the Chinese Democracy stuff. And then when Brain found out that his wife was gonna give birth during the tour, the summer tour of 2006. And those guys were like, hey, that's cool. We just get Frank to come in and play a couple of weeks. It was literally like that. You know, like, I didn't know this. They told me this afterwards, but pretty much I had the gig. It was my gig to fuck up. So those guys are like, yeah, now we know the right guy. I think the main thing was like, he smiles a lot. That was the main thing. He's an all right drummer, but he smiles a lot.

Brando: Was there like an audition process or you started live gigs or?

Frank: Not so much a process but yeah, I had to come and play with the band. Yeah, you bet. That was right in New York. They were in New York rehearsing on 25th Street so I went and played and it was great. Brain was gracious and and you know the guys were wonderful. Tommy was great, Robin was great, Chris Pitman. You know, everybody was really warm and welcoming. That was great.

Brando: What about when those two weeks were up? Because I'm assuming you were like, oh, I'm gonna have this awesome experience for a couple of weeks.

Frank: Well, I looked at it as it was just that, just those two weeks. I didn't really think too much beyond the two weeks. All I wanted to do was ensure that there was a nice continuity when Brain got off and then I got on, right? So there was to be seamless, especially for Axl, you know? Because now he's been playing with Brain for years. So, you know, he... I wanted to make sure that I was going to sneak in and sneak out five[?], you know, and just keep the seat warm for Brain. I found out like a couple of weeks later that Brain wasn't going to come. He wanted to stay with the kid. So once I found out that I was going to finish the tour, then I definitely settled in. But for those two weeks, I was just trying to play as much as like Brain as possible.

MA-E: Can I ask you a question? Sorry, Brandon.

Brando: Please, no, go ahead.

MA-E: And look, I don't know if it's the right question to ask, but I'm interested. And then, so you went from that version of Gunners, and then obviously it morphed into the current version of Gunners. Were you feeling when the original line-up started coming back, and that was all happening, I remember being in LA and all of a sudden, I think it was Coachella, the original logo was up on Sunset, blew everybody's mind. I mean, I've never seen a band go from one version to another version like that and never miss a beat. I mean, it's never been done before and it'll never be done again. But was there a point there where you thought maybe, you know, Steven will come back or whatever, maybe there'll be a point where that's it or you knew you'd be always part of it?

Frank: I'm not too sure how to answer that because everything was really, I mean, I felt confident that, I know Axl loved the way I played and I feel like we're friends. I felt confident that Axl loved me and wanted me there. I felt that confidence. But you know, there was so many interchangeable, everything was just moving around. So I mean, I didn't know, I didn't feel like, oh man, that's my gig by no means, you know what I mean? I mean, I had never met Slash before, I have met Duff, Duff has actually come and played with the Chinese Democracy version of guns. He sat in for Tommy Stinson for a tour. So I knew him and I had a good, we played really well together. We have the same sensibility. We come from the same fabric. He has a punk background. I have a punk rock background. So, but no, I mean, no, no, seriously, and I'm telling you this and I'm telling you as honestly as I could possibly say, I didn't feel like this thing was like, until we played that first show at the Troubadour.

MA-E: Well, that's amazing.

Frank: And that night, I was like, "Phew, made it!" That's how I felt inside, you know? All through rehearsals and everything, you know? Because, I mean, it's massive, dude. I mean, it's massive. It's everything about it. What was that?

KT: You ever sit there and go like, wait, that's me?

MA-E: You're part of history.

Frank: Oh, yeah, yeah, no, every single night we play, yes.

MA-E: Amazing.

Frank: You look down and there's Slash playing. I mean, you're looking down and there's Slash playing there, dude. I mean, I'm never going to get to play with Eric Clapton or Jimmy Page. I'm never going to get to play with Brian May of Queen. You know, I didn't get to play with Angus. I would have said that, but I didn't get to play with Angus. But I get to play with an icon. You know, you talk about Mount Rushmore guitar player in slash, yeah, every single night, you know, every single night.

