Buckethead fans talk about Buckethead

Good evening everybody, in this very special 2 part episode, we ask some of the most loyal and dedicated fans to share their thoughts, favourites, opinions and more, on guitar hero Buckethead. Bucketbots unite! Woo!!

How or when, did you first hear of Buckethead?

(Shayne)
I first heard of buckethead on guitar hero, back when I was crazy about rock music and video games. I had heard the name but I was very unaware of who he was and what he did. And I did enjoy playing Jordan a lot.

(Anthony)
Pretty much the same for me. My nephew played it one day and he was an expert at it. And it instantly caught my attention. And again, I knew him by name. For some reason I never bothered to look up more about him back then. I wish I would have.

(ZQ)
When I heard about Buckethead in 2005, I was introduced to him on a youube video. Only for a quick second. A couple of days later I heard his music coming from another room, and it was mesmerizing. It ended up being the song ‘machete’. Then my friend showed me the interview he did called ‘destroy all monsters’ from 1996, by guitar player magazine. And I was meat hooked.

(Douglas)
So I first heard of Buckethead because of Primus. A lot of my musical tastes come from my father, music he’s listened to and I’ve grown up hearing. Such as GWAR and Primus. I heard about Buckethead being in Primus but didn’t see him until much later when I owned an Eminem biography book. And there was a picture with the rapper ‘Bizarre’ and some other rappers hanging out with someone wearing a blank white mask and beanie. I asked my dad who it was and he said “oh that’s buckethead” and I don’t think it was. I think it was a picture from D12, where they did a parody of guns n roses.

(Vince)
My first exposure to Buckethead was in 1995. It was the Mortal Kombat soundtrack. I was a gamer growing up, so I had to see the movie. I was blown away by the music. I went to my local record shop afterwards and bought the cd. Found out who the guitarist was on one of my favourite tracks called ‘goro vs art’. I thought the name was unusual and thought he was a studio session player. But I had no idea he had a solo music career going on.

(Jeffrey)
In 1998 my brother had a cassette tape with Praxis ‘Metatron’ on side A and El Stew ‘no hesitation’ on side B. I got a lot of mileage out of that tape. I was hooked basically.

(Amy)
The first time I ever heard of Buckethead was in 2017. A friend of mine asked me if I had ever heard of him. So I checked him out that night on youtube and I’ve listened to him ever since.

(Alexus / Benjamin)
Because of you 4 years ago!
That’s very valid. For me it was because of guitar hero 2, playing Jordan. It lead me to listen to ‘final wars’ ‘jump man’ ‘callbox’ and it spiraled from there.

(Jennifer)
I saw Guns N Roses on TV when they reunited, they played ‘welcome to the jungle’ live on national TV, which was like bucketheads debut in the limelight. Everyone was freaking out whilst it was happening. It was crazy because it was a time when we were all glued to our TV’s, no one used social media as much back then. It was a pretty memorable moment. And I’ll never forget the confetti coming down.

(Josh)
I first heard of Bucethead probably 20 years ago. I was around 10 years old. My sister turned me on to him. She probably showed me a video on youtube of ‘Welcome to Bucketheadland’ and I was terrified and blown away at the same time.

(Patricia)
First time I ever heard of Buckethead, was January of 2018. And I’ve been a fan since. He’s awesome!

(Chris)
I first heard of Buckethead in 2006. I was a t school during study hall and I was on youtube looking up guitar videos. And I cae across this related search with Buckethead’s ‘Night of the Slunk’

(Stacy)
From ‘That 1 guy’ stream on facebook. And from there I just met a bunch of people and have been learning about him for a long time. Almost 2 years now I think. And I really love him a lot.

(Sebastian)
I discovered buckethead when I was very young. I was in high school. That day before I left for school I downloaded a big compilation, soothsayer started to play. It was love at first note.

(Kevin)
It must have been about 1994, my brother was in college and he brought home praxis ‘transmutation’ album. And it blew my mind. We were instant fans of Buckethead. My first Halloween as Buckethead, I have a picture from 1995. All first 3 Praxis albums were already out. So ‘day of the robot’ must have been the first one that came out solo when I started collecting and was a fan.

What is your favourite Buckethead song?

