The Album Buckethead recorded the day after his heart procedure?
Good evening everybody, today we’re gonna take a look at one of the many glorious mysteries that surround guitar hero, Buckethead. The album that he recorded the day after his heart procedure. Woo!!
In October 2017 Buckethead gave an out of character interview for the coming alive podcast, run by Buckthead’s personal therapist, Barry Michels.
During the podcast Buckethead spoke about recently having a heart problem, where his heart beats out of rhythm.
“really recently I have a heart problem where my heart beats out of rhythm. So I went to the doctor and they said 'oh you're on the verge of having a stroke' So they suggested I have this thing called an ablation.
The day after I had that procedure, I recorded a record with my friend. I just lied in bed and I recorded it.
And ever since that interview, the burning question has been, which album is the one he recorded? So, let’s take a look.
Since the podcast was released on October 10th 2017 and Buckethead said that the heart problem had happened “really recently”. We can assume that the album was released sometime within a year from September 2016 to September 2017. In that time, Buckethead released 38 albums.
In the lead up to that time period Buckethead went on his first tour in 4 years in 2016, playing over 75 shows from April 15th to September 25th, during which time he didn’t release any Pikes.
One month after the tour finished, Buckethead released his first Pike in 7 months, Pike 235 Oneiric Pool.
During the interview, Buckethead mentions about being “wiped out” after the heart procedure, and about playing “in a state”.
“I've never experienced something like that and I was so wiped out too. Because I've never really played in that state before. But just to play in that state, there's feeling in that state, you know? And I just tried to play that feeling you know?”
So, if we go by Bucketheads words of being “wiped out” and “in a state” when describing how he felt at that time, it’s easy to eliminate many of the 38 Pikes. In fact, because many of the Pikes have unique titles, song names and themes, we can eliminate all but 3.
Adrift in Sleepwakefulness (248) Coniunctio (272) and the previously mentioned, Oneiric Pool (235).
Adrift in Sleepwakefulness basically means to drift in-between being awake and asleep, similar to the feeling of jetlag, fatigue or being under anaesthetic.
"I can imagine, even though you were still under the influence of the anesthetic that there was still a lot of emotion?"
What's so funny?-Interviewer
The anesthetic, its weird stuff.-Buckethead
Coniunctio basically means a union of two opposite things, notably the state in which consciousness and unconscious work together in harmony.
And Oneiric basically means to be in a dream or a dreamlike state.
Of the 38 pike albums, using Buckethead words, these 3 albums best describe how he felt at that time.
So it’s highly likely that the album Buckethead recorded after his heart procedure is one of these 3.
And because Buckethead said he recorded it whilst lying in bed, the obvious choice is
Pike 272 Coniunctio.
The word ‘Coniunctio’ was prominently used by Swiss author and psychiatrist Carl Jung in the 1960’s. Or as Buckethead referred to him on the 1997 album ‘I need 5 minutes alone’ Carl Junghole. Peesez.
Coniunctio was released in August of 2017, a month and half before the coming alive podcast interview.
Made up of 1 unbroken track, there’s minimal use of pedals and effects, there’s no drum or backing track, and unlike the other 2 pikes, it’s not overly complex. Which makes it an album that by Buckethead’s standards, he could record at home, in bed, in one day, the day after a heart procedure.
So whilst my money is on Pike 272 Coniunctio, at the end of the day, its all speculation and it could well be ‘Santas Toy Workshop’.
Maybe one day we’ll find out for sure or it’ll remain another glorious Buckethead mystery. Woo!!