buckethead

Buckethead (real name Brian Carroll) is a guitarist who has recorded several solo albums, as well as collaborative albums with Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins and Primus bassist/singer Les Claypool. He has also worked with Viggo Mortensen on several limited-release albums. His stage persona is very unique: at all times he wears a white mask and a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket atop his head.

Though he is a highly adaptable perfomer, much of Buckethead's music is rooted in heavy metal "shredding," similar to Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and some elements of thrash metal. Buckethead tends to be inspired by science fiction and horror films, mecha (giant robot) anime, and monsters. At one point, he claimed to be writing music for a theme park he wanted to build. The albums Colma, Electric Tears, and Population Override are departures from the typical freak-show atmosphere of Buckethead albums. Colma explores a New Age element while Electric Tears enters into a world of multidimensional guitar sounds and modulations mixed with a classical feel. Population Override boasts a funk-jazz-blues fusion that is quite unique. Buckethead was a member of Guns N' Roses from 2000 to 2004. He quit the band due to personal differences. Buckethead has also recorded under the name Death Cube K (an anagram of "Buckethead"). 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."

While recording with Guns N Roses, Buckethead insisted that he record his parts while sitting inside of a chicken coop. One was built for him.