(Shayne)
My favourite buckethead song is ‘The Closed Triptych’ from Pike 39. Hands down. That song just makes me wanna get up and go. Like, every time I hear it, it gives me a lot of energy.

(Anthony)
My all-time favourite is ‘welcome to bucketheadland’ obviously. But my current favourite is ‘Ridge Roll’. That songs grabs me and makes me wanna move. Love it.

(Douglas)
It’s got to be ‘Angel monster’. ‘Angel monster’ is by far my favourite. Everything about that song. It’s beautiful, sad, and emotional. Something about it draws me in over and over again. It’s very melancholy. It really hits me at my core. Gotta be my favourite song for sure.

(Vince)
My favourite song would be ‘Nottingham lace’ from ‘Enter the chicken’ album. This is the song that made me a full time fan.

(ZQ)
My favourite Buckethed song is ‘Hornet’. Right now, Hornet is what I’ve been listening to and I adore it.

(Alexus / Benjamin)
‘Jowls’ because of the snippets of Texas Chainsaw Massacre on it.
That and ‘Jowls’ is a pretty cool jam. My favourite is ‘Soothsayer’. Every time I listen to it, it’s like I’m listening to it for the first time again. Every time I see him play it live I kind of shed a tear a little bit. It’s my favourite and it’s beautiful. Very well played.

(Chris)
If I were to choose a favourite, it would be ‘Whitewash’ from the abum ‘Colma’.

(Amy)
My favourite Buckethead song right now is ‘Viewing Deck’

(Patricia)
‘Aunt Suzie’ and ‘Interworld’. They’re beautiful songs.

(Josh)
I’d have to go with ‘Sea of Expanding Shapes’ or ‘Night of the Slunk’. ‘Night of the slunk’ when the killswitch starts hitting, there’s nothing better than that.

(Stacy)
My favourite Buckethead song is ‘Dawn Appears’. That’s like the first song I heard where It connected with me. It reminded me of my mom and I from there I was like ‘wow, this guy can make me cry from listening to him play guitar?’ This guy is for me.

(Sebastian)
My player tells me, my favourite track is ‘Pitch Dark’. It’s probably right, but what do I know?

(Jeffrey)
My favourite Buckethead song is ‘Puddles’. I remember when it came out as a free download on Christmas of 2015. I remember that morning listening to it. It’s such a beautiful thing.

(Kevin)
I think my favourite song has always been the ‘Blueprints theme’ song. Which I’ve never heard him play live. I don’t know why it’s not more of a fan favourite. Its catchy and cool. I like it better than the actual theme song he wrote for the album later on. So yeah, Buckethead, bring back the blueprints theme song!

(Douglas / Jennifer)
It would be ‘For Mom’ of course, without saying. It’s a really sweet song. Also, Buckethads cover of ‘Sketches of Spain’. It’s a great display of how he can put emotion to his music and express it without having to speak, I think that’s wonderful.
I think you cheated because that was more than one favourite song.
I can’t pick one. Who can do that?

What is your favourite non-pike Buckethead album?

(ZQ)
My favourite non-pike album would be ‘Crime Slunk Scene’. I’ll never forget, the first time I played ‘Crime Slunk’. That very first note blew the top of my head off. It’s amazing. It always make me smile to this day, every time I hear it. And of course, Soothsayer is on there and that’s very special.

(Vince)
‘Crime Sunk Scene’. Soothsayer is on it. Need I say more?

(Kevin)
I think maybe ‘Bucketheadland 2’ is up there. Also, ‘Somewhere over the slaughterhouse’ is a really cool album that doesn’t get enough credit. Close third is ‘Cuckoo clock of hell’’ which is a brutal awesome album.

(Douglas / Jennifer)
Bucketheadland 2! By far. I don’t know what it is about that album, I love it. The artwork is awesome, the overall feel is awesome, and it’s well written. I like listening to the whole of an album and that album is so extremely visual. When I listen to it I can see bucketheadland. It’s crazy. It feels like you’re in the park. He did a wonderful job on that album.
My favourite non-pike album is ‘Population Override’. Its chill, it gets funky at times, its beautiful, it’s relaxing. It’s got a bit of everything. I like to recommend that to people who haven’t really heard of buckethead. I find it to be one of his easier to digest styles. Because he has so many.

