In an interview with Rockin’ Metal Revival, Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal recounted a difficult incident that occurred during a Guns N’ Roses concert at the Rock In Rio festival in Brazil in 2011. The concert was subjected to extreme weather conditions and heavy rain caused great difficulties on stage. Thal described how the rain was inches high on the stage, almost reaching the top of the pedalboards and causing the pyrotechnics to misfire. He said:
“There was this lovely girl in the front row that had a ‘Star Wars’ stormtrooper helmet that she was holding. And I said, ‘Yeah, give me the helmet,’ and I figured I would put it on and play with it on for a bit. So, I got the helmet, and I put it on my head, and as soon as it touched my cheeks, it’s like it fused to it, ’cause my skin, everything was so wet.”
This light-hearted moment quickly transformed into a challenging predicament, with the helmet sticking to his face due to the moisture, adding an unforeseen hurdle to his performance. He continued:
“And I remember just saying, ‘Oh, shit.’ And as soon as I said the ‘S’ curse, everything just fogged up and now it’s, like, ‘All right, I have this helmet that is gonna take a little bit of effort to remove.’ And that’s not good when you’re trying to play guitar in a song. And I can’t see anything; it’s completely fogged up. And the iconic solo [to ‘Welcome To The Jungle’] that I had to play was about to come up and it was, like, the opening of the show and everything, and it’s, like, ‘Oh god. This is not gonna work out well.’ So if I remember right, I managed to get the helmet up at least like over my eyes and keep it there. And then I think I nodded, like, ‘Ah, good.’ And it flopped right back down. So, it got to one point, like halfway through the solo, where I just had to stop playing and pull this helmet back so I could see what I was doing.”
In the aftermath of the helmet debacle, Thal faced unexpected consequences. He ended his story with:
“And those few seconds that I stopped playing, he next day I got hundreds — hundreds — of furious e-mails from Brazilians, saying how I like destroyed their life and death threats and all this stuff. And to this day, 12 years later, every once in a while someone will send me an e-mail with a screenshot of me wearing that helmet, saying, ‘Ha ha ha.'”
Ron Thal Completes First Instrumental Solo Album in Almost Three Decades
Thal has completed his first instrumental solo album in nearly three decades, as reported in an interview with Brazil’s Ibagenscast. Thal explained his creative process, noting the challenge of keeping his compositions purely instrumental. He said:
“I started working on an instrumental album, because every time I write a song and want to make it instrumental, I come up with a nice melody and then I’m, like, ‘Oh, I’ve gotta sing that.’ And then it ends up being a vocal song. And then there’s really not a lot of melody in the guitar part… So this time it’s, like, I just put a big piece of tape over my mouth as I was writing and coming up with ideas.'”
Thal mentioned releasing two instrumental songs in 2019 and 2020 but has been busy with other bands, which slowed the business side of his solo project. Despite the delay, he confirmed that the music for the album is complete. He said:
“Musically, the album is done, and now it’s just about finishing the artwork and making the animated music videos.”
Additionally, Thal revealed exciting plans for the album’s rollout, including a video game for the first single, offering fans an interactive experience. He expressed his desire to make the album enjoyable for listeners beyond just the music.
