Buckethead
Buckethead | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Brian Patrick Carroll |
Also known as | |
Born | [3] Pomona, California, U.S. | May 13, 1969
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
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Instrument(s) | Guitar |
Years active | 1987–present |
Labels |
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Formerly of | Deli Creeps, Praxis, Cornbugs, El Stew, Guns N' Roses, Thanatopsis, Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains, The Frankenstein Brothers, Science Faxtion |
Website | bucketheadpikes |
Brian Patrick Carroll (born May 13, 1969), known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has received critical acclaim for his innovative virtuoso electric guitar playing.
Buckethead performs wearing a KFC bucket on his head, sometimes emblazoned with an orange bumper sticker reading FUNERAL in block letters. This is accompanied by an expressionless plain white mask inspired by the 1988 slasher film Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.[6] He also incorporates nunchaku and robot dancing into his stage performances.[7][8][9]
Buckethead was credited by Guitar World as "ushering in [a] new era of virtuosity" while ranking the release of his 1992 debut album Bucketheadland the 45th greatest moment in electric guitar history.[10] The magazine has also listed him among the "25 all-time weirdest guitarists"[11] and the "50 fastest guitarists of all time".[12]
Early and personal life
Brian Patrick Carroll was born on May 13, 1969, to Tom and Nancy Carroll; he is the youngest of five siblings along with Lynn, Lisa, Lori, and John.[13] His father was the athletic director at Damien High School in La Verne, California from 1973 until his retirement in 2013.[14]
Carroll grew up in a Southern California suburb near Disneyland. In his youth he was an introvert and spent most of his time in his room with books, games, martial-arts movie memorabilia, and toys. He also spent a lot of time at Disneyland.[6]
Carroll began playing guitar at the age of 12. He learned to play from an elderly man down his road. He is quoted saying that he became serious a year later after moving from Huntington Beach, California, to Claremont. His playing improved with lessons from various teachers at a local music store. His early teachers included Max McGuire, Johnny Fortune, Mark Hammond, Pebber Brown, Joey Tafolla, and Paul Gilbert. In 2003, Buckethead played a tribute to all his early teachers as the Deli Creeps played a show at Styles Music's 25th anniversary. He then began making demo recordings of both his playing as well as his writing styles, which would later be released in 2007–2008.[citation needed]
The Buckethead persona came to be when Carroll saw the 1988 slasher film Halloween 4 and was inspired by the film. He went out right after seeing it and bought a Michael Myers-like white mask. The bucket idea came later that night while eating chicken:[15]
I was eating it, and I put the mask on and then the bucket on my head. I went to the mirror. I just said, 'Buckethead. That's Buckethead right there.' It was just one of those things. After that, I wanted to be that thing all the time.
— Buckethead, 1996, Guitar Player Magazine [6]
In October 2017, Carroll gave a rare out-of-character interview discussing all ranges of his life, the Buckethead character, his parents' deaths, his health problems, and how he copes with overcoming fear.
Career
1988–1994: Early solo career and Praxis
In 1988, after leaving the band Class-X, Carroll entered a song called "Brazos" into a Guitar Player magazine contest. It was a runner-up, with editors writing:
An astonishingly skilled guitarist and bassist, he demonstrates post-Paul Gilbert speed and accuracy filtered through very kinky harmonic sensibilities. His psychotronic, demonic edge is very, very far removed from the clichés of classical metal and rock. A real talent to watch, also known as "Buckethead."[17]
In the same year, the magazine's editor, Jas Obrecht, came to know of Buckethead when Carroll and his parents left a demo recording at the magazine's reception desk for Obrecht. Impressed with this demo, he rushed into the restaurant where Buckethead and his parents were having lunch and encouraged him to make the most of his talent.[18] They soon became friends. In 1989, a song called "Soowee" by Buckethead got honorable mention in another song contest. In 1991, Buckethead moved into Obrecht's basement. The song "Brazos" was eventually released on the 1991 demo tape of his band Deli Creeps, titled "Tribal Rites", and again as bonus material in Buckethead's Secret Recipe DVD in 2006. Luke Sacco was his teacher.
In 1991, Buckethead contributed to Derek Bailey's Company project alongside, among others, John Zorn and Alexander Bălănescu, resulting in a triple album called Company 91.
After his first two demo tapes, called Giant Robot and Bucketheadland Blueprints, Buckethead released
In 1992, Buckethead, with Bill Laswell,
In 1993, Buckethead auditioned to play for the
Death Cube K is a separate entity that looks like a photographic negative version of Buckethead with a black chrome mask, like Darth Vader. This apparition haunts Buckethead and appears in his nightmares.[21]
Buckethead released a second studio album that year, .
