Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal has reportedly been asked not to comment on his status with Guns N' Roses, something that has made promoting a new solo project more difficult.

"I can't erase a decade of history and I can't stop the media from asking what they want to ask and making up their own titles on their interviews and posts. No matter how much I ask them not to do it," Thal reportedly wrote earlier this week (via Blabbermouth). "I've been honoring a request to not make any public statements about anything related to it, which continues to put me in a very awkward position that I don't want to be in. Not how I do things, repeatedly taking the bullet on this one."

This isn't a confirmation of a split with Axl Rose, but signs have been pointing to a potential parting of the ways. “I’ve tried to do both," Bumblefoot said back in December, "and it’s been really difficult. There’s only so much time and you can’t be in two places at once."

Thal then issued an official statement on the Guns N' Roses Forum website. "Let folks know I'm not being forced, and TB [Team Brazil, the management company that manages Guns N' Roses and Rose] doesn't need to be treated like monsters, and I ask that they not be treated like villains. It's on me, I've been trying to please both sides at the same time that have a different approach to things, and everyone loses a little in the process -- that's on me, not them. I hate causing TB and the fans grief, there's just no smooth way to act on two opposing philosophies at the same time, and that's always been difficult for me."

Besides a solo album, Little Brother Is Watching, due on Feb. 24, Bumblefoot is also part of the Art of Anarchy supergroup project featuring Scott Weiland. Thal composed, produced and mixed Little Brother Is Watching at his own New Jersey studio.

His stint with Guns N' Roses includes one studio effort, 2008's Chinese Democracy. He's previously released two other solo albums, including The Adventures of Bumblefoot, which was reissued for its 15th-anniversary in 2010.

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