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Buckethead
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Buckethead

Buckethead is the stage name of Brian Carroll, an avant-garde guitarist and composer. Buckethead's work has spanned many musical genres, including drum and bass, funk, thrash metal, jazz, ambient and minimalist music.

Although a capable multi-instrumentalist (also able to play bass guitar, banjo and piano), he is best known for his virtuosic electric guitar playing, characterized by blinding speed and advanced lead lines. He has recorded several solo albums, as well as collaborative albums with Les Claypool, Tony Williams, Bootsy Collins, System of a Down's Serj Tankian and perhaps most notably with a great many Bill Laswell-directed projects.

Contents

Identity

Beyond his legal name, little is known of Buckethead, and he seems to prefer a degree of anonymity. He rarely (if ever) performs or is photographed out of character. His stage name and persona comes from an upside-down KFC paper bucket with the word "FUNERAL" taped onto the front of the bucket which he wears on his head during performances along with a plastic kabuki mask (inspired by seeing the Michael Myers character in the movie [Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers]). His [biography] claims that he was raised by chickens in a coop (appropiately, several song titles, especially on early releases, refer to chicken, such as the song "Chicken" or the album titles "KFC Skin Piles" and "Enter The Chicken" ). According to a 1989 local music magazine, he was born in 1969. He cites Yngwie Malmsteen, Shawn Lane, Joe Satriani, and Jennifer Batten as his main influences. Also, he used to take guitar-lessons from Paul Gilbert, and has claimed to be influenced by the book "Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns" by Nicolas Slonimsky.

Biography

After a few self released albums made the rounds, Bucketheadland was released on John Zorn's Avant record label in 1992. Though available only as a pricey Japanese import, the record received positive reviews and earned some attention. At about this time, Buckethead fell into the orbit of prolific bassist/producer Bill Laswell (himself an occasional Zorn collaborator); as either a performer, producer or composer, Laswell was involved in many of the albums listed in the discography below, and Buckethead made many more appearances on albums by Laswell's collaborators.

One such Laswell project was Death Cube K (an anagram of "Buckethead" he created to circumvent legal complications with Sony Records). William Gibson later borrowed "Death Cube K" as the name of a bar in Idoru; quoting Gibson in an interview for Addicted To Noise:

"Death Cube K is actually the title of an album. I'm sorry I can't remember the name of the group but Bill Laswell who I don't really know but out of the kindness of his heart occasionally sends me big hunks of his output, groups that come out on his label. And Death Cube K was the title of some vicious ambient group that he had produced. And when I saw it, I thought: a Franz Kafka theme bar in Tokyo."
Buckethead achieved a greater public profile as a member of Guns N' Roses from 2000 to 2004; unfortunately, the band was rarely active in this era. The band's web site officially listed his name as "Buckethead Z'Rose."

In an [interview] with Revolver, Ozzy Osbourne stated that he had offered to have Buckethead play guitar in his band at Ozzfest. Ozzy quickly changed his mind after meeting with him when Buckethead refused to go on stage without a disguise:

"I tried out that Buckethead guy. I met with him and asked him to work with me but only if he got rid of the fucking bucket. So I came back a bit later and he's wearing this green fucking Martian's-hat thing! I said, 'Look, just be yourself'. He told me his name was Brian, so I said that's what I'd call him. He says, 'No one calls me Brian except my mother'. So I said, 'Pretend I'm your mum then!'. I haven't even got out of the room and I'm already playing fucking mind games with the guy. What happens if one day he's gone and there's a note saying, 'I've been beamed up'? Don't get me wrong, he's a great player. He plays like a motherfucker!"
In 2005, Buckethead released an album as Buckethead & Friends called Enter The Chicken. Released by Serj Tankian's label Serjical Strike, the album features Maximum Bob, Death By Stereo singer Efrem Shulz, Tankian himself, and others. The album is marked by its leaning towards more traditional song structure, while still featuring Buckethead's guitar skills.

Buckethead took lessons at Style's music in Claremont, California, where he gave lessons and performed shows with local band Drown the Sun in the parking lot.

Discography

Buckethead

Album Cover Title Release Date Label
Giant Robot (Demo Tape) 1991 Self Released
Bucketheadland Blueprints 1991 Toystore
Bucketheadland 1992 Avant
Giant Robot 1994 Avant
Day Of The Robot April 30, 1996 Subharmonic
Colma March 24, 1998 CyberOctave
Monsters and Robots April 20, 1999 Higher Octave
KFC Skin Piles 2001 Battle Breaks Hip Hop
Somewhere Over the Slaughterhouse June 5, 2001 Stray
Funnel Weaver January 1, 2002 ION
Bermuda Triangle July 23, 2002 Catalyst
Electric Tears October 8, 2002 Meta
Bucketheadland, Vol. 2 October 14, 2003 ION
Island of Lost Minds March 19, 2004 Bucketheadland Parks
Population Override March 30, 2004 ION
The Cuckoo Clocks of Hell April 20, 2004 Disembodied Records
Enter the Chicken October 25, 2005 Serjical Strike
Kaleidoscalp November 22, 2005 Tzadik
Inbred Mountain December 2, 2005 TDRSmusic
The Elephant Man's Alarm Clock February 17, 2006 Bucketheadland

Cobra Strike

Album Cover Title Release Date Label
13th Scroll August 24, 1999 ION
Y Y+B X+Y  October 3, 2000 ION

Album Cover Title Release Date Label
The Big Eyeball in the Sky September 21, 2004 Prawnsong

Cornbugs

Album Cover Title Release Date Label
Spot the Psycho 1999
Cemetery Pinch February, 2001
How Now Brown Cow February, 2001
Brain Circus February 13, 2004 TDRS Music
Donkey Town November 29, 2004 TDRS Music

Death Cube K

Album Cover Title Release Date Label
Dreamatorium May 10,1994 Strata
Disembodied July 22, 1997 ION
Tunnel November 10, 1999 TDRSmusic

Album Cover Title Release Date Label
Demo Tape 1991 Self Released
Demo Tape 1996 Self Released
Dawn of the Deli Creeps November 1, 2005 TDRSmusic

El Stew

Album Cover Title Release Date Label
No Hesitation May 4, 1999 OM Records
The Rehearsal April 3, 2003 Catalyst Entertainment

Giant Robot

Album Cover Title Release Date Label
Giant Robot 1996 NTT

Gorgone

Album Cover Title Release Date Label
Gorgone August, 2005 TDRSmusic

Album Cover Title Release Date Label
Chinese Democracy (Currently unreleased) Geffen Records

Pieces

Thanatopsis

Guest Appearances

Numerous appearances with artists:

Anton Fier

Axiom Funk Bernie Worrell Company 91 Icehouse Phonopsychograph Disk Refrigerator Viggo Mortensen

Single appearance with artist(s):

Appearances with various artists:

External links

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