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An Interview with Brian Carroll a.k.a. Buckethead



I just found this interview with Brian Carroll, the man behind the mask. Since Buckethead is almost always in character, I thought maybe someone else would be interested in this.



The following interview is supposedly from Guitar Magazine, 1996. Someone took time to write it into a .txt file. I'll repost it here



>> I just found this interview with Brian Carroll, the man behind the mask. Since Buckethead is almost always in character, I thought maybe someone else would be interested in this.The following interview is supposedly from Guitar Magazine, 1996. Someone took time to write it into a .txt file. I'll repost it here>> http://qfg.info/misc/destroyallmonsters.txt <



____________





DESTROY ALL MONSTERS

Guitar Player Magazine 1996

(thanks to T for making this available to the Shred Like Hell team)



Krraaaccckkkkk! Shaaboooommmm! Thunder and lightning rip through the

foyer of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, flashing a terrible light on the domed

ceiling and the corpse that dangles from it on the end of a noose. Everyone

present lets out a bloodcurdling scream - almost everyone that is. A six-foot-

plus, long-haired, guitar-wielding robot wearing a white mask and a fried-

chicken bucket on his head - Buckethead - alone stands unfazed. But then, he's

probably been on this ride at least 500 times, mostly at night, then he can slip

past the guards and enter the mansion undetected to sit in with the haunted

mansion house band. (Buckethead claims their invisible pianist taught him how

to play Chopin's "Funeral March.") From Haunted Mansion to Pirates of the

Caribbean, Buckethead likes weird places and strange people. Maybe that's

why his virtuosic post-metal psycho-shred has been tapped by ecentric

collaborators from Bootsy Collins to John Zorn to Bill Laswell to Jnas Hellborg

to Iggy Pop. Or maybe they're just really scared of Buckethead and will do

anything he tells them to.



On this particular day, it's Buckethead's alter-ego, mild-mannered Brian Carroll,

who roams the dark corridors of the haunted mansion. Like Peter Parker to

Spider Man or Bruce Banner to the Hulk, Caroll is the flipside of his freakish

creation. A likable, guileless, extremely self-effacing 27-year old, Carroll molded

his childhood fascination with hardcore horror movies, martial arts, Michael

Jackson, Disneyland, and heavy metal guitar into a playing style and onstage

persona that shatters the stereotype of the babe-snaggin' guitar-jock cool guy

with the same force that it explodes the harmonic and textural possibilities of the

guitar. Like Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne, he's on a super hero's mission not to

harm, but to help. He dreams of constructing his own version of Disneyland for

the children of the world - Bucketheadland.



With two new records on the shelves - jungle beat driven "The Day of the

Robot" on Sub-Meta and "Giant Robot" on NTT (2633 Lincoln Blvd., Suite

405, Santa Monica CA 90405), plus an album with jazz drummer Tony

Williams featuring Ornette Coleman and Pharoah Sanders, an upcoming project

with fellow guitar virtuoso Shawn Lane, and an all-Disney theme album for

Zorn's Avant label, Buckethead is poised at the guillotine edge of progressive

rock guitar. Inspired by forward thinking buddies like Laswell, Praxis drummer

Brain and the DJ outfit Invisible Scratch Pickles, he's genetically mutating metal

guitar into bizarre hybrids with hip hop, jungle and ambient music. Sprawling

metropoli and thatched villages beware: the time has come to destroy all

monsters.



The suburban room where Carroll grew up near Los Angeles (about a half-hour

from Disneyland) say it all: Bruce Lee, Michael Jackson and Leatherface

posters adorn the walls. On the ample bookshelf, works on Paganini, Slonimsky

and Glenn Gould are slipped between magic books, martial arts material and

slasher flick compendiums. Robot toys with laser eyes stare from every corner

and there is a futuristic rack of CDs boasting titles from hip hoppers the Wu-

Tang clan, techno-trip-hop buddies the Chemical Brothers, Yngwie's Rising

Force and the soundtracks to Godzilla and War of the Gargantuans.



It's clear that visual stimulation is every bit as important to Buckethead's guitar

playing as the music he listen to and the theory he has absorbed.



