In a new interview with “The Chuck Shute Podcast”, former GUNS N’ ROSES and current SONS OF APOLLO guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal spoke about how not being able to play live shows for the past year and a half has affected his outlook on the touring lifestyle.
“This break has been quite a reflective time for a lot of people, and I think it changed a lot of people’s perspective on things,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “For me, I don’t wanna tour anymore. I don’t wanna tour so much.
“Being home for the first time for so long and reconnecting to family, and to myself, and to be in the studio every day, be creative again, as opposed to just living this life of 24-hour increments with…
“I wanna keep making music, and I’m not gonna spend so much time on the road,” he explained. “It’s no life; you don’t have a real life. It’s not how I wanna live anymore. I’ve done enough of it. And I’ll still go out and play, but now I’m pacing [myself]. I’m saying ‘no’ a lot more. I used to spend my whole damn life just living out of a suitcase. That was no fucking life at all. Everything passed me by, and I missed it all. And I’m not doing that anymore.”
Thal joined GUNS N’ ROSES in 2006 and appeared on 2008’s “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.
