New Bumblefoot Interview!

[ManetsBR]

This interview was made by the Jedbranger Magazine, from Argentina, when Guns N' Roses played in Buenos Aires.

The whole world is as fanatic as South America?

Japan is very fanatic too, but here it's more intense, any band that play a concert here will see that. The fanatism and love levels are.... it's like if you turned a machine on at full power and still add a little more power! But that's a good thing, isn't it?

Sometimes they cross limits, don't they?

Laughs and agrres.

I don't know if Axl told you, but when Guns N' Roses came here in early 90s...

People got hurt...

Actually a girl...

Died.

Yes

She was trampled to death.

No, actually she commited suicide.

What? Why?

Her dad didn't allow her to go to the concert.

I can't believe it, this is insane! Think about all the concerts and happines she lost!

Yeah, I suppose the problem wasn't only the GN'R concert

For sure there was something else.

How did you enter Guns N' Roses?

It was in 2006. My mission was to substitute Buckethead, when he was gone the GN'R team started to asking musicians friends to some recomendations. A lot of people did the tests. A guy who worked with Joe Satriani, also worked on the Chinese Democracy production, and Joe said he knew someone and he sent me an email telling me that he recommended me to GNR, he also said believe if they contact me! After an hour, Chris Pitman wrote me an email and we started talking, then the manager, then Caram. Then I was in contact with everyone, but it was 18 months before my first concert. So, before the tour, we started the rehearsals in NYC, everyday, for some weeks, and then we finally went on tour. We went to Europe, US, and then I started to record with Guns N' Roses, it was in the end of 2006, beggining of 2007. We played some more concerts and added some last things to the album, some stuff to organize, final touches on the tracks, things to arrange, mastering, and believe, it took almost a year. At that time I also worked in my CD Abnormal, and after Chinese came out I did an acoustic disc called Barefoot. In 2009 I went to Los Angeles and we started to rehearsal, new equipment, new guitarrist. In the summer I went on tour with Lita Fortd, and in September the rehearsals were back and then our tour started.

How was the first time you met Axl?

It was on a rehearsal. Many times we rehearsal without him, but that day he came and kept talking with us. While we were playing Riad N’ The Bedouins he whisped in my ears "This part reminds me Beatle's "Hey Bulldog". I immediatily thought "Wow, he likes the Beatles, nice!". Because I'm a Beatles fan.

What kind of leader is Axl?

He cares about everything, but at the same time, he never said anything about the way I play, the guitars I use or the clothes I wear.

He never aked any particular thing?

Well, in the studio.... I recorded more than 100 guitar tracks, all with different arrengements and styles "something crazyer here, and something more sentimental here...". Axl always tell us how he would like it to be, and sometimes he uses two tracks, like in the end of the Shackler's Revenge, where there's a tapping a very melodic solo. In resume, Axl never said "DO THAT", only "play the way you think you should"

You entered the band in 2006, and Chinese Democracy came out in 2008. Which are the biggest differences on the CD before and after you came in?

I would say that it became more rock n' roll, it was too industrial. I played rythym guitars on every song, and I tried to make it sound lighter, less industrial. I don't have anything against industrial music, but I really wanted to add some rock n' roll to this album. On the song "Chinese Democracy", for example, I added some fretless guitar, because there was a blank, empy part, and it really fitted perfectly. I also used fretless guitar in “Better”, "Shackler’s”, “Riad”.. actually I can't really remember in which track I used this guitar. I can't tell which was the porcentage of change between this two years... Axl called us to add some more things, he called Sebastian to sing. I can tell you that the pie was there, it was just missing the cherry.

There are more songs that didn't go on this CD, right?

Yes, there were more songs.

Did you record it?

Yes, I play on them. Some songs had 10 years old, some when we were adding the final touches to the album. Maybe it will see the light of the day.

There's a rumor that Chinese Democracy was meant to be a trilogy

Haha, I heard that rumor too. The problem of a disc is that even if you have an initial plan, it will change with time, it happend with my solo discs. Maybe someday it was a trilogy, but I don't know nowadays.

Is Tommy Stinson really the music director on Chinese Democracy?

If you ask him, he'll say he's not. I would say that we all had some of this post, we all brought ideas. There wasn't a chief, a boss, saying "Do that", "Don't play that way!", "I don't want that". It wasn't like this, not at all! Everyone really had a lot of freedom, and I gotta tell you, this was the band with less fights I've ever been in my whole life!