Onstage with Praxis - with Brain and bassist Laswell or with his band Giant

Robot, Buckethead moves with robotic precision, but he imagines pictures in

his head as he plays. "It's just more fun that way", he explains, fiddling

nervously with a Giant Robot doll. "For the most part, I think in terms of

amusement park rides and monster and robot movies. I'll watch a movie

without the sound and play to the picture. I would watch the death scene in

Texas Chainsaw Massacre where Leatherface slams the steel door, and a low

and creepy drone comes in. I would use that drone to solo over, the sound of

that guy's death. I guess that's kind of bad, but I was into it. The whole scene is

so vicious and powerful, it gives me a certain feeling. When I put myself in that

position, I like to tape what I'm playing and feeling, because of what it brings

out in me."



As a kid, Brian's mom nicknamed him "Boo" because of his obsession with

monsters and robots, and he took karate lessons from the age of ten. By the

time he was 13, he'd picked up guitar under the spell of Angus Young and

Randy Rhoads, whose classic "Crazy Train" riff and 32nd note pull off runs are

echoed on Bucketheadland's "Park Theme" (The Japan-only release is available

through Avant/Disc Union, 2-13-1 Iidabashi Chiyoda-Ky, Tokyo 102, Japan, or

direct from Buckethead). "I was really into sports, but I liked guitar because it

was something you could do all by yourself," he recalls. Yngwie Malmsteen's

early recordings, some of them only available as Japanese imports - like many

of Bucket's albums - were a major revelation.



"When Yngwie came out he was totally in your face; you can tell he just

wanted to destroy," Caroll raves. "It's so dramatic, and that aspect of it was as

cool as the speed. Plenty of people play fast but they don't set it up like he

does. Like the way "Far Beyond the Sun" builds and builds until there's a

break, and then the guitar rips into it - the payoff is so great. Yngwie had that

fire and even now I'm trying to use that to motivate me. The fact that he hasn't

changed is pretty rad too. He doesn't care what people think and I admire that."



Sitting across from Buckethead as he fires off four-fingered diminished-scale

tapping licks at breakneck speed is humbling. But he makes it look incredibly

easy, as if technical wizardry were second nature. It's partly the result of keen

observation. "I can usually understand what someone's doing pretty quickly,"

he nods. "In martial arts, I can see why Bruce Lee was so much better than

everyone else, because of the way he moved his body. It was in the way he

held his arms and all those little details. When I saw Yngwie or Paul Gilbert or

Shawn Lane, I could see quickly HOW they did it, even though it took a lot of

time to actually play it. I looked at Shawn Lane's hands to see how he picks,

because technically I've never seen anyone more efficient. Of course, the real

ideas are in his head. When he plays, he's always looking out into space,

because he's going for the sound. But I still had to ask myself "What is he doing

