In a brand new chat with Rockin’ Interviews, former GUNS N’ ROSES guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal was asked if he has heard the “new” GN’R song “Absurd”. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I have. I remember the song from when I was laying guitar parts for the [‘Chinese Democracy’] album. I laid some parts for it back then. And, of course, they’ve all been replaced — I’m not in the band. Slash should be on there, of course, doing all the leads and stuff. So, yeah, I heard it. And it was pretty cool hearing him on there doing his thing. It definitely made it feel more like what it is — like a band.”
The studio version of “Absurd” — which is a reworked version of a previously unreleased GN’R track called “Silkworms” — arrived on August 6, three days after the band performed the tune live for the first time during its concert at Boston’s Fenway Park.
GUNS N’ ROSES last performed “Silkworms”, which was reportedly written during the “Chinese Democracy” sessions, in 2001.
Thal joined GUNS N’ ROSES in 2006 and appeared on “Chinese Democracy”, an effort which contained music that had been written before he came into the group. The disc took 13 years to make and was only a modest seller, moving just around half a million copies.
Thal never officially announced his departure from the GN’R, but a source confirmed to Detroit music writer Gary Graff back in 2015 that the guitarist had been out since the end of the band’s second Las Vegas residency in 2014.
Thal later revealed that he was focusing on his solo career and other projects after spending eight years playing in GUNS.
Thal is currently a member of SONS OF APOLLO, which also features drummer Mike Portnoy, keyboardist Derek Sherinian and bassist Billy Sheehan. SONS OF APOLLO released its second studio album, “MMXX” (pronounced: 20/20), in January 2020 via InsideOut Music/Sony.