MA-E: And you're part of an engine room. We were talking to Steven Riley the other day on, last week here on the podcast, and he was talking about his favorite engine rooms. And it's a great question for you because you are part of one of the best engine, you and Duff, the drums-bass there. What's one of the best engine, what's your, what engine room, you know, you've got the, John Paul Jones and Bonham and that kind of setup.

Frank: Oh, is that what you mean by engine room?

MA-E: Engine room, yeah, bass and drums, the engine room of the band, you're part of one of the greatest engine rooms. I mean, yeah.

Brando: Like you're a battery, mate, I guess, like baseball, picture catcher.

MA-E: Yeah, what about one of your favorite engine rooms that you look up to of all time?

Frank: Oh, geez, I got a couple. I mean, John Deacon and Roger Taylor. I mean, definitely, you know, as a rock drummer, it's gotta be, you know, John Paul Jones and John Bonham, right? I mean, that's the way they, they're talking to each other. The drummer and the bass player are actually having a conversation. It's insane. You know what I'm saying? It's insane. Who else? I mean, I mean, you're putting me on the spot a little bit right now, but I mean, Bonham and John Paul Jones is probably like, you know, probably... "Engine room"? I've never heard that term before.

Brando: Me either, prior to last week, Frank. I never heard it either, but I like it. I like it.

MA-E: We'll use that as our phrase from now on.

Brando: You gotta make a t-shirt of that.

MA-E: Frank's Engine Room. That'll be the name of our restaurant in LA, Frank's Engine Room.

Frank: TM. Trademark.

MA-E: Yeah, totally, totally, totally.

Brando: Can you like, kind of reminisce a little bit on that show with the Troubadour? Because I was up late at night here in New York, obviously it was West Coast and obviously I wasn't going, but I'm on my phone, people are Periscoping, whatever, and I'm watching it freaking out because for me, and I told you my age, I've never gotten to see Axl and Slash on stage together. And to me, it was awkward experiencing it through my phone for the first time, but live. But can you kind of take us through that night?

Frank: I can describe it in one word, and I'm saying this with all due respect to Kristen, but I would say "orgasm." It's the only word I can use. I mean, it's the only word I can use.

Brando: I mean, how can you dissect that? I think we all know. I guess I think it's the perfect word for it. That was when Axl broke his foot, right?

Frank: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He broke his foot early in the set and played the whole show with the foot all jacked up.

Brando: When did you notice when that happened?

Frank: I didn't know, I didn't notice at all. He was jumping around, I mean, watch the video. I mean, there's some videos that you can use, jumping around, I didn't notice it. I thought it was swagger.

Brando: You know, I'll just say this real quick because Frank, I'm actually, I'm handicapped. I walk with a limp and a cane, but most people think, because I don't act handicapped, I've gotten more than one occasion a girl thinking I'm walking with swagger. Like that's just my thing. So I felt like, oh, when Axl broke his foot, he's walking with cane. I was like, see? Now I'm my cane brother. I love it. Cool, man. I love it.

Frank: I didn't notice it at all, after the show.

Brando: Is there, I mean, there's so many to pick from. Is there a show that sticks out in your mind? Was it possibly coming home to MSG in New York and playing?

Frank: MSG for sure. Even though we played MSG with the Chinese Democracy version of Guns, which was great. It was a great, great night. Now, I was doing those three nights at the Garden. Well, you know, you were there. I had my LJ on, you know what I'm saying? I mean, come on. That's it, that's it. The credits should have role, like, right? In the movie, the credits should have rolled after that, right?

Brando: That's awesome. And see again, it's like someone from my hood living the dream. And that's just-

Frank: Yeah, my mom was there. My mom came, my father passed away a long time ago, but my mom was there, man. You know, so it was like, you know, it was an amazing treat. I mean, my whole family was there, but my mom was there. She got to see it. She's 88. She got to see it. I was like, you want to come back to my, she was like, nah, nah. Just want to see you. And that's it.