to get that sound?"". ____________DESTROY ALL MONSTERSGuitar Player Magazine 1996(thanks to T for making this available to the Shred Like Hell team)Krraaaccckkkkk! Shaaboooommmm! Thunder and lightning rip through thefoyer of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, flashing a terrible light on the domedceiling and the corpse that dangles from it on the end of a noose. Everyonepresent lets out a bloodcurdling scream - almost everyone that is. A six-foot-plus, long-haired, guitar-wielding robot wearing a white mask and a fried-chicken bucket on his head - Buckethead - alone stands unfazed. But then, he'sprobably been on this ride at least 500 times, mostly at night, then he can slippast the guards and enter the mansion undetected to sit in with the hauntedmansion house band. (Buckethead claims their invisible pianist taught him howto play Chopin's "Funeral March.") From Haunted Mansion to Pirates of theCaribbean, Buckethead likes weird places and strange people. Maybe that'swhy his virtuosic post-metal psycho-shred has been tapped by ecentriccollaborators from Bootsy Collins to John Zorn to Bill Laswell to Jnas Hellborgto Iggy Pop. Or maybe they're just really scared of Buckethead and will doanything he tells them to.On this particular day, it's Buckethead's alter-ego, mild-mannered Brian Carroll,who roams the dark corridors of the haunted mansion. Like Peter Parker toSpider Man or Bruce Banner to the Hulk, Caroll is the flipside of his freakishcreation. A likable, guileless, extremely self-effacing 27-year old, Carroll moldedhis childhood fascination with hardcore horror movies, martial arts, MichaelJackson, Disneyland, and heavy metal guitar into a playing style and onstagepersona that shatters the stereotype of the babe-snaggin' guitar-jock cool guywith the same force that it explodes the harmonic and textural possibilities of theguitar. Like Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne, he's on a super hero's mission not toharm, but to help. He dreams of constructing his own version of Disneyland forthe children of the world - Bucketheadland.With two new records on the shelves - jungle beat driven "The Day of theRobot" on Sub-Meta and "Giant Robot" on NTT (2633 Lincoln Blvd., Suite405, Santa Monica CA 90405), plus an album with jazz drummer TonyWilliams featuring Ornette Coleman and Pharoah Sanders, an upcoming projectwith fellow guitar virtuoso Shawn Lane, and an all-Disney theme album forZorn's Avant label, Buckethead is poised at the guillotine edge of progressiverock guitar. Inspired by forward thinking buddies like Laswell, Praxis drummerBrain and the DJ outfit Invisible Scratch Pickles, he's genetically mutating metalguitar into bizarre hybrids with hip hop, jungle and ambient music. Sprawlingmetropoli and thatched villages beware: the time has come to destroy allmonsters.The suburban room where Carroll grew up near Los Angeles (about a half-hourfrom Disneyland) say it all: Bruce Lee, Michael Jackson and Leatherfaceposters adorn the walls. On the ample bookshelf, works on Paganini, Slonimskyand Glenn Gould are slipped between magic books, martial arts material andslasher flick compendiums. Robot toys with laser eyes stare from every cornerand there is a futuristic rack of CDs boasting titles from hip hoppers the Wu-Tang clan, techno-trip-hop buddies the Chemical Brothers, Yngwie's RisingForce and the soundtracks to Godzilla and War of the Gargantuans.It's clear that visual stimulation is every bit as important to Buckethead's guitarplaying as the music he listen to and the theory he has absorbed.Onstage with Praxis - with Brain and bassist Laswell or with his band GiantRobot, Buckethead moves with robotic precision, but he imagines pictures inhis head as he plays. "It's just more fun that way", he explains, fiddlingnervously with a Giant Robot doll. "For the most part, I think in terms ofamusement park rides and monster and robot movies. I'll watch a moviewithout the sound and play to the picture. I would watch the death scene inTexas Chainsaw Massacre where Leatherface slams the steel door, and a lowand creepy drone comes in. I would use that drone to solo over, the sound ofthat guy's death. I guess that's kind of bad, but I was into it. The whole scene isso vicious and powerful, it gives me a certain feeling. When I put myself in thatposition, I like to tape what I'm playing and feeling, because of what it bringsout in me."As a kid, Brian's mom nicknamed him "Boo" because of his obsession withmonsters and robots, and he took karate lessons from the age of ten. By thetime he was 13, he'd picked up guitar under the spell of Angus Young andRandy Rhoads, whose classic "Crazy Train" riff and 32nd note pull off runs areechoed on Bucketheadland's "Park Theme" (The Japan-only release is availablethrough Avant/Disc Union, 2-13-1 Iidabashi Chiyoda-Ky, Tokyo 102, Japan, ordirect from Buckethead). "I was really into sports, but I liked guitar because itwas something you could do all by yourself," he recalls. Yngwie Malmsteen'searly recordings, some of them only available as Japanese imports - like manyof Bucket's albums - were a major revelation."When Yngwie came out he was totally in your face; you can tell he justwanted to destroy," Caroll raves. "It's so dramatic, and that aspect of it was ascool as the speed. Plenty of people play fast but they don't set it up like hedoes. Like the way "Far Beyond the Sun" builds and builds until there's abreak, and then the guitar rips into it - the payoff is so great. Yngwie had thatfire and even now I'm trying to use that to motivate me. The fact that he hasn'tchanged is pretty rad too. He doesn't care what people think and I admire that."Sitting across from Buckethead as he fires off four-fingered diminished-scaletapping licks at breakneck speed is humbling. But he makes it look incrediblyeasy, as if technical wizardry were second nature. It's partly the result of keenobservation. "I can usually understand what someone's doing pretty quickly,"he nods. "In martial arts, I can see why Bruce Lee was so much better thaneveryone else, because of the way he moved his body. It was in the way heheld his arms and all those little details. When I saw Yngwie or Paul Gilbert orShawn Lane, I could see quickly HOW they did it, even though it took a lot oftime to actually play it. I looked at Shawn Lane's hands to see how he picks,because technically I've never seen anyone more efficient. Of course, the realideas are in his head. When he plays, he's always looking out into space,because he's going for the sound. But I still had to ask myself "What is he doingto get that sound?"". __________________

In the age of information, ignorance is a choice.