For Christmas Cindy gave me a Bandcamp giftcard. I knew exactly what I was going to use it for.
Buckethead.
In December of 2021 Buckethead had a 2$ sale and I bought 17 Pikes. The man is prolific, that is for sure. At the time of this writing he is up to 306! That doesn’t include his regularly released albums and collaborations.
When he released 299 and 300 I couldn’t believe it. What a Milestone was 300. I purchased it with pride and it was awesome as usual. But it didn’t stop there. Before the end of the year he had released 301 and as a last hurrah for 2021 on December 31 he released 302. Unbelievable.
Then it became 2022. I thought perhaps there would be a lull. I was wrong. Gladly.
Buckethead Pike # 303 – Castle of Franken Berry (released Jan 11 2022)
Buckethead Pike # 304 – Rainbow Tower (released Jan 20 2022)
Buckethead Pike # 305 – Two Story Hourglass (released Jan 27 2022)
Buckethead Pike # 306 – The Toy Cupboard (released Jan 29 2022)
If they weren’t so damn good I would definitely stop buying them, but I am loving each one.
https://www.bucketheadpikes.com/index.html
The very first Pike was released May 15th 2011. I was turned on to Buckethead by Chris B. when I worked in the factory in the Engineering Department. He loaned me “Buckethead – Monsters and Robots” and I dug it immediately. However I really never delved into anything else. I don’t know if Chris ever clued me into the whole Pikes thing… but when I ran into another co-worker at another job who had a Buckethead concert stub up in his cube more Buckethead conversations happened. He proclaimed the shows as “life altering” and described what goes on at a Buckethead concert. I was intrigued enough to find some YouTube clips to try and confirm what he was telling me and of course it was just like he said. Mixture of stage show and insane music. I determined that next time he came to town I would go see his show.
It was life altering.
I’ve seen him 3 times now, gotten stage toys, played the red button on his guitar and I can say with no hesitation that a Buckethead show is easily in my top 5 shows of all time. It is an experience.
I hope that he starts touring again, but a recent check of the internets showed nothing happening. Wah wah…
Sad.
Which reminds me I should set up a Google alert.
Here’s to hoping that Buckethead will do another show in Madison in 2022! Until then, we have the Pikes to keep us warm. Dive in if you’re on the fence. With 306 releases, there is bound to be one that will hook you. Be careful.
The Aural Retentive 