Axehole

“Don’t let the white kabuki mask and the inverted KFC chicken bucket he wears on his head fool ya, California-bred weirdo Buckethead is hardly a flash-in-the-pan ax hero,” notes Madison’s The Daily Page.

Over the past decade or so, the guitarist has funked with Bill Laswell and Bootsy Collins, cavorted in Les Claypool’s cartoon universe of sound, and shredded with one of Axl Rose’s self-destructive versions of Guns N’ Roses.

Buckethead’s current album is Enter the Chicken, a goofy but carefully wrought concept piece that includes collaborative work with everyone from vocalist/producer Serj Tankian of System of a Down to the gifted Ethiopian pop chanteuse Gigi.