2013.01.DD - DRUMline - Interview with Richard at NAMM

Mike [?]: Hey this is Mike [?] with the good old Richard Fortus [?] play back in the 90s.

Richard: [?]

M: [?] and actually here's a story I want to tell you.

Richard: Alright.

M: [?] music story, like '87.

Richard: In [?] music.

M: 15 years old on [?] and you're a little shorter and like a 15 year old kid yeah and I said, "Are you in a band?", you looked pretty cool, and you said, "Yeah, I play with The Eyes."

Richard: That was my first band.

M: Like 45 years ago. Let me drop around here. You play guitar with Guns N' Roses.

R: Yeah.

M: You just did a hard rock month at the Hard Rock. We had that going.

R: That's right. That was awesome. It was fun, I survived it.

M: Yeah?

R: Which I didn't count on initially, but yeah, we did a month at the Hard Rock and then we went to India.

M: Oh wow! And you guys are going on somewhere else coming up?

R: Australian. And Abu Dhabi. That's right.

M: You are international.

R: Right down the street from Dubai.

M: You guys are doing big shows all over the world?

R: Yep.

M: That's amazing.

R: It is amazing.

M: Do you have a guitar tech, is that Scott Davies doing that for you?

R: [?]

M: I know him.

R: Yeah, me too.

M: From Modern Day Zero. [?] met Carl [?] and I met Scott.

R: That's right. Modern Day Zero opened for Guns-

M: Yeah, ok.

R: It was in Canada and it was us and then Helmet and [?].

M: Ok. Just gonna catch up a little bit with Richard. He's an amazing guitar player.

R: Thanks!

M: And his [?] in Eyes, it was a great, Pale Divine, great stuff, and you did a Honky Toast-

R: Yeah!

M: -with your-

R: I just did I did a Honky Toast reunion last week-

M: Oh, with Frank doing it?

R: Yeah.

M: So you met him with the Honky Toast?

R: No, I knew Frank because he used to be in a band called The Beautiful, Frank Ferrer, they opened for my old band Pale Divine and then I saw him on St. Mark's Place in New York City and I said... I asked him what he was doing, The Beautiful had just broken up and I'd just started a new band called Love Spit Love with the singer of the Psychedelic Furs-

M: Okay.

R: And Frank joined us, so I've been playing with Frank since like '93.

M: [?] still around?

R: Yep. Frank and I have been playing together ever since then.

M: Okay. Hey, if he wants to be in this magazine, you know, hook him up.

R: What's that?

M: [?] in our magazine.

R: Yeah, he should.

M: [?] Hot Cats.

R: You know, I just played with Charley Drayton last week, like three days ago. The greatest drummer on the planet.

M: [?]

R: Charley Drayton.

M: Okay, one of the best collaborators out there is you.

R: Ah, thank you.

M: Thank you for your time.

R: My pleasure.