(Shayne)
My favourite non-pike Buckethead album is ‘Giant Robot’. I discovered ‘welcome to bucketheadland’ at a concert but I had no idea of any of his music. So I looked it up and found it. And found that the whole album is really good.

(Anthony)
Mine would have to be ‘Colma’. There’s just something about it. And you all know ‘Colma’. It’s awesome. Love it.

(Chris)
My favourite non-pike Buckethead album is ‘Colma’. A friend of mine was huge into Buckethead and practically forced me to listen to this album. The first song we listened to was ‘Whitewash’ and that’s when I pretty much took a running dive into the rabbit hole.

(Stacy)
My favourite non-pike album is ‘Colma’ because that’s the first one I bought. It’s got ‘For Mom’ on it and that’s the whole reason I bought it. It reminds me of my mom, like all these songs do. I lost my mom and this album connect us, to this music, to Buckethead and to everybody who listens to it.

(Sebastian)
I have to go with ‘A Real Diamond in the Rough’ He is really balancing for all the crappy music out there. He is a real diamond in the rough.

(Amy)
My favourite non-pike album is ‘Monsters & Robots’.

(Patricia)
Albino Slug. I love it. I love the music.

(Josh)
My favourite Buckethead non-pike album would definitely be ‘Bermuda Triangle’. Very underrated in my opinion.

(Jeffrey)
‘Bermuda Triangle’ or ’Albino Slug’. Currently I’ve really been into listening to ‘Spinal Clock’

(Alexus  /  Benjamin)
‘Big Eyeball in the Sky’ because of Les Claypool.
That’s a pretty cool album. My favourite non-pike album is ‘The Elephant Mans Alarm Clock’. There’s a great mix of everything he can do, from the funk, heavy, experimental to melodic stuff.

What is your favourite Buckethead Pike album?

(Douglas)
Pike 82, ‘Calamity Cabin’. That album is super heavy, super awesome. Great for working out, running or for easy listening around the house.

(Josh)
Right now my favourite Pike album would be Pike 212 ‘Hornet’. Specifically ‘Hornet part 4’, it doesn’t get any better than that.

(ZQ)
My favourite album is ‘Screen Doors’ with ‘Hornet’.

(Alexus  /  Benjamin)
‘Cycle’ because you always put it on when we sleep so I can listen to that before sleeping.
That is an awesome pike. My favourite would be ‘The Shores of Molokai’. The riff in the title track is so heavy and I love it. I can never stop listening to it.

(Vince)
‘The Shores of Molokai’ the titles track complete blows me away. So yeah.

(Chris)
My favourite Buckethead pike album is Mannequin Cemetery. When I first heard it, I was like ‘wow, this is heavy’. I grew an attachment to that album since.

(Shayne)
My favourite Buckethead pike album is ‘Claymation Courtyard’ Pike 51. Every song on it I enjoy a lot and I love the genre of hard-rock.

(Anthony)
Mine would have to be Pike 3 ‘3 Foot Clearance’. All the songs are awesome. And I actually bought it at my first concert not knowing what pikes were. When we got home and listened to it, well, the rest is history.

(Amy)
My favourite pike album is ‘Project Little Man’

(Jeffrey)
Number 67 and 68. ‘Abandoned slaughterhouse’ and ‘assignment 033-03’. Those to me really hit the spot. Currently ‘Coniunctio’ pike 272 is a really good one, it puts me in a place of zen.

(Patricia)
Number 105, I love 105. Smooth, I love ‘The Moltrail’.

(Jennifer)
My favourite Pike album right now is ‘Mermaid Stairwell’. It’s magical. I can see why its named ‘Mermaid Stairwell’ it’s got a magical feel to it. It’s pretty, enchanting. It’s really cute and I like that album a lot. And the artwork is beautiful too.

(Stacy)
My favourite Pike album is 126, which is tourist. And it has glow worm on it. Its my favourite jam. I always go back to it. Oh, or pike 95 Northern Lights, everybody loves. Its got Flare on it and that always gets my attention no matter what I’ll stop and start dancing to it. Gotta move my head to it.

(Sebastian)
It’s called ‘Heaven is your home’. I think the album is composed of 2 parts. ‘Heaven is your home’ and ‘always watching’. His emotions are expressed. They point to the same thing, that he misses his father. ‘Heaven is your home’ is more of a remembrance, where he just goes through all the good times with his father. Whereas the 2nd track I see it as an outro. Where it’s just pure pain. He’s flowing tears. I’m truly sorry forhis loss and condolences.

