In a new interview with Let’s Rock Chats, Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal talked about having a signature as a guitarist.
He began by reflecting on his early desire to be part of vocal-based rock bands, mentioning two key influences. “I never even wanted to do instrumental music. I would make songs just for fun on my own but my goal was always to be like the bands that really inspired me most, like Kiss, The Beatles — the bands where you got four people that you know on a first name basis and it’s vocals musicians that sing and making rock music. That was always the path that I tried to walk on and be part of.”
Thal continued, discussing his first record deal and how it took him down a different path than he intended: “When I got my first record deal in 1994, it was Shrapnel records, which was a guitar instrumental label. but they told me that they were starting to do vocal music and they were going to make a subsidiary that does vocal music. That’s what they signed me for, it was going to be vocal music. As soon as I signed they said, ‘Well, would you just do an instrumental album to start things off?’ You’re taking me off my path and it’s not what we agreed to, but I did it.”
After this first instrumental album ‘The Adventures of Bumblefoot,’ Thal was able to shift back toward his intended direction with his next release: “Then right after that, immediately the next album we put out had vocals and then when I started my own label just to put out my own music for the next decades, it was all vocal music where I might put an instrumental song here and there because I always loved Van Halen. They would also just have a small little guitar interlude between the vocal songs. It’s like you have the main songs of the album but then you have ‘Spanish Fly’ or you had ‘Eruption,’ or the intro of the ‘Little Guitars.'”
The rocker also shared his thoughts on how early musical choices can define an artist and how hard it is to break away from that first impression: “It’s interesting how whatever the biggest thing you do tends to define you and it’s hard to shake that. So you have to really consider that especially when you’re starting out. You’re getting opportunities, you don’t want to say no to anything. It’s like you may never get another opportunity, at least that’s the mindset.”
He concluded by emphasizing how crucial it is to set your identity from the start: “So you’re not going to say, ‘No, take me out of the record deal, I’m not doing an instrumental guitar thing.’ I want to enter this world as a vocalist of a rock band, a guitar player, vocalist. A Paul Stanley or a Kurt Cobain or somebody that is a singing guitar player. I don’t want to be an instrumental guitarist and have to try and spend the rest of my time breaking that definition of me that has been created and try to convince people that I’m something else. Picture it, you come out as an instrumental guitarist then suddenly I sing. It’s like, ‘Oh, he’s another guitarist trying to sing,’ compared to just coming out there as that people accept you as that and they say that’s what you are,” he added.
Thal’s 1995 debut, ‘The Adventures of Bumblefoot,’ is a unique fusion of metal, rock, jazz, funk, and fusion. Fast forward to this year, and his new album, ‘Bumblefoot…Returns!,’ strikes in a similar way, but with a more modern, heavier sound.
The album also features guest appearances, including Brian May, Steve Vai, Derek Sherinian, and Guthrie Govan.