Chinese Democracy was launched more than a year ago. How do you see it today?

I don't know if Axl thinks that way, but I always compare the things with the Beatles, and I see Chinese as a self expression, experimental, Guns N' Rose's White Album. This is a very personal opinion. I'm not comparing with the Beatles, I'm just refering to the disc to it's place on the GNR discography. I might think that due to the complex of the album, all the guitar tracks, orchest, voices, chants, loops, eletronic drum, samples, there's so much inside of it. It's not a tipical disc, no matter how you look at it. But look, Guns N' Roses is not a typical band. Rock N' Roll breaks all the rules, and GN'R breaks all the Rock N' Roll rules. It breaks so many rules that it became itself entity. From Appetite for Chinese there are so many years of development and so many people helping.. on this creature that do what it wants the time it wants. If you try to put us on any typical mold of the rock bands, you won't be succesful. Sometimes it bother people, the fact that GN'R ahs it own mold. People want a rock band to always be the same, all the same, compose, record and launch a disc, and then go on tour. Then do it again and again. But if you look the history of this particular band

It's upside down.

Exactly, it doesn't follow any model. If you compare it to a human been, you suppose it will go from a baby, to a teen, and then to an adult. But in GNR you would have many arms, a second head, it would change the sking, it's a different creature. I believe someday people will look at the GNR history and will be amazed, because it's unic. When you realise that you're in the band, you feel like in a storm, that you don't know where it's taking you, and do things you didn't expect. I love it.

Somehow, it looks that the band is a bit distant from the fans. Do you that this is related to the Chinese Democracy failure to be a hit?

Well, it would have been impossible to sell the amount anyone was expecting, because after so many years, after so many talks, hypes and all the "boom", how could we manage to do that? Plus the fact that CDs don't sell today as they use to do in the past. Considering this and the fact that we didn't launch any clip, didn't go on any TV program, did only a few interviews and went on tour only a year after it was launched, the 3 or 4 million it sold is pretty good. Of course, if you compare to what was expected, it's a huge failure. And people also wanted it to sound like the other GNR CDs. When this people tasted Chinese Democracy it had a very different taste, and they needed time to manage to eat it. People like it more now, than when it was launched, everyone loose the hype. I would love to know how will be the critics about this album 20 years in the future, with people talking about it's musics, and not about its costs or its delays.

Axl gave only one interview after the disc was launched (actually he did 2). Do you think it helped to it's selling failure?

I think we are in a world of personal conexions. If you do that, it helps. I don't know what other people think, but I love to give interviews, meet people, play concerts to promote the album launch. Everything happened for a reason.

Do you talk about that stuff with Axl?

No, we talk about stuff like stupid 80s movies. Once we were talking about “3 O’ clock high”. I always tell people "you have to watch this movie!!", and once Axl started to quote some stuff from the movie, and I told him I love it! We don't talk about bussines, we talk about 80s movies and other stuff like this. The managers take care of the bussines, and I just play. If I get interested in the bussines, I'll be less interested in playing, and I don't want that. I don't want to know anything, only the time I have to go on stage. I just want to think how to play better and to play a better concert, I don't wanna know if our equipment is too heavy, or something related to it. I wanna be a stupid guitarrist. The less you know, more simple your life is.

It doesn't bother you now to know when this will pass?

(thinks about an answer)

Here in Buenos Aires we did a contest in our site where you had to guess what time would Axl go onstage

Can I get in?

You can win a Helloween CD!

Helloween! Yeah, I saw that concert! I didn't understand when I first saw it for the 1st time at the website, but I used a online translator and it was very funny when I found out what it meant!

So... It doesn't bothers you now to know what time you're going onstage?

(Pensa) I would like... that... the fans could have a concrete answer. I don't like to see the fans waiting in a hot wather for hours, staying in the same position for so long. When it happends I throw water to them. Would I like to begin in the set time? Yes.

How's your diary contact with Axl?

It changes. Sometimes we spend our days together, sometimes we just talk, sometimes we only send each other messages on the phones.It's normal, I don't keep watching him. Sometimes we talk more, sometimes less.

How do you choose the setlist? Axl decides?

