Buckethead

Buckethead is a virtuoso guitarist and composer 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 unusual: 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 Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani) and some elements of thrash metal. He took guitar lessons with the shredder Paul Gilbert, and people have often suggested that Buckethead is Gilbert in disguise. This does not seem to be the case. Buckethead tends to be inspired by science fiction and horror films, mecha (giant robot) anime, and monsters. The albums Colma, Electric Tears, and Population Override are departures from the typical freak-show atmosphere of Buckethead albums. Colma, named for a city south of San Francisco composed mostly of graveyards, 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."

In an interview[1] by Revolver (magazine), Ozzy Osbourne stated that he'd offered to have Buckethead play for him at Ozzfest. Ozzy quickly changed his mind after meeting with him when he refused to go on stage without a disguise.

"Ozzy Ozbourne: I tried out that Buckethead guy. I met with him and asked him to work with me but only if he got rid of the fucking bucket. So I came back a bit later and he's wearing this green fucking Martian's-hat thing..."