Re: 30. MARCH-DECEMBER 2010 - TOURING EUROPE AND REUNITING WITH DUFF

by **Soulmonster** Fri Mar 25, 2022 8:38 am

BUMBLEFOOT AND HIS SUPPORT OF MS AND DIABETES RESEARCH

Bumblefoot had been involved in charitable work from before he joined Guns N' Roses, and would continue these efforts during his tenure with the band:

You do what you can, that's all. It's no biggie. It takes very little effort to do something nice and to help somebody, so just fucking do it, man. If I can donate something and it's going to help somebody, raise money to something good, I'll do it. If I can do a gig and people come to the gig to support a certain cause, I'll do it. I did a few things, I did something for the diabetes situation we have going on. I've continually been doing something about MS, multiple sclerosis. With Abnormal I had a thing going on where if you get a signed CD I donate $5 of it to research and I'm gong to continue doing that, I might step up, make it "anything signed", I'm going to do that for... yeah, you just do whatever you can, that's all, when you can, when it's possible.

Talking Metal Podcast, November 21, 2008

A good friend of mine named Ralph Rosa who was a guitar player and the most wonderful guy. He got diagnosed in 1997 with M.S. You wonder why does it happen to the good ones? He definitely is one of the best people I have ever known. I still scratch my head, why him? He has one of the slow progressive types that slowly chips away at ya. When he first got it, it was just dizzy spells and numbness but he knew where it was heading. So he started this non-profit organization MS Research Foundation, www.msrf.org where you can do events and come up with things to raise money for research. All his friends and family are the staff. All volunteers, no one gets paid and every dime goes where it’s supposed to go. No one is giving themselves a salary or anything. We would do dinner and comedy events and concerts and things like that. We did that as long as we could to where it was just too difficult with Ralph’s physical condition and the stress organizing that stuff, and with me being on tour it was just too much. Now, we just do what we can. We still accept donations. It all goes right to the labs. When we were looking for researchers we checked out everybody's research. We went to the labs and looked through the microscopes and made sure everything with the staff was legit and that we believed it was heading in the right direction. The funds still go there. So now if someone wants autographed merchandise at bumblefoot.com, $5.00 of anything goes to research.

Backstage Access, November 26, 2009

The main one is the MS Research Foundation, MSRF.org. It was started by my friend Ralph Rosa, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1997. Everyone involved volunteers their time for free, and everything goes directly to research. When people buy autographed CDs and merch from my site, $5 of each item is donated to MSRF. I've been involved with other fundraising organizations and events, charities to help with disaster relief, but MSRF is the one I'm most involved with.

The GnR Syndicate, February 17, 2009

Yeah, there's a Multiple Sclerosis Research Foundation, msrf.org, and it's started by a friend of mine, a good friend, Ralph Rosa, he's a guitar player and in 1997 he got diagnosed with MS and he started this foundation, a non-profit were all friends and his family we would volunteer our time and put together these different events, dinner, comedy things, like, you know, big dinner and have all these comedians and a raffle. And we just raise money that would all get donated directly toward the labs that would do in the research, where we would go to the labs, we would talk with the researchers. We developed relationships with them and we get reports and everything on what they're doing and how it's coming along, and the direction they want to take in pursuing things that just help sustain somebody's life that has the disease and also working toward trying to find a cure. Yeah, so we've been doing that for about, say, just about a dozen years, yeah. So what I do is anything that is... autographed merch, like, if I have a signed CD, a signed photo, anything like that, I donate five dollars of each thing from those-

BraveWords, November 19, 2011

In 2008, Bumblefoot would release his Bumblefoot Limited Edition Guitar Cables through Spectraflex:

The cables!' Yes, that was a limited run we did to raise money for Diabetes research. I'm always interested in working with charities, but you have to be so careful with that. Making sure they're reputable and that the money goes where it's supposed to. That's why I'm part of the MS Research Foundation - it's a legit non-profit group: I know everyone involved, they're all volunteers (including myself) so there's no overhead, and all donations go to research. I've been to the research labs, looked through the microscopes, spent lots of quality time with the researchers, and have complete confidence, knowing that the money donated goes to good use. And it's personal - a close friend of mine started the foundation after being diagnosed with the disease in '97.