Everyone talks and give the opinion, but the final word is from Axl, because he is the singer. The voice is the leader. I don't mean the singer, but the voice. The singer can say "I want sing that song", but his voice will say wich way to go. The begginig is always the same, “Chinese”, “Jungle”, It’s So easy”. Sometimes there's a microphone that only the band members can listen, and Axl asks "Bumble, what song do you wanna play?". It's very spontaneous.

I suppose that before entering Guns N' Roses you had some expective about it. What were the best and the worst surprises?

Some weeks ago, in Brasilia, 70 fans did a huge flag. When we were playing they suddenly opened it, it was bigger than this room dude (the room had 40 meters). It was amazing, it had the colors of Brazil. And the worst thing is that there are some fans who try to call too much atention, and they start to anoy us and our families.

Have you already been to that?

We all had. I don't like it. And I also hate to see how people around us change. Some become lovelier, some get really bad. You know, I have a friend that has multiple sclerosis, when he was diagnosed with this disease, his life changed. I noticed how he continued to be the same, but everyone around him started to treat him in a different way. Some got friendly, some got really close, but some just ran away as if they would get the disease. When I entered GN'R the same thing happened. I was the same as the day before. I had the same car, the same house, the same stupid personality (laughs) and suddenly some friends got friendly, some kept the same and some just disapeared. I've always been the same, but some people are diferent with me now.

In January Metallica did a tour in South America and we did an interview with Trujillo. He told me that he could remeber that, what you just said. When he entered the band, some old school friends appeared asking things, one wanted to be his driver, and they haven't met in 20 years!

I went throw that too. Each case is different. I someone asks me for a job, I tell him that we work as a band, It's a familie leaded by our manager, and only go on tour with us people we've known for really much time and we can trust. To be here, you must have at least 20 years of experience and you have to get well with everyone. Sometimes people ask for tickets "No, I can't give you". If I give, we have to pay it. They don't give us more than 100 tickets for concert and at the full staff and team we are like 70 people, we don't have much to give as present. And if we go to the city where one of us was born, we give priority to that person.

Classic Guns N' Roses formation had 2 guitarrists, but Guns N' Roses has had three guitars for a long time now. Why there's a need for a 3rd guitarrist?

We were meant to be four, but it's very difficult to find hotel for 4 guitarrists, you have no idea (laughs). But the crazy thing is that you can hear 3 guitars in Appetite for Destruction. Of course, you can record with only one guitar, but if you want it to be authentic, you need the 3 guitars, one in the left, one in the right, and one in the middle, the one you put above the other twos, that stuff. If you ask me if t's really necessary, I ask, is anything, really necessary? It's something related to taste. On Axl's vision the band needs 3 guitarrists. Think that way: now we can cover Iron Maiden!

I swear, during your whole answer I had Iron Maiden in my mind!

We could to their harmonys. We could play 70s stuff like Molly Chat, like...

Thin Lizzy

And Boston, we can play an acoustic song with a double harmony and a solo guitar, we have a lot of space do different things.

How do you decide who plays each part?

We fight, and the winner chooses (laughs).

What about mud fights?

Of course. Sometimes we do some battles with swords too (laughs).

Like Manowar!

Yes! You know, we say "Do you wanna play this part?", "No, you do it", “No, YOU do it!”. Sometimes Axl tell us which one he thinks should play the solo. For example, Dj on the other day said, about Sweet Child "Do you wanna do the 1st solo and I do the last?", "Yeah, allright!"

Which of the old songs have the hardest solo?

Hmmmm (thinks) I don't know how do tell you. Look, I've been playing guitar for 34 years now, believe me, there's no solo that I can't play due to techniche, there's no hard solo for me.

I'm not talking about the techiniche, but about the sentiment that you have to produce with the solo

It will never be the same. I'll never be Slash, I'l never be Dj, I'll never be Zack Wylde, I'll never be Eddie Van Halen, I'll never Jimi Hendrix. Don't matter how much you try to copy them, it will never sound like them, because the hands are different, the hearth is different. I don't try to copy them, I play with my own feelings, you have to be yourself. That's why I'll never try to get Slash's spirit. If I tried I would fail, because we are two different beens, all I can do is be better than myself. That's why I always try to play the songs the best way I can. When you're on tour and you started to feel like an actor, and not like a musician, it's time to leave, to stop. I don't want that to happend to me.

