​The History of Buckethead & Halloween

Good evening everybody, as most of you long time Buckethead fans know, there’s a certain time of year that Buckethead enjoys more than any other. And right now, it’s that time of year. So today, we’re gonna take a look at the history of Buckethead and Halloween.

Yep, forget Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and whatever else you celebrate, for Buckethead, it’s all about Halloween. In fact, if it wasn’t for Halloween, Buckethead might not even exist.

“I had just seen Halloween 4 and as soon as it was over I went into a store and said ‘Do you have any Michael Myers masks?” – Buckethead Guitar Player Magazine interview (1996)
“I had that mask and it was like Michael Myers. So I just put it on my head and I was like ‘That’s Buckethead’ – Buckethead Interview 2017

So thanks, in part, to John Carpenter, Michael Myers and Halloween 4, Buckethead was born. And that same month in 1988, Buckethead made one of his very first demo cassettes, which would later be released in 2008 as ‘From the Coop’.

Buckethead has paid numerous tributes to the Michael Myers character, even breaking out the Michael Myers mask during home videos and live performances.

As well as taking to the stage as Michael Myers, Buckethead has also donned the mask of another famous serial killer for Halloween, the late great, Ed Gein. Good lord.

Buckethead loves Halloween so much that he even celebrated it for his 50th birthday…in may. Yep, on May 13th 2019, Buckethead performed at the Louisville Palace in a special ‘Halloween in May costume party’. Hell yeah.

Now for most of you hardcore Bucket bots out there, Halloween gives you an excuse to put on a mask and Bucket and pretend to be Buckethead. And on Halloween night in 2004, a certain Velvet Revolver and Guns N Roses guitarist, also thought it would be a good idea.
Yep, for one night only, Slash was Buckethead.

Throughout his career Buckethead has, more often than not, released a song, album or painting whenever Halloween comes around. From 2013’s Pumpkin pike, 2018’s Mirror in the Cellar and more. But his biggest Halloween tribute came during October of 2015, with the release of ‘the 31 days of Halloween-Silver Shamrock series’.
And the day after the 31 album series was complete, he released another album. ‘365 til Halloween’. Excellent.

Perhaps his most loved Halloween release came in the form of the DVD ’10 31’. Whilst the ‘10 31’ album was released in 2017, the ’10 31’ music video landed in October 2018, and it was pretty damn awesome.

And as if one Halloween music video wasn’t enough, this Halloween Buckethead teamed up with his longtime friend, Bootsy Collins, for a cover of the 1960’s song ‘Monster Mash’.
Buckethead loves Halloween. And Halloween loves Buckethead. Woo!!