2020.08.07 - Misplaced Straws - A Conversation with Guns N’ Roses/PSSR Drummer Frank Ferrer

A Conversation with Guns N’ Roses/PSSR Drummer Frank Ferrer

By Jeff Gaudiosi

When Guns N’ Roses has downtime between legs of its massive tour members gravitate to their side projects.  For drummer Frank Ferrer, that project is a band called PSSR that just released a new single called “The Last Time” and has a full record on the way.  Frank took some time to talk about PSSR and a bit about Guns. [...]

On the members of PSSR:

The current lineup of PSSR is Eric Jakobsen is the lead singer, Rob Bailey guitar player, and Bret Bass, the bass player. The bass player is actually named Bass. This lineup of pisser has been pretty consistent since about 2015. PSSR rose out of the ashes of this band that Richard Fortus and I were in with Eric in the late 90s called Honky Toast. We were signed to Sony and we did a record for Sony and it came out and we got dropped, like a regular rock and roll band, so and so. So Eric decided to keep it going, but he changed the name to PSSR with other musicians around town in New York City and Richard and I went off to do different things but every time we were around in town, we would come and do a PSSR gig. So PSSR has been kicking around since like the early 2000s., but this current lineup, the one that did the record, has been around since about 2015.

On releasing a full record:

I believe there’s a target date of early December. I think December 9th, the full-length album should be out. But at that, as of right now, December 9th, I think.

On hooking up with future GNR bandmate Richard Fortus in Love Spit Love:

We had met before (joining Love Spit Love), I had a band that got signed in the late 80s, early 90s called The Beautiful. My band, The Beautiful, opened up for Richard’s band that was signed to Atlantic, Pale Divine in St. Louis, and that’s where we met. We just talked that night, I thought he was a great guitar player, he thought I was a great drummer. We talked, but we said hopefully I’ll see you out there one day and then and then about six or seven months later, I’m already back at a day job and he walked by my day job and I was like, what the fuck? He was like, “Yeah, I’m here writing songs of Richard Butler of the Psychedelic Furs. He’s putting a new band together and in about six months we’re going to audition drummers. You should audition.”  I’m like, “Hell yeah”. Then fast forward like a year later I auditioned and got the gig. So it’s the first time I played with Richard, but I actually met him about a year before that.

On his drumming influences:

Well, so so obviously the drummers that everybody loves, right. So you got Phil Rudd, you got Charlie Watts, you have John Bonham, which is the greatest rock n’ roll drummer of all time. You have all those cats, Bunny Carlos of Cheap Trick, Peter Criss of KISS,  great, great group, rock and roll drummers. But then growing up in New York City, I also got to see local cats that were just as amazing, Sterling Campbell, that went on to play with like Bowie and Cyndi Lauper and Duran Duran and Zack Alford that went on to play with also with Bowie and Bruce Springsteen and Charlie Drayton that played with Keith Richards and a bunch of other bands, Steve Jordan. So, my local guys, the guys that I will bump into at the bodega on the corner were also like some of the greatest rock and roll drummers in history. So I got the best of both worlds being in New York.  I got to go see Roger Taylor, Madison Square Garden with Queen, but then I would go see Steve Jordan at the China Club, so I got the best of both worlds.

On the difference between playing clubs with PSSR or stadiums with Guns N’ Roses:

The only difference is, is that with the big rock stadium show, that’s more responsibility. You know, there’s you have to be on time and there’s pyro and there’s a lot of moving parts that you have to be aware of. Having said that, other than that element, there’s actually no difference between playing to 40 people or 40,000 people. In Guns N’ Roses we have we’ve developed a really great musical relationship. Richard and I have been playing together for 20 years. So on stage, we’re playing for ourselves. We’re having a good (time), we’re just enjoying what we’re playing. The same thing we’re playing in a club with Mule Kick or PSSR, we’re just playing for ourselves. We’re having such a good time getting lost in the music and the audience hopefully picks up on that vibe. That’s the whole point. We’re not really performing at that moment, we’re just playing just pure emotion. So there is not much difference. Not much difference other than the responsibility part, but it’s the same pretty much.

On touring after the pandemic:

I’m not worried about eventually playing music again. I’m not worried at all. I want us all through this. Wear your mask, wash your hands, social distance so that when this thing is over, we could get out and play. So, no, I don’t think about it too much because I know it’s going to happen. I mean, it’s just, everything’s on hold, but rightly so,  people are dying. We need to chill. We need to chill.

On the ongoing popularity of Guns N’ Roses:

Guns and Roses is an iconic all-time band.  I mean, it’s Mount Rushmore.  Any time a band like that, of that caliber, goes out and play, man, yeah, you better go see them. I would if I wasn’t with the band. I mean, it’s iconic. It’s just, I get to be part of an iconic band and musicians and music and I’m so lucky.

On the possibility of a new Guns N’ Roses record:

That’s a question for management.

https://misplacedstraws.com/2020/08/a-conversation-with-guns-n-rosespssr.html