Metal as Fuck, June 2009

And he would also organize Rock Against Diabetes [Press Release, May 1, 2008].

In 2010, Bumblefoot would re-release his first album with $5 for every unit sold going to the Multiple Sclerosis research [HTGTH, September 9, 2010].

In 2012 and 2013, Bumblefoot would talk about his friend who got diagnosed with MS and mention that the charity was closing down and that he was looking for a new charity to support:

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-

Dropping The Needle, December 3, 2012

MS Research Foundation has just closed its doors unfortunately, after 10 years of operation. It was run by my good friend Ralph Rosa, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1997. He started the foundation, and his friends & family all volunteered, organizing fundraising concerts, dinner/comedy shows. But now the disease has taken such a tremendous toll on his body, he simply couldn't continue. I'll continue to do what I can to give my support to the cause, will be at the Race To Erase MS gala ( http://erasems.org/2013-gala/ ) in May. We all can do something that helps others - even if it's just giving a kind word, that bit of happiness you give can make a world of difference.

Balkanrock, May 13, 2013

by **Soulmonster** Mon Aug 08, 2022 4:05 pm

2010-

IZZY'S SOLO MUSIC

JULY 2010: WAVE OF HEAT

Izzy Stradlin's Got a New Album, Wave Of Heat, Out. I'll Bet You Didn't Know That!

[...]

I'm not much of a 'critic' when it comes time to write about music, and hence I really only write about stuff that I like. I really like the way Izzy, my old Guns N' Roses bandmate, goes about writing, recording, and releasing his records. He records his stuff out in the 'sticks' where he lives. He writes and demos the songs in his house. He releases his records straight to iTunes. No press. No drama.

In a lot of ways, at least for me, Izzy has almost singlehandedly carried the torch over the last 18 years for REAL, no bullshit American rock. His records are always gems of song-craftsmanship. Wave Of Heat came out last week and this may be the first place you may have heard about it. (Full disclosure: I played bass on this record.) Izzy walks his own path always and never plays footsies in any way with the newest musical fad or craze. He fucking ROCKS! Plain and simple.

[...]This is a RECORD and should be listened to as a whole. Period!

Seattle Weekly, July 19, 2010

Wave of Heat
July 15, 2010

In February 2012, Taz Bentley, Izzy's frequent musical collaborator, would talk about his relationship with Izzy:

Yeah, we toured Japan once. About once every year we go out and do an album. He doesn't believe in "the machine" at all. He hates the industry, so initially he licensed the albums overseas and wouldn't tell anyone in America. He's a really big fan of the Internet. Now we'll go record and he'll slap it up on iTunes. That's been a hoot. Duff's on most of them.

Dallas Observer, February 15, 2012

Izzy has become one of my very, very best friends. When The Burden Brothers stopped touring, Zack quit because he and his wife wanted to start a family, and then Rizzo took that cue to leave as well. So the three of us had the wind taken out of our sails. Towards the end of that last album, touring was really sparse, it was hard and we weren't drawing because nothing was on the radio. What had been on the radio had run its course. That was a real stinker. We have been on hiatus for about four or five years now.

But that first phone call was to Izzy and I said, "I'm done." I was fucking furious. He goes, "No, no, no, just write it down on a guitar." I said, "You're not listening to me, I'm done." He goes, "You have a guitar?" And I go, "Yeah, I have a guitar, but I'm done, I don't want to play music. I don't want to hear music. I'm gonna throw every radio in my house out the window." But he knew exactly what was going on, and he had been through this, obviously in a much bigger arena. In that moment, I really found how close we had become. He really helped me get through this. About a week after that initial conversation, I come home and there's a brand new acoustic guitar on my front porch with a note that says, "Write it down." I started writing and that's the music you heard at my show at the Single Wide.

Dallas Observer, February 15, 2012

Taz Bentley, Duff, Izzy and Rick Richards

NOVEMBER 2012: BABY-RANN (SINGLE)

Original Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin has released a new single, "Baby-Rann". It features Izzy on guitar and vocals, bassist J.T. Longoria, Ju Ju Hound guitarist Rick Richards and ex-Reverend Horton Heat drummer Taz Bentley.

