Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal of Guns N' Roses Interview

Thursday, 26 November 2009

Written by Gus Griesinger

There aren?t many times where you get to talk to a real genuine person who cares not only his work but the people who he works with and is involved with on a daily basis. Ron ?Bumblefoot? Thal is definitely one of those people. I met Ron back in July when he was touring with Lita and at that time we talked bout doing an interview. Not only did Ron stick to his word, he couldn?t be more accommodating to do it. We talked about how he got involved with Axl and GNR to his involvement with raising awareness for Multiple Sclerosis. Didn?t Axl sing ?We got your disease?? Well, we have your disease right here live in the flesh, an interview with ?Bumblefoot!?

Gus: One of the big CD?s that came out late last year was ?Chinese Democracy.?  It was a huge buzz surrounding the release of the CD. Why did it take the band so long to tour in support of the record?

Ron: There were other possible or potential tours or itineraries in the works that just didn?t happen for whatever reason. This one did though. Why? (laughs) I don?t try to know anything. My philosophy as time goes on is swinging more towards 'ignorance is bliss.' The less I know the happier I am. I don?t want to know a damn thing except tell me when to get on stage and play.

Gus: Guns N? Roses are scheduled to perform in Japan in December. I?m sure your looking forward to it. What can the fans expect when you guys do perform live?

Ron: I can't give anything away as we are trying to keep it a surprise until we do it. We will be playing a lot of old stuff, newer stuff, a lot of bombs n' pyro (laughs.) I'm dodging the question ? you know, the stuff you see at a big rock show.

Gus: You just wrapped up doing rehearsals and you have anew guitar partner in DJ Ashba. How did your rehearsals go with DJ?

Ron: It went great! He is a damn good guy to be in a band with. He gives a lot of himself and adds a lot of himself to every aspect of it. He gets involved artistically. He?s a damn good guy. I?ve enjoyed getting to know him and playing with him. And working through the insanity of getting the stuff down with him. Now, I?m just really looking forward to getting on stage with him.

Gus: So he is fitting in quite well and fitting in nicely with everybody?

Ron: He?s good to go!

Gus: That?s good to hear. How did you originally get involved with one of the biggest marquee name bands in the world?

Ron: It was about 5 years ago. I got an email from Joe Satriani to tell me he recommended me for the gig (Guns N? Roses) so if someone did reach out that I knew it wasn?t a joke or something. Very soon after, one of the guys from the band emailed me and we started talking. I started talking to guys working on the album about recording and then spoke to management. Eventually we hit the road and started touring and in between legs of the tour started recording tracks for the album, putting my 2 cents into it. That was it, and here we are.

Gus: Looking back since the release of Chinese Democracy, are you happy with the finished product or would there be something you would change?

Ron: On my behalf, I?m as happy as I possibly can be. Which goes like, I?m happy for a week, and then I start hearing all the things I would like to change. That?s the way I am with all my own albums too. Anything I?m involved with I?m like that. The honeymoon period lasts for about a week, then the little things start to haunt ya (laughs.) It?s always like that but I've gotten better at rolling with it and now it doesn?t drive me as crazy. You've got to treat it like a moment and that moment was captured, and then move on to the next moment.

Gus: In 2008, you released 2 solo CD?s ?Barefoot,? which is a collection of acoustic songs and ?Abnormal,? which is a continuation of your previous solo effort ?Normal.?  Are you working on any future solo material?

Ron: I've been so focused on all the GNR stuff for the whole year that I really haven?t been able to. Hopefully next year I will be able to write some stuff, and I wouldn?t mind getting more into writing for films and stuff like that.

Continue reading here: http://www.backstageaxxess.com/index.php/interviews/169-bumblefootinterview

That's for sure   :D

I'm looking forward to that as well.  :yes:

Gus: Vigier designed the flying foot guitar as it?s all over the internet as well as you used this guitar to perform live. Will this guitar be used on stage with Guns N? Roses?
Ron: I brought that thing out in the first year of touring. It?s the kind of guitar you either love it or you hate it. It?s probably best to leave it out of the GNR thing and use it for my own wacky bizarre music where it makes more sense and is more fitting.

Oh geez.  I can't believe I'm saying this.

Ron, bring the foot guitar.

thanks man! interresting that he's been "focused on all the GNR the whole year" some recording done eh :smoking:

Im surprised DJ is still with them.I was expecting them to part ways after Vince Neil mentioned DJ Ashba ranting about the band and Axl not touring.

Ron seems to be pretty easy with all the confusion.

there was no confusion, Vince Neil is a loser ... and a liar ... and all the world knows

Ron and the other boys are inteligent people, Vince can tell what he wants ... Vince is not DJ

 :beer:

I kind of thought so too but you have to remember its Vince and it was probably blowing out his own ass. lol

Fuck Vince.  Look folks, Ron is missing his foot guitar.  It's GNR, we certainly should not be making someone feel like they have to conform to some standard of rock n roll.  A man's guitar is a man's guitar.

Bring back the foot guitar.

Bumblefoot rocks, he's awesome, one of the coolest member that Guns N' Roses ever had but I think his foot guitar doesn't fit with GN'R.

Yes, someone could say "and a guy with a bucket and a mask does?" I don't know...it's different. Ron can change of guitar, Buckethead cannot change his character.

He will bring the double neck with fretless and some vigier standart.

 :hihi: :rofl: :hihi:

On:

Good Interview, Ronald Is One Person Very Good... ThanKs.

Problem is here, Vince is very good friends with DJ Ashba, as are the rest of Motley Crue. DJ is in one of Nikkis side bands also. So i hardly doubt Vince is gonna stir shit up for one of his friends, and a person that co-wrote the new Crue album (which is why it sucked)

Good interview, Ron is awsome!!!

I could understand why, now that he's 'established' himself in the band and with the fans, he'd want to differentiate his solo stuff from his GNR stuff so it would make sense that he would leave his foot guitar and swisscheese guitar, etc, to his solo gigs.

Didn't the original foot guitar get broken during one of the GNR shows so that's why Ron had that contest for people to design another guitar for him?



I believe you're mixing up what DJ actually said with all the bullshit spewing that V.N. was doing.

All V.N. said that DJ said was that at that particular point in time (when no doubt DJ was familiarizing himself with his part of the material in conjunction with the Ron n' Richard n' Tommy parts), that Axl was not at those rehearsals.

Not a big fuckin deal IMO.  Even I know that that's usually how things work with band rehearsals.

P.S.  And I believe also at that time that none of the tour plans were finalized and I wouldn't think that DJ would be part of those kinds of 'business' negotiations.

From a person with a physical disability, it is very nice to read that Bumblefoot raises awareness for MS.  Good article.

Thanks, that was a good one!!  sounds like everyone is excited about the tour!

Seriously?  We're going let Ron leave his favorite guitar at home because it "doesn't fit" the image?

Damn, reading this make me very curious to know what new wrinkles will be added to this tour/show

(http://www.mypictureshare.com/img/R/P.gif)

No, man. He said that his guitar is broke and that it doesn't fit him anymore. Don't know if he's doing that to please GnR fans, but I doubt it.

I'll just let it go, he's happy with his decision.  I'm not saying shit any more about what someone choses to play, even in joking.  Absolutely, a person's right to pick their own design.

Ron is by far my favourite guitarist in the current Guns N' Roses. Such a down-to-earth person and a very talented player too.  :)