During a recent interview with Face Culture, the current member of Sons of Appolo and Asia, Ron ‘Bumblefoot‘ Thal, talked about his eight-years tenure with Guns N’ Roses and said that although he achieved what he’d always dreamed of when he was a kid, he didn’t feel happy.
As you may recall, back in 2004 Bumblefoot had announced that he’d been asked to join Guns N’ Roses after interacting with the band’s keyboardist Chris Pitman, and added that he’s definitely going to turn the offer down. However, GNR released a statement soon after that saying that no one was asked to join the band.
Nonetheless, in 2006, Bumblefoot officially joined the band filling in for Buckethead who had recently left. He remained in the band until 2014 and during that time, he toured with the band, and also performed in GNR’s sixth studio album ‘Chinese Democracy‘ in which he wrote and played his own parts. Bumblefoot was never very clear about why he left but in his recent interview, he apparently decided to raise the curtain on the reasons.
Bumblefoot said that although he was really excited about it and dreamed of being in a ‘John-Paul-George-Ringo’ type of band, he ended up being the hired guy instead of Ringo. This obviously affected his motivation and sense of belonging, which are crucial elements to being a member of a band. He went on to say that he didn’t feel like he was contributing to the creative part as he was neither a founding member nor a writer in GNR.
When asked about his relationship with Axl Rose, Bumblefoot started laughing because he apparently had nothing to say. He insinuated that they have grown apart as ‘he’s doing his thing’ while Bumblefoot is focusing on his career. However, he also said that he feels genuinely happy ‘to see how great they’re doing with Slash and Duff’ and wished them all the best.
Here’s what Bumblefoot said about being in Guns N’ Roses:
“My dream was always to be in a John-Paul-George-Ringo, not John-Paul-George-and-a-hired-guy. Not to put it down and not to understate the eight years that I had with them – and I did write and play my own parts on ‘Chinese Democracy’ – but for me, I need to be a founding member and a writer of the music and a creative part of it.
When I played with Guns, it was cool playing all the big stages and everything – yes, that was wonderful, and it’s what you aspire to as a kid when you start out.”
This is what he said laughingly when he was asked about his current relationship with Axl Rose:
“He’s doing his thing, I’m doing my thing, and I wish them all the best. And I’m so happy to see how great they’re doing with Slash and Duff. I‘m very happy for them.”
Click here for the source and you can watch the interview below.
