Young Buckethead DVDs: The rare footage on the two Young Buckethead DVDs was shot in 1990 and 1991, just as Buckethead and the Deli Creeps were beginning to play outside of their southern California hometown. It includes three complete Deli Creeps concerts, a soundcheck, backstage shenanigans, and solo footage of Buckethead.
Here's how it all came about:
When I first encountered Buckethead, I'd been an editor for Guitar Player magazine for a decade. That was 1988, and I'd already done cover stories on Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Morse, Eric Johnson, The Edge, and many others. But nothing nothing had prepared me for what I was about to hear when a receptionist said, "Some kid and his parents just dropped off a demo for you."
I popped in the cassette, hit play, and my jaw dropped. That kid was Buckethead, then still a teenager, and his music displayed unsurpassed imagination and stunning technique. I rushed to the restaurant where Buckethead and his folks were having lunch and encouraged him to make the most of his talent.
Buckethead and I became friends, and during pilgrimages to the San Francisco area, he'd occasionally crash on my couch. Fascinated with videos I'd made of Mississippi bluesmen, he asked me to film his band, the Deli Creeps, when they made their San Francisco debut in September 1990 to an audience of about 12 people. We taped two more concerts in the next few months.
In 1991 Buckethead moved into my basement. There, by the ghostly glow of a TV set endlessly playing The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he created sonic shards unlike anything I'd heard. On occasion, we'd flip on a video camera and improvise for "Buckethead in the Basement," he played cinematic keyboard to my insane raving. Our "Buckethead in the Park" interview was likewise unrehearsed. My favorite footage, though, is "Buckethead's Backyard Solo," an impromptu performance for his brothers and sisters.
Buckethead and I hope that the rarity of these performance videos - and the delight we shared in making them will help make up for the limitations of their original 8mm format.
Acoustic Shards CD: One day - July 2, 1991, to be exact - Buckethead came upstairs from his basement lair and picked up an acoustic guitar. He began improvising beautiful music, and we flipped on a tape recorder. The Acoustic Shards CD captures what he played that day and the next. This music was recorded in real time, without overdubs or effects devices or another guitarist, and the songs are in the order originally performed. At 52:30, Acoustic Shards contains 15 original tracks, including the earliest-known version of fan faves "For Mom" and "Who Me?" Buckethead did the drawings and lettering for this CD.
Buckethead posters: Our crazy and colorful "Young Buckethead" and "Buckethead: Acoustic Shards" posters also feature Buckethead's original drawings and hand-lettering.
Jas Obrecht
2007