Brando: Does she like the music that you play? Does she enjoy it?

Frank: No.

MA-E: Well, at least you can prove to her that you didn't need to go to uni or anything after school.

Brando: Right? Look, mom.

MA-E: I made it. Top of the world.

Brando: One of the questions I got to ask you was, what's the most, you said something, another interview that you are a groove drummer. That's what you could consider yourself. So is what's the, there's a lot of groove in GN'R music, but what's the most challenging song that you think? What's the most challenging?

Frank: That's a really good question. So that's three eras in Guns, right? So there's the Appetite with Steven, there's the Illusions with Matt, and then there's the Brain, Josh Freese, Chinese Democracy. And all three eras are really unique. It's really unique. Like the Appetite songs don't sound like the Illusion songs. They don't have the same feel. So the toughest part, I mean, in a weird way, it's almost kind of like all of them, especially from the Sorum-Adler era. And what I try to do as a groove drummer is try to sit somewhere in between both drummers. So you still have a punk, rocky, off the rails kind of feel but then a nice solid dependable foundation like Sorum gives you. So it's kind of challenging. Now the Chinese Democracy stuff is more straight ahead. Like the challenges I have with that is playing it more like Brain played them, even though I was able to add some stuff myself later on once I joined the band. The toughest part is finding the right group in between those two eras, the first two eras, I think. And I think especially with Slash and Duff in the band now, because it was their era, they wrote that stuff, it's their music, I'm able to find a nice spot where those guys are really comfortable playing the songs, but I'm also comfortable playing from my heart without being cerebral and having to think too much about the parts. So I would say somewhere in between those two drummers.

Brando: It sounds so challenging.

MA-E: If you take the band as it is today, and you've got key members of that original lineup, obviously permanent members now of the band. And if you took that band and you put that band into a studio, and I'm not asking any roundabout question, I'm just asking an overall question. If you took that band with three, four, well, I mean, Dizzy's been in the band for-

Frank: I was about to say Dizzy too, the whole Illusion, he was there.

MA-E: Dizzy's been there for 25 years or something. So if you take four long standing members, you've been in the band now for, I mean, it's been-

Frank: 12 years.

MA-E: 12 years, a long stint. 14 years, say 14, 2006, 14 years. So that's a long stint. So there's no real new members. So if you take that band now, put it in a studio with, and it's so good how you describe it, there is three really distinct eras of music. What, if you worked on a new song, hypothetically, what would it sound like? Which era would it fall into? Would it sound like, because the last thing that Guns N' Roses put out was that Shadow of Your Love.

Frank: That's a good question.

MA-E: And that was, the Shadow of Your Love was from the Appetite singles. So what would it sound like with everything you've gone through, everything you've learned?

Frank: I don't... that's a good question. I would probably say that it would be leaning more towards a punk, rocky feel. Up tempo, punk rockier. I think that's where... I think that's where the energy is today. We were going out there and being really aggressive with the music, really aggressive. I think it would have been more of the punk rockier, earlier feel to it. I think it's kind of like everybody's come, I can't speak for the main guys obviously, but it feels like maybe everything has come full circle. Now we're like almost, I mean, we are with this collection of guys, we are a new band. You know what I'm saying? We are a new band. So it will be a newer sound, but I think it would be a more aggressive punk rocky vibe. That's my personal opinion, I could be completely wrong. But I think it would be more of that.

Brando: I love that question and that answer.

MA-E: You know what I've proved today, Brandon, again, is it's gonna be very difficult for you to do these podcasts at all without me from now on.

Brando: You have the balls to ask certain things cause you guys are buddies and I'm just meeting him for the first time. I'm not on a first date. I'm not gonna ask you what underwear you're wearing. Like I just wanna, I wanna be polite first.

MA-E: You know what I reckon? I think you've got to ask questions with a level of respect. You don't wanna push things over the line. You wanna ask respect from people that you like. I mean, if I didn't like Frank, you might ask different questions, but I like him. So I always wanna. You always want to be on a good level with it. [?].

