2012.12.03 - Dropping the Needle - Interview with Bumblefoot

Transcript:

Intro: You're listening to Dropping the Needle, the podcast were all music from all genres is discussed, new releases, classic albums, rediscovered music, signed and unsigned, no ass kissing, just two guys talking about music. Here are your hosts Michael Brandvold, from Michael Brandvold Marketing, and Mitch Lafon.

MB: Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Dropping the Needle, the podcast that's been described as if Beavis and Butthead ever had a podcast this would be it - and I think that is the most awesome description. I got to get right into it, let Mitch intro this very special guest, right over there, Mitch who's joining us today?

ML: We have Ron Thal joining us. He's done a lot of stuff solo and then he became the Bumblefoot and joined Guns N' Roses. He's here with us today.

MB: The Bumblefoot!

ML: The Bumblefoot and he's got an interesting story. It's mostly his the wife's MTA (?) that gave him that name. Her job as a veterinarian did-

BBF:  Have I  earned a "the"? Now I am the Bumblefoot.

ML: Because just "Bumblefoot" is a animal disease so no, you are the Bumblefoot now.

MB: You are the disease. So what's the story behind bumblefoot?

BBF: The name, all right. Well it was 20-something years ago and my wife was studying to be a veterinarian and I was holding the book open while she learned everything and one of the diseases was called [?], also known as bumblefoot, and it was a disease that turkeys get and one of the ways you treat it is you wrap their foot in a ball bandage while you cover it in hemorrhoid cream and then wrap it in a ball bandage. And, you know, in my early 20s I found that pretty damn funny. Oh kind of still do. So do you, you're laughing.

MB: Anything with hemorrhoid cream in a turkey, right?

BBF: Anything with turkey and hemorrhoid cream. I mean, it's kind of- also makes a good sandwich.

ML: A Thanksgiving turkey story.

BBF: Hemorrhoid cream instead of potatoes. So yeah, so I remember I immediately... I got inspired, I wrote this song about this superhero called Bumblefoot, you know...eh, how to the words go? I can't remember. Anyway, there, it was a funny song and then when I got my first record deal on Shrapnel Records in the mid-90s I had this wacky ideas like, "I will call the album The Adventures of Bumblefoot, every song will be named after a different animal disease and artwork will have this foot with stripes and wings and stinger and I'll be flying overhead and all the buildings will be on fire and just"... you know, oh, just a big mess. So we put out that album and it did pretty well for what it was. It was a my debut album, a guitar instrumental album because that's what Shrapnel wanted and that's what Shrapnel got. And from there, after I got off that deal, I started my own band called Bumblefoot which was very quirky Zappa, Primus, Faith No More, System of a Down kind of vibe and the name fit. Bumblefoot, it definitely fit the vibe of the band. The only thing is, I always wanted the band to be a band and I wanted it to be where everybody's writing, everyone is singing, everyone's participating, everybody's equal, you know, like KISS for example. That's what I was raised on. Like my two bands that I was raised on, KISS and the Beatles and both bands you know every member by the first name, like, you say the names together, "John, Paul, George, Ringo," when you know-

MB: "Gene, Paul, Eric, Tommy".

BBF: There you go. [?] But also each name means something to you, like they have a personality, a musical personality, and I always wanted to have a band like that but it was more like I was giving everything I got and everyone else would just kind of show up after their job and, you know. And while I'm funding everything, they would just show up, rehearse and leave. And it was... I was doing everything-

MB: -and they were taking all the beer, all the women and leaving you with the work?

BBF: Exactly! And that's not good. That wasn't the bumblefoot plan!

ML: The band was Bumblefoot and then you became the Bumblefoot. It makes sense.

BBF: Well, what happened was it became more like a solo project because I was singing, I was writing, I was doing the lease, I was doing ninety percent of the effort in the band so people viewed it more like a solo project than a band. So the name Bumblefoot became like a nickname and that's kind of how it happened. Yeah. To my inability to join a band like KISS,  make a band like KISS, have a band like KISS.

MB: What would the Bumblefoot character look like in KISS?

BBF: That's a good question. All right, if-

MB: A giant yellow chicken with a diseased foot?

BBF: Pretty much. I'd be hopping around. I would have, I guess like Gene Simmons had his bat wings, I would have these these silly-

ML: Turkey drumsticks?

BBF: Horrid black and yellow... ah, what a mess. Good that that didn't work out.

ML: It still might, there's a chance. Maybe Tommy will quit someday? Now, one of the things we talked about is first inspirations that get you into music. What was the first album you brought home that you bought with your money and dug into?

MB: And you have to admit if it was something that was like totally lame ass.

BBF: Okay I got a few of them that I can tell you about. All right, well, I think that really did for me is when the KISS Alive! album came out okay and that's what really got me into music, into playing, into rock, everything. I was about five six years old. So the first album's I got was Boston's first album, I got a Blondie 'Parallel Lines'-

ML: That was a good album.

BBF: Yeah, it was a great album. I got some weird ones, I got Yes 'Going For The One', which is still one of my favorite Yes albums. To me that's a masterpiece. Just five songs and each one is just a fucking masterpiece. Uh, what else? Billy Joel 'The Stranger', he's, like, all the first albums that I remember getting and then... all right now,  here's the weird one, 'The Close Encounters of the Third Kind' soundtrack.

MB: That's not that weird. Listen, here's right my first purchases music were: [?] Shipley and The Lovin' Spoonful.

BBF: Well that's good.

MB: That's good but you got to remember I had no idea what was going on musically so as a little kid you're just buying music and I'm like, "Oh, that's an interesting-looking cover," take it home and listen to it. It probably took me another six months before I kind of focused and got, you know, on the KISS train of thought and Cheap Trick and all that. Before that it was like ABBA, [?], Shipley and Lovin' Spoonful and some weird shit.

BBF: Good old ABBA. It's kind of like whatever we're exposed to from the older generation around us. Like when you're really young, whatever your parents have, whatever-

MB: Exactly.

BBF: -to older brother or sister has, that's kind of what does it.

ML: Just to add in, my older brother had Double Platinum of KISS  and Love Gun lying around. I convinced my dad to buy me the four solo albums but my own money was Dynasty, that's the one I plunked my 6.99 or 5.99, whatever it was back in the day, so, you know.

MB: So here, I've probably told this story in another episode but I remember when I bought Destroyer with my own money, again I'm a little kid and I bought it, I brought it home and I drop the needle on the first track and, you know, the first track is the car crash then I honest-to-god thought something was wrong with the record, that somebody had recorded some garbage on the vinyl LP because I'm like, "What the hell is this? There's no music!"