1995–1999: Collaboration work, movie soundtracks and Praxis
In 1995, Buckethead did not release any solo albums but collaborated with several artists like
Later, in 1996, Buckethead released his solo album
Also in 1996, several Sega Saturn television ads featuring a screaming mask-like face pressing through the blue orb of the Saturn logo was released, with music by Buckethead.
In 1997, Buckethead began working on the album Buckethead Plays Disney, but the album has not yet been released. According to his Web page:
This highly anticipated album, once listed in an Avant catalog, has yet to be completed. It is Buckethead's most precious personal project, so he won't record or release it until he knows he is ready.[23]
Also in 1997, Buckethead continued to contribute to movie soundtracks, appearing on
Further releases were
Death Cube K released an album that year called Disembodied.
In 1998, Buckethead released
In 1999, Buckethead released his fifth album, a collaboration with
2000–2004: Guns N' Roses and other projects
Buckethead achieved a higher public profile as lead guitarist for
Despite being a member of GN'R, Buckethead released his sixth studio album, called
In 2002, Buckethead released three studio albums: Funnel Weaver, a collection of 49 short tracks, Bermuda Triangle, and finally, Electric Tears, a calming album that is similar to his earlier release, Colma. When Laswell was not able to play with Praxis at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts festival, Les Claypool asked to jam with Brain, Bernie Worrell, and Buckethead, forming a new
Later, in 2003, marking the release of his tenth studio album, Buckethead released the sequel of his debut Bucketheadland, simply called Bucketheadland 2. Together with actor Viggo Mortensen, he did Pandemoniumfromamerica, and with Thanatopsis, its second release, called Axiology.
Buckethead's relationship with Guns N' Roses was somewhat erratic in its last year, despite contractual obligations. According to an interview with Rose, he seemingly 'left' the band in January 2004 without telling anyone, and 'rejoined' in a similar manner in February. "His transient lifestyle has made it impossible for even his closest friends to have nearly any form of communication with him whatsoever."[35] In March 2004, Buckethead left Guns N' Roses. His manager cited Guns' inability to complete an album or tour.[36]
Since that time, his cult following in the underground music communities has steadily increased. He frequently performs at festivals and in clubs nationwide and often tours as the feature performer.[37][38]
The year 2004 saw the release of three new studio albums: Island of Lost Minds, which was his first tour-only album being later re-released by TDRS Music;
In an interview with Revolver, Ozzy Osbourne said that he had offered to have Buckethead play guitar in his band at Ozzfest, but changed his mind after meeting with him and realizing that he would not remove his costume:
"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."[39]
2005–2006: Buckethead & Friends
In 2005, Buckethead released the album
Buckethead released albums with other bands that year: with
In 2006, the cross-console video game Guitar Hero II was launched, featuring Buckethead's song "Jordan" as an unlockable bonus track. Although the song has been performed live in the past, the video game version is the only known studio recording of the song. When playing it live, Buckethead would almost always simply perform the verse and chorus of "Jordan" before transitioning into the next song. However, the Guitar Hero II version contains a special solo created specifically for the game.[41]
Also the same year, Buckethead released two DVDs, titled Young Buckethead Vol. 1 and Young Buckethead Vol. 2, featuring rare footage from 1990 and 1991. The DVD also contains three complete Deli Creeps shows, a sound check, backstage footage, and solo footage of just Buckethead. He also released the albums The Elephant Man's Alarm Clock and Crime Slunk Scene, both sold on his tours but later sold on the TDRS Music website. The last album has the song "Soothsayer (Dedicated to Aunt Suzie)"; this song (along with "Jordan" and "Nottingham Lace") is one of his most popular songs and is often played live. Buckethead released his final compilation album with the band Cornbugs, called Celebrity Psychos. He also released an album with Travis Dickerson, called Chicken Noodles, a move that would see the start of a four-year long collaboration with the keyboardist. Buckethead's band Thanatopsis would also release Anatomize that year.