Brando: You brought up Shadow of Your Love, which was, I mean, the version that came out is my favorite version.

Frank: It's wonderful.

Brando: So, what went into the record? Was it just the straight recording from back in the day? Or can you talk about the reason?

Frank: That's what I understand. It's from a session from the original record. That's what I understand.

Brando: Okay, so you didn't touch that at all?

Frank: I mean, that's a great example how that song came back and it's a mainstay in the set and everybody loves playing it. And I think, and again, so I'm saying this, that maybe, you know, I mean, maybe we're all in that mindset, more aggressive kind of like feel to-

MA-E: Well, it suits the band more. It suits that, that vibe suits the band. It's like a, it's like a cut down version of, it's sort of the, there's no bloatedness, there's no this, it's just is what it is. I mean, there's been a great series on TV at the moment. I don't know if you've seen it or it's there. I don't know what platform it's on there. But here I just watched Iggy Pop just produced a great four episode series called Punk. Have you seen that?

Brando: Oh, okay. It was on-

Frank: The episodes are brilliant.

MA-E: Unreal, unreal, unreal.

Brando: It was on Showtime, I think, or something, right? Or Epix, it was on Epix, because I remember I interviewed Henry Rollins who was featured about it.

MA-E: Yeah, it's so good. And so that sort of hits in line with what you're doing because I feel that that's sweet... And I can tell you from a record company perspective, it does, I feel that swing. I know rock and roll is definitely coming back, but I feel that that swing, that punky rock. And we were talking about this, actually Chris and I were talking about this earlier with another band, that it's almost like you get this whole lot of different bands in of that sort of genre. And it's like, it's almost, I want to start a record label and call it Sixteen Red, because you're putting money on all this roulette, on all this, you know, Blackjack or whatever it is, on all these sort of different things and go, yeah, that one's going to take off. But that genre, that punkier, stripped down version of things is definitely coming back. Definitely, definitely.

KT: I think because it's authentic and people want to hear real music again. They're tired of the overproduced bullshit.

Brando: And it was interesting, you're right, the overproduced stuff. And that's something that I always thought, I took a Chinese Democracy approach to my career. Everything always had to be perfect. My 30 second breaks on classic rock radio, I couldn't fuck up or things that production or even this podcast. I was worried about doing this podcast in quarantine because I'm not in a studio at iHeart Radio, but people care about if you're real. So with that, we find out a little bit about our Frank at what you're doing in quarantine, what is, if I can ask, what's the band doing in quarantine? Are you, because obviously you would be on the road or is there, can we expect-

Frank: Yeah, we would have been, it was not for... Europe. Um, now everybody's like hunkered down, taking care of themselves and waiting, you know, waiting to get back basically, you know, um, you know, I can't really speak for the other guys, but I know everybody, we do group texts and we all miss each other and we can't wait to see each other.

Brando: How often do you guys group text? I mean, is it kind of like a funny group text where Slash is showing pictures of-

Frank: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We talk about, most of it is funny stuff, but we talk about everything. We talk about a lot of serious stuff too. And that's the way we keep, that's the way all of us are together in that group text. But I mean, I don't know how to answer that. I would say that everybody's going through, there's no difference for us than what is going on for everyone else in the whole world. So no difference. So we're all in the same, all of us for the first time in the history of humanity, we're in the same boat.

Brando: I know, I know. And that's in a weird way, because you're talking about silver linings, that's a weird silver lining where I always jokingly said I would connect people, try to create world peace through this podcast. Everyone has a Guns N' Roses. Everyone likes them to some degree, but now we're all connected in this pandemic. It's just out of control because we're all people. So it's the organicness that comes out in the music that you play with Guns N' Roses and with your other bands that shines through. And that's, you know, that's what I like talking. That's what my first question to you was like, how are you doing? Because we're all in this together, I mean, no matter where you are in the world, whether you're in LA or Sydney or here in Queens, we're all in the same place. So is there anything that we can expect? Is it just kind of like a wait and see? I hate asking that from all my guests, what's in the future, like what, or you know what, let me ask this-

Frank: I know that Mark has some great ideas, Mark and Kristen have great ideas for Pssr, so I mean, you know, hopefully we'll be hearing a lot of Pssr music.

