Asked by Metal Wani in a new interview how he looks back on his time with Guns N’ Roses, Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal said: “Well, how do you sum up such a big part of your life in one conversation? It was great. There were ups, there were downs, just like anything in life. There were challenges, there was good stuff, there was fun times, there was difficult times, but in the end, the one thing that makes me smile when I think back on it is when I think of all the fans that are now friends and staying in touch with them and that connection that we make and being part of something that affects so many people. That was really good. It was nice.”
Bumblefoot was also asked if he’d reunite with Guns N’ Roses: “I want to say ‘no,’ but the truth is you never know what’s gonna happen. And let me put it this way, let me say it this way: If somebody was gonna die and their last wish was to see that happen, and everybody put past grievances aside, and all of that, yeah, then it would happen. If it was just, like, ‘Hey, Ron, do you wanna tour?’ I don’t think they would ask me, and if they did, I don’t think I would do it, because just the way things ended for me, I was so burned out and so in need of moving on that it was not healthy for me — and for them — for me to be there anymore. I was not happy.
I feel like I was doing more harm than good at that point. I was miserable. I needed to get out. I needed to get back to creating and doing the things that made me feel alive my whole life, and I wasn’t getting to do that. And it was too much of a challenge to try and schedule between the two. And I didn’t want it to be that way, but it was. So I just reached the point that I needed to get out. And I don’t wanna go back to that.
I don’t wanna regress as a human being to the person I left as — very unhappy. So for that reason. Not for musical reasons, not for anything like that — just for that. But also, still, with all that [said], I left angry and bitter and frustrated and unresolved, and it didn’t end in a nice way between us when I left. But even with all of that, it’s very easy to hold a grudge [against] someone for eternity. But still, in life you can never say never.”
