Guns N’ Roses would rule the world from 1988-1993 releasing several huge albums including Appetite
for Destruction and the Use Your Illusion Records. Following the Use your illusion tour
in July of 1993, the band struggled to write new material. The band managed to coble together a
covers album that was put out in 1993 tilted the spaghetti incident and the following year they
released a cover of the rolling stone’s song sympathy for the devil for the film interview
with the vampire. By 1995 Slash would release an album from his side project Slash’s snakepit,
signalling the end of his working relationship with frontman Axl Rose for nearly 2 decades.
He would leave the band the following year and would be followed by bassist Duff McKagan
and drummer Matt Sorum the following year. By 1998 Rose was the last man standing from the
80’s lineup of the band and he had to assemble a new band and while a lot of people came and went
over the next 20 years, one of the more interesting members to join the band was
guitarist Buckethead. But how did guitarist Slash feel about Buckethead replacing him
and what did he say in the press., that’s what we’re going to discuss in today’s video.
It was frequently reported in the press in the early to mid 90’s that frontman Axl Rose
was not just a fan of hard rock music, but more alternative bands including Jane’s Addiction,
Pearl Jam and Nine Inch Nails. When Guns N’ Roses began working on their proper follow up to 1991’s
use your illusion, it was reported that Rose wanted the band’s music to grow and evolve,
while guitarist Slash wanted to stay closer to the band’s hard rock sound.
Perhaps Rose gave us a sneek peak of where his mind was when he put
out the head scratching tune 'My World' on Use your illusion 2. In 1995 Slash who was
doing press for his project Snakepit and revealed where Axl’s mind was at the time musically saying
to metal hammer There was a point there where Axl goes: 'I'm gonna do a solo record, and I'm
gonna get Trent Reznor and Dave Navarro, and [Dave Grohl,] the drummer from Nirvana...' and so on.
And it's like, he doesn't even know half of these people. He's just pulling them out of the sky."
In a separate interview with Canadian Radio Slash would state the same year
"Then [Axl] decided his solo-project he could do with Guns, which I was like,
after doing all those videos and this and that and the other, I was like: "No". [laughs] No,
I don't wanna get involved in any kind of Stephanie Seymour ballads or any of that shit.
As Axl assembled his new lineup of GUns N’ Roses in the mid to late 90’s he would bring
in nine inch nails guitarist Robin Finck, who played with the band in 1998 and 1999,
but he would depart the group just before the millennium leaving the band without a guitarist.
. As for how Buckethead joined, Rose wasn’t sure how to get a hold of the guitarist,
but Guns N’ Roses drummer at the time Josh Freese knew Buckethead and helped Rose track
him down. Freese would reveal in an interview that he had heard that buckethead was up in
san francisco hanging out with the band Primus so Freese would place a call to Primus manager
Dave Lefkowitz recalling the conversation he had saying The first thing I was like,
"Do you think Buckethead would be into this, he's such a quirky, weird, artiste?" And Dave goes,
"Yeah, I think he is tired of the starving artist routine, I think he is ready to make a living"."
Things wouldn’t be solidified until Buckethead was invited to Rose’s home for Christmas in 1999.
It had been a tough holiday season for Bucket who was in the market for a leather face doll,
but was unable to find one. Rose had managed to track one down and gave it to the guitarist
and he soon joined the band afterwards. Buckethead for his part would drift in and
out of the band for the next several years until finally leaving in 2003.
Most people in North America wouldn’t first see the new incarnation of Guns N’ Roses publically,
until the 2002 MTV video music awards where Rose’s new band closed the show. Performing with the band
was Buckethead and the reviews were not good. Largely due to Rose’s poor vocal performance
and his changing physical appearance. When Slash’s new band Velvet Revolver which also featured
drummer Matt Sorum and bassist Duff McKagan appeared on Howard Stern’s radio show in 2004
to promote their debut album Contraband they were asked about Guns N’ Roses appearance at the video
music awards and here’s what they had to say. Hey I got a question for the guys from Guns N'
Roses. When you saw Axl a couple years ago at the MTV awards with the band and the Buckethead
thing were you embarrassed for him. I didn't see it. You never seen it? I refused to see
it. I saw it a year later. Why do you refuse to see it? I was going to school at the time so and
having kids and I just didn't see it. What kind of school? I went to a nice jesuit school. Jesuit?
What high school? yeah right? What were you trying to study, what were you trying to learn. Finance.
Oh really? You were going to be a business man? I'd like to go over my portfolio with Duff.
So I saw it a year later. Slash, why do you refuse to see it. You know its as one of those things
where I got a bunch of phone calls one morning leaving me messages going you know what was that
whole thing about on tv? and I didn't know what it was. Yeah, what is that though. Why couldn't
he be with you guys I don't understand. I had been gone for a while, Duff had been gone for a while,
Matt had been gone for a while. it was over with. When it finally ended it was no turning
back kind of thing. And so when I heard what it was it was the mtv awards and I heard the
reaction of the people that saw it I didn't want to see something I didn't want to leave,
have that that memory of whatever Guns n' Roses was. When I left it was still kind of cool. Yeah,
I think it's over for them right. Our memories are pretty good. That was a great band. Great band.