MA-E: We're working on a third single now. So we're putting together, I mean, you can't do videos at the moment, but we're working out a few things. So there'll definitely be some new music from Pssr, maybe one or two new singles, maybe something else between now and the end of the year. We're gonna take full advantage of Frank being off the road, and Rob and Eric, and make sure that they're out there pushing the band because it's perfect. So there's definitely gonna be a lot of music from Pssr coming up.

Brando: Well, let me ask, because I've asked this, we discussed this at length, especially an episode where it was just Mark, Kristen and I, about what bands and artists could do during this downtime. Is that something that, because you're pretty active on Instagram, is it, you know, could you see yourself zooming with, whether it be GN'R bandmates or bandmates from Pssr and putting on these shows or do you want to do band-

Frank: Absolutely. I mean, the opportunity hasn't shown up for us yet, but I'm still doing it, of course. I'm not opposed to it, of course not.

Brando: Okay, because I just think it's fun, whether it's stuff on TV, like Dave Matthews has done a bunch of stuff, or just things that are live on the internet. Goldfinger, I think, performs on, I think it's Goldfinger, I forget the name of the punk band right now, excuse me, but just like always very well produced, but Zoom concerts, so it's, gives us something to do while we can't-

Frank: Yeah, you never know, you never know. There will be surprises.

Brando: Yeah, that's kind of the name of the game. Well, Frank, this is awesome. I feel like I've kept you longer than I probably should have. But this was-

Frank: Well, thank you for having me on. That was very sweet. Nice to meet you. And I'll see you back in New York. You know, by the way, by the way, Mitchell Robinson is a keeper. You get rid of everybody else. They got to keep Mitchell Robinson.

Brando: Okay. Oh yeah, because you said we should just bring it up because I'm not a big basketball fan nowadays. My heart is still broken from [?]. So have you been watching the...

Frank: Hell no!

Brando: You don't want to relive it.

Frank: You're asking me about watching a show about only MJ and every other highlight is him dunking on a Nick? You're out of your... Hell no! I might be the only person in America not watching it, but no way am I. No way. You don't understand it. Well, I mean, yeah, you're actually young man. It's a source of... MJ hurts. It hurts me. It hurts, you know?

Brando: You'll understand this, Frank. I remember when my early sports memories was crying when Charles Smith could not make that layup. So, yes.

Frank: Okay, we are definitely... This is winding down big time. Okay, this is... It hurt, it lit, and like, you know how you have great childhood memories? Those are my bad childhood memories. See, you understand that?

Brando: I know. But there's a lot of small part of you that remembers when the Knicks were at least good. We couldn't make it past Dordain for most, but at least they were good. They were a respectable franchise in the 90s. Now it's like...

KT: We're all just gonna have to bury our heads now in the sand-

Frank: Where'd you grow up, Kirsten? Where'd you grow up?

KT: Long Island. Yeah. So I mean, I had season tickets to the Knicks, the Mets. Sorry, I know you're a Yankees fan, but I'm a Mets fan.

Brando: So Yankees as well. Yankees as well. I know because then Kristen says she's a Ranger fan and I'm a die hard Islander fan who are also ter... Oh, they're okay. Better-ish now.

Frank: Growing up, my father, one of my father's brothers was a huge baseball player in the Pan American League, Cuban League, you know? And so the winner of that league will always play the winner of the World Series. And a lot of the times, the Cubans will play the Yankees. So my father grew up hating the Yankees. So when he moved to New York, he had, I think the Giants were still there when he went. But then after they left he became a Mets fan. So I went to a lot of Mets games growing up. Lee Mazzilli and them.

KT: I mean, just good memories, going to old Chase Stadium and eating the hot dogs that wasn't $19 now.

