Frankie Furrillo on his Madison Grindcore band “The Central”

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Madison has a history of artists exploring genre blending and experimentation. The central from

Madison is one such band formed in 2010. It's like the experimental side of Frank Zappa created a

duo grindcore band with the fastest drummer on the planet, Alex Roberts. The central will be

taking their experimental grindcore show live at the Gamma Ray Bar on Sunday, September 28th.

And in the studio right now with us is Frankie Ferrillo of the central. Frankie, welcome to MagSync

Radio. Hello, thanks for having me. Wow. Grindcore. Frankie, how did you get started playing music?

I mean, what's your backstory? How did I get started? Well, I actually started with drums.

I was baking the drums. My pops, who's in a band called The Rousers plays around here,

not so much anymore, bought me a drum set. That was the start of the musical career.

And what's your dad's name? Frank Ferrillo. Frank Ferrillo in The Rousers.

Oh, I can't believe that. That is so awesome. So your dad, he's already in a band, right?

So what's he is? How old were you when you started playing drums? I think that was around eight

years older. So got me a drum set, even though we lived in an apartment. So I was that obnoxious

kid. Oh my. But we had the nicest neighbors in the world. So did he give you drum? So drum lessons

or did he have you go somewhere else? No lessons. I was kind of obstinate to taking lessons as a kid,

you know, stubborn kid stuff. Just wanted to bang, bang around on the crashers. So nice.

Well, now you play guitar, right? Yeah, yeah. How did you drift in from drums to guitar?

Well, more or less, there's just been a big music love in the family. So just kind of whatever

is around the house. My aunts, Jackie actually got me a electric guitar. I think close to around

the same age. And then I gravitated more towards guitar. You're like, do a lingo. Yeah, I guess, yeah.

Oh, you know, so tell me, what is experimental genre blending grindcore?

That's a good question. Well, I guess like our main sort of sound is grindcore. The experimental

part is we like to throw other genres in there. We're very influenced by soul, world music,

you know, that sort of thing. So we're really trying particularly like to get weird rhythms in

there. We're very rhythm focused. Yeah, weird time signatures. There's a little bit of almost

like, you know, I go back to the 80s, like stormtroopers of death or something. Okay. Yeah, yeah.

I like that he said Frank Zappa. There's definitely a lot of Frank Zappa in. Well, Frank Zappa did

it. I mean, when you listen to some of the music, it goes back and forth. It's very different than

music you might be hearing on the radio most of the time. So and I remember, I remember Frank Zappa

you know, he did many albums where he really drifted between these sound effects and parts and

sometimes they almost seem disjointed or not even connected. Right. And I heard that a little

a bit in your music. Well, tell us, tell us about the band. I'm sorry. So non-traditional songwriting

techniques. Tell us the style that other bands that follow your track. What other bands? Like I

said, stormtroopers of death. But who would you attribute to maybe some of your inspirations?

Well, I think I'm trying to speak for Alex too, who is definitely the second half of the band.

We'll hear about it. We are big influenced by rhythm-focused music.

Drummer-focused music is a big one. Bands, particular bands, Dillenture Escape Plan was a big one.

Oh, I see you. Another band called Daughters. Right now, we're really influenced by a French band

called Poil. They are very underground, but they're as far as rhythm music goes, as far as

drummer-focused music. This is some of the most inspiring stuff I've heard recently.

Well, tell us about your band in the central. You guys are definitely different.

And also, give the drummer something. Tell us about your drummer, Alex Roberts, because he is fast.

Yes, Al is quite a human. He's definitely an inspiration to be around. Very, very technical drummer,

very creative. I've worked with a lot of drummers in my life, just in other bands,

you know, music stuff. He's my favorite in the world, best friend of life.

No, he's like an encyclopedia when you talk to him of knowledge whether it be history,

music, or anything, really. He should be here talking tonight. He's much better at talking,

but you got me. We got you. And the central, this is a duo.

