Videos of Richard Fortus guitar workshop in Sydney (November 20, 2014)

[Ginger King]

Could be wrong, but my feeling is that, in terms of creative input, writing, etc, neither Buckethead nor Ron were taken seriously by the other band members (other than Axl).  Robin had referred to Buckethead in an interview as a 'stunt guitarist', Tommy had said "Buckethead going away is the best thing that could've happened to the band", so perhaps unfairly, Ron may have inherited that disdain, coming in as the shredder/virtuoso guitarist. 

Look, if you spend your time in the studio in a chicken coop watching hard core porn in a mask with a bucket on your head, then it's not hard to see why the other members didn't exactly relate to him.

Bucket and Ron are two totally different people.  There may be some parallels with playing styles, but that's it.

But maybe its like the pro golfer that doesn't respect the long drive guy.

True...like a gimmicky, one trick pony.  I think Ron has shown a bit more diversity than being just a shred-monster, but I see your point.

[norway]

nobody's worked on stuff with Ron.

Fail  well kinda dunno 

Ron been rly impressing me, live with gnr at least.

[ice cream sand pig]

nobody's worked on stuff with Ron.

Ron been rly impressing me, live with gnr at least.

Cheers to that! I hope Ron is all over the next album. But then again, I hope everyone is all over the next album (all the way back to Josh Freeze and whoever else in between). Part of what I like so much about CD is that it is a massive collaboration of so many brilliant artists. Definitely hoping to see that again.

[jarmo]

Man, imagine this first song/riff Richard played... WITH AXL VOICE!

Isn't that Richard's solo?



/jarmo

[Ali]

My thought is perhaps Ron had the opportunity to contribute, but chose not to.  Sounds like the other guys worked on stuff and submitted it to Axl.  Maybe Ron feels that as a band they should all write together and doesn't want to see his parts chopped up and put back together without his input. 

That sounds very plausible.

It doesn't sound all that plausible to me given that Ron already recorded parts to songs that were already written for CD.  It could be any one of a number of things, including what Jarmo has said about Ron adding parts later on or at a different time.

Ron confirmed in his Reddit AMA that they (meaning including him) have worked on each other's song ideas.  So, the notion that he has been left out of the process of working on new material entirely is not supported by even him.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1tti1i/

[?]feconroses 22 points 11 months ago
Have you guys written and/or recorded any new songs since 2009?
permalink
[?]TheRealBumblefoot 12 points 11 months ago
Together, that we finished? No. Playing on each other's song ideas? Yes.

Ali

[ice cream sand pig]

Thanks for clearing that up Ali. So from that it's obvious that Ron is not being singled out and prevented from contributing material for whatever strange reason.

[HBK]

So, the notion that he has been left out of the process of working on new material entirely is not supported by even him.

Ali

Or Ron kept waiting for the band to get together instead of doing what the others did? And when he realized that, they already had enough ideas....


/jarmo

I Believe

 

[jarmo]

It doesn't sound all that plausible to me given that Ron already recorded parts to songs that were already written for CD.  It could be any one of a number of things, including what Jarmo has said about Ron adding parts later on or at a different time.

Ron confirmed in his Reddit AMA that they (meaning including him) have worked on each other's song ideas.  So, the notion that he has been left out of the process of working on new material entirely is not supported by even him.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1tti1i/

[?]feconroses 22 points 11 months ago
Have you guys written and/or recorded any new songs since 2009?
permalink
[?]TheRealBumblefoot 12 points 11 months ago
Together, that we finished? No. Playing on each other's song ideas? Yes.

Ali

Interesting. So he's contributed to somebody else's ideas.
Maybe the inaudible question was relating to what Ron and what Dj had said in previous interviews. So Richard made it clear how things work. 




/jarmo

[GeorgeSteele]

It doesn't sound all that plausible to me given that Ron already recorded parts to songs that were already written for CD.  It could be any one of a number of things, including what Jarmo has said about Ron adding parts later on or at a different time.

Ron confirmed in his Reddit AMA that they (meaning including him) have worked on each other's song ideas.  So, the notion that he has been left out of the process of working on new material entirely is not supported by even him.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1tti1i/

[?]feconroses 22 points 11 months ago
Have you guys written and/or recorded any new songs since 2009?
permalink
[?]TheRealBumblefoot 12 points 11 months ago
Together, that we finished? No. Playing on each other's song ideas? Yes.

Ali

Interesting. So he's contributed to somebody else's ideas.
Maybe the inaudible question was relating to what Ron and what Dj had said in previous interviews. So Richard made it clear how things work. 




/jarmo

The only way I could reconcile Richard's comments with Ron's is that maybe Ron worked on stuff alone remotely (for example, working on stuff alone and then sending it to the other guys electronically and going back and forth from there) while the other guys actually got together.  At around 8:10 of this interview, Tommy talks about the guys going to DJ's studio at his Vegas house after the residency:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g3iE38AY0o.  If Richard is saying they never worked with Ron, maybe he means that Ron was never present at a session such as that? 
 