Blabbermouth, November 19, 2012

Izzy also release the single Upside, and it is likely these that Tommy got to hear in November:

Just a totally great guy. He's a funny dude, man- [...] you should check out his new record, he played us when we just saw him recently, where did we see him? We saw him in Vegas, he came out and he played us a couple songs and his new stuff. He's got like Rick Richards from the Georgia Satellites playing with him and he's got the same.... I think it's the same band, that's the JuJu Hounds he had going. But his new stuff sounds great. [...] I think he made like an EP, you know, on his own, a little video clip of him and the guys just playing in a studio, it's great.

WTF podcast, June 6, 2013

Baby-Rann
November 2012

FEBRUARY 2015: RECORDING WITH DUFF

In February 2015, Duff tweeted about having recorded with Izzy:

Spent the first part of my birthday with @tazbentley and Izzy...rocking!

Twitter, February 6, 2015

Duff, Taz Bentley and Izzy
February 2015

Duff would later talk about how it came to be and the song they recorded:

[Izzy and I] recorded a song that day. We were talking on the phone, and [Izzy] said, 'Let's go record a song.' And we used Josh [Homme] from Queens Of The Stone Ages's studio; it was open. So we just went it — Izzy and I and Taz [Bentley] — and just had a blast. We recorded a song. I have it. It just got mixed. It's a super kick-ass song. And we just had fun, and we'll probably do it some more. We've always kind of done [stuff like that], but usually on his records. This was just like this open thing. And I had a riff, and he had an idea, and we recorded it in half a day. [...] Maybe [it will end up on my next record]. We're gonna maybe record some more. But we just enjoy making music together and enjoy each other's company. We're allowed to do that.

The Roxy Radio Show/Vorterix, March 7, 2015

We’ve continued to do music together over the years. He himself puts out records on iTunes, no publicity, he just puts them out. He’s so cool. He’s just the best. The songs on the EP all happened really quick, as rock & roll should. I had these songs. I had the bones and Izzy had the parts to complete the songs… So we recorded them.

LA Weekly, May 11, 2015

The song would likely end up on Duff' EP 'How To Be A Man' (released May 12, 2015) as Punker [see later chapter].

Being asked if he would like to play the songs live with Izzy:

Izzy’s a private guy, and he hasn’t played a live show in a long time. I’d love to but eh, I don’t know.

LA Weekly, May 11, 2015

2016: NEW SINGLES

In May 2016, Izzy recorded "tons of raw material" with Rick Richards and other musicians at the Brotheryn Studios in Ojai, CA [LA Weekly, October 22, 2016]. Matt would feature on one of the songs.

Izzy would later talk about working on new music in a tweet:

MIXING NEW SONG FOR JUNE RELEASE !
WORKING TITLE "WALKIN"

Twitter, June 11, 2016

And Richards would talk about what may happen with the music:

This could be part of a bigger scheme, but nothing’s written in stone. You see, he likes to live a stress-free existence.

LA Weekly, October 22, 2016

Then in December, another single was released, a cover of JJ Cale's "Call Me the Breeze" with Lauren Barth on additional vocals, Jesse Aycock on vocals and guitar, Rick Richards on guitar, JT, Izzy, Tazz and Andrew "Bones" on drums, Damian Fox on keyboards, and Jason Weinheim on bass [Ultimate Guitar, December 19, 2016].

As of 2023, only three songs have come out of these recordings, "Walk ’N Song", "F.P. Money" and "Call Me The Breeze" (possibly recorded later in the year), with "F.P. Money" possible about the failed reunion negotiations that took place in 2015/2016 [see later chapter].

2017: GUESTING ON MELLENCAMP'S 'GRANDVIEW'

In April 2017 it was reported that Izzy would be featured on John Mellencamp's new single 'Grandview' from his new album Sad Clown & Hillbillies [Blabbermouth, April 28, 2017]. Izzy had previously guested on Mellencamp's song 'Miss Missy' which was included on his 1998 album John Mellencamp [Blabbermouth, April 28, 2017].