(Kevin)
I’m sorry but I can’t honestly answer this question because even as big of a fan as I am, I still haven’t listened to all the pikes. I own them all, I bought them, I have the files and I have the first bunch of CD’s when they came out. But I need to go on with it. I need to listen to them. It’s so many hours of Buckethead. I guess to me I just like there’s something new that I can listen to of Buckethead at any time.

If you could see Buckethead perform onstage with any other person (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

(ZQ)
The one person that we didn’t get a chance to see them together is he and Shawn Lane. Two beautiful souls together. And their music is incredible.

(Josh)
I would have loved to see him have a guitar duel with Allan Holdsworth or Shawn Lane. Either one of those guys, you can’t go wrong.

(Stacy)
I would love to see him perform with Josh. Because that’s his idol and I watch his live streams every day. I think it would be an epic show and I hope it happens. Or John 5, because he’s cool too.

(Vince)
John 5. He’s another guitarist I follow. I’ve been to a few of his shows, he’s amazing. I talked with him in 2009 and asked him if he’s aware of Buckethead, and he is. He wanted to collaborate with him. He goes to his shows. I’m still waiting for it happen. Fingers crossed.

(Shayne)
Honestly, the coolest person for him to play with would be Michael Jackson. Because of the style he can do and how much he likes Michael Jackson. I think that would be a cool pair to put together.

(Anthony)
For me, obviously Michael Michael but I would love to see Buckethead play with Jerry Garcia with banjos and duel it out. I think that would be amazing music.

(Jeffrey)
I’d love to see him onstage with Johann Sebastian Bach, that would be crazy. And, Michael Jackson. Really hoping the Death Grips instagram photo is legit and there’s something going on there. That would be amazing. Taylor swift! Id get a kick out of seeing how she would react t ohim. More realistically lorde. I have a lot of faith and hope in her future. David Lynch would also be killer.

(Patricia)
Brain and Maximum Bob, that would be a wonderful trio.

(Amy)
I would love to see Bootsy Collins and Buckethead play together. I love Bootsy.

(Chris)
I’d love to see Buckethead onstage with Travis Dickerson. They’ve never played live together. When they’re in the studio together, magic happens.

(Douglas  /  Jennifer)
I think Buckethead really works best as a solo act because he does his own thing. When he was in Guns N Roses they still let him do his own thing. I can’t really think of someone. I don’t have anybody.

Hmm, weird. Because I have somebody I’d like to see him perform with. Hear me out. Ghostemane.
I know it might sound odd but we’ve heard Buckethead, Death Cube K, Cuckoo Clocks of Hell, we’ve heard things where we know Buckethead can play really heavy, shred, dark and creepy. And so does Ghostemane in a way. I think they would be an interesting pair up.

I have my answer by the way. Death Grips! I’d love to see Buckethead with Death Grips. We’ve seen the instagram picture with Zach. So they know each other. If does Death Grips and Buckethead put out music together that would fucking work!

I’d be there yesterday for that!

(Alexus  /  Benjamin)
Mrs Smith! We went to see her show and talked for 30 minutes. She said she wants to shred with Buckethead.
Mrs Smith is an incredible player. To watch them shred onstage together would be magical.
I would love to have seen Buckethead and Dimebag Darrell onstage together shredding. It just would’ve melted everyones faces off. I would love to have been in the audience when that happens.

(Kevin)
I don’t know if this is cheating, but it would be me. Buckethead call me. Join my band! I’d love to play with you. Or I’ll send you something to record guitar over. Be in my band Buckethead. Be my friend…or don’t even be my friend, just be in my band. That’s cool. I respect the mystique.
Now if that’s a cop out answer then my other answer would be my other favourite band GWAR. Maybe they could have a space guitar battle or team up to fight some monsters. How fucking rad would that be?

(Sebastian)
I would love to have seen Buckethead perform onstage with Colonel Sanders. Where he could finally do some justice and get revenge for all the traumatized chickens. He’d disembody Mr Sanders then put him back together, nice and slow or fast, depending on the track. Play a guitar solo with his hand. Just do whatever and go savage. It would be the best video of all time.