Official Site:
www.brannickrecords.com/
Official My Space site:
www.myspace.com/thescreaminlords
Jose Ferro: Hi Brian, this is Jose from THE SCREAMIN’ LORDS, How‘s everything today.
Brian Rademacher: Not bad just finished watching the football game.
Jose Ferro: Yes, me too. Even though I live in LA, I am from New York and still gotta root for the Giants.
Brian Rademacher: AGENTZ started in 1984 playing with Patrick Dubs Ex SAVATAGE.
Jose Ferro: That would be the first band I did, I also played in cover bands before that.
Brian Rademacher: AGENTZ released “Stick to Your Guns” in 1987 on Dream Records in France and I re-released it in 2006.
Jose Ferro: The reason I did was because someone had a blog, said it was a great record and wondered why it was never released on CD. Then in 1993 someone bootlegged it, so I decided to go in and re-mastered and put it out. It’s been pretty successful.
Brian Rademacher: You put that out on your own label right?
Jose Ferro: Yes Brannick Records
Brian Rademacher: Do you have plans for other artists on your label?
Jose Ferro: Well I’ve been talking to some people but nothing firm yet.
Brian Rademacher: You were also in a band called MEANSTREAK?
Jose Ferro: Yeah that was a bunch of guys I met in Florida. We went to play in England. This was about a year before I played with AGENTZ. It was pretty disastrous (laughing). I went to rehearse with these guys for about three weeks in Florida. We were preparing for a tour in the UK, and the first gig was at the Marquee. When we got there and started rehearsals, the guitar player and singer forgot all the songs they wrote and I had to teach them their songs again! We were supposed to have other dates in the UK but they had no money to support it. It was all crap, so I went home and started AGENTZ.
Brian Rademacher: So how was the show at the Marquee?
Jose Ferro: It was fun, I mean I said damn - everyone in the world played here. After the show, I met George Lynch for the first time. That was 1984.
Brian Rademacher: You were also in a band called LECTRIC CHAIRS and release an EP in 2003 called “Sparkolounger”.
Jose Ferro: Yeah! I work at ESP guitars and the marketing director at the time, Marsh Gooch, needed a bass player. So I offered my services, this was before the AGENTZ CD was out. I told him I’d help out with recording the CD. We played some shows and he wanted to take it further but I couldn’t commit to it. That’s when I started thinking about the AGENTZ thing and THE SCREAMIN’ LORDS.
Brian Rademacher: Jose by the time this is posted on our site the review will be up and all I have been hearing is great things about the CD and it’s amazing, like a flashback to good rockin days. How did you decide to do the FASTWAY song? Click here for review
Jose Ferro: Jason and I were hanging out one night and he started playing that riff. When I lived in New York I saw them open for THE FIRM with Jimmy Page at Madison Square Garden and I always loved the song. It’s amazing that so many people in the United States aren’t familiar with the song. All the reviews I read from the US don’t even mention it, yet the reviews in Europe do.
Brian Rademacher: My favorite SCREAMIN’ LORDS song is “Gladrags & Limozenes”.
Jose Ferro: There ya go.
Brian Rademacher: You have eight-tracks on the CD, how come you didn’t add more.
Jose Ferro: I wanted to the CD to reflect in my opinion the best songs. I feel these eight were it. You go and buy a CD that you heard a song from and maybe three or four songs are good and the rest are OK. I felt in my heart that these eight songs were solid tunes, which represent THE SCREAMIN’ LORDS in the right light.
Brian Rademacher: Do you plan on releasing another CD in 2008?
Jose Ferro: I booked recording time already when I found some old AGENTZ material that I want to redo. The sad thing is that the singer from AGENTZ passed away, so I have a few people in mind to put vocals down. Those songs will be available for download only. I am also going to start work on the next SCREAMIN’ LORDS record, to be released the end of 2008.
Brian Rademacher: How did you come up with the title of the album “Long Live Me”?
(Jose couldn’t stop laughing. )
Jose Ferro: It’s a funny story. I went with my wife to a store in Santa Barbara; we were walking around and stopped at a shop to look at t-shirts. Some people think I am really black and white - we New Yorkers look at things that way, so let’s cut to the chase and stop dancing. Living here out in L.A. they don’t get it. So I saw this shirt that looked like George Lynch’s skull and snake guitar he used for the LYNCH MOB album. When I looked at it closer it had a pirate banner and it said Long Live Me. I said, I gotta get this shirt. I told my wife and she looks at me and says you’re such an asshole laughing. I came up with the band name when my wife and I were in the UK. We were getting ready to go out to dinner and were watching TV. There was a meeting of the House of Parliament and everyone was standing up and yelling, sitting down jumping back up and screaming more. So it clicked - THE SCREAMIN’ LORDS. And I knew I was going to have guests playing on the CD so that name stuck.
