5.5 Questions: Frank Fussa of Morning Fuzz

Aug 12, 2013 by Randy Combs

After talking with Frank Fussa of Morning Fuzz, you can’t help but sense the rock and roll running through his veins. You feel and hear the commitment to Morning Fuzz’s fans because, first and foremost, the band members are music fans themselves and they never want people to feel shortchanged.

This was TJWS’s first recorded 5.5 and you’re getting a transcription of the 5.5 part of the interview. There were additional questions asked (about guitars and such) which you’ll be able to hear exclusively on the audio soon.

What got you into music?

Frank: growing up… I always wanted to, as far back as I remember, I wanted to play music. Me and Chris, the bass player, we were in a band together before this one. We grew up skateboarding our whole lives since we were like really young, that’s how we got into all that punk rock, watching skate videos, that’s how we got into you know, Dinosaur Jr., Bad Religion, all those cool bands, you know like Millencolin, Rancid.

So, when we were really young, we were picking up the instruments and actually learning how to play them, We always had guitars and never knew what we were doing with them, at like 5 years old, using the wrong fingers. We were just strumming it because we wanted to play so bad.

When we started actually figuring stuff out, it was basically like the 90’s scene. The alternative, like Nirvana, that’s what got me wanting to do it. Nirvana was my favorite band in the world, everything Nirvana, and then when I started getting a little older I got more into the punk, like Bad Religion. We started getting really into that and were trying to mimic that as kids playing in garage bands. That’s really shaped everything like there’s always going be that in my writing way, even if the song isn’t punk, you know what I mean? That’s always been a big part of, you know, no effects and all that stuff; that was a big influence on me growing up.

I figured, being in Long Island, you guys would say Ramones.

Frank: oh Ramones, we love the Ramones, too. You know when you’re that young like I was, honestly, I didn’t even start listening to the Ramones until I was like a little bit older maybe 16 17, 18 years old. Then you start getting into all of these bands that you’re just hearing about, in the whole underground little scene. You’re going to these shows, sneaking on the train to go to the shows in the city, and then you start hearing about what these guys use to listen to, who were they influenced by. Then you hear, holy shit, the Ramones; you actually start hearing the songs, not just the ones they play on the radio, you start hearing their records; do you know what I mean?

Yeah, I know what you mean, what has been Morning Fuzz’s coolest day ever?

Frank: coolest day ever? Recently, we got to play on the Artie Lange Show, that was really cool, that was really fun, you know? I’m a huge fan, a lot of us in the band are huge fans of Artie from like Howard Stern and everything. So when we found out we were going to go on there, the day before, not the day our album came out on a Tuesday, it was the Friday before our album came out, we got to go on there to promote our record and play a few songs and do an interview. That was one of the coolest days.

That is very cool.

Frank: that was very cool, I know for me that was one of the coolest days, we got to play and you know hang out with Artie. You get to meet Artie Lange, and you know just be on TV and you know it was the first time; everything was so exciting, we were excited to release the record.

Did you guys self release or are you on a label?

Frank: no, we self released; we don’t even have management. We bust our ass, I’m on the computer like all day doing stuff you know?

If you could have your fans remember one thing about Morning Fuzz what would it be?

Frank: our goal is to put on one of the greatest shows, when you come to see us we want you to say like, wow that was amazing, you know? When we were young, going to specific shows, seeing our favorite bands or whatever, that feeling of walking out of the show going like “wow” that band was fucking awesome. We want people to walk away from the show and be like “that band was great” and become more of a fan and start coming back. I want people to get the same feeling that I get when I walk out of a really great show.

That’s admirable because as expensive as music has gotten to see live, you pay 50, 60, 70 bucks to see someone live and you walk out feeling like your pocket has just been picked.

Frank: oh yeah dude, there’s a lot of bands out there that do that, that’s a horrible feeling too. You don’t want to be that band, you don’t want to be the one that people came in to see it and halfway through the show you’re like, “this sucks, why am I here?”

If you weren’t a musician, what would you be doing right now?

Frank: I couldn’t even imagine myself not being a musician, I’d be lifeless man, I can’t imagine, without music I have no idea. It’s the only thing I’m interested in, it’s the only thing I care about.

What is Morning Fuzz’s favorite slang or curse word and why?

Frank: curse word? Dude, we’re from New York, we curse a lot. We try to be polite and not curse on the phone.

If you want to fucking curse, fucking curse man.

Frank – when I talk, I say fuck every 2 seconds, fuck in band practice, anything dude, fuck, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck a million fucks. I would just put a million fucks.

What’s on the ideal Morning Fuzz sandwich, and what would you wash it down with?

Frank: the ideal Morning Fuzz sandwich? Trying to think, like what’s our favorite

I know you guys are Italian you’ve got to have something.

Frank: I was gonna say dude, our sandwich would be some kind of Italian thing, like a chicken parm sandwich, we’d wash it down with a little fuckin’ chianti; a little red wine.

Make sure to visit  The Morning Fuzz website and, more importantly, pick up their new album.

Morning Fuzz interview on The Artie Lange show.