[jarmo]

Yeah. There's all kinds of possible reasons for Richard's comment.


/jarmo

[Ali]

It doesn't sound all that plausible to me given that Ron already recorded parts to songs that were already written for CD.  It could be any one of a number of things, including what Jarmo has said about Ron adding parts later on or at a different time.

Ron confirmed in his Reddit AMA that they (meaning including him) have worked on each other's song ideas.  So, the notion that he has been left out of the process of working on new material entirely is not supported by even him.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1tti1i/

[?]feconroses 22 points 11 months ago
Have you guys written and/or recorded any new songs since 2009?
permalink
[?]TheRealBumblefoot 12 points 11 months ago
Together, that we finished? No. Playing on each other's song ideas? Yes.

Ali

Interesting. So he's contributed to somebody else's ideas.
Maybe the inaudible question was relating to what Ron and what Dj had said in previous interviews. So Richard made it clear how things work. 




/jarmo

The only way I could reconcile Richard's comments with Ron's is that maybe Ron worked on stuff alone remotely (for example, working on stuff alone and then sending it to the other guys electronically and going back and forth from there) while the other guys actually got together.  At around 8:10 of this interview, Tommy talks about the guys going to DJ's studio at his Vegas house after the residency:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g3iE38AY0o.  If Richard is saying they never worked with Ron, maybe he means that Ron was never present at a session such as that? 
 

I think that is a very plausible scenario, yes.

Ali

[jarmo]

It even made it onto Blabbermouth with quotes from Richard and Dj

On how much he contributed to the writing process for 2008's "Chinese Democracy":

Fortus: "On 'Chinese Democracy', I was adding to ideas that were already there. That entire record was written when I joined the band 13 years ago. Except I wrote the chorus to 'Better'. A lot of the new stuff [that ended up on that album] that [we were] working on, some of that stuff [are ideas that came] from nothing and some of the stuff is stuff that [we had] been working on that were ideas that were already there. Some of the stuff Slash did that was the beginning of the seed of the song that's been around for a while."

On the progress of the songwriting sessions for the follow-up to "Chinese Democracy":

Fortus: "DJ [Ashba, GUNS N' ROSES guitarist] and I have worked on stuff… Nobody's worked on stuff with Ron ['Bumblefoot' Thal, GUNS N' ROSES guitarist].

"There's so much stuff that's recorded, there's so much stuff that was done. I mean, there's three albums' worth of material, easy…

"I know this week he's [GUNS N' ROSES singer Axl Rose] recording a lot of stuff, vocally.

"That camp is very… I don't know why. It's just that they're very… Axl is very secretive. He doesn't want stuff getting out. He wants to create stuff and then release it when it's ready. Which I… I get it. He's also a bit of a perfectionist, as you can imagine.

"The way [Axl] generally works is that he doesn't wanna take an idea that DJ sent and… What he'll do is he'll take a little piece that I sent, he'll take a little piece that DJ sent on another track, and he's always done that. Back even with the 'Appetite [For Destruction]' stuff, he would take a little bit from this, a little bit from that, and then put it together. And when you listen to it, you can sort of hear it. When you listen to the tracks, you can hear that it's… Especially on 'Illusions' [the 'Use Your Illusion' albums], the opuses, [where] he took little bits from different people and put them together. He's got a real talent for that."

Ashba said in a recent chat with Legendary Rock Interviews that GUNS N' ROSES has both recording and touring plans in 2015. He revealed, "We are planning on doing quite a bit of touring this coming year. The focus is getting in a studio and putting together what we all feel is the best GUNS N' ROSES record. Lack of material is not an issue. We have tons of stuff."

Ashba added. "Axl has two full albums that he has recorded. He has played me a bunch of songs off of that that are incredible! I can't wait to get in and kind of dive into those as well. I've written tons of songs and demoed up a bunch of stuff. I think it is just a matter of getting in and sifting through the piles of material."

Edited to add:
Source: http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/richard-fortus-on-new-guns-n-roses-album-axl-rose-wants-to-create-stuff-and-release-it-when-its-ready/






/jarmo

[D-GenerationX]

Cool, cool, cool.

That can only help, getting stuff like that out in the press.

[jarmo]

Yes, thanks for the link.



/jarmo

[D-GenerationX]

The death hoax was obviously silly, but people were able to piggyback the photo from the studio onto that and make it into an article.  And Richard's quotes were also alluded to.

And it showed up in my FB feed, so it gets the word out.  That's a good thing.

The comments underneath... not so much.  But I highly doubt anyone making those comments had any interest in the new album anyway.

[TheBaconman]

I just got around to watching these interviews, clinic things..

I must say they were very good and something I would love to see more of from band members..