Jose Ferro Introduces The Screamin’ Lords

by Lisa Sharken

Starting out like most players who have a vision of becoming a successful artist, bassist Jose Ferro worked his way through the New York music scene, making his mark as a musician and songwriter while holding down day jobs in music stores, and then later going on to work for musical instrument manufacturers. Being at the center of the industry only helped to find better players and opportunities. Like others, Jose was always pursuing his musical dreams, and never gave up, no matter how tough it was—and still is—to make and break a band.

After playing with several New York-based cover acts, Jose formed Agentz, which grew in popularity through gigging and self-promotion, and eventually recorded an album of original material called Stick To Your Guns, which was released in 1987. The album was recently remastered and released on CD (see www.myspace.com/agentztheband for more information). Although the group was recognized as one of the top bands in the area, musical trends were changing at the end of the decade, and many metal bands found themselves having a more difficult time than ever trying to get ahead as the grunge movement quickly took over. Jose saw this as an opportunity to make a change for himself and wanted to do something a bit different. Agentz split in 1990, when Jose moved west to California. It was there that he met up with guitarists Jason Gile, Dustin Boyer, and drummer Chris Collier. Eventually, the four musicians joined forces, and it was clear from the start that this mixture of players had something special together. The seeds were planted, and the Screamin' Lords were born.

Jose takes us through his own history as musician and that of the Screamin' Lords. He details how the group's debut CD, Long Live Me, came together with the core band and impressive selection of guest artists, which includes guitarists George Lynch (Lynch Mob, Dokken), Chris Poland (OHM, Megadeth), Gus G. (Firewind, Dream Evil), Loren Molinare (Little Caesar, The Dogs), and lead vocalists Robin McAuley (Survivor, MSG) and Kelly Keeling (Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Lynch Mob, MSG). The results of this venture speak for themselves—outstanding musicianship, exceptional performances, and most importantly, a collection of excellent tunes which spotlight each of the players.

What inspired you to play bass? Did you start out on bass or guitar?

I started on bass. There were some kids down the block that played in a band, and I always used to watch them play. That was when I first got into music. Actually, I had a cousin who is a couple of years older than me that played in a band down in Maryland. The band had a big horn section and two singers—a guy and a girl. The bass player in the band was the one that I really connected with and I really liked the music because they did everything from Led Zeppelin to Motown. It was a great band. So I was influenced by them. But the band down the block from my house, they told me to go get a bass and that they would teach me how to play so I could be in the band. What was so funny is that I didn't really know what a bass was, so I went out and I bought a Teisco Del Rey guitar, and then when I showed up with it, I didn't even have an amp. They cut the two high strings off of the guitar and plugged me into this home stereo—the kind that had the console for the turntable and TV, and was all in one box. There was an input, so that's what I plugged into, and they taught me how to play. My first real bass was a Univox violin-shaped bass that I bought at Sam Ash for $180.

Who were your main influences when you started playing?

There are so many. It was mostly English guys like Tim Bogert, John Paul Jones, Geezer Butler, Greg Ridley from Humble Pie, and Glen Hughes from Deep Purple. The only American guys who I was influenced by on bass were Felix Pappalardi from Mountain, Tim Bogert from Cactus, and Mars Cowling from Pat Travers Band.

Who influenced you as a songwriter?

The bands that probably influenced me the most were Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. Then later on, Whitesnake, AC/DC and Judas Priest. But the first two were Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. I love Deep Purple—everything from the Ian Gillan/Roger Glover era to the David Coverdale/Glenn Hughes era.

Tell us how the Screamin' Lords emerged. Since this is essentially your band, how did you go about selecting the other core musicians—Dustin, Jason and Chris?