Buckethead would eventually leave the band in 2003. According to MTV News who reported at the
time "At the end of [2003], Buckethead became fed up with Guns' inability to
complete an album or tour and stopped working with them, his manager said.
Perhaps my favourite quote about Buckethead’s time in the band came from his friend and former Guns
N’ Roses drummer Brain who told the I’d Hit That podcast in 2015 "In Guns, the greatest thing was,
he would [talk through his hand puppet, Herbie] and wear out the managers. There's millions of
dollars on the line - and they're talking to a f****' puppet!" (Brain, I'd Hit That, 02/15)
Guns N’ Roses were planning on at least playing one show in 2004 making an appearance at Rock
in Rio festival in Portugal but the date was scrapped after Buckethead left the group with
frontman Axl Rosee putting out a statement that read "During his tenure with the band
Buckethead has been... creating uncertainty and confusion and making it virtually
impossible to move forward with recording, rehearsals and live plans with confidence."
The same year Slash while out on the road promoting Velvet Revolver’s first record
Contraband would dress up as buckethead as you can see in this photo. Three years would go by and in
2007 Slash appeared on howard stern’s radio show to promote his autobiography where he was asked
his thoughts on buckethead and here’s what he had to say. It was weird there was one time I went to
see Guns N' Roses and of course your looking for the guitar player to be Slash and it could have
been just non descript and instead its as that weird guy Buckethead. You remember Bucket? That
was at the mtv a guy with a bucket on his head and it was almost like calling too much attention.i
was him for halloween a couple of years ago, really? you were Buckethead. Yeah,but let me
just put one thing. Do you think Buckethead is a talented guitar individual? You know I've never,
I really don't know his work. I really don't know his work. I've heard he's a really accomplished
type of guitar player, very technically fluent. You say that as a put down in a way. A guitar
player... he's not a rock guy. A guitar player has a certain kind of soul to his guitar, is that what
you're saying. It's just not technical. I have heard a couple pieces of music from Buckethead
and it's technically proficient but doesn't have any heart. So in other words you kind of say hey
there's two types of musicians there's the guy who can go in and read chord charts and get that all
done and then there's you and you can walk into the studio and make something magical happen.
Something like that. If somebody picks up the guitar and has the balls to really come from the
heart and expose themselves you know emotionally on the instrument you can tell you can feel it.
But one year later in 2008 Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine would talk to LA Weekly and discussed
Buckethead and Slash saying when I think about a guy with a hat, I think of Slash. And I think
Slash is an excellent guitar player. He's one of my favorites. That's a guy that's pulled it off.
SuicideGirls.com: Yeah, Slash is amazing. Mustaine: He's brilliant; I love him. But
then you see some guy like Buckethead… Buckethead is probably twice as good a
guitar player as me and Slash combined, and can stand having fried chicken rubbed up against
his face all night for a couple of hours. Slash would end up being interviewed by LA
Weekly the same year and responded to Mustaine’s praise of him and Buckethead saying Well,
that is actually true. Anybody who knows me knows that technically I couldn't play
my way out of a paper bag. [Laughs] Or a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket, for that
matter. I manage to do what it is I do based on a certain kind of feel and sound. I'm getting
better at it but I've never been what you'd call a technical guitar player so he's totally right .
The long awaited Chinese Democracy album from Guns N' Roses would finally be released in november of
2008. Buckethead would be credited with playing on all the tracks with the exception of two of
them catcher in the rye and this i love and coming up with the arrangements for three of the songs.
Slash would be interviewed by music radar and gave his thoughts on the Chinese Democracy saying
"I already listened to it," Slash revealed during a recent interview. "So I listened to it:
It's a really good record. It's very different from what the original Guns N' Roses sounded like,
but it's a great statement by Axl. Now you understand where he was heading all this
time. It's a record that the original Guns N' Roses could never possibly make. And at the
same time it just shows you how brilliant Axl is. So it was a relief for me to actually hear it."
In 2016 slash would rejoin Guns N’ Roses and tour with the band extensively.
As part of the tour the band would play a handful of Chinese Democracy songs as part of their set.
Rose would admit in an interview that it was Slash and Duff’s ideas to play songs, not his.
Slash would praise buckethead in a 2018 interview revealing to eddie “I know everybody” Trunk and I
quote “It was cool,” “There’s some great songs on that record, so I just sort of adapted my own way
of playing them and just made them more my own so I felt more comfortable. And they just kick ass.
The same year he would talk to Guitar World adding That said, I also want to give credit where
credit’s due – the guitar players that played on Chinese Democracy, Buckethead being one of the
main ones – are fucking amazing guitar players. “I have to give those guys a shout-out because
that stuff was cool. Very different from what I normally do. So it’s been interesting learning
some of the stuff that was on that record. I definitely had to figure out ways to adapt to it.”
That does it for today's video guys thanks for watching. Be sure to hit the like button
and subscribe and well see you again on rock n' roll true stories. Take care.