2007–2010: Continued solo work and Michael Jackson tribute
In 2007, Buckethead released an unprecedented amount of new material. In February, a box set titled In Search of The, containing 13 albums of original material, was released. It was handcrafted, numbered, and monogrammed by Buckethead and contained over nine hours of music. A regular solo album, called Pepper's Ghost, was released in March. A disc of acoustic improvisations called Acoustic Shards was also released, becoming the twentieth studio album that the artist had released so far in his solo career. In midyear, he reissued his demo tape Bucketheadland Blueprints, with two alternative album covers: a special edition with a hand-drawn cover made by him, or a standard edition with the original cover art. In October, he released his final two albums of the year, called Decoding the Tomb of Bansheebot and Cyborg Slunks. The latter again came in both a hand-drawn limited edition and (some weeks later) as a normal CD. Buckethead wrote three songs dedicated to Aunt Suzie in 2006-07: the aforementioned "Soothsayer" (Crime Slunk Scene), "Aunt Suzie" (Cyborg Slunks), and "Sail On Soothsayer", (Decoding The Tomb Of Bansheebot).
As Death Cube K, Buckethead released two albums in 2007: an album called DCK, limited to 400 hand-numbered copies and released in August; and in December, the 5-CD box set Monolith, which consisted of one unbroken track per CD.[42]
During 2007, Buckethead also collaborated and appeared on numerous albums with other artists. The sequel to Chicken Noodles (a collaboration with
That same year, it was revealed that Buckethead joined a project by the name of
On January 1, 2008, the band Praxis released the long-awaited album Profanation (Preparation for a Coming Darkness) in Japan. The album had actually been recorded in 2005, but had to be put on hold when the original label went bankrupt. That year Buckethead released From the Coop through the label Avabella (where he released Acoustic Shards), consisting of the demos Buckethead gave to Jas Obrecht back in 1988. This CD also included the first ever "official" biography of/by the artist. Later that same year, he announced the release of the album called Albino Slug (a tour-only CD until official release on December of the same year). Along with this album, he appeared on the album The Dragons of Eden, with Dickerson and Mantia, and in collaboration with That 1 Guy as the Frankenstein Brothers, an album called Bolt on Neck was released. That 1 Guy and Buckethead toured together through fall 2008, playing songs from this album.
Buckethead also appeared in the
Buckethead appeared with Bootsy Collins in Cincinnati, Ohio, to promote the vote for the 2008 United States presidential election for the organization Rock the Vote.[45] He also joined Collins on Fallen Soldiers Memorial, an album with proceeds going to the National Fallen Heroes Foundation.[46]
More than four years after his departure from the band Guns N' Roses, Chinese Democracy was made available. Buckethead appears on all but two songs and was given writing credits on "Shackler's Revenge" (which appeared in the popular video game Rock Band 2); "Scraped"; and "Sorry", which features guest singer Sebastian Bach. The album features eleven of Buckethead's guitar solos.
On December 30, 2008, Buckethead released two new tracks via his website to honor the 24th birthday of basketball player
On February 5, 2010, Buckethead released an album called Shadows Between the Sky and later that month,
On April 29, 2010, Buckethead's website was updated[50] with a picture with the message "Greetings from Bucketheadland... Buckethead wants you to know he appreciates your support all these years, it means so much to him. Buckethead is having some animatronic parts replaced, Slip Disc snuck into the park and caused some mayhem." The mention of Slip Disc is a reference to a Bucketheadland nemesis found on the Bucketheadland album. Bootsy Collins continued to update his Twitter Web site about Buckethead's condition, stating that he had recently gone into therapy for a few months.
Nevertheless, after return from injury, on July 15, 2010, Buckethead, along with Brain and Melissa Reese, has released the first volume out of three 5-CD box sets called Best Regards. On August 25, 2010, Buckethead announced his 28th studio album titled Spinal Clock, which showcases his banjo skills. In October, two albums in collaboration with Brain were released, the first called Brain as Hamenoodle, and the second installment of the "Regards" series with Brain and Melissa Reese called, Kind Regards. Eventually, both projects were released on October 13. That month also saw a new solo album titled Captain EO's Voyage first available only on iTunes. It was later announced that a physical edition will be released on December 1.[51] This, along with Buckethead's final Travis Dickerson album were released on November 29.[52] In May 2010, Buckethead started to release albums under the concept of a kiosk within Buckethead's fictional "abusement" park called "Buckethead Pikes". The albums released within this concept were to resemble a comic book style and be shorter in length than his previous works at around half an hour in length.
