Ron Thal: backstageaxxxess interview

Gus: Where did the name “Bumblefoot” really originate from?

Ron: That name goes back to the early 1990’s when my wife was in veterinary school. She was studying to be a veterinarian and one time I was helping her study and that was one of the diseases. It’s called Bumblefoot or the technical term “ulcerative podermatitis.” It was such a silly name and I was thinking to myself that would be a cool idea for a song. So I wrote a little song called “Bumblefoot.” Then when I had my first record deal in the mid 1990’s, my first record was called ‘The Adventures of Bumblefoot.’ It was this big apocalyptic cover of death and destruction with this big winged foot flying overhead. After that I started a band called ‘Bumblefoot’ and that’s kind of what did it. Having the band since 1997 and putting out ‘Bumblefoot albums’ it just became a thing where when people met me and I introduced myself as Ron, they would go oh yeah, “Bumblefoot!” It kind of became the nickname from doing the band because the band was pretty much a solo thing. I wrote everything and it was my guitar and singing.

Gus: Never heard of podermatitis?

Ron: laughs. Umm.. Who gets that? Lets see…birds, rats, and ferrets. If they have a dirty cage and get a cut that can lead to a staph infection which can lead to an abscess or another term, ‘Bumblefoot.’

Gus: Is your wife still a vet?

you know you need to find out now don't you!