Ferdinands, Richard

Information About

Don Ferdinands is a composer, songwriter, drummer, guitarist and singer. He played the drums and did backing vocals with Scarlet Fever, Gypsy and Broadsword and he was the vocalist and lead guitarist in Bitter Creek and Paladin. He comes from a family of musicians and though most fans know him as a drummer, he is also a capable guitarist in his own right. From Singapore but currently working in Australia, Don writes and works from his home studio where he records, mixes and masters his albums. Fans familiar with Don Ferdinands may consider his first album Lonely Angel a tame offering; not fully representative of his musical style. However, it displays his ability to tackle different styles, most notably modern country and shows a different facet of his writing and performance. It also highlights his technical ability to produce, mix and master audio recordings. Slipping Away, his second album has a heavier feel and it veers towards classic rock. A little-known fact about Don is his love for photography. The artwork for Lonely Angel was a photograph taken by Don on a cold, autumn dawn whilst he was visiting Lake Wörthersee in Austria. He prepared the album artwork and meticulously oversaw ever stage of production of both the digital version as well as the physical audio CD version of the album. In keeping with this tradition, Slipping Away also features cover art consisting of his photography. It features a brilliant sunrise caught on camera in Western Australia. An injury suffered in 2009 resulted in Don being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite the exhausting effects of his illness, Don could reach within and succeed where many others have failed. He believes that we are the architects of our fate and despite the terrible nature of the illness, we can prevail if we focus on the positive. Therefore keeping busy has meant more than just writing and recording his music. Don is concurrently writing a book about how he copes with PTSD and hopes it will shed some light on the illness.