Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal

Ronald Jay "Ron" Blumenthal (born September 25, 1969), better known by his stage name Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, is an American guitarist, songwriter, recording artist and producer. Thal adopted the name Bumblefoot from the bacterial infection of the same name, which he learned about while helping his wife's review for her veterinary exams. He is one of the co-lead guitarists in Guns N' Roses (along with DJ Ashba) and performs on their sixth studio album Chinese Democracy. Since the early 90s, Thal has released 10 CDs and a live DVD. His 1995 debut studio album, The Adventures of Bumblefoot, after being out of print for many years, was re-released in 2010 as a 15 Year Anniversary Edition CD. In commemoration of the Anniversary Edition release, a 200-page transcription book of the recording was also released which Thal himself transcribed. Thal has appeared as a guest performer on other albums and on numerous compilation CD's. He's been the cover feature of several International guitar magazines as well as the subject of many print, radio and web interviews. Over the past twenty years, Thal has also worked with numerous bands and artists as producer, engineer, writer, arranger and performer. He has also written, and continues to write, TV jingles, theme songs and background music. From January through December 2011, Thal recorded 9 singles which are available exclusively as digital downloads. Thal is also on the board of directors of the MS Research Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises money for Multiple Sclerosis research.

Career:

Early years: Raised Jewish, Thal grew up in Brooklyn and then Staten Island, in the Bay Terrace neighborhood. Thal was inspired by Kiss and their album Alive! at age six, Thal claimed his earliest musical goal was to be able to play "like Gene Simmons if someone decided to do a Kiss version of Beatlemania". At the time his hands were too small to play bass, so he focused on guitar, while his brother, Jeff, played drums instead. Thal stated that he figured out multi-track recording by using multiple cassette recorders at age six. By the time Thal was thirteen years old, he was playing cover songs in clubs, later focusing on creating original material on his home 8-track. By sixteen, Thal had started engineering and producing music. When he was eighteen, Thal won his first award, winning a Sam Ash Guitar Solo Contest after playing a spontaneous solo. He played in a New York based band called 'Legend' in the late 1980s. In 1989, Thal submitted a demo tape to Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records, which caused Varney to feature Thal in the Spotlight New Talent column in Guitar Player Magazine's August 1989 issue. Upon hearing the demo, Varney comented "Thal's demo tape is amongst the most impressive I've ever received. It contains elements of classical, blues, and jazz, and at times reminds me of Frank Zappa. His transcriptions are most impressive and detailed, so fans of hot transcriptions might be interested in seeing these musical masterpieces on paper. With its clever melodies, contrapuntal lines, intricate rhythms, and ultra-complex ensemble sections, Ron's sheer musicality will surely gain him much acclaim." In 1993, Guitar Network Magazine described Thal's playing as "Ridiculous... in a good way". Thal was eventually signed to Shrapnel Records, and his debut album "The Adventures of Bumblefoot" was released in 1995.

Guns N' Roses: After a recommendation by guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani, Thal joined Guns N' Roses in 2006, filling the position vacated by guitarist Buckethead. Thal made his live debut with the band at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on May 12, 2006 and he also performs on the bands sixth studio album Chinese Democracy, released in 2008. Thal appeared on the Guns N' Roses video release Appetite for Democracy 3D, including a solo spot of his song "Objectify" from Abnormal. In Late 2014, Thal announced that he was 'focusing on his solo career'. In an interview promoting his solo album, when asked about Guns N' Roses, he said he was "avoiding the whole subject right now". In February 2015, Thal stated that he was "honoring a request to not make any public statements" about his status with Guns N' Roses, adding that it "continues to put me in a very awkward position that I don't want to be in. Not how I do things, repeatedly taking the bullet on this one." Thal explained further with, "Let folks know I'm not being forced ... It's on me, I've been trying to please both sides at the same time that have a different approach to things, and everyone loses a little in the process -- that's on me, not them Guns N' Roses management."

