Buckethead & The Holy Grail Album.
Good evening everybody, in our previous videos we spoke about Bucketheads most significant album and his most infamous. In today’s video we’ll