Somewhere over the rainbow this spring the dark pantheon of metal gods has a new body electric as Buckethead flees the coup before heading west with a complete sweep of sold out east coast venues ending in Boston.
His latest power trio, a traveling carnival of sound, features cheeky, punch-drunk, Chicago man-child Pinchface, from the Deli Creeps, on drums, along with frequent studio collaborator and co-composer Dan Conti, a.k.a. Delray Brewer on bass.
New York’s ‘That 1 Guy’ opened most of the east coast shows, and made a cameo appearance with the band at the opening of the second set. Part street performer, part upright bassist, part effects wizard, his one-man-band routine incorporates a variety of highly magnetized homemade instruments including an electrified steel pipe with a bass string on it, a snare drum, a cowboy boot and a saw. Each are electronically infused with high gain pickups and a multi-effects processor played in tandem with a percussion ensemble he controls with his feet.
Well after ten the lights at the Paradise go low, real low, and the guitar tech triggers a sample in Japanese from some Bruce Lee villain as the seven foot robot giant casually emerges from out back in ghost-face Mike Meyer’s mask and bucket. He matter-of-factly picks up his ghost white ‘69 Les Paul Custom and starts blasting chops through a pair 150 watt Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifiers that split the hairs in your ears leaving a high pitched tingling sensation between figures.
Much of the set consists of improvised jams of his most highly recognizable signature riffs from the Giant Robot and Monsters & Robots LPs. They’re punctuated by mechanized robot motions, and bionic multi-octave staccato runs up and down the fretboard filling sections between hallowy crunch riffs with four fingers blazing. A spandex guitar strap allows him to stretch his guitar below his knees to emphasize bends; a catchy clown show effect accentuated by his lanky gait.
Though you could never tell it to hear him, his stage set up is surprisingly bare bones, as it should be for a man of his talent. His secret weapon is ultra high gain and a push-button stagger switch that allows him to play without strumming. A sample mixer lets him to manage an arsenal of quirky prerecorded voice loops from his favorite TV land characters. Hollywood teases throughout the night include “Pure Imagination,” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, “Frosty the Snowman” and the Star Wars “Imperial March.”
His humble personality and laid back attitude gives the whole show a real cozy feeling. He emits the zen-like concentration of a Japanese sushi chef, with none of the frilly, in-your-face, leather pants attitude you get from hot-head professional crotch-rockers he’s often compared to. The hair, the 80’s, Yngwie Malmteen. You know who I’m talking about.
Early in the show he entreats the audience with a sacrificial rubber chicken which he personally passes around for the people in the front row to pet. He later hands out a couple dozen collectable action figures and toys from his personal grab bag. His amps are lined with ‘em like a shrine. He’ll stop playing in the middle of a song to do a puppet show with one of his favorite Halloween heads. Halfway through the first set, the opening sample to “Buckethead’s Toystore,” recorded in his own voice, expounds the far reaching Bucketheadland mission statement:
“In this poor universe, of stellar-galactic-flying-tongues and feeble-fluorescent-fireflies a seemingly dismal future is approaching nearer and nearer. Unless the force of cruelty can be conquered by an influx of FUN, designated by a shipment of dolls, robots and toys, made by Japanese technicians dedicated to unbelievable colorful novelty, and delivered exclusively to Buckethead’s Toystore; a true wonderland of joy. Even Rude Ralph agrees.”
An expulsive crunch metal riff launches the song into full swing, punctuated, like many of his songs, by stop-time samples like the last one, in this case dispatches to the customer service department:
(Phone rings) “Buckethead’s Toystore! Hey do you have any of those ultra-gross Buckethead Zillatron dual doll packs left?”
Another crushing descent into metal bedlam, with rambling double kick drum action throughout, a fitting summary for the whole show, followed by another stop-time sweep pick with heavy reverb:
“Oh dude! Of course we have wax horse teeth! What kind of operation do you think we’re running here!”
After the song Delray jumps behind the drum kit, and Pinchface picks up a mic to heckle the audience with some gibberish about chicken Caesar salads in a heavy Chicago accent, then launching the band’s tribute to Slingblade:
“Some folks call it a Sling Blade. Some call it a Kaiser Blade…hmmm…I intend to kill you with it.”
Later, back on the drums, he does, in fact, kill the whole audience with an extended drum roll using heavy machine gun stereo effect, louder and faster than anything you ever heard, figuratively and effectively shredding the whole room to ribbons in an execution style manner. It lays the groundwork for the band’s very Hendrix encore featuring Foxy Lady, and, of course, Machine Gun, along with interlude teases from several classic Hendrix tunes on funky slap bass.
But all this only after Buckethead’s solo spot with extended breakdance session and lightning round on the double nunchucks toward the end of the second set. He then plays acouple of jams along a karaoke rhythm track so that you don’t even notice the band is missing ‘til you look.
Never mind the cliches people will tell you about the man in the bucket, or the tragic cover story of the foresaken godhead of the Bucketheadland internet theme park. The even less likely scenario that he’s one of a list of suspect guitar heros in disguise only subverts the unprecedented individuality of his particular style. His name and true likeness are widely circulated on the internet, and anyone who’s ever been on stage can appreciate the finer points of performing anonymously.
What’s far more important is to recognize him as just another kid from the suburbs outside Disneyland with an incredible underground talent. Like the sickest guitarist you ever knew in high school, who maybe did or didn’t ever get his lucky break; a regular guy, who likes old movies and horror-show masks, ninjas and rap music; who wears the same clothes to every show, but who happens to play robotic sixteenth note tapping sequences on guitar with his left hand while slinging nunchucks in the other.
He’s contributed to dozens of movie scores, and jammed with everybody who’s anybody in So Cal through an endless array of touring bands, special one-time appearances and studio collaborations. Everyone from Bootsy Collins and Les Claypool, to Flea and Snoop Dogg unanimously praise his creativity and inspiration, while regarding him as surprisingly sane and levelheaded.
After “Nottingham Lace,” from Buckethead & Friend’s latest Enter the Chicken album, and the Hendrix session extended encore, the band closes out the show with a stomping rendition of “Welcome to Bucketheadland.” There’s so much feedback on the line that he ends the song by playing the unplugged node of his guitar chord with his thumb and tapping it on the bridge of his mask. He then sticks it in his eyepiece like he’s maiming himself, and walks off stage with the amplifiers humming through his brain. Just a regular dude. Just another night in Bucketheadland.
For more info see: bucketheadland.com
