The Minneapolis based rock band Fuzzrd is on my short list of bands that I think has a chance of dominating rock radio and festivals in the near future. For me it all starts with the song and boy oh boy do these guys have the goods.
This is the kind of rock and roll that keeps the genre alive and kicking. No need to hide ripping guitars, thunderous basslines, drums the way they should sound and screaming vocals surrounded by air tight harmonies.
The first time I heard ‘Pins and Needles’ I knew I needed to talk to these guys and get an inside track on the music they are creating.
I was able to catch up with Lead Vocalist and Guitar Player, Brett Petrusek and talk about the bands formation and new record – Near Life Experience – Released December 9, 2021.
I asked Brett how the band found their way to one another. Brett tells Sound Vapors, “The bass player, Robert Berg and I have been together almost our entire careers since we were teenagers. There was one time we split when he was in California. He then came back to Minnesota and we’ve been in the same band ever since. The drummer, Scott Savage and I have been friends for multiple years. We would get together every now and then, just for fun, just to play. Maybe when my band wasn’t busy or his band wasn’t. We’ve done this on and off for years. So it was about that time I was like, hey man, let’s get a rehearsal space and do this. Every time we’d get together we’d slug out all these cool tunes. I liked his vibe on drums and my guitar fit with him and there was a good rhythm there. There was a good vibe and we just put it together.”
Brett continues describing the formation of the band, “We did switch guitar players midstream. There was Eric #1 – Eric Vobejda was with us when we first started working on the album. But he was in multiple bands and Fuzzrd got to the point where we knew we needed someone that was 100% all the time because we found ourselves being psychotic about our work ethic. And really this wasn’t work because it was so fun. I was in the studio working on something with our producer. The drummer and bass player were doing a rhythm section thing together. Rehearsals without me. We were working on social media stuff. Someone was doing something everyday and we realized – all hands on deck, all the time.”
The lineup then completes as Brett explains, “Enter Eric Fairchild, who was a friend of mine back since the 90’s. He’s a great guitarist and great musical partner and collaborator. We put it together and just started recording the album during the pandemic.”
Fuzzrd has definitely found its sweet spot. I love that these guys aren’t trying to be anybody else. They have their own sound – which in my opinion is straight up rock and roll without any gimmicks. While true rockers always be influenced by Sabbath, Zeppelin and moving in to 80’s rock with the likes of Van Halen, Def Leppard and so on.. Fuzzrd does not sound like any one of those bands. You know what else they don’t sound like? Some of the stuff that is being passed off as rock and roll these days. They’ve managed to retain the bite of some of those bands I mentioned all the while managing to sound current. Not the easiest thing to do. But they do it well and I think that’s why I’m so hot on the band’s sound.
Another track on the album that blew me away was ‘Viral Connection’. This song features the legendary Mark Slaughter. I wondered how this collaboration came about. Brett says, “The first guitarist, Eric Vobejda had met him through the industry and kind of slipped him one of the tracks, ‘Monster Carnival’. Mark heard it and had a similar reaction.. kind of like you :laughs: and was like, whoa, who is this band? What are you guys doing, do you need any help putting this out there? He was kind of taking more of a mentoring role thinking, “hey this is a baby-band and they kind of have something.. how can I help them.”
Brett continues of the formation of the collaboration and tells me, “Eric connected Mark and I and we hit it off and became naturally friendly. He was more or less trying to offer guidance to make sure that when we released our album that we were doing things the right way. So then we got to the song, ‘Viral Connection’ in the studio and we couldn’t figure out harmony vocals for it. The lead vocal line dances around, it’s up and it’s down and it’s got a lot of movement to it. So Jeremy said, why don’t you call Mark Slaughter and ask him what he would do?“
“So I did.”
Brett finishes, “And he says, yeah man, send me the track. Like a lot of great musicians do, he wrote out some vocal melodies on his guitar. He tracked the guitars and he sent them back. I heard the guitars and I was like – WHOA. Those guitars are bad ass! I called him back and was like, dude you’ve gotta lay these guitars down. So he went nuts and sort of stacked up harmonies. I asked him to rip a solo on the outro and he nailed it!”
Mark also sang some low background harmonies with Brett and the result is a killer track that really speaks to everyone’s talent. It’s a collab that I hope makes another appearance on future Fuzzrd records.
Here’s the video that also features Mark Slaughter.
I’m truly stoked to see what the future holds for Fuzzrd. Brett has a great demeanor and is a really talented musician. You can feel the positive vibes when speaking with him. I know that doesn’t always sell records but it just adds to the total package that Fuzzrd brings to the table.
Keep and eye out for these rockers from Minneapolis. You just might be seeing them invade your city soon. And if they do, make sure you get tickets to the show. I know I will be in attendance rocking out. Going in for another listen right now.
-Tommy Marz
You can find Tommy on Twitter
For More On FUZZRD, Visit: