Always great to catch up with Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal. The dude is a beast on the guitar and a creative force!
We talked about a project he did with Sons of Apollo bandmate, Derek Sherinian. He talked about playing with Queen’s Brian May. “Such a wonderful guy, yeah.” He went onto say “There’s nothing not to love about that guy!”
The reason for the conversation was about his band, The Art of Anarchy, and their upcoming third album. The new album drops next February, called Let There Be Anarchy. The story of how this latest album started is a crazy one. Bumble talked about the severe health challenges that faced guitarist Jon Votta, to the point where he was literally dying. That story is unreal! He told me that they have about two albums worth of music written.
He also talks about recruiting Jeff Scott Soto to the band. Of course, he is in S.O.A. with JSS, so it was an easy transition. “We have years of working together.” Ron said. He told me about the video for their first single, Vilified, which you can see below. Cube Gooding Jr. is in the video, along with Geoff Tate narrating (which is killer). He said that video has a real “Joker” vibe to it on purpose, including the band playing on the famous stairway from the movie. How did they get those two guys on the video? “We asked!” Easy enough.
He went on to talk about what the rest of the album sounds like, including a track with a guitar solo from Alex Skolnick.
As far as other things he’s working on, he’s got a solo album he’ll be dropping. Plus, he’s working with and producing a band called The Dodies.
What’s going on with Sons Of Apollo? He answered that. He also talked about his style of producing, and how he approaches the studio.
During the pandemic, he mentioned that he would probably not tour anymore. Has he changed his mind on that?
Always fun to talk with one of the true good dudes in this business, as well as one of the most talented guys I know.
-Meltdown-