It is. We kind of do the Steely Dan thing where it's two people that write,

and we'll hire some people like a bass player or whatever, maybe another guitar player to do

big live things, but we also do live stuff as a duo. Tomorrow, we're playing at the Gamma

Reza duo. But yeah, no, just me and Alex do all the writing, all the recording and production

up until this recent album that we just finished tracking. Did you track that out of yourself,

or did you go into a studio? We went into a studio for the first time. We did it. We actually did

something. Oh, what studio? Give me a shout out. Signature tone in Minneapolis, an incredible studio,

incredible engineer, Adam Tucker up there. Another encyclopedia of music knowledge,

just incredible sounds right away. We're mixing with our close friend, Kyle Grossen,

also out of Minneapolis, who has been bugging us for about 10 years to do a project together. So,

we're finally doing it. So many finales in this album are happening.

Well, you guys have been together since like 2010, right?

Yes. Yeah. We started in 2010. We were both in high school. And here we are.

Explain to a lot.

The Central has finished recording a new album out next year, right?

We'll see. It's going to be out.

I will definitely release something next year. We have more unreleased music than we have

released music right now. So we have so much stuff just in the library sitting. So we're

definitely going to release something as far as the album that we just finished tracking. I don't

know. Okay. We'll just see how the how the world works. Well, the Central is playing the

Gamary Bar tomorrow night. Tell us about that show. Yeah, that's playing with you guys. Okay, so

this is a very mixed, cool lineup. If you're a fan of music at all, whether it be heavy or melodic,

you'll like something here. The starting off the show tomorrow is a band called Delatante.

If I am pronouncing that correctly, they're like a math rock pop sort of thing instrumental.

Really cool. I was just wondering how the animal collective deals. Yes. Yes.

They have some animal collective vibes. Really good guitar work. After them is a band called

Vin from Minneapolis. Okay. They're looking at what they call them. So they call it post-hardcore.

I'm not as educated as the post-hardcore genre, but they're heavy. They're slow from what I

was hearing. Very tight, very talented. After them, another band from Minneapolis called Grimlot.

And they're just like a kind of poppy rock and roll band. Really catchy, kind of funky.

Female vocals. Really good stuff. And then after them, the most loudest, then annoying,

most annoying band in all of Madison, Wisconsin, the central, a two-piece crying core with screaming

and a lot of loud noises. Very diverse lineup. People do that more often.

This is what I'm saying. I love diverse lineups. I like mixed genres. I really think that should

be more of a thing in the city. You better get like, don't be a mystery. Don't tell them what's

coming up. Not the socks off. I've had that many times where I've gone to a show not knowing

and was so surprised by a band that I had no idea was going to be there. It's completely out of

the blue. That's always the best. It's the best. One of the reasons why Max and Gradio plays

local music is just to get people familiar with music so that they can maybe see a show that

didn't say, well, I've heard them. Because it's too often where somebody hasn't heard of a band

and they're like, well, I'm not going. That's too much for a band I've never heard. That's

kind of why we exist. You don't get people out to shows. Well, you're doing good work. You're

playing the actual sounds of Madison. Like you hear the advertisements, the sounds of Madison.

And here is Katy Perry. I'm looking for a job. Well, you're getting a very good head start

right now. All right. Thank you. Oh, that's so awesome. Frankie, for your little thank you so

much for taking the time to come down and chat with us tonight. We really appreciate it.

Catch the Central tomorrow night at the Gamary Bar with Grimlad, Vin Delante, and the show starts

at seven. It's 21 plus. And how can we keep up with the Central Online? Oh, we're going to hear

about this new album coming out hilariously with the way music industry is right now. We're the

most active on Instagram. If you want to track IG, we're on the IG. We do the TikToks. The whole

thing Facebook, not so much, but we're on the social media is all of them. We're on Spotify for

a time being and Bandcamp is where we get the most money. So if you want to listen to us on Bandcamp

or buy something there, that's a great place to do it. Well, let's get a little taste of the

Central right now. And Jeremy and James Band is coming up by Maxing Radio.

How does this bit from the Saxon? You're listening to Maxing Radio. Radio for the people.

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