The Career of Musical Virtuoso Buckethead

A strange man dawning a plain white, expressionless mask and a KFC bucket with a bumper sticker labeled “FUNERAL” in big black bold letters. That is all a person sees when looking at a photo of the man for the first time, without hearing even a single piece of his music. What they don’t know about the man is that he has become one of the top, most hard working performers in the music industry of the last 25 - 30 years. Buckethead has performed on more than 90 albums, both solo and in collaboration with many other artists. Buckethead was born Brian Patrick Carroll in 1969. Brian began playing the guitar at the age of twelve. He had stated in an interview with Guitar Magazine in 1996, “I did not become serious until the following summer when I moved to Claremont from Huntington Beach, CA. My playing improved with lessons from various teachers, most notably, Paul Gilbert, with whom I studied for over a year.” [1] (Guitar Magazine 1996) Brian’s solo career (as Buckethead) officially began in 1988 when he entered a song called “Brazos” into a contest for Guitar Player magazine. The song was was placed in second, but received high praise among the editors: “An astonishingly skilled guitarist and bassist, he demonstrates post-Paul Gilbert speed and accuracy filtered through very kinky harmonic sensibilities. His psychotronic, demonic edge is very, very far removed from the clichés of classical metal and rock. A real talent to watch, also known as ‘Buckethead.' " [2] (Guitar Player magazine 1988) In 1989, he entered a second contest a year later with a song called “Soowee” and came out with the same result. Later that year, Buckethead formed his very own band called the Deli Creeps and played lead guitar for the group. But the band proved to be unsuccessful throughout the ‘90s as they’ve recorded two demo tapes, but could not find a record label to sign with. However, in 2005, they were able to release their first and only album, Dawn of the Deli Creeps. Other