Translation process:

Transcription (Magazine to the internet): Naty-Rose, from the DailyBetter GNR Group, from Argentina

Spanish > Brazilian Portuguese: Rafael Slash, from the GunnersBrasil forum.

Brazilian Portuguese > English: ManetsBR (me )

Edited May 2, 2010 by ManetsBR

[bacardimayne]

While we were playing Riad N’ The Bedouins

I knew it.

[Jumpin' Jack Flash]

Nice interview

[Spirit]

How was the first time you met Axl?

It was on a rehearsal. Many times we rehearsal without him, but that day he came and kept talking with us. While we were playing Riad N’ The Bedouins he whisped in my ears "This part reminds me Beatle's "Hey Bulldog". I immediatily thought "Wow, he likes the Beatles, nice!". Because I'm a Beatles fan.

The riffs are very familiar, hear the guitars on Riad once Axl starts the "ooooooooooh"s. I never made that connection before..

We already knew Axl was a big Beatles fan, after all "Catcher In The Rye" was written in memory of John Lennon, right?

Great interview by the way, hope you'll get the time to write up the rest of it. Thanks!!

[Rovim]

Good read. thanks for that. part 2 would be cool.

[ManetsBR]

[sECOND PART]

It doesn't bother you now to know when this will pass?

(thinks about an answer)

Here in Buenos Aires we did a contest in our site where you had to guess what time would Axl go onstage

Can I get in?

You can win a Helloween CD!

Helloween! Yeah, I saw that concert! I didn't understand when I first saw it for the 1st time at the website, but I used a online translator and it was very funny when I found out what it meant!

So... It doesn't bothers you now to know what time you're going onstage?

(Pensa) I would like... that... the fans could have a concrete answer. I don't like to see the fans waiting in a hot wather for hours, staying in the same position for so long. When it happends I throw water to them. Would I like to begin in the set time? Yes.

How's your diary contact with Axl?

It changes. Sometimes we spend our days together, sometimes we just talk, sometimes we only send each other messages on the phones.It's normal, I don't keep watching him. Sometimes we talk more, sometimes less.

How do you choose the setlist? Axl decides?

Everyone talks and give the opinion, but the final word is from Axl, because he is the singer. The voice is the leader. I don't mean the singer, but the voice. The singer can say "I want sing that song", but his voice will say wich way to go. The begginig is always the same, “Chinese”, “Jungle”, It’s So easy”. Sometimes there's a microphone that only the band members can listen, and Axl asks "Bumble, what song do you wanna play?". It's very spontaneous.

I suppose that before entering Guns N' Roses you had some expective about it. What were the best and the worst surprises?

Some weeks ago, in Brasilia, 70 fans did a huge flag. When we were playing they suddenly opened it, it was bigger than this room dude (the room had 40 meters). It was amazing, it had the colors of Brazil. And the worst thing is that there are some fans who try to call too much atention, and they start to anoy us and our families.

Have you already been to that?

We all had. I don't like it. And I also hate to see how people around us change. Some become lovelier, some get really bad. You know, I have a friend that has multiple sclerosis, when he was diagnosed with this disease, his life changed. I noticed how he continued to be the same, but everyone around him started to treat him in a different way. Some got friendly, some got really close, but some just ran away as if they would get the disease. When I entered GN'R the same thing happened. I was the same as the day before. I had the same car, the same house, the same stupid personality (laughs) and suddenly some friends got friendly, some kept the same and some just disapeared. I've always been the same, but some people are diferent with me now.

In January Metallica did a tour in South America and we did an interview with Trujillo. He told me that he could remeber that, what you just said. When he entered the band, some old school friends appeared asking things, one wanted to be his driver, and they haven't met in 20 years!

I went throw that too. Each case is different. I someone asks me for a job, I tell him that we work as a band, It's a familie leaded by our manager, and only go on tour with us people we've known for really much time and we can trust. To be here, you must have at least 20 years of experience and you have to get well with everyone. Sometimes people ask for tickets "No, I can't give you". If I give, we have to pay it. They don't give us more than 100 tickets for concert and at the full staff and team we are like 70 people, we don't have much to give as present. And if we go to the city where one of us was born, we give priority to that person.

Classic Guns N' Roses formation had 2 guitarrists, but Guns N' Roses has had three guitars for a long time now. Why there's a need for a 3rd guitarrist?