The first person I had met from the Screamin' Lords was Jason. He was one of the first people that I met when I moved to California in 1990. We developed a friendship over the years, and I always wanted to do something with him. Because he's friends with Dustin, he actually introduced me to him. I met Dustin about four years ago, and I was always impressed by his talent as a songwriter and also as a guitar player. I thought that getting the two of them together to play would be a really good idea because they compliment each other. I met Chris two years ago through the ESP Guitar Company. We always spoke about getting together and he had done some gigs with this other band that I worked on a CD with. When we played together, it just clicked. He is a phenomenal musician. Not only does he play drums great, but he's a great songwriter, and he also plays guitar in his own band. He doesn't play drums in that band, which amazes me. When I got all three guys together, it just gelled. Our first gig was at the 2005 winter NAMM show, when we played for the ESP 30th anniversary party. That was the first time that we played out live. I was going to have Dustin do the vocals, but he didn't feel confident enough to carry it because he felt that we could get somebody better to sing, and that's when we started to look for a singer. I approached Robin McAuley first, and then he got busy, so George Lynch suggested Kelly Keeling, and his voice and style are a perfect fit. Pretty much, the rest is history. But I wanted to get some of these great guitar players on there to be featured, like Gus G. from Firewind, Chris Poland from Ohm and Megadeth, George Lynch from Lynch Mob and Dokken, and Loren Molinare from Little Caesar. I met Loren through ESP. He is the most mellow guy in the world, and his rhythm chops are the best. His playing is like a cross between Angus Young and Keith Richards. I've always wanted him to come and play on something with me, so when the opportunity came up, I asked him, and he jumped on it.

You had a band called Agentz back in the '80s. Is this band, the Screamin' Lords, picking up where Agentz left off in terms of style and the musical direction?

It's approached as a separate entity. Where Agentz was more keyboard/guitar-oriented, the Screamin' Lords is basically more guitar-oriented, and that's what I wanted. At the time when I was doing Agentz, the people who played on the Screamin' Lords CD were people who I wanted to play with. So the opportunity came up where I had these great musicians who became the core musicians in the Screamin' Lords, and I had them lay down the basic tracks, and then I went and got the guest musicians—people who I always wanted to have play on the CD. But it's a totally different style from Agentz. The Screamin' Lords is more guitar-oriented.

How did the songs on Long Live Me come together? Was it a collaborative effort or did you already have the music written?

The music was all written a while back and I had demoed it out in this little studio I have. I basically gave the music to all the musicians to learn. So I wrote all the music.

Did each of the vocalists write the lyrics for the songs they sang?

Yes. Robin wrote the melody and the lyrics for "Gladrags," and Kelly wrote the lyrics for the remainder of the songs. So Robin and Kelly wrote all the lyrics and the melodies, but I gave them basic ideas of what I was looking for. But for the title song, "Long Live Me," I told Kelly that I definitely wanted that to be the title. But with everything else, I let everyone have free reign with what they wanted to do.

How did everything come together with putting down the tracks? Did you record the basic tracks with the core band?

That's exactly what we did. The drums were done first. We did a scratch guitar track and scratch bass track. We went back to my studio in the house, put down the final bass tracks and one of the guitar tracks. Then we went back to an outside studio to record the additional rhythm guitar tracks. The vocals were added after we had done the basic tracks. Then those sessions were given to Gus, George, Chris and Loren. They had each gone to their favorite studios to lay down their tracks. So the last thing that was put on were the lead guitar tracks.

Was everything recorded in Pro Tools or were the basic tracks done on tape and then converted to Pro Tools?

Everything was done in Pro Tools, but the sound I was going for was more of an old-school sound. We wanted to hear the room sounds, like those old-style room reverb sounds. The miking techniques that we did were an upfront sound, a room sound, and a direct sound. One thing that we did not do with using Pro Tools, which a lot of bands today will do, is just cutting and pasting parts, then making a song out of it. That's not what we did with this. It was just used as a recording tool.

What was most challenging about this project?

Coordinating things with the musicians. Coordinating with Robin and Kelly, and getting the lead tracks done with all the other people. I think the only thing that was a little bit tough was coordinating everybody's time.

What did you enjoy most about putting this together?

Just hearing it all come together. I flew Kelly into LA to do his vocal tracks. But when he arrived, he didn't have all the lyrics done yet. So he went into another room in the studio and came out ten minutes later with all the lyrics and melodies in his head. I didn't know what he had come up with, and what he sang on the recordings just blew my mind. It was nothing like what I expected. That was the one thing that I really enjoyed—just hearing his vocals, because Kelly is an extremely talented vocalist.

Now that it's all done, what impresses you most about each song?

