He Was Replaced in Guns N’ Roses. He Still Loves Axl

Drummer Frank Ferrer was at his then-seven-year-old daughter’s talent show in 2006 when his phone rang. On the line was his friend Tommy Stinson, the Replacements bassist who was in the middle of a long tenure in Guns N’ Roses at the time.  ”Hey, man, there’s this thing happening,” Stinson told him. “Why don’t you learn a bunch of Guns songs? I’ll give you more info later on.” As it turned out, Guns drummer Brian “Brain” Mantia’s wife was due to have a baby while the band had a tour booked, and the idea was to recruit a sub for two weeks until Mantia returned.

Ferrer ended up playing in Guns N’ Roses for 19 years, longer than Steven Adler and Matt Sorum combined, becoming the longest-serving drummer in the band’s history. He played on Chinese Democracy, and performed with multiple line-ups of the band — when Slash and Duff McKagan came back, Rose kept Ferrer on board. Then, in March of 2025, the band announced his exit, thanked him for his service, and named Isaac Carpenter as his replacement. 

Ferrer is currently playing in two bands, the Slax (with guitarist Brett Smith-Daniels, Band of Skulls guitarist Russell Marsden, bassist Stefan Bielik, and singer Chris Payn) and One Night Only (with Hanoi Rocks and Electric Boys guitarist Conny Bloom, bassist Johnny Griparic of Slash’s Snakepit, keyboardist Bob Fridzema, and Swedish singer Matti Alfonzetti). He recently jumped on a Zoom with Rolling Stone for his first post-Guns interview, looking back — with an admirable degree of gratitude — at his years with Axl Rose. 

Why don’t we start by talking about your new bands and what’s going on?I kinda hooked up with Brett through Matt Sorum, who introduced us. And Matt Sorum apparently told Brett, “Hey, Frank is around. You might wanna talk to him.” And then Brett was able to bring in Chris, the singer, and Russell from Band of Skulls, who’s pretty awesome. And Brett also found the bass player, Stefan. He said, “Hey, I got a group of musicians that might wanna do stuff when everybody else isn’t busy. We have some quiet time. Let’s get together and play.” And I was like, “Yeah, let’s give it a go. I’m up for anything nowadays.”

Tell me about the sound of the band and where you are in the process.Right now, basically we got together and we decided to play a bunch of our favorite songs. We did some Band of Skulls songs and Chris, the singer, had a couple of originals that we did also. And Brett had an original we did. So we did a few of their songs, and then we did some covers. Everything from Free, Aerosmith, some Joan Jett. We picked out a bunch of songs that we like to play, and the crowds in London and in Europe in general, they just love to hear classic rock & roll, so they’re very open and receptive to that.

Are you recording an album with them?What we’re gonna do is we’re gonna try to put a package together so we can get more gigs. We’re gonna record a couple of covers and then one or two originals that we could send out to people if they wanna get an idea of what the band sounds like. It’s not an album, but we’re gonna record a few songs. It’s just to give people an idea, if you wanna come out to the show and see what kinda band it’s gonna be, it’s gonna be that kind of vibe.

Do you know what covers you’re gonna record?I’m not sure yet. We’ve done “Draw the Line” by Aerosmith, and the Joan Jett one we played was “I Hate Myself for Loving You.” I love that song. I love that drummer, Thommy Price.

And you said that’s not your only project?No, I’m working with some Swedish musicians, kinda doing the same thing. Conny Bloom was in Hanoi Rocks and the Electric Boys, and Johnny Griparic who plays in Slash’s solo blues band, but was also in Snakepit back in the day. They brought in a keyboard player, Bob Fridzema, and Matti Alfonzetti, a Swedish singer who’s super great, super soulful. David Coverdale, Paul Rodgers kinda vibe. But with that band we do a Guns song and we play an Electric Boys song, and we play a Slash song. With that band we’re doing more of a, “Hey, come and celebrate the stuff that this band’s legacy is part of.” And we throw some covers in there too, obviously. We’re calling that band One Night Only. Related Content Guns N’ Roses’ Duff McKagan Praises ‘Bigger Than Life’ Canadian Punks D.O.A. in Doc Clip Kanye West’s Unlikely New Concert Partner: Live Nation Israel No ‘Stairway’? These Are the Top 10 Riffs Played at Guitar Center Stores See Guns N’ Roses Perform ‘Bad Apples’ Live for First Time Since 1991

It is a transition, from a long, steady gig to this new life. What’s that transition been like?It’s been really good, actually. I’ve been able to spend a little more time at home, just a little bit more. Still trying to keep busy. It’s 50/50, how can I say? Guns is such a big, huge, high-energy, global thing. And now even though I’m playing a lot in Europe more than in the States, I’m doing more of a smaller local thing, but I get to play with some of my favorite people. I did a tribute thing for Clem Burke who passed away recently, the drummer of Blondie. Got to play with Glen Matlock of the Pistols, and Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s, some members of the Fleshtones, Tommy Stinson, who I haven’t played with since Guns 11 years ago or whatever. I did a couple songs with him. I’m gonna go do a Psychedelic Furs run later this year, late October into November. So it’s not so much a big, giant touring stadium thing, but it’s great. I get to work with some of my favorite people. It is a transition, but it’s a good one.

How much of a fan of Guns N’ Roses were you early on? How much were they on your radar?They were big in New York… I remember when I first heard “It’s So Easy,” I thought they were a New York City band, ’cause they sound like the Dictators or something like that. They didn’t sound like an L.A. glam band. They sounded like a New York City punk band. They were more like New York Dolls and Dictators than they were like Poison or any of those. It sounded mean and raw, ripped jeans and T-shirts. I used to see them in New York all the time. 

In 2006, you were at a talent show and you get a call.Yeah. I was at my daughter’s talent show. It’s funny because my friend Anthony Esposito, bass player that was in Lynch Mob, he was putting a band together for Ace Frehley. So Anthony, this New York City guitar player Rob Bailey, and I were rehearsing Ace songs. And I was thinking, “Oh, this is gonna be great. I’m gonna get to play in  Ace’s band.” And then I got a phone call from Tommy. I found out later on that Brain was gonna have a kid, and they had this big tour. So I was gonna step in for about a two-week period.

Was that first rehearsal like playing with any other band?No. It was huge. It was a big deal. I definitely saw it like that. Like I said, I had a couple of songs in my back pocket, and I remember thinking, “I’m letting it go. I’m just gonna play as hard and as mean as I possibly can. I’m leaving it all out there.” I played as if I was playing a gig, for sure.

How many rehearsals did you actually get before the first show?My soundchecks were kinda like rehearsals, for lack of a better word, and remember, they’re doing festivals and stuff, so they’re not soundchecking every show. I think I had maybe three rehearsals before I played the gig. Maybe four altogether. Because also, Brain has to soundcheck also, so we only got very limited times to work on music, and I’m also at this point also learning all the new Chinese Democracy stuff that we’re playing on tour. It was kinda stressful, but exciting-stressful, not “Oh, my God, what am I gonna do?” It was more like, “Oh, fuck, I gotta get this down.”

And that stuff wasn’t released. How did you learn it?No. They gave me the demos. They gave me the tracks. I remember [guitarist] Robin Finck being super supportive. A couple times I went into his room, him and I, and I would play on my lap, and he played on his guitar not plugged in. And we’d run through all the stuff. It was pretty cool, actually. And that’s how we learned it. They were playing four or five songs off the unreleased record at that point.