BBF: Let's go have encounters now, I thought that if I bought the album, this is before VHS, this is before everything, you know, if you want to see movie had to go to the movies or unless it was on TV or something, and I bought the album thinking that I'd be able to listen to the movie. And I'm listening to it and it's all, it's just soundtrack music. "Damn!" So I go back on... I tried different ones. I ended up buying three different Close Encounters of the Third Kind soundtracks, soundtrack albums, hoping that one of them would actually be the movie that I could listen to.

MB: Did you return the others? Give him an excuse?

BBF: No.

MB: I was thinking to myself it's like, "How do I go back to this record store and tell them that I think somebody recorded on this vinyl album? You're gonna think I'm nuts."

ML: Now... you know Close Encounters... what's our second topic tonight?

MB: Uh... I don't know, what should we talk about? What was the... what's your experience... what do you like for buying music, are you into downloading? You like the old concept of record stores? I mean where do your memories fall?

BBF: My memories fall to be about 11 years old and my dad driving us out to this place called Rock and Roll Heaven in New Jersey, it was a flea market where this couple had this metal record shop. Real nice couple named John and Marcia.

ML: I know where this is gone.

BBF:  Yeah, and they would turn me on to all kinds of stuff, just like random things I never heard of that they would recommend, like, I would go there and get all the Australian imports of AC/DC albums, I would get picture discs made in all that kind of stuff and then they would say, "Check out this one called the Angel which I think you might like," you know, and I did. I still remember all the songs it's like this cool riffing [plays the guitar].

MB: I remember that song.

ML: Angel Witch on an acoustic guitar.

BBF: And then what else did they tell me to get? [plays the guitar and sings] I remember that one. [plays the guitar and sings]. Yeah.  So they were like, all that kind of stuff, they were... they would turn me on to. So they definitely turned me into a metal head at a young age. I mean, I was that way anyway. I was totally into new Ozzy albums and all the Priest and Maiden and everything and but yeah. And then they went on to get kind of busy with a couple of bands and stuff.

ML: They did?

MB: What was the band they got busy with?

BBF: Well, there was-

MB: [?]

BBF: Yeah there was the Metalli something and that was another one also like New Yorkers named after an animal disease-

MB: Bumblefoot? Oh no, no, not Bumblefoot.

ML: The fantastic Anthrax.

BBF: Yes.

ML: Love my Anthrax. You know, it's interesting that you speak about how you used to go in and they would tell you, they point you to some new music and stuff, now this is sort of a new way to get people into new music, something a little bit about this pledge music project you have?

[Bumblefoot plays and sings]

BBF: Sorry. What? Oh, so yeah, pledge music, so about 20 years ago I met up with one of my favorite singers guy named Tony Harnell from the band TNT.

ML: Right.

MB: '10,000 Lovers'.

BBF: Yeah, I won't even dare try and sing his stuff. Though I have many times... actually last NAMM I was drunk and singing TNT to him at one of the booths, just going through like every song, like, "I love this song," I'm all drunk and he's just cracking up. It was bad. Oh and I don't-

MB: Video somewhere?

BBF: I hope not. But yeah, I don't drink anymore... because it makes me sing TNT songs to the singer of TNT. But yeah, yeah, so we met up 20 years ago and he was gonna be leaving TNT, like, they were kind of in a shaky spot. We were gonna put a band together but it didn't happen and then 20 years later we meet up at NAMM, reconnected a little bit before that but it was at NAMM that we started talking about really doing something together and we started talking about doing some acoustic stuff together, all kinds of things and then we started doing a couple of shows around New York, acoustic shows and now we're working on an acoustic album together. So Tony decided to go the route of fan funding. So he started a pledge music campaign and so far so good. I think it's up to like nine grand. It's getting pretty close to the mark of what he was shooting for and that's going to fund everything that needs to be done to do this album the right way, to get it out, to promote it, shows, whatever needs to be done for the album.

MB: Good deal, good deal. Glad to hear that's working. We had a previous guest who's doing a pledge music campaign, Jean Bevoir [?].

BBF: There you go. Yeah, it is the way of the future.

MB: Get the fans to pay up front.

BBF: Yeah, instead of them paying the label who pays a distributor who pays everyone and then the artist never gets paid, they just... let's just give it right to the artists and let the artists do everything himself and make sure it happens and they make the album happen. It is fun little incentives they get as well, you know, like all the little things that come with it, you know, "Get a guitar lesson", "Get a vocal lesson", whatever it is, "Come to a show," like all the things that you get in return-

MB: Anybody gonna be able to get like, dinner with Bumblefoot? Turkey dinner?

BBF: Possibly, and some hemorrhoid cream, you have between [?] the sandwich.

ML: Wasn't there some of the higher price sort of packages where you could have... I mean, you mentioned the guitar lesson but wasn't there something where you could come and hang out with the band or after the show?

BBF: There's something, I gotta check again. My brain is just mush still from from all the traveling and everything but I think there is.

ML: What's your take on doing campaigns like this? I mean, is it the way of the future or is it sort of a new model until the music industry reestablishes itself or where we're going with this?

BBF: I think it's a way for the fans to assist the artists in cutting out the middleman and the fans understand that an artist needs to survive and unfortunately it takes money to survive. So it's sort of somewhere in between, you know, bartering and money. We're just kind of figuring it all out, you know, and I think it's good. I think it's a good way to go so yeah.

ML: Yeah. Is there any added pressures with it? I mean, do the fans send you twenty bucks and say, "Nah, make me a song that sounds like the old one you use to make," or is there any kind of added [?]?

BBF: You know, I haven't found that. Just been just supportive and very much just, you know, "Do what you do and can't wait to hear it."

MB: So before we forget, where can the fans go to find this if they want to pledge?

BBF: Yes! You can go to.... what is it? pledgemusic.com/projects/tonyharnell  so that's www...

ML: h-t-t-p, no. Now, the project is that a band that you're doing with him or are you sort of just guesting on his album?

BBF: It's kind of a band thing, yeah.

ML: Okay.

BBF: You're writing, playing, forming, everything a band does and and we do have the intention of stepping it up and getting electrical at some point, getting a couple of guys in there, you know. We've spoken about-

MB: Doing some live shows?

BBF: Yeah.

ML: They've done a couple of acoustic shows but you're gonna eventually make it plugged in and be sort of a full sort of metal [?] band if you want?

BBF: If not this thing... I mean me and Tony will be doing something electric at some point.