We were meant to be four, but it's very difficult to find hotel for 4 guitarrists, you have no idea (laughs). But the crazy thing is that you can hear 3 guitars in Appetite for Destruction. Of course, you can record with only one guitar, but if you want it to be authentic, you need the 3 guitars, one in the left, one in the right, and one in the middle, the one you put above the other twos, that stuff. If you ask me if t's really necessary, I ask, is anything, really necessary? It's something related to taste. On Axl's vision the band needs 3 guitarrists. Think that way: now we can cover Iron Maiden!

I swear, during your whole answer I had Iron Maiden in my mind!

We could to their harmonys. We could play 70s stuff like Molly Chat, like...

Thin Lizzy

And Boston, we can play an acoustic song with a double harmony and a solo guitar, we have a lot of space do different things.

How do you decide who plays each part?

We fight, and the winner chooses (laughs).

What about mud fights?

Of course. Sometimes we do some battles with swords too (laughs).

Like Manowar!

Yes! You know, we say "Do you wanna play this part?", "No, you do it", “No, YOU do it!”. Sometimes Axl tell us which one he thinks should play the solo. For example, Dj on the other day said, about Sweet Child "Do you wanna do the 1st solo and I do the last?", "Yeah, allright!"

Which of the old songs have the hardest solo?

Hmmmm (thinks) I don't know how do tell you. Look, I've been playing guitar for 34 years now, believe me, there's no solo that I can't play due to techniche, there's no hard solo for me.

I'm not talking about the techiniche, but about the sentiment that you have to produce with the solo

It will never be the same. I'll never be Slash, I'l never be Dj, I'll never be Zack Wylde, I'll never be Eddie Van Halen, I'll never Jimi Hendrix. Don't matter how much you try to copy them, it will never sound like them, because the hands are different, the hearth is different. I don't try to copy them, I play with my own feelings, you have to be yourself. That's why I'll never try to get Slash's spirit. If I tried I would fail, because we are two different beens, all I can do is be better than myself. That's why I always try to play the songs the best way I can. When you're on tour and you started to feel like an actor, and not like a musician, it's time to leave, to stop. I don't want that to happend to me.

[ManetsBR]

Finally! My fingers are destroyed.

[Rovim]

Thanks!

[Jumpin' Jack Flash]

Thanks for typing this all out. Good stuff.

[seely]

awesome read!

[realpoti]

Great stuff.

[Guest Sweet Tooth]

incredible interview, i wish ron was more interested in the business and spilt the beans :xmasssanta:

but seriously, amazing interview - Ron = Greatnessicty

edit: could you imagine the gang playing "run to the hills"?

Edited May 2, 2010 by Sweet Tooth

[Shooting Star]

Nice interview from Bumble, it has some interesting points.

Thanks for posting it.

[highend88]

Yay CD Sold 3-4 Million

[BaDoBsEsSiOn418]

Guns N' Roses is not a typical band. Rock N' Roll breaks all the rules, and GN'R breaks all the Rock N' Roll rules

Well fucking said, Ron Thal! rock1

[batman007]

Read the whole damn thing, fn wicked! Ron is da man!

[karlossacanell]

Great

[plonker88]

I would go gay for the Bumble.

Thanks for typing this up Manets, much appreciated man!

[dimitrisaxl]

Very interesting interview indeed. Ron must have a great sense of humour!!!

[Spoon87]

Great, great, great Interview! Really! Ron's so cool. Great guy!

Manets, thanks for typing all this, really appreciate it!

[The Glow Inc.]

Thanks for typing this interview !

Very refreshing read. Ron definitely know what he is and what he isn't, what CD is and what it isn't, very honnest about Axl, the fans, his guitar playing etc...

Wicked player and awesome guy.

And yeah, I suppose that it can be annoying to have fans stalk your wife around for a picture...I mean, she's just his wife, she never interferred with GnR at all, why would anybody want to be in a pic with her that bad ?

The other day I came across a video on Youtube of Fortus signing a few autographs and then leaving and then a douche runs after him, catches his arm and has his picture taken with Fortus's back...

WTF ?

[CheapJon]

thanks for posting, it's always interresting to hear from legendfoot

[karlossacanell]

some people is really crazy out there ...

[ChineseDemocracy2004]

Riad is similar to Hey Bulldog, no way. BBF's interviews are cool.

[Stoned In L.A.]

I'll never be Slash

We realize this. It's a problem.