Ron Thal is more accomplished than you might think. In the 1990's alone
he released seven albums and a live DVD. In addition to that he's appeared
as a guest musician on numerous albums, contributed as a studio musician,
composed soundtracks and jingles, produced and engineered albums, composed
classic orchestral pieces, and much, much more. Ron doesn't limit himself
to one genre either, you can find him playing, pop, rock, hip-hop, alternative,
progressive, and anything else he's in the mood for.
Thal recently started
his own record label with his good buddy Ron Scalzo (Q*Ball) called Bald
Freak Music, which employs musicians just as diverse as Bumblefoot himself.
Thal recently landed a gig as touring guitarist for the current Guns N'
Roses line-up. After their tour of Europe, Thal took a break to give a guitar
clinic
and impromptu performance at LocoFest in Mansfield, Massachusetts. That's
where we caught up with him.
RIL: If I knew absolutely nothing about Bumblefoot, how would you
describe your music to me?
BF: Christ I’m the wrong guy to ask. Shit because I would just be like,
its pure crap don’t listen to it and run the other way…. Well
a lot of people say it reminds them a bit of Mike Patton-y “Faith no
More” type stuff. It’s a little quirky and slightly……
RIL: A little left of the dial?
BF: Yeah
RIL: Would you say it’s a little Primus like?
BF: Yeah because it’s got some funky moments and shit. I
say if you listen to Primus and you listen to Faith No More, things like
that,
there’s a chance that you might find something that you like
in what I’m doing.
RIL: If I were to buy your current album Normal, what songs should
I pay particular attention to and why?
BF: Good question. For me I would say you got to
listen to the whole thing and take in the whole thing as one entire story
from beginning to end to really
get the vibe and get the whole side of what’s happening here, but as
for one song man shit I don’t know, I might have to say the song “Real” the
second song and we also did the video to. We did that in my studio.
RIL: Bumblefoot isn’t just the name of the band, it’s
also the moniker you go by. How did you come up with the name?
BF: Well Bumblefoot actually means ulcerative poddermatitis.
It’s an animal
disease. My wife was studying to become a veterinarian and I was helping
her study and we saw it in there. I thought it was such a silly name I wanted
to write a song about it and eventually it became the name of the band and
shortly after people started to call me “Bumblefoot”.
RIL: You actually have a guitar that is a foot mixed with a bumblebee.
Does such a guitar get you a lot of strange looks or comments?
BF: Oh yeah, you should see me in airports putting that thing on the conveyer
belt. It stops and comes back out a few times. Then security looks at me
and looks at the guitar then look at me again.
RIL: Has anyone from Stryper contacted you about the guitar?
BF: (Laughs) yeah, I get it, yellow and black attack
RIL: How did you land the gig as the guitarist for Guns N’ Roses?
BF: It was actually Joe Satrani that shot me an e-mail
and said that they were looking for somebody, and I recommended you to them.
We eventually got in
touch started talking and then we started touring and recording and here
we are now.
RIL: Were you a student of Satriani’s?
BF: No he’s just a friend.
RIL: Was it tough to follow in the footsteps of the great Buckethead?
I mean Slash.
BF: (Laughs) All I can say is that I hope people enjoy the show and like
what they are hearing and like what they are seeing.
RIL: Do you think there is a bit of pressure put on you because
the band has changed members and the fans are expecting one thing and getting
another?
BF: The band has been out there for ten years and if
they think I’m
going to play like Slash then they haven’t done there history. There
is no pressure on me, I have music to make I don’t worry about that
shit.
RIL: Axl Rose has the reputation for being a very private person.
Do you get much time to hang out together?
BF: I really enjoyed his company; I liked hanging out with him.
RIL: You guys just got off a tour in Europe right?
BF: We did, actually we just finished a tour in Australia, New Zealand,
and Japan. It was a lot of fun.
RIL: Do you think the fans over seas are a little crazier for heavy
metal music than they are here in the states?
BF: I don’t know, we have some crazy mother fuckers
here today. (Laughs)
RIL: Have you learned anything from Axl?
BF: Yeah definitely. I don’t know if I can ever be as pro, I mean the
things that he can do; I wouldn’t last 5 min in his shoes. Like for
2 and ½ hours of entertaining the fuck out of people, and the energy
that guy has, I don’t have a tenth of it. I don’t know how the
hell he does it, it amazes me, and just to watch him do his thing is like
wow, it’s some good shit.
RIL: Do you know what’s holding up the release of Chinese
Democracy?
BF: (Laughs) Next question, I don’t talk business
RIL: You’re a co-founder of Bald Freak Records, how did that
venture get started?
BF: I was recording an album with Q Ball, he was having a bit of success,
and he decided to legitimize and do it for real. He was putting out his stuff
so I said lets also put out mine. We then met these crazy pirates (Squashbuckle)
down in Jersey when I was checking out a friend playing, and saw these guys
playing and called up Q Ball and said you got to check these
guys out, and here we are today.
RIL: When they hit the stage, how do they perform?
BF: It’s the most intense mind blowing fucking
shit. They completely rip this place to shit when they play.
RIL: What was your worst on stage experience?
BF: Going back a few years ago I was playing with Q
Ball at Six Flags and we were going to open up for Avril Lavigne, and she
ended up canceling for
some reason, and Mya ended up playing. Now we are not a musical match, so
being the total wise ass that I am, went on stage just in my boxers. It was
a hip-hop audience, so I walk out there, and Im looking at them thinking;
I’m going to just nail this coffin shut and said; “what’s
up everybody, I’m Mya, and it’s great to be here”. There
was just dead silence from the audience. (Laughs).
RIL: And you got out of there alive?
BF: (Laughs) Yeah they threw a couple of pens and some threw coins
at me, but I had worst shit thrown at me at a Guns N Roses show.
RIL: What was your best show?
BF: It had to be at Madison Square Garden when I saw Kiss. I was
inspired by that and strived to make it there myself one day. And finally
getting to do it was a big thing.
RIL: Now getting back to opening for Avril Lavigne; you played guitar on
a Jessica Simpson single...did you get to meet her?
BF: It was really cool. I didn’t get to meet
her. The guy who was doing it was a friend, and I laid all the guitar parts
for everything, and we spent
2 or 3 days together mixing it. He went to the studio himself and got the
vocals, and brought them back.
RIL: What’s next as far as your Guns N Roses work is concerned?
BF: I’m sure there will be things in the future.
Ron and his wife are also on the Board of Directors for the MS Research
Foundation; an non-profit organization for Multiple Sclerosis research. Ron
and I had
talked about his work with them, but the interview was drowned out by the
concert performance in the background. Click here for more into on the MS
Research Foundation.
BUMBLEFOOT
