2009.10.DD - ChineseDemocracyForum.com - Interview with Bumblefoot

Is there any musician/musicians you would like to work with? Who?

BBF: There's a long list of people - John Sykes, Brian May, Dave Grohl, anyone that makes music for the love of doing it, and adds good spirit to it.

Where and how do you find inspiration to write your lyics? How do you get yourself to sit down and write them? Because I think of lyrics all the time but I can never get myself to write them down.? Do you kind labor over lyrics and music or just kinda play and write what comes to mind at the moment?

BBF: Lyrics have come to me in a flash, an entire song... there are also songs that have taken *years* to find the right words for. It happens its own way, usually resulting from an emotionally moving experience of some kind. I don't know if you find inspiration, or if it finds you, or both. It just happens.

Traveling around the world can be highly stressful for anyone. Touring I would imagine is a lot harder. What do you do to relieve the stress of being on the road touring so that you don't have a mental and physical meltdown?

BBF: Lots of sleep, and staying off the computer.

When you were first learning the guitar did you ever imagine that one day you could be the Ax man for a legendary band like Guns N' Roses and one of the more highly regarded guitarist available to work with?

BBF: No, I thought I'd be in KISS. Seriously, I didn't think about that stuff, I just made music, helped others make music, and let life go where it was gonna.

What is your favorite burger or sandwich?

BBF: Depends how desperately hungry I am. I avoid fast food, but after weeks in LA and passing In-N-Out Burger joints every few minutes, I might cave.

Are there any plans to do a solo tour, playing festivals or small events in Australia/NZ/etc, either this year, or next?

BBF: No solo plans, waiting on other plans before making solo plans.

Adventures, Hermit, Awol, and the French version of Uncool are nearly impossible to find, and we know you no longer have the rights to these; but is there any slight chance of you getting the rights back, and who should the fans bug about getting these re-released?

BBF: The first album 'The Adventures Of Bumblefoot' is being re-released by Shrapnel Records, after 15 years. As for the rest, we'll see what the next 15 years bring.

Having over ten years pass from Adventures to Abnormal what has been the most fun album and the hardest album for you to record and why?

BBF: I think 'Normal' was the toughest. Waiting for the happy pills to wear off so I can get the internal noise back, waiting for the right trauma to trigger it, obsessing over mixing and mastering. That album hurt. Barefoot, the acoustic thang, was the most pleasant - taking past songs and re-working them into acoustic versions, it was good for the insides. Happy with both albums, but Barefoot was more like a vacation from the usual self-torment.

Do you look forward to working with DJ Ashba and the rest of the GNR crew in the future, wither it be in the studio or on tour or just hanging out? Would you consider it a labor, love, or a labor of love?

BBF: DJ's a very cool guy, with so many talents, he's more than a guitar player, and I look forward to gettin' in the trenches with him.

What inspired you to want to learn how to play the guitar in the first place?

BBF: Listening to the Beatles made me want to make music. But it was hearing the KISS Alive album when I was 5 years old that made me wanna get out and play... I wonder about fate, if we have more than one possible destiny, or if where we end up is inevitable. I don't know. I believe we all live in the gray area, in-between the black and white. Maybe all roads lead to the same place, same destiny... over-taxed in New Jersey.

Ron

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