ML: Okay. But yeah, this acoustic thing is happening, it's going to happen. We've been doing the New York shows, they've been great, we just played out in Vegas together and that was wonderful. A lot of fun. We did some interesting stuff, threw some good covers in there, just random stuff, the night before, "Hey, you wanna try this one?" Downloaded lyrics, it was like, "All right, let's figure this out," "Can we do this?"

MB: So speaking of Vegas, you just spent a few days out there, didn't you?

BBF: Few, yeah!

MB: What was that all about?

BBF: Just kind of passed through, did a show or two, might have-

MB: Found an empty venue somewhere and you guys just set up and started playing every night?

BBF: Pretty much. So yeah, we did a residency, yes we did.

MB: "We"? "We" as in Guns N' Roses, right?

BBF: Yes. "We" as in them.

MB: "Them"?

BBF: And me.

MB: The big "them".

ML: What's the major difference in doing a residency other than tour, rather than doing a full tour? Okay, obviously you're not hopping on a bus every night but music-wise, setlist-wise, fan-reaction-wise, I mean, by the 6th night are fan gonna go, "alright already" or how do you adjust to the residency?

BBF: They are loving... the fans love the fact that if they want to see three shows, they don't have to buy three sets of plane tickets and spend all that money reveling in and working out their whole crazy itinerary. They can camp out just the same way we are, see as many shows as they want and they're loving that. So it's a good thing. Turned out to be good for everybody and that's not even something I thought about until they mentioned it, like, "You know, you know, I wasn't sure which show... you know, usually if you're gonna play Vegas you're doing one show and I just have to hope that I could get off and but now it's like you are here for a whole month, and I was like, 'All right I'll go with the third week,' or 'Maybe I'll go the second week and I'll see three shows or however many'" It's good.

MB: Did you see a lot of fans that were repeat night after night?

BBF: Sure. And usually a lot of those fans would be traveling from place to place very often and now they were able to just kind of-

MB: Camp out.

BBF: -in one spot and it was easier for them. It was much better for them and also, you know, we all get to hang out a bit more. It's not so rushed, you know, see other on days off. So it's good.

ML: Physically it's got to be better.

BBF: Oh god, yeah, yeah. The big wear down is the traveling, you known. The show's, yeah, we're playing three hours, not finishing at three in the morning, that's not... that's fine, that's no problem. It's having to go to the airport and deal with all that crap, that's the part that kicks your ass. And not having to do that... we have so much more energy...Well, I am speaking for myself, I had a hell of a lot more energy. I felt a lot better. It was good, yeah. I wouldn't.... for me, I would be completely happy if the future of touring was doing one month somewhere and then one month somewhere else and one month somewhere else, just picking different spots on the globe.

ML: I was gonna ask you, would you consider coming to the east coast and setting up around New York or Atlantic City and then the fans from the east coast come to you?

BBF: I would love that, yeah. It's not up to me. If it was I would just snap my fingers and boom and get it done.

ML: Did you come out... did you put this on DVR, are you gonna make a DVD or an album out of this residency? Was it the...

BBF: Don't know. I mean, we had a video that were recorded from London in the end of May or early June and that never came out. We filmed some good 3D footage. See if it comes out. Its out of my hands, you know, once it is in the hands of management and whatever else - that's it. I did my part, I played.

MB: Now at a residency, does that allow you guys to do things differently from a production standpoint because you don't have to tear down and rebuild every night? Can you do things a little more exciting and interesting?

BBF: It definitely helps. I think that we were able to build the show a little bit more as it went on. Like we started off we... our production manager, Clay, made this phenomenal stage set up with the levitating piano thing, you have your unidentified flying Axl going out over the crowd, UFA, and had the big arms coming out over the crowd, standing on the... stuff like that, experimented with holograms, didn't go that great, but then dancers and aerialists... the aerialists were amazing, the stuff they did was beautiful. You just have to stop and watch and... So that's something that happened as the show went on, it sort of built and became more of a show and we started adding more show, more songs, different songs as it went on. So yeah, I don't think that would have happened if we were just constantly traveling and being a little worn down and didn't have the mental energy to take on all that stuff, to focus on all that stuff really. So yeah, it helped.

ML: Now, GN'R has become mostly a touring band, I mean, Chinese Democracy came out a few years ago. What's the plan going forward? Are there plans to record or is it just another tour for next year?

[Bumblefoot shrugs]

ML: I like the idea of tour [?]

MB: What are you trying to do Mitch, get an exclusive right here?

BBF: Well, no, we've been talking about recording for a long time and plans to record, but life just always gets in the way, everything gets in the way and it just doesn't happen. The time flies by as I go out, we never did it. We were in Vegas for a month and we didn't get together and record and write and do all the stuff. We even moved some gear into DJ's house and to do some stuff, just never happened. Too many other-

MB: ...happened.

BBF: Well, yeah.

ML: Are you looking for... I mean, is the itinerary already booked with like Europe next year 2013?

[Bumblefoot shakes his head]

ML: No? So right now you're sort of free and clear and waiting for your papers to walk, your walking papers or your "let's get out of here papers"?

MB: It's flying papers.

ML: Flying papers! That's right, the other ones are not good.

MB: Yeah, you don't want walking papers.

BBF: The things that I have booked are just for January and February, the NAMM convention, going out there to California, some shows with Tony... what else? Some other things, some hot sauce conventions that I'm going to be pimping my hot sauces that I'm making. Uhm, yeah. I told you about that, right? I'm putting out my hot sauces-

MB: What is this, turkey hot sauces?

BBF: Oh, it's good for everything, turkey, lamb, beef, chicken, all kinds of things you know, vegetarian as well. Yeah, I'm putting out my own line, finally, of Bumblefoot hot sauces and I've had these recipes in my head for years and I flew out during the residency, I flew out to Ohio to the company CaJohn's that's going to be bottling and manufacturing, and we were in their kitchens tweaking the recipes, finalizing everything. And it's good to go, all I have to do is just come up with the fonts that I want to use on the bottle. That's it. It's ready to go. It'll be out worldwide and some serious stuff, there is one... ok, I'm going to start my "spiel", we have Bumblelicious, a cherry bourbon flavor, very subtle, very flavorful, great for marinades, for glaze, for... and as well as a hot sauce. And it has slow, subtle kick that just kind of burns slowly, and it's mild, it's good. And then the other extreme is one called Bumblefucked and that one is... it has lime and ginger and it also has caffeine and ginseng and things that really will will review up, and within a few seconds you get pounded with six million Scoville units. That's three times the strongest commercial grade pepper spray weapons and... but the thing about my sauce is, no matter how hot they are, it never sacrifices flavor for as long as you're on fire that flavor is there. And everything is all natural, no preservatives. It is good stuff. I have one called Bumblebee, with ladies' pleasure in mind, it has chocolate and cherry and it is good for a cocktail, like some kind of spiced Black Russian, or it could be good if you want to kind of add a kick to your chocolate sundae or something like that. And proceeds from this one will go towards women's health issues. [?] I have a series that will be named after my albums, Normal, Uncool, Abnormal. Ah. the Normal sauce is almost like a salsa puree, it's very tomatoey but not as biting and vinegary, it's it's more of just a good salsa flavor to it with the Mediterranean oregano and things like that. It's mild. Good one for your chips. Then there's Uncool, not the most common sauce. This one has a bit of curry to it. Would go great with your Thai food, your Chinese food, your Indian food [?]. And then we have Abnormal which has tamarind and that one is very, very strong. Not for the... you know, not for beginners. So yeah, that is the first batch that I'm going to be putting out.