2011–2015: Focus on solo Pikes
Buckethead left Praxis in 2011, the Frankenstein Brothers in 2012, and Brain in 2013. He contributed to two tracks on Lawson Rollins's album Elevation in 2011.[53] He also departed from his live touring schedule, with his final performance taking place on December 31, 2012.[54] During his absence from touring and other projects, Buckethead's solo release schedule increased speed dramatically- reaching a peak in 2015 with 118 albums, around one every three days on average. Notably, the cover of Pike 13 contains a photograph of Buckethead unmasked; the first such image released to the public. The cover of Pike 13 does not feature the common elements of the Pikes series, and is simply a photograph of Buckethead during his teenage years, carrying an acoustic guitar and hugging his father. Buckethead continued to release albums throughout the year, breaking the numerical order occasionally (for example, Pike 34 Pikes was released three weeks after Pike 35 Thank you Ohlinger's). The final album of the year Wishes was released on December 24, free of charge for a limited time.
Year |
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2010 | 4
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2011 | 4
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2012 | 6
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2013 | 31
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2014 | 60
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2015 | 118
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2016 | 24
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2017 | 30
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2018 | 2
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2019 | 0
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2020 | 10
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2021 | 9
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2022 | 26
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2023 | 119
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2024 | 42
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During 2014, Buckethead continued releasing albums at an even faster pace. Sixty albums were released throughout the year, averaging one album every six days. The sixty-fifth installment, Hold Me Forever (In memory of my mom Nancy York Carroll), honored Buckethead's mother, who had recently died.[55] The final release of the year, Pike 101 In the Hollow Hills, took place on December 31.
Buckethead's release schedule increased in speed again, almost doubling his output during 2015. The 150th release in the series and 180th overall, Heaven is your Home (For my Father, Thomas Manley Carroll), was released free on June 21 (Father's Day) and in dedication to his late father.
On October 1, Buckethead started The Silver Shamrock Series, a Halloween-themed series in which the guitarist released one dark ambient album per day.[56] Starting with Pike 176, 31 Days Til Halloween: Visitor From The Mirror, each subsequent album continued the countdown to Halloween's eve [57] culminating with Pike 206, Happy Halloween: Silver Shamrock.[58] Buckethead's next release, 365 Days Til Halloween: Smash (released on November 1) referenced the countdown, but is not considered part of series.[59] A physical edition of the series was released in October 2017 on a pumpkin-themed USB key that contains all 31 albums on it.[60]
The last album of the year was Pike 219, "Rain Drops on Christmas". The album originally released as a free digital download on December 24 (Christmas Eve), included a dedication "to those who lost loved ones" in the title track.[61]
2016–present: Continued Pikes, return to touring, and reissues
Throughout 2016, Buckethead's release output declined sharply, with only 24 albums being released. Pike 226, "Happy Birthday MJ 23" was released on the 53rd birthday of basketball player Michael Jordan.[62] 2016 also saw Buckethead return to touring, after a four-year absence.[63]
2017 saw a slight increase in pace compared to the previous year, with 30 albums being released in total. In addition, Buckethead began to repress part of his older catalogue in vinyl format, the first time in over a decade that his albums have been pressed in a physical format other than CD. Inbred Mountain, The Elephant Man's Alarm Clock, Crime Slunk Scene, Decoding the Tomb of Bansheebot, Albino Slug, Slaughterhouse on the Prairie, A Real Diamond in the Rough, and Shadows Between the Sky have all been announced so far. Several reissues come in a variety of different packages, unique to each release. Some of these included signed copies, limited-edition posters or photographs, personalized recordings, among other things. As part of these reissues, the albums Albino Slug and
Also announced was the release of "Bucketheadland 5-13 10-31", an entirely new album to be released on Halloween 2017 exclusively on vinyl. It was the first album since 2012's Electric Sea not to be a part of the Pike series.[64] In addition, Bootsy Collins announced he was working with Buckethead once again on a collaborative album set to be released in that year.[65]
In August 2017, Buckethead announced his fall US tour would be in September and October.
Influences
Buckethead cites a wide variety of musical influences, including Michael Jackson, Parliament-Funkadelic, Shawn Lane, Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Paul Gilbert, Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani, Eddie Hazel, Randy Rhoads, Larry LaLonde, Mike Patton, James Cutri, Louis Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Jennifer Batten, The Residents, Eddie Van Halen, and Angus Young as well as the many artists he has collaborated with over the years.[71]
In addition to his musical influences, Buckethead cites a diverse range of non-musical influences, out of which dedicated songs to said inspirations have been a staple of Buckethead's discography, with particular attention to basketball players like
Equipment
Guitars
EffectsAmplifiers
Bands and projects
DiscographyBuckethead has released 30 regular solo albums, as well as 294 albums in the "Pikes Series", for 325 albums overall.
Buckethead Pikes are mini-albums, with 294 of them released since 2011. They have an average runtime of 30 minutes. See alsoReferences
External linksWikimedia Commons has media related to Buckethead.
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