Buckethead

About Buckethead

Buckethead is the stage name of Brian Patrick Carroll, a guitarist who's been wearing a KFC bucket on his head and a white mask since the early 1990s. He doesn't do interviews in character and rarely speaks on stage. The costume started as a way to overcome stage fright, which seems to have worked out since he's released over 400 albums at this point.

He grew up in Southern California and got serious about guitar after seeing Halloween II as a kid. The Michael Myers mask became part of the eventual look. He studied with Paul Gilbert at the Guitar Institute of Technology and started developing a technique that mixes shred, funk, avant-garde noise, and occasional banjo interludes. His first album, Bucketheadland, came out in 1992 and established the template: instrumental guitar music that refuses to stay in one genre for more than a few minutes.

The breakthrough to wider audiences happened when he joined Guns N' Roses in 2000, replacing Gilby Clarke. He recorded with them for Chinese Democracy, which took another eight years to actually come out. His playing on that album is characteristically fluid and technical, though it's hard to tell where his contributions end and the thousands of other sessions begin. He left the band in 2004, with Axl Rose later saying Buckethead's unpredictability made things difficult.

His solo catalog is almost comically extensive. He's released albums under his own name, as Death Cube K for his more experimental work, and through various collaborations. Colma from 1998 is one of the more accessible entry points, mostly mellower material he wrote while a friend was dying. Electric Tears from 2002 is similar, all clean-tone playing without the usual pyrotechnics. On the other end, albums like Monsters and Robots mix his playing with turntablism and electronic production.

Starting in 2011, he launched the Pikes series, releasing albums as digital downloads and limited edition CDs at an absurd pace. Some years he's put out over 100 albums. The quality varies wildly. Some are fully realized statements, others sound like first-take studio jams. The sheer volume makes it nearly impossible to keep up with, even for dedicated fans.

He's collaborated with Bootsy Collins, Iggy Pop, Serj Tankian, and played in groups like Praxis with Bill Laswell. He's done soundtrack work and appeared on dozens of other artists' records. His influence shows up in the playing of younger technical guitarists, though few have attempted the kind of prolific output he maintains.

He's dealt with health issues in recent years, including a chronic heart condition he discussed in a rare interview. He still tours occasionally, usually solo performances where he plays for two hours straight, hands out toys to the audience, and does robot dances. The live shows are exactly as weird as that sounds.

Buckethead live is a full-contact guitar clinic. The mask stays on, he barely talks, and he'll play technically impossible things while somehow making it feel natural. Crowds are reverent and attentive — these aren't hanging-back shows. He might play ambient passages that feel like meditation, then switch to pure shred chaos without warning.

Known for A Lot of Fun, Here Comes the Sun, Enter the Chicken, Soothsayer, Electric Tears

See Buckethead Live