MB: As a guitarist, it sounds like your hot sauces go to a level.

BBF: They do. They go to 11, for sure. Eleven and a half.

MB: Eleven and a half!

ML: Will you be touring Ribfest around the Midwest next year?

BBF: I plan to go to Albuquerque, New Mexico, in March for the Hot Sauce Festival. I would be going to the big one in Texas in January but it's right when NAMM is. I don't know if I can make that happen. I gotta see. But yeah, I plan on touring for my hot sauces. This is not unlike music, it's like the series of hot sauces, like each hot sauce is like a song and Bumblefucked is the first single we're putting out next month and then the full album comes out-

MB: So the big question is, where where do you buy the Bumblefoot hot sauces?

BBF: It will be anywhere where a hot sauce stores buyer is crazy enough to put my stuff on their shelves, as well as the internet. You will be able to find it worldwide, I'll make sure of it. I will hand deliver it to you if I must but you will eat my hot sauce and you will like it.

MB: Mitch, you know it sounds like we could call up Eric Turner and have some of the the Warrant wine with the Bumblefoot hot sauces. Put together a package deal.

ML: Yes, that actually sounds good. What was it called? Turner Red [?] and the Uncool sauce, that's perfect.

BBF: That would work, it would definitely-

ML: -work.

BBF: Yes.

ML: Now other than that, you also worked with a guy... speaking of hot, you were a band called Hotel Diablo their singer, Mr. [Rick] Stitch, you just did some work with him?

BBF: Yeah, yeah, we did a song, Live Forever, which I believe just come out today.

ML: Yes.

BBF: Yeah, so. Very nice, yeah. I laid some guitar on that and edit some parts to it and he's a super talented guy, is an amazing singer. First time I saw him was actually with Adler's Appetite when I was playing with Lita Ford and we did a show together. I think it was on July 4th 2009 in Chicago and thought it was fantastic. And we stayed in touch since and yeah, he's a great guy and a great singer and great songwriter and he's a great producer. He knows how to really make a song sound good and I threw down guitars on that one and I'm sure we'll be doing more stuff as well. And he's also a talented designer. He is designing some shirts for me, some Bumblefoot shirts that I'm gonna put out, some new merch, because the guy's just a true artistic soul, the guy.

ML: New solo album coming along the way, too?

BBF: I've been so busy with the touring and with everything else and just laying guest guitar solos for people and then just also just trying to get my health in order and all that, that I've just kind of haven't had much inspiration lately to do it. I have a few songs in the back of my head and actually I saw the Beatles Love show while I was in Vegas and that thing you can't help but get choked up throughout the whole thing, it is just such a moving thing to see. Just, I don't know what it is, but it just gets to you, and that made me just start thinking about maybe start thinking lyrical thoughts.

ML: Yeah, yeah.

BBF: I need to make some more music.

MB: Did you got to the KISS putt-putt? [mini golf?]

BBF: Oh hell yeah! First thing we did. [?] we played 18 rounds, 18 holes, and and that place is like a museum. They have everything there, it's incredible. And we hung out at the VIP room and signed the wall and yeah that was phenomenal. I saw things in there that that just blew my mind, some things that I remembered from way back, too, that I'd forgotten about, because it definitely... it's more than golf. If you're a fan of KISS you've got to go there just for the things on the walls that they have, all the memorabilia. I mean they have everything there. Yeah, they have the KISS Chapel in there. So you could play golf and get married.

MB: Play golf and get married. [?] Gene supports marriage now.

ML: Then you mentioned your health, last [?] you had a bit of a fender bender. How is your back? How is the health?

BBF: Oh it's definitely better. I mean, it's something I'm always gonna have to deal with for the rest of my life, but I went to a doctor after the last touring, we had three months off, and I finally had a chance to take care of myself because I was just constantly being drugged up and injected and pilled up, just to keep me going. But each one was a temporary fix that led to other issues that weren't good so I had to just kind of clean up and clean out. So I went to, I guess you can call my "wellness doctor", and he went through all my blood and figured out which hormones were off, which vitamins were deficient, what I needed to do to, and came up with a very extreme plan for me. And it worked phenomenally and... you know, I've never been that type of guy that preaches about food and organic and this and grass-fed, you know, non-hormone and all that stuff, but I'll tell you, I'm converted because this change has been better than any medicine and I realized that either you can spend more money on doctors and medicine that doesn't work as well or you could spend a little bit less money on better quality food and it'll help your body more. And it made all the difference, And I would not have made it through this tour had I still been taking pain medicine to help with the pain instead of figuring out the right anti-inflammatory diet that works with my body. So yeah-

MB: I got to imagine having a diet like that the residency made it much easier to stick to that. If you were travelling city to city it's gotta be really tough to eat right.

BBF: Oh yeah, yeah. I set it up for the month that I was there. I went and got a foreman grill, I got a Brita pitcher, I got egg cooker, got a fridge, got all this stuff to make it, you know, just get running the whole foods and just stinking up whole-

MB: You know, that is so rock and roll. Just rebellious.

BBF: Thank you, yeah. Yeah, normally a band comes in and you open the door and all this pot, you know, big cloud of pot comes out. They opened my door and a big cloud of sea bass smoke, from gilled sea bass come pouring out.

MB: You're buying appliances that most rock stars would be throwing out the window.

BBF: Well, the  windows wouldn't open.

ML: A KISS Brita filter is on its way to you soon.

MB: A Kiss Brita filer.

BBF: A little bit of trivia for you, speaking of Gene Simmons before, Nick Simmons, his son, did my Halloween makeup on Halloween when at the last minute I was like, "God, should i do something for Halloween?" So someone in the hospitality room had some Halloween makeup, they had a face paint, crayon kind of face stuff makeup. So Nick Simmons volunteered, he's like, "Oh let me help you with that, let me.... I could do that for you." And he did up my face like a like a zombie.