Recent years:

Thal's song "Firebrand" was used as the opening theme for the TV show MXC (Most Extreme Elimination Challenge), the American adaptation of Takeshi's Castle. He has also co-written and performed the theme song to VH1 Classic's That Metal Show, an edit of his song "Day To Remember" on his Forgotten Anthology album. Thal has licensed several of his recordings to television shows on MTV and VH1 such as Hogan Knows Best, The Real World, Made, The Osbournes, and others. Thal also wrote and recorded the music for the New York Islanders Hockey Team 2008-2009 season promos. In 2006, Thal's song "Breaking", from the album Normal, was contributed to the album project Artists for Charity - Guitarists 4 the Kids, produced by Slang Productions, to assist World Vision Canada in helping underprivileged kids in need. In 2007, after 14 months of recording and touring with Guns N' Roses, Thal began recording his Abnormal CD. During this time, Thal also recorded and mixed the audio of live performances on the TV show Talking Metal On Fuse. Thal performed a cover of "Running Wild" by Judas Priest along with Frank Ferrer on the pilot episode. Thal also performed on the final episode of the show, accompanying Zakk Wylde in an original song "Til the End" written live on the show. In July 2008 Thal released the Abnormal CD. In November Chinese Democracy was released, with Thal hosting the listening party in NYC. In December 2008 Thal released Barefoot - The Acoustic EP, which consists of stripped-down acoustic versions of songs from his previous albums. Thal had fans choose one of the songs he would record. In February 2009, Thal produced an all-instrumental metal guitar compilation CD entitled "Guitars That Ate My Brain". He oversaw the writing, recording and mixing for half the album (co- writing, engineering and mixing as well as guitar and bass playing by Jeremy Krull, drums by Dennis Leeflang), contributed his playing to the song "Disengaged" and mastered the album. Other artists on the album include Devin Townsend, Chris Poland, Shane Gibson, Dave Martone, Paul Waggoner, and James Murphy. In June 2009, Thal toured the U.S. and Europe playing guitar for Lita Ford for 14 shows. In December 2009, Thal began touring with Guns N' Roses on the Chinese Democracy World Tour. In August 2010 his solo debut The Adventures of Bumblefoot, which had been out of print, was re-released as a 15 Year Anniversary Edition complete with additional bonus tracks. In October 2010, Thal took time out while on tour with Guns N' Roses to give advice and perform with students of The Witchwood School Of Rock in Witney, UK along with Guns N' Roses drummer Frank Ferrer. During the event they played several classic Guns N' Roses tracks, including "Paradise City" and "Sweet Child O' Mine" with members of a tribute band. On December 3, 2010, Thal made an appearance in Sydney as guest guitarist with the heavy metal band Fozzy. His songs "Guitars Suck", "Real", "Turn Around", and "Dash" are available as additional downloadable content for the videogame Rock Band 3 through the community-driven Rock Band Network. From January 2011 through December 2011, Thal released a series of singles available as digital downloads, five covers and four original songs. Thal's first single was a cover of the 1967 Motown hit "Bernadette" by The Four Tops. His next single was another cover, this time The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever". Thal released his third single, an original song called "Invisible" in March 2011. Thal claims that he wrote the music of the song in the mid 1990s, and finished adding lyrics in 2010. In April 2011, Thal released a cover of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Thal released another original song in May 2011 entitled "Father", a song dedicated to his father who had Alzheimer's disease. Thal released his sixth single, an original song called "Cat Fight", in June 2011 featuring Mark Tornillo of the band Accept on vocals. In July 2011, Thal released a cover of the Herman's Hermits song "There's a Kind of Hush", his seventh single released in 2011. In September 2011, Thal released the eight single, an original song "Let Your Voice Be Heard". In December 2011, Thal released the ninth and final single in the series, a cover of "The Pink Panther Theme" by Henry Mancini. On October 3, 2012, Thal appeared as a special guest at a concert for the Dubai-based rock band Point of View at the Hard Rock Cafe Dubai. In December 2013, Thal collaborated with online education site JamPlay.com to put together a series of lessons for aspiring guitarists. In 2014, Thal formed a band with John Moyer, Jon Votta & Vince Votta entitled Art of Anarchy with an album set for Spring 2015.Scott Weiland provided vocals for the debut album, but later distanced himself from the project, stating he was 'never in the band'. Weiland claimed "I just sang over these stereo tracks and then sent them back." Thal's most recent solo album "Little Brother Is Watching" was released on February 24, 2015. The first single, "Little Brother Is Watching" was debuted on Yahoo! Music on January 28, 2015. The album was composed, produced, recorded, mixed and mastered entirely by Bumblefoot himself in his in-home studio, and features Dennis Leeflang on drums. Thal is currently producing the upcoming album by DMC Generation Kill, a supergroup consisting of Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels & members of the band Generation Kill. Thal has acted in & scored the soundtrack for several independent horror films. He portrayed Thunder in The Meat Puppet in 2012, also contributing to the soundtrack. In 2013, Thal portrayed Mitch Casell in Gravedigger, as well as scoring the soundtrack. Thal is set to score the soundtrack and portray Jack Hayes in the upcoming film Clean Cut, set for release in 2016.