Bryan 'Brain' Mantia reveals 3 Things About Buckethead Nobody knows

Okay the next question is from Vince Khong who's one of yours and Buckethead's biggest fans.

Hey Vince here, how's it going Brain? Huge fan of yours and Buckethead's. I have some questions for you. First question, what are 3 things you can share about Buckethead that many of his fans aren't aware of?

Well, the things that come to mind that I know because I'm with him a lot. Buckethead is a really really down-to-earth guy. As crazy as the stuff he does. He's down to earth. He really likes to help people. He really wants the best for the players in his band, who he works with.
I think that's why Guns N Roses was different. Because everyone there is out for their own in that band, and everyone's trying to get ahead for themselves. And that's not a bad thing, I get it. Survival of the fittest and do what you have to do when you're in a bigger project.

People always ask me 'is he crazy?' and I say 'no, he's a really down to earth good guy!'. That's one thing. He really does care. He's always looking out for you, he's making sure that you're okay. Like 'is this okay?' or 'I wanna make this the best thing for you'. I think that's why he has a lot of trouble working with other people because it puts a lot of pressure on him because he wants to make sure everyone's okay. And when you start running a business, the boss is always the dick! He can't be making sure everyone's okay, he has to run a business, he can't look out for people. That's one thing I think people don't know.

And I hope he doesn't get mad if he listens to this or whatever, I don't think I'm telling anything he wouldn't like because I think that's a good thing. He really really is a good guy. He really does care. And he wants everyone around him to feel happy and good about what they're doing. Believe me I've worked with artists who are complete assholes, big ego's, megalomaniacs, egotistical, narcissistic!

I can imagine!

(laughs) Yeah! And another one is that he's a diet coke fiend! That's our bonding. We'll drive hundreds of mile to get the right diet coke. I'm not exaggerating! Maybe not hundred's but we've driven 50 miles for the right diet coke. Because of the carbonation in coke. There's special one's we find. We'll be in LA and we'll drive to Tejon ranch just to get a certain diet coke from a jack-in-the-box store in that area.

Oh my god! I didn't even know there was different Diet Cokes, I thought they were all the same.

Well, It's the carbonation, they're always the same if you buy the can. But I'm talking about from a tap. He got me addicted to diet coke! I was never into it either but he kept drinking it and then I tried it and got addicted. And I was like 'oh boy'. And the third thing I'm not sure, maybe it will come up.

(later on) That's the third thing! He always loves to do things for no money. For people and kids. He's like 'I'm gonna get these kids into the show for free because they can't afford it'. He's always doing that.

Yeah because he's been doing that a lot lately on his website. Giving his albums away for free. And there's this artist who he always promoting and so on.

Yep, exactly. He's been like that way before now.