MB: He didn't do you up like his dad?

BBF: No, no, no, it was like a straight up Alice Cooper-ish zombie kind of dude. Came out great.

MB: If he did you up like Gene you probably would have had to pay Gene royalty on it.

ML: Perhaps.

BBF: [?] tired of hearing about his own dad all the time, "But I'm not my dad's son, I am me!" You know, you gotta feel, you know, that's gotta be like that. Must get annoying. You know, Dweezil Zappa, [?], all the guys who have a famous dad, "Enough about me dad already!" You know, cuz they're like a person in their own know....

MB: They got their own talent.

ML: I guess they eventually come around to accepting it. I mean, Jason Bonham for years wanted nothing to do with Led Zeppelin. Now he's touring around at the Led Zeppelin Experience, so you can't beat it, you might as well join it, you know.

BBF: I think it's just part of the natural cycle of life. Like, you're in your 20s, you're out to prove who the hell you want, your 30s, and you're getting it done and then by the time you're in your 40s like, "I got nothing left to prove, I'm good, yup that's my dad."

MB: You're probably in your 40s thinking about your retirement and all of a sudden it makes a lot more sense to take those checks.

BBF: Know what, I don't know if it's just that, like I could honestly say that like, you know, I'm in my 40s now and you start looking at things different, you make peace with things and you accept things and you embrace things and you appreciate, like, you treasure the fact that, you know, your family is who they are instead of fighting it, you know, [?] "they're not gonna be around forever," and you start really feeling the good stuff and celebrating it and cherishing it.

ML: We're gonna ask you in a second here to play a song for us but you did mention you were a KISS fan, have you heard the new Monster album and what do you think of it if you have?

BBF: I thought was pretty good. It was cool, although I'm bad because I gotta listen to an album, I start listening to all the things that I would do differently and I would change, and the only issue I have with the more recent KISS albums is that it's too... it's almost like... KISS, all right I'm just speak to you guys as a fan: feels like you're dialing it in, feels like you're not giving it from the heart and it's just too perfect and too exact... like-

ML: Too linear.

MB: Too precise.

BBF: Yeah, yeah, be human. Being perfect, don't tweak it, don't edit it, don't correct it, don't quantize it, make it real, keep it real, because that's what we loved about your sound is that it was real and the real you is good, you don't have to change it or fix it, your pocket is good, you don't have to quantize it, you know, where you guys hit in that groove is good, you don't have to put it right on like that's what gave you guys your spirit and everything in the sound and, yeah, don't cut that away, don't do that.

MB: Somewhat related to that, I don't know if you read Peter Criss' new book, but he made a comment that talked about he was talking about Ace' playing style and how Tommy is a great guitar player but he's too perfect and one of the things about Ace was, that guy had all these rings, all those jewelry on that whenever he was playing was slapping against the strings, was met... you know, was adding something to it, it wasn't perfect, it added feel.

BBF: Yeah, and it's true. "Feel" is defined by your imperfection, your humanity, you know, and it's that it's like if you take a human being, you know, we're not exact, nothing we do is the same twice, and that's how our music should be. That's how, you know, a little bit of slop is okay, you know, it doesn't have to be completely technically accurate. You know, hit it a little bit wrong and let its squeal, let it do this or let it do that, or let something happen that will never happen the same way twice. I'm all-

ML: Is that something we've lost with ProTools because then... you look at, and I know we were harping on KISS, but in the 70s Aerosmith would make an album in two or three days, Black Sabbath's first album was nine hours, you know, a lot of these albums were done rushed and imperfect and it was like one take, "let's go!". But now with ProTools every band overthinks, and I mean, the new Aerosmith album is very sanitized compared to Rocks or Toys In The Attic. Can we go back to that?

BBF: It's like you have all these tools and you feel like you gotta use them, you know. So that's the thing. It's slowly taking away the feel and the spirit. Yeah, not good.

ML: It is. No it's not good and just because you have the technology doesn't mean you have to use the technology.

BBF: To me... yeah, and the biggest way that music has suffered is in drum sounds. Because every one is drum replacing, it's like even a snare drum, it has character, and a real drummer, you know, the way he hits to get rid of that, I mean, to me it's equivalent of having a guitarist, you know, play it and then run it through something that just spits out, you know, a keyboard sound of a guitar. And also all the sounds are just the same shit and you don't hear.... I don't know, people don't know how to record drums anymore. Like it's become a lost art. They don't know how to use the room and the reflections to energize a drum kit and how to work everything and how to just let the drum sound like drums now and they sound like shit. Like, I listen to a lot of newer recordings and the snare drum is not a [?] like squashed piece of music and there's no dynamic, there's no.... it's all gum. You need to pull back a little bit.

MB: You know, rather than recording the drums in the bathroom, all they do is hit the bathroom effect on ProTools.

BBF: Right. It's true.

ML: But you're very right about the room, though, I mean back in the day people would rent cathedrals, they'd rent out special houses, they'd make an effort to find a room, now everybody's doing it in the... you know, six foot square room in their basement and it's all the same sound, there's no... there's no warmth to it anymore.

ML: Now, let's hear some warmth from you, what do you got for us today?

BBF: What do I got for you? Shit, you kidding me? I don't know, what can I play?

ML: I Was Made For Loving You? Hard Luck Woman?

BBF: Let me tell you something-

ML: [?] Ladies And Gentlemen?

BBF: I'm gonna, I'm gonna have a little debate with you. Here's what I am gonna propose: I am going to propose to you that The Elder is better than Dynasty, what do you say to that?

ML: No.

MB: I like The Elder, I do. Mitch hates it.

ML: Listen, well, listen, I don't hate all the songs per se, I just think that they were misrecorded. Sounds like Peter Pan or something, like had he sung in his normal voice they'd be better songs, that's the problem with it. It's the way he sings the songs. Musically when those songs are done-

BBF: He's trying to sing like, you know, so, like Disco Queen, you know, it's like all that. I can't even imitate it.

[Bumblefoot sings].

BBF: I mean, that's... I know what he was going for and he did it, I just... you know, for me I just-

MB: Think how easy it was to mimic it.

BBF: I just felt a little bit betrayed when that album came out as a kid. It's like this rock band, "Destroyer!" you know, "Rock and Roll Over!" all that, "Dress to Kill" and then they put out like disco stuff and I was like, "Ah man..." It's like he went to the dark side and to me Elder was a better rock album.

MB: Oh yeah, I would agree with that.

BBF: "I" was good.

ML: That's a great song, that actually is a great song.

