Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Buckethead vs. Death Cube K


Buckethead is a guitarist and a self titled and cited avant-garde cultural icon. I had until recently only been sort of aware of this masked musician who played with GNR . Lets see, Tracii somebody, to Slash (whom we all know), to Robin Fink who gave up on one upping Slash's hairdo and now torments manicurists in their sleep as the guitar frontman for Nine inch nails, to this masked guy with a KFC bucket on his head, to some guy now that I have not heard of.
But, Buckethead is far from the run of the mill GNR graduate. He is incredibly talented and stark raving mad.
He keeps his fans close by tasking them with having to defend his progressively increasing bizarre behaviour. But, any thesis towards a method to his madness ultimately rests on the quality of his music. Soothsayer and Jordan are two his most popular songs (attached below) in the main riff for Jordan, for example, he uses the hammer-on and pull-off technique on the frets while rapidly operating the pick-up kill switch with his right hand.
In reading his biography, I was struck by his disjointed career. Several false starts with bands that all could have been successful. Failed invitations to work with Ozzy Osborne and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and then I read about his alter ego "Death Cube K" another masked musician created to circumvent contractual obligations with Sony Music and presented as a photographic negative to Buckethead (Death wears a shiny black mask). Mr K's music is more experimental, like the album monolith, which is a 5 disc set with one track per CD.
Infact, Death Cube K is almost a movie definition of disassociated behaviour. The Tyler Durden to the narrator. An internal duality, where one if not both corporeal forms are aware that they share a chassis, and it seems, equally interested in buckets and off-the-hook shredding.
So, this is not complete disassociation then, it isn't an alter-ego invented to vacation from oneself. It is different, a Side-B? A different arrangement of the same instruments, a vantage from where one can sit and fall in love or grow to hate the other person in the room. But, the music is a commonality, maybe it is the reason.

I remember this answer from a Zakir Hussain interview, and I felt it was something I wanted to hold-off and ask myself one day. His answer was," When I play music I feel like I am important to myself." I bet Buckethead nods his bucket in approval.
Sometimes, the internal conflict is not to hide and tuck away, but to celebrate.


"There has been much speculation as to the identity of Buckethead. We do know that he was raised in a chicken coop by chickens. And possibly due to the unusual circumstances surrounding his upbringing, he is a very private person. He doesn't grant many interviews, and shuns most conventional means of contact. The mask and bucket add an eerie air of mystery to his activities and serve as a harbinger for his otherworldly musical stylings and sensibilities. He would prefer that his fans accept his eccentricities, focus on his art and enjoy the wonderland of joy that is Bucketheadland."



3 comments:

D said...

I like the new look!

dj said...

@D You rock!

PCD/The artist formerly known as D said...

It's true, I do! :-P