2020.12.11 - Life in Six Strings - Interview with Bumblefoot

Excerpts transcribed by UG:
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During a conversation with Kylie Olsson, Sons of Apollo guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal talked about his 2006-2014 tenure as the guitarist of Guns N' Roses, while also discussing his work with Asia.

When asked how he balanced introducing his own style into Asia's established songs, Bumblefoot replied (transcribed by UG):

"The goal is to try to make people feel as much like they're going to reminisce and make them feel as close to when they first heard the song as they can.

"I am not going to paint all over those pictures, I'm not going to rewrite the songs changing the sound, the style, anything like that.

"I want to as closely as I can sound like the original so that after the show, people say, 'Wow, that took me right back 30 something years. Made me feel like I felt when I first heard it. You made me feel like the summer in 1982!' - or whatever it is.

"That's what I want them to experience. Now I can never be [Asia singer/bassist] John Wetton or [guitarist] Steve Howe. No matter what, I am not going to sound exactly like them.

"But, if, at least, I try to approach it the same way and make people feel the same way, that's what you want. You want people to react the way they did, you want them to get the same feeling from the songs.

"If I went out there and I sang everything with this like gritty voice, and all this vibrato, and a lot of distortion on the guitar, people would feel like I'm rewriting the song, and I'm taking away that nostalgia that they came there to experience.

"And I don't want to do that. That's the opposite goal that I have.

"I want people afterward to have that feeling that they always have when they listen to the songs.

"So that's what I was going for, and I spent a lot of time changing the way I sing, and practicing new ways of singing so that I could approach it more like John Wetton because he would sing where he would hit high notes on vowels that I never did.

"I was always more of the [Iron Maiden's] Bruce Dickinson kind of very bright and open, and big vibrato. And now I have to approach it where I'm like all the opposite stuff - the 'e' and 'u' vowels I have to hit and without vibrato.

"That being said - John Wetton was badass. He went straight for the note and he nailed it without vibrato, which is your safety. With vibrato, you're in the ballpark, you're sharp, and you're flat, and you're in the range of the note.

"But he would do it without and just nail it exactly. And that took practice to hit these higher notes using e and u vowels that are more closed and with a tone that's not so bright, that's more chesty, and the back of the nasal passage.

"That took a lot of practice in figuring out physically, internally how to do that and how to make that a habit, so that I will default to that when I'm in front of people, and suddenly I'm like, 'Oh my god, I'm singing in front of 4,000 people, don't screw up.' And that I don't fall into old habits."

What was [GN'R's 2008 album] 'Chinese Democracy' like to work on? I know that it's shrouded in all these rumors that it was a crazy album to make. We knew it took a million years to make and stuff. What was it like? I know you said that you came in towards the end.

"Yeah, they started writing it I guess in the late '90s, and when I came into the band, we started touring in 2006 and a lot of the stuff was already demoed.

"The foundation was laid, and a lot of things were built on it. As we toured, I started developing my own ideas and parts for the songs.

"And then in between tours in 2006 and 2007, me and Caram [Costanzo], the producer, would be in the studio in LA or New York, a good 14 hours a day just trying every possibility and all different things to see what could work.

"Every kind of thing like some weird fretless thing, or some bluesy thing, or some just kind of nasty gritty thing, or something more technical - all different approaches.

"And then they would decide what they thought matched the best out of all the different things that we tried, and that would be on the album.

"And sometimes would be more than one thing, like I remember in the song 'Shackler's Revenge,' at the end of the song I had one thing that went on *plays* doing that.

"And then at the same time, there's another guitar part that was going on. I'm doing all this tapping stuff on and singing while I'm doing it. And just practice, practice, practice, that's it.

"Yeah, so, it was 14 hours of a lot of experimenting and seeing what would best serve the song.

"And then, in the end, they put it all together and created this masterpiece, this one of a kind album that no other album in the history of rock has had such a journey that this one did.

"Where it's gone through band member changes that were included and they included their layers into this thing, and even technology change, and this and that, and so many things.

"That is packed with so much history in each song, and there was so much to hear, there's so much going on in every song.

"And they found a way to balance it all and take drums, loops, bass, piano, synths, lead vocals, backing vocals, multiple guitars, string sections - all in there just perfectly balanced to work with each other and not step on each other."

It must have been great for you though because you're not just a singer, guitarist, and bass player, you are also a producer. You engineer, you mix, you compose... So were you quite involved in that side of it as well?

"Just guitar for that. In my own stuff, I do it all. In other bands, like with the band Art of Anarchy that I had - founding member, core songwriter, did all the recording, and mixing and mastering, and everything.

"And with Sons of Apollo, recording my own guitar stuff, and will I mix the next record? Who knows?

"And when we do any alternate stuff like acoustic versions, they send me their tracks I mix it all, and do all of that... So, yeah, I am very involved in every band I'm in, except for Guns N' Roses and Asia.

"But everything else that I've ever done, I've been what I dreamed of being in a band was, when I was a little kid, and wanted to start doing this.

"And that's the thing, that's what was important to me as time went - being a hired gun is not in my spirit, it's not what fulfills me.

"There are a million people that it does and they do it so great, and they do so well, and they just love to play, and they're happy to play, the bigger stage the better, and wonderful, and just playing with great musicians...

"But I need the creative aspect of it, and I need the main thing I do, whether it's big or small for me to be happy on this earth, I need to be creating.

"And I need to be part of that thing that when I was five years old and I heard KISS' 'Alive!,' and when I heard The Beatles, it's like - here are four members that you know on a first-name basis, and there's magical chemistry that they have together, and that's what I want.

"I want to be part of that. I just couldn't not-do-that anymore. That's what has always been important to me.

"So something like - Asia will go out every once in a while, we'll do a tour, we'll make people happy, and the band they are such wonderful guys, and we'll have a great time.

"But, when it gets down to what I want to do with my life - it's creating. "

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/bumblefoot_talks_what_it_was_like_working_on_controversial_guns_n_roses_album_explains_approach_to_fronting_asia.html