BBF: "World Without Heroes" was actually a nice song as far as ballads go. I mean, there was some like good rocking stuff on there.

ML: Right. I think The Elder would be a great album if they re-recorded it today and they tried to get rid of some of the vocal effects that they were doing and.... good songs but badly presented, badly put together.

BBF: You don't like the production?

ML: No. Same thing with Carnival of Souls, terrible production.

MB: Carnival of Souls sucked. That was them just trying to jump on the grunge bandwagon when grunge was already on its way out.

ML: Let's be honest, from I Was Made For Loving You up until 2012 everything has been about KISS following a trend and not establishing a trend.

BBF: You know what my favorite production was on a KISS album? Dress To Kill.

ML: Yeah.

BBF: It was so tight and solid and it just seemed to be just so together. It seemed like they were just really playing together a lot of stuff, like, it was just really... everything was just... I don't know, there was like this certain, it was just like very raw, it wasn't, there wasn't a lot of reverb, it wasn't anything it was just like them just hitting their stuff and there's something very pure about it, you know. If you just listen to the guitar [plays a riff] and just the way one thing would bring out that it was just so just... you felt like you were just right there with them.

MB: But you know that was a time when before they became superstars, as well. They were still a young band busting their ass to make it.

BBF: Yeah.

ML: I think it's one of the last albums where they didn't have any guest musicians in there. Right after that it was all guest musicians somewhere along the way or ghost musicians.

BBF: Rock And Roll Over was also like that.

ML: That a great album.

BBF: It also had the same tight,  like, the whole band just, like, you know, [humming] it just sounds like one thing. And when they stop, they stop like so together, you know, like those little stops... to me it was the silence in the albums that totally made those records. I mean, you could turn that into some kind of weird insult or joke or something but it's, like for real, like it was the silence, it was when they stopped playing it made every spot they played so much more powerful and meaningful.

ML: A dramatic pause is what we call it.

BBF: Yes, "the DP". The dramatic-

[laughter]

ML: No, but I mean, listen... Rock And Roll Over is extremely overlooked. I mean it's one of their greatest albums ever and people rarely mention it. They talk about Destroyer, they talk about Revenge, they talk about Alive, but I mean, you've got Calling Doctor Love, I Want You, Making Love, what else is on that? Baby Driver.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: Yeah, and all their harmonies, their harmonies kicked ass!

MB: They did.

ML: Yeah. Oh god. We're all going to be singing along in a minute. We got to avoid that.

BBF: I just played on would have been Sin City Sinners.

ML: Yes, sir.

BBF: Yeah, I played with them in between some Guns' shows we did and we busted out Dr. Love.

ML: Like to try that for us now?

BBF: You want me to sing KISS songs?

MB: Go for it!

ML: It's either that or November Rain.

BBF: I will sing every single KISS song for you if you have a few hours.

ML: It's about 18 hours.

[Bumblefoot playing and singing].

BBF: [?] like little upbeat stuff you're throwing. Come on, yeah, come on.

ML: It's great stuff that was great stuff. What's remarkable with your version is that you know the lyrics better than Gene does these things.

[Bumblefoot playing and singing November Rain].

BBF: Actually I don't know those words. As I'm singing it now, I'm picturing in my head, like off to the corner, I'm picturing, like,  the little screen that that has like the lyrics on it. What do you call it?

MB: Teleprompter.

BBF: And it's like now my brain is automatically looking for a teleprompter to rely on instead of my own memory and that's bad.

ML: I've always wanted to ask a musician about the teleprompter, does it make you lazy in a sense because you end relying on it too much? Does it take away from the performance because you're looking down at the floor or does it add to it?

BBF: It definitely helps to have that crutch to lean on, if you need it, because sometimes you just get a mind blank, you just get a brain fart out of nowhere, it happens.

ML: But isn't that part of the fun of a live show? That there is mistakes and stumbles and the sound does feedback-

MB: Yeah, it's kind of, you know, we're talking about the feeling that's kind of what you want.

BBF: Yeah, like the best thing like be listening to an old Van Halen, you know, bootleg and in the middle of the song he just yells, "I forgot the words!" and everyone cheers.

ML: Yeah.

MB: Yeah.

ML: Right. Or, of course, with Dave, you know, he just changed the lyrics every night. I mean he just sings whatever comes into his head.

BBF: That works. But I started doing... yeah, actually at rehearsals, when we do GN'R rehearsals, I do the vocals and the teleprompter definitely helps for me as I'm like going through any any vocal stuff, trying to do my best flattering interpretation, impersonation [?].

[Bumblefoot sings like Axl].

BBF: Yeah.

ML: Well you got him going on Don't Cry. You helped bring that one back to the set?

BBF: Which one?

ML: Don't Cry.

BBF: Don't Cry. Yeah, I'm tempted to, like, sing along and like do the higher parts and stuff because he'll be doing the low and  there's a two part harmony in there and usually I'm just singing it but not by a microphone, I'm just singing it. Yeah. I don't know if the audience hears me or not, maybe they do.

ML: Maybe they do. Now the other thing you also do, is you do the Pink Panther Theme as part of your solo. Shall we hear some acoustic Pink Panther today?

[Bumblefoot plays the Pink Panther Theme]

BBF: But I've been doing a lot of my own stuff now, there's song Glad To Be Here, I've been doing. Happy little song. And then there's another one called Objectify I started doing and the whole band. Objectify is one of the few songs, I can never write on the road, but there were two songs-

ML: I said you started doing that during the residency?

BBF: Yeah. Yeah, that one came out good, people were bouncing to that one. Yeah, kind of a punky-ish ode to objectification, and kind of comparing it to, like, the old movies where the angry mob with their torches, you know, trying to, like, you know, just villainize and crucify and, you know, try and view someone as a monster to destroy. Yes.

MB: We're getting very heavy here.

BBF: Yeah, we are. But you know what's funny? The funny thing about that song, and I don't think I've ever told anybody this, but I wrote it about my band mates. People think it is about fans and stuff but it is when I first joined the band, like, they just didn't want to get to know me and just had this opinion of me that wasn't really me. And that's what actually prompted that song. Yeah, interesting.

ML: I guess you've gotten over that.

BBF: Oh yeah.

ML: You also worked... I was going to ask you about Cat Fight you did with Accept's new singer Mark Tornillo. Fantastic singer. It's always important to plug Accept, another great band from the 80s.... and even 70s.

BBF: They're a band that talk about, like, still kicking ass and like since Mark is in that band-

ML: A better band, a much better band.

