LUDO  

"a genre hopping, yarn spinning, rock
band with a great sense of humor."

-State of Emergency  

"One of the best lyrically-driven albums of the year."

-Mindset Magazine  

"... can make you actually bang your head, tap your foot
, and laugh hysterically all at the same time."

-The Badger Herald  

" ... pop with crushing guitars and singable choruses..."

- The Northwest Indiana Times

In their first 15 months Ludo played over 150 shows in over 30 cities, including shows at The Midwest Music Summit, South by Southwest, the 2004 Vans Warped Tour, and CMJ Music Marathon. Throughout 2004 Ludo shared the stage with acts such as Bowling for Soup, Tantric, Coheed & Cambria, Sparta , Breaking Benjamin and Five for Fighting.

Look for Ludo in the Fuse TV/Tower Records' Next Big Thing Awards in November 2004. See their video for "Hum Along" here .

Timothy John Ferrell, Jr.           
Birthday: September 22nd
Birthplace:   St. Louis, MO
  
Playing Since: I was 6 years old
 
Gear: Dean Z Select guitar, old beat-up 5150 head with Fender (Soon to be Bogner) cab, Sennheiser wireless, boss tuner and digital delay (DD-6), MXR Phaser, Original Dunlop Crybaby, Digitech Whammy pedal. 

Influences: Slash, Dimebag Darrell, Marty Freidman, Paul Gilbert, Eddie Van Halen, Vernon Reid, even CC DeVille (hey, he was the first guy I ever heard play fast - I didn't know guitars could sound like that).

1st concert: I remember seeing The Coasters for free with my parents when I was little. The first show I went to on my own was one of the lollapalooza shows. I went early because rage against the machine was the first band on the main stage and I had read a guitar magazine article saying their guitar player was amazing and they were trying to combine elements of rap and metal. Nobody knew who they were but they destroyed the place. Other acts at that show: Fishbone, Primus, Alice in Chains, the Descendants (side stage), Tool (sidestage - couldn't get anywhere near the stage so I couldn't see them and could barely hear them, I didn't know who they were anyway - I had just heard they were good)
 
Best concert I've seen:   No idea, really. The first time I saw Pantera (7th or 8th grade) was life-changing. Dillinger Escape Plan is astounding. PMO [drummer for Ludo] tried to get me to listen to them for a while and I didn't pay attention. but saw them at SXSW and was totally blown away. I ended up going to see them again the same night for another show and then again two days later. Seriously, they're amazing. 
 
Favorite moment on the road: Meeting Dimebag Darrell at SXSW in Austin , TX . almost missing our soundcheck at a show in Chicago because we went to catch part of a half-hour, free, outdoor set by 311 downtown that we heard about right before our show.  We paid like $30 in cab fair to catch 2 songs. It was worth it.
 
On the road I MUST have: books and cds
 
When I was little I wanted to be: a guitar/rockstar
 
1st CD I bought: No idea. There were such things as tapes before CDs, you know. Early tapes I remember having were Poison - Flesh & Blood, Metalicca (black album), Slapstick - Lookit!, The Doors, Aerosmith - Pump, a Jimi Hendrix tape, an MU330 tape, some metal mix from my friend Kevin (Thos) that definitely included "Antisocial" by Anthrax and "Dr. Feelgood" by Motley Crue. I know I had Motley Crue - Decade of Decadence on tape. I guess none of that is in chronological order. I think the first CDs I got were through BMG (mailorder - you got 12 for 12 cents or something). I know those included Skid Row - Skid Row, Pearl Jam - Ten, The Essential Jimi Hendrix, Best of The Doors, and more I can't remember.
 
Last CD I bought: Either The Get Up Kids - Guilt Show or The Cure - Galore. Oh, and Mastadon - Remission.  
 
Guilty pleasure CD: Poison - Flesh & Blood. Life Goes On was my favorite video forever because it had a close up of CC's fingers during that kick-ass guitar solo.
  
Favorite Behind the music: It would be the Guns 'n Roses one if I could see the damn thing. I wish they'd do one on Skid Row.
 
Favorite TV theme song:   The Headbanger's Ball theme song was eventually just a medley of Pantera songs. That was awesome. I wish I had a copy of that mix so I could use it as an alarm clock.

The Classic Dean Z
Dean USA HardTail