Frank: Well, and when the Mets sucked, you were able to go to a game for like three bucks.

Brando: The good old days.

Frank: Like the Knicks too. When the Knicks used to suck in the 80s, you would buy the ticket, you would buy the cheapest ticket, and then you could just. walk all the way down. So in the fourth quarter, you could watch the whole fourth quarter from the floor.

KT: And you sit there with your fake foam finger on and fucking [?].

Brando: My dad went to the last game at the old Madison Square Garden. And I don't know where it is now, but he ripped off a piece of the chair because they were ripping everything off. So somewhere in my house, there's a piece of the old Madison Square Garden.

Frank: That's pretty cool.

Brando: I was brought up to be a big Knicks fan.

ME-A: You know that I have no fucking idea what any of you-

Brando: We can talk about a [?] or rugby.

ME-A: I am not a big sports guy, I am a rock and roll guy. All I know is this, is that last dance thing on Bulls that's out, there's a huge controversy because Luke Longley, who was the Aussie guy that was in the whole thing, he doesn't fit through it at all. They've likely cut him out of history.

Frank: And he was a Knick for a cup of coffee.

Brando: Yes he was.

Frank: For a cup of coffee.

Brando: Yes, he was. See, Frank, this is what we're doing though. We're all quarantined and I'm reduced to watching the Bulls beat the Knicks again because I can't see Guns N' Roses. Well, I know it hasn't been announced yet. You guys just announced and it sucks that the European tour has been postponed. Right now, I do have tickets for July to see you in New Jersey. I'm hoping to see because I haven't seen the Smashing Pumpkins play yet. So yeah, I'll cross my fingers.

ME-A: Is that the lineup, Smashing Pumpkins and Guns N' Roses?

Frank: The couple of East Coast gigs.

ME-A: Oh, if I can fly, which I don't reckon I'll be able to fly out of here for a year, but if I can fly, I'm with you there, Frank.

Frank: Right, awesome.

Brando: Well, again, I hope to see you sooner rather than later, whether it's in MetLife Stadium or Arlen's Grocery, whatever which one comes first. And the thing that I tabled before, it would be awesome if you want to have five or six squares on this and bring Brain and other drummers. I mean, I would love it. My audience would love it. And I just hope you had a good time today.

Frank: Yeah, I did. Thank you very much.

-------------------------


Excerpts from Blabbermouth:
_________________________

During an appearance on the latest episode of the "Appetite For Distortion" podcast, Guns N' Rosees drummer Frank Ferrer was asked to name "the most challenging song to play" in the band's live set. He responded (hear audio below): "That's a really good question, because there's three eras in Guns — there's the 'Appetite' [era] with Steven, there's the Illusion' [period] with Matt, and then there's the Brain - Josh Freese 'Chinese Democracy' [era]. And all three eras are really unique. The 'Appetite' songs don't sound like the 'Illusion' songs — they don't have the same feel. So, the toughest part… I mean, in a weird way, it's almost kind of like all of 'em, especially from the Sorum-Adler era. And what I try to do as a groove drummer is try to sit somewhere in between both drummers, so you still have a punk rocky, off-the-rails kind of feel, but then a nice, solid, dependable foundation, like Sorum gives you. So, it's kind of challenging. Now, the 'Chinese Democracy' stuff is more straight ahead. The challenges I have with that is playing it more like Brain played them, even though I was able to add some stuff myself later on, once I joined the band."

He continued: "The toughest part is finding the right groove in between those two eras — the first two eras — I think. And I think especially with Slash and Duff in the band now, because it was their era — they wrote that stuff; it's their music — I'm able to find a nice spot where those guys are really comfortable playing the songs, but I'm also comfortable playing from my heart without being cerebral and having to think too much about the parts. So, I would say somewhere in between those two drummers."

https://blabbermouth.net/news/guns-n-roses-drummer-frank-ferrer-discusses-challenges-of-playing-songs-recorded-by-steven-adler-matt-sorum

Finished with this.