BBF: Yeah, yeah and I was an old [?] his from way back, you know, T.T. Quick-

MB: T. T. Quick? Great, great band.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: and the big one that everyone, you know, go see him and I would sneak in and I'd be like 14 years old sneak into the club and, you know.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: Yep, Dave DiPietro, the guitar player. Good stuff.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

MB: Metal of Honor, great album.

BBF: Yes, we could sit around just jamming to all the old early 80s metal songs it's like, "Remember this one?" Yeah.

ML: Now, people want to know... obviously they can get this stuff, it's all on bumblefoot.co.  Pink Panther's there, Cat Fight's there the albums Abnormal, Uncool, they're all there?

BBF: Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, my store, my little web store, it has all the digital downloads that you can get where I have like all those songs where you can get the songs, you can get transcriptions of it, you can get the recording stamps, you can make your own mixes and versions of it yourself, and then there's a link to go to your store that has the albums and whatever else? Mini guitars and photos and signed stuff and all of that. Shirts, hats, stickers, whatever, picks, picks, picks, these [holding up a guitar pick].

ML: Good old GN'R picks. There you go. And the last thing I'll ask you about is something that's a little more serious is, you have a friend who came down with MS and you still work with an organization that helps it. Can you refresh my memory on that story?

BBF: Yeah, he was a guitar player friend of mine. He started off as a student and then he moved down to Puerto Rico, hooked up with a band there and it was doing great, they were getting bigger and bigger gigs and putting out the their first album and everything was going great and he started getting some dizzy spells and some things and sure enough he got diagnosed and he had MS. And it was just a very slow steady decline of physical control from there. And he started an organization, just a non-profit, that was run by his friends and his family and we all volunteered and we were just putting together all kinds of events, whether it was a concert or like a dinner thing with comedians, and would donate all the money to research, right to the labs where it was going, right directly to them. And he actually... just this year, he shut it down because it was just too much for him. It became too hard to keep it going, just felt it was time. But, yeah, for a good 10 years we would do that, and any of my merch that was autographed, five dollars would go from each thing to MSRF and now I'm just going to figure out what to put it to instead, you know, if it's not that it'll be the MS Society or the Red Cross or whoever needs. Right now the the pressing issue is a lot of my friends lost everything in hurricane Sandy, so figuring out what I can do with that. I took my first my very first fretless guitar, that I did all my first touring with, my first Guns' tours with, and I had the whole band and Axl and even Izzy, everybody, sign it, and I'm going to auction that off for hurricane relief. Maybe I will wait till NAMM and get a few more signatures on it, maybe Duff and Matt want to sign it too or something. Just try and really GN'R the guitar out as far as a whole lot of signatures and yeah. And then just... that'll be the first guitar that I ever get rid of. I've never sold a guitar, I've never given away a guitar but that one and that'll be the first one that I'm gonna donate. And it's funny because I hear from a lot of people that was like, the Red Cross is doing their best, FEMA's doing their best, but it's just too much and really the best way to make a difference is to go to the people, you know, and help them even though they're going to say they don't want your help everybody needs it, you know. So-

MB: They really do.

ML: You needed help last last year after Irene? I mean, your basement was completely flooded out?

BBF: yeah.

ML: You understand it firsthand what it means to lose your stuff.

BBF: Yeah, but that was nothing. I mean, these people they lost everything. It was just my studio. These people lost all their memories, you know, all-

ML: Their life.

BBF: Their whole life. Yeah, yeah.

ML: Well, we'll put up the Red Cross link for hurricane Sandy, I think. Any other questions, Mike?

MB: No, no, this was amazing. I mean, I think we covered a lot and had some fun discussions here.

BBF: I [?] a full song, though.

MB: Yeah, gold, play. Go for it. Give us a full tune.

BBF: Let's see, we got, we got Beatles, we got Zeppelin, we got Queen, we got Rush... I almost went to Rush, I almost said, I almost risked being late for my own show to go see Rush. I really wanted to see them, they were playing on one of our show nights and I was like, "Nah." I stuck around,  stayed put.

MB: There's all kinds of jokes we could say about being late for your own show.

BBF: I've been to every meet and greet, in fact I did a lot of things to try and help. There were things that were not right that needed fixing, like the meet and greets were happening at the same time the doors were opening so what was happening is people that bought VIP tickets had to choose between, you know, their preferred seating or standing or rail hugging, wherever they wanted to be, or going to the meet and greet, coming back down and there's 20 rows of people in front of them and losing a good spot. So we... you know, I petitioned or just, well I asked that we can move the meet and greets a half hour early so that they can still do the meet and greet and then go... yeah. So just little things like that that we did to like fix little things. You know, nothing's perfect so you just gotta take things one at a time and fix them. Another issue we were having was the local security was taking fan signs and was telling them that if they hold up the signs, if they show the signs, that they're going to get thrown out, signs being confiscated and then be told that this was like the band wanted this, which isn't true of course. And finally it got ridiculous where there was like a nine-year-old girl who's like spent all day like making and coloring in this big beautiful sign, "Happy birthday, DJ!" on his birthday that she wanted a show to him and like one for me as well and then her dad sent me a tweet saying that they confiscated her signs. It's like, she's not a troublemaker, she's a nine-year-old girl. So we actually, me and DJ, we brought her upstairs and to hang out like before the show and everything and took pictures with her and then I took her signs and held them up on the stage for everyone to see and... So yeah, you gotta, you know, you gotta take care of your fans, you know, you gotta look out for them when there's a little hole and they're not being looked out for and they let you know, you gottajump in and and fix it and take care.

MB: Very cool, very cool.

ML: It absolutely is because there's a lot of that stuff, especially with the reputation that GN'R unrightly got, that people just blame stuff like this the sign stuff on, "Oh, it must be Axl" and it's like he probably doesn't even know or care and-

BBF: There was one show... I mean, there are signs that are distracting.

ML: Sure.

BBF: But I mean, there was one show where he stopped a song, he stopped the show, because someone was being hassled over their sign and he took the sign and held it up and showed everyone himself. I mean, yeah.

ML: Yeah, the only signs that are distracting are the ones that say, "Giants No. 1", we don't like those. But what song shall we do, let's see, what have we got?

MB: I was thinking some Led Zeppelin.

BBF: Oh god, what can I sing?

ML: I'm thinking... I think more Sabbath.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: I'm just trying to bust out random stuff. "I suppose wanted a woman, never bargained for you"? I'm forgetting all my words.

ML: [?] California's a good acoustic.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: What else? I don't know random stuff.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

ML:  As a Jersey boy, aren't you supposed to be doing Wanted Dead Or Alive? Isn't that part of the law?

BF: I'm originally from New York so I don't know [?] if I could really do it.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: What else? Just name a band and I will hit a piece.

ML: I mean since we want 800 million people to watch you got to do Gangnam Style, is that how it works?

BBF: How does that stuff happen? We're living in a world where you're rewarded for like...yeah! Unbelievable.

ML: Last time I had you sing a song you did, Rocket Ride, you want to try shock me this time? Remember the [?] back in the day?

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: I just like singing all random words. Oh wait, how'd it go?

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: I do the same thing during GN'R shows

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: What else? What else? I don't know what else, just keep-

MB: Do a Rush tune.

ML: Spirit of the [?].

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: Short version

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: I need my teleprompter.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: Trying to get the base in there too.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

MB: Here, I'll throw an artist out.

BBF: Okay.

MB: Jello.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: Oh, who would be a better one? Maybe that one?

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

MB: Turn to Stone?

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

ML: Cheap Trick. Perhaps we should go with Goodnight now?

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: Wait, what's.... let's see, Cheap Trick.

MB: Surrender?

BBF: Of course.

ML: No, you gotta go with something more. [?] How about Voices?

MB: Raise Hell?

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

MB: That's about the only lyric in that song.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: Wow, I haven't heard that so in a long time.

MB: Okay, Mr. Roboto.

BBF: Really?

MB: You said throw any band out.

ML: Or Renegade then?

BBF: Renegade? That's better.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: So let's get all the harmonies in there.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: You make me play sticks, come on, man.

MB: Okay, okay. Let's go back to your very first record, Boston.

ML: Wow, More Than a Feeling.

BBF: Want A Feeling?

[Bumblefoot plays and sings]. You know me and Tony we did like a little mashup, we did More Than a Feeling and then we went into [playing into to Sweet Child O' Mine]. It worked.

MB: It works.

ML: It does work.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: Let's see, Boston,  Boston, Boston.

ML: Got any Ozzy for us?

BBF: I'm going to quickly go through the whole album, all right. It's all about his high notes, so I just jump to high notes.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: Gotta get the high harmony.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings and talks about the songs].

BBF: What was the other one you mentioned before?

MB: Burn Bitch Burn off of Animalize.

ML: So the question is, is when does the Bumblefoot KISS acoustic tribute album come out?

BBF: Oh, we could definitely do that.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings and talks about the songs].

BBF: You mentioned Ozzy-

ML: It's great.

BBF: It's all about trying to imitate the voice, that's the tough part.

ML: Yeah, it's not often you hear the Eric Carr version of Beth being sung.

MB: Or for the Eric Singer version.

ML: Yeah, I like the Eric Singer version.

MB: Hey guys, I hate to like rain on our parade but I think we need to wrap this up. We've been at this for an hour and a half-

ML: An hour and a half.

BBF: Of which 10 minutes was me talking and 1:20 me like missing lyrics-

MB: Recreating Boston.

ML: Join us next week as Bumblefoot does the entire Dream Police album for us.

BBF: Well, you know what I did? Actually right before one of the the GN'R shows, me and Izzy jammed in the back room to the entire Unleashed in the East album.

ML: Nice.

BBF: I walk into the room and he's going [playing a riff], so i just had to join him and, you know, and just ended up doing the whole album from there. We did [playing a riff], like we're both singing and trying to do like our best Halford. And what did we do? We did Tyrant, we didn't do Genocide, but we did Victim of Changes. I did Ripper-

ML: That's a great song.

BBF: Yeah. What else? We did a bunch. Yeah, we pretty much covered the whole lot [?], yeah, we did Tyrant.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: Oh, we did [?].

[Bumblefoot plays].

BBF: [?] like the whole Priest Unleashed in the East.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

ML: I sense a new podcast in the offing, it's a 'Bumblefoot presents classic albums'.

MB: "This week we look at the catalogs by..."

BBF: We went through everything. What else did we do? Oh yeah! We did [plays a riff], of course we did that one. Running Wild.

[Bumblefoot plays and sings].

BBF: Yeah, we did everything.

MB: Instead of us having "Stumped the Trunk" we'll have "Stumped the Bumble".

ML: Yes, "Stump the Bumble".

BBF: We could try it-

ML: So we could obviously go on for another three hours but shall we say good night?

MB: I think we need to wrap this one up. We may have to come back and do a part two to this one, though.

ML: Yes, absolutely.

BBF: Yeah, we gotta definitely do that.

MB: I definitely wanna thank you for joining us, this was the most fun we've had, the most serenading we've had. We've never been serenaded like this.

BBF: My goodness. You should be serenaded every evening before you go to bed. [?]

MB: And I think everybody knows you can go to bumblefoot.com and they can check out everything in the bumble world, hot sauces, music, everything, t-shirts, where he's playing, what he's doing, and of course you can hit droppingtheneedle.com and let us know what you think of this amazing episode.

BBF: No, don't say!

MB: Don't say!

BBF: Keep it to yourselves, please.

MB: We won't tell bumble what you guys really say, just let Mitch and I know.

ML: Thank you very much.

MB: This is awesome. Awesome, awesome time.

BBF: Pleasure. So yeah, we'll do it again one of these days for sure.

ML: Absolutely.

MB: Yeah, definitely. All right guys, as usual I'm one of your co-hosts, Michael Brandvold from Michael Brandvold Marketing and up in Canada we've got Mitch Lafon from puregrainaudio.com.

ML: And of course the great Ron Thal, bumblefoot.

MB: Bumblefoot!

BBF: Yeah, thank you all very much. Thank you everybody for watching. Thank both of you guys for allowing me onto your your thang, your thing, your thang.

MB: Thanks everyone, take care!

ML: Yeah, good night.

I really like this format a lot. BBF is great in this format! He's so personable - buoyant - an interviewer's dream guy. I like his presentation of the PledgeMusic ideology ie "fan support of artist" and "cutting out the middlemen".

If the interviewers polished the banter a bit like the oh so smooth and funny Jimmy Fallon as one example this could be a great format for artists to communicate with fans and introduce themselves to new fans to the extent they wish to.

He has recipes in his head - upcoming Hot Sauce Convention!
I already know I'm gonna be after the Bumble Bee. Lots of info in this interview - the ending is beautiful. I absolutely agree with BBF's assessment of contemporary sanitized music recording techniques.

Part 2!!:

Finally got through transcribing this!

Trivia: A few days after this podcast, Bumblefoot would announce that Michael Brandvold's marketing firm, Michael Brandvold Marketing, would work with Bumblefoot and help "guide Ron's online marketing and e-commerce efforts".

Source: https://www.a-4-d.com/t6937-2012-12-11-press-release-blabbermouth-bumblefoot-to-release-his-own-line-of-hot-sauces