I think everybody's execution of the parts was great and you can really hear everybody's individual style. Even though it's a basic group that had these guest musicians playing, it still sounds like a group. But the fact that you can still hear everybody's style is the thing that I like best about it. You can really hear Kelly, and George always sounds like George. Chris sounds like Chris, and Gus G. always sounds like himself, and the same with Loren as well. But the cool thing is that it has that unity of a band. I just really love the way it sounds and I'm really proud of it.

Is there any one song that stands out as your favorite?

My favorite song is the title track, "Long Live Me." What's really funny is the way that I came up with that title. I had bought this t-shirt that has a skull and crossbones on it and it had a little banner on the bottom of it that said "Long live me." I thought that was pretty arrogant, and I liked it! Some people think I'm a little too black and white, or too intimidating or too arrogant, but I think that's just the "New York" way I am.

Describe the setup you used for recording the bass tracks.

I played an ESP Custom 5-string Jazz bass with EMG pickups with the EMG BTC system. I had a direct signal using the SansAmp Bass Driver, and I also used an old Ampeg B-15 bass amp with two microphones. One was an AKG D112 that is used a lot for recording bass drum, and the other was a Sennheiser 421. So there were three tracks of bass for recording between the miked and direct signals.

What did you use to record the guitar track for "Sail On"?

I have an old Washburn D12 that was given to me by Washburn. It's serial number 1. I had it retrofitted with a B-Band pickup. We recorded that direct and with a microphone on it for two signals that we mixed together. I really like the acoustic sound on it.

Did you record your part while Kelly was singing on that one?

No, we did it separately. I recorded the guitar first, and then he overdubbed his vocals.

When will the band be performing live?

There are some dates that we're talking about. We will be in LA first and then possibly do some shows in Europe, Russia and Japan later in the year. All the info will be listed on our MySpace web page—www.myspace.com/thescreaminlords.

When will the album be released?

It's probably going to be released during the summer. That's what we're estimating. There are seven original songs and a remake of the Fastway song "Say What You Will." My plan is also to do some videos featuring some of the guest players we had. I'd like to do videos for "Long Live Me" with Gus G., "Fire In The Blue Sky" with Chris Poland, and "Halo" with George Lynch. I'll be playing with Gus's band, Firewind, at the Musikmesse show in Frankfurt, Germany in March 2007. We will be performing "Long Live Me" and "Fire In The Blue Sky." The performance is going to be filmed and it will be posted on our MySpace page and on YouTube as well.

What do you listen to for enjoyment and inspiration these days? Do your personal tastes vary?

It's a very extreme variety ranging from classic rock to the new metal style, which I also call Euro-metal because it's mostly the new metal bands out of Europe—all the new bands like Arch Enemy, Children Of Bodom, Lacuna Coil—to anything from old R&B music to funk to blues. Everything pretty much influences me, except the Grateful Dead. Anything that's done well and is played from the heart. That's one of the most important things about music. If it sounds like a band is coming across, they're doing it from the heart, and the execution in the performance is really good, then I'm influenced by it.

Are there any particular bands you always tend to go back to?

It's probably old Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin.

What would we find in your CD player or iPod this week?

It would have to be the video iPod. The latest thing I'm watching is Rainbow Live In Munich with Ronnie James Dio, Cozy Powell and Bob Daisley playing bass. I think it's from 1978. It's great!

What advice would you give to other musicians on becoming better songwriters?

Experiment. Make sure it's real and you're true to yourself in what you're playing. Don't try to write for the mainstream or create something that's not you. Definitely write from the heart. Write what you feel and go about doing it the best way possible that you can do it. Don't settle. Be happy with it.

What advice would you offer on putting together a band and finding the right players for the gig?

Chemistry is everything. You've really got to have that chemistry between the people. The personal relationships between the members are probably the most important thing for me because you can have the greatest musicians in the world, and if they hate each other, that weakens the band. You've got to have the right chemistry. From the start, I felt like the chemistry with the guys that I have in the core band of the Screamin' Lords—Jason, Dustin and Chris—it was there. When we got together to play, it was fun and it sounded good, and we all like each other's company. I think that's really important. You've got to like who you're playing with and working with, because if you don't, then it just becomes a drag.