Brian Rademacher: So how did you get all these guests to play on the CD through ESP?
Jose Ferro: Gus G and I met five years ago in Japan. He plays a killer guitar and is such a sweetheart of a guy, he will give the shirt off his back. We started talking and became friends. Chris Poland I met through a friend at Yamaha, I always knew he was a great guitar player, so I asked what would it take to play on the CD. He said sure and sent me three solos for “Fire in The Blue Sky”.
It was so hard to pick one, they were all amazing. Robin I met through my son’s music school teacher. Robin is a real gentleman. George Lynch was the one who suggested Kelly.
Brian Rademacher: Was there any other guest that couldn’t be on it that you wanted because of other obligations?
Jose Ferro: Graham Bonnet, but he was tied up with other things at the time.
Working with Mudrock mixing was a great experience – he did a great job and I’m really happy with the result. He also did the second LECTRIC CHAIRS CD.
Brian Rademacher: Do you miss anything from the East Coast?
Jose Ferro: PIZZA! (Laughing). Oh my god Pizza. When I was working with AGENTZ, there was a great pizza place over by Manny’s near 48th street. I was over there a few months ago but it’s gone. So I stopped by another place, that pizza sucked so bad. I should have known because when I walked in the place I saw a pizza with pineapple and ham. That should have given it away. I do miss New York, but it’s really nice out here in L.A.
Brian Rademacher: The next question came to you care of Doug Odell (CRUNCH/TNA)?
Jose Ferro: Doug’s a good guy, laughing. I never met him in person; we’ve talked on the phone. He knew my old drummer in AGENTZ and we had a couple of chuckles about it. He’s a super nice guy and a great supporter of THE SCREAMIN’ LORDS.
Brian Rademacher: You should hear him talk about THE SCREAMIN’ LORDS; he says “your like THIN LIZZY and this band and this band…etc”.
Jose Ferro: That’s so funny (laughing).
Brian Rademacher: Here’s another one from Doug – “How does it feel starting out on the artist side of in the biz and then moving into the musical instrument manufacturing side at (ESP Guitars VP)”?
Jose Ferro: Well it’s funny, when I was in AGENTZ I was the only one married with a kid. The pressure was so intense trying to make money, playing in a band, working at a music store and everyday you would say, you gotta make it. Today I love my job. I don’t have to worry about that pressure anymore. Now I can do THE SCREAMIN’ LORDS and enjoy it - the way I want to do it. There is no pressure from a record company. It’s on my time frame; I can take my time with things, and that is a blessing for me. If the record sells and people dig it, great, and if they don’t like the record, that’s OK too. But I wasn’t going to let it go out until knew it was perfect.
Brian Rademacher: Now would you say THE SREAMIN’ LORDS are a studio band and there will be no live shows?
Jose Ferro: I think there will be shows at one point. We did talk about doing some festivals in Europe. We have talked it about a lot - Jason and Dustin are really good guitar players and are great lead guitarists. They are the core band.
Brian Rademacher: So did any of the guests actually go in the studio with you to record?
Jose Ferro: Singers - yes. Guest Guitars Players - no. I sent them the tracks and let them do what they wanted.
Brian Rademacher: You talked about a new SCREAMIN’ LORDS release in the future maybe end of 2008. Do you have anyone in mind for guest spots yet?
Jose Ferro: Yeah! I really want Craig Goldie and I would love to pull Jake E. Lee out, who I think is unbelievable. Also I would like Pat Larchman. He was singing for DAMAGEPLAN, but you have to hear him play guitar, oh my god. These are just people I’m thinking about.
Brian Rademacher: So what are your plans for the rest of the year?
Jose Ferro: George Lynch has been helping me with getting distribution for the CD. CD Baby is hooking me up with people in Japan. I have a PR person named Scott Thomas who has been helping me out. He’s great! Gus G has this guy in Greece named Illias that runs Evolution TV and he’s been giving us a lot of publicity. These are guys we need.
Brian Rademacher: Jose this was a lot of fun, would you like to say anything in conclusion?
Jose Ferro: It’s all about having fun and playing from your heart. Take Care.