Buckethead

He was born in a coup, raised in a cage, children fear him, critics rage, he’s half alive, he’s half dead, folks they just call him Buckethead. -The Ballad of Buckethead

The mere mention of the name Buckethead may produce a quizzical look.  Who is Buckethead?  Where is he from?  Buckethead provides clues throughout his music, (“I Come in Peace”, “Ballad of Buckethead”), but only enough to add to his mystique. On the topic of Buckethead’s identity, sources are few and far between, but what is certain is that “Buckethead” is the stage name and creation of Brian Carroll.  Relatively little is known of Brian Carroll, except that he grew up in southern California, is the son of a high school football coach, and now resides somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Rumor has it that he took lessons from Paul Gilbert, the virtuoso guitarist of Racer X and Mr. Big fame while living in southern California, and this has led some to speculate that Buckethead is in fact Paul Gilbert in disguise.  This speculation is baseless, however, when one listens to both artists’ music.  Their styles are strikingly different.  While both are shredders, and have phenomenal technique, how they use that technique is central to their stylistic differences.    Both players utilize essential “shred” techniques like tapping, sweep picking, and alternate picking, but Buckethead is less orthodox with those techniques.  Like Slayer who took the thrash metal of Metallica and made it more intense, Buckethead learned from the best (Eddie Van Halen, Paul Gilbert, and Yngwie Malmsteen), and has taken it to the next level.

Defining Buckethead’s style is quite challenging because it is so untraditional and eclectic.  His albums range from new age (Colma, Electric Tears) to dissonant (Kaleidoscalp) to jam-oriented (Population Override), to concept-oriented (Buckethead 2, Giant Robot), to the more accessible (Monsters and Robots).  His individual songs often display what Jimmy Page refers to as “Light and Shade”.  Yet with Buckethead, it is more apt to say, “Solar Eclipse”.  One minute, he’s playing the greatest melody you’ve ever heard, the next minute he’s playing a flurry of 32nd notes.  There’s a certain unpredictability that makes his songs fresh – you don’t know what quite to expect.  Yet when you listen to his music, there is a consistent underlying thread.   He’s so unconventional that it reminds me of Salvador Dali.  He could be mad, but without a doubt, he is a genius.

Once Axl Rose releases his long-awaited Chinese Democracy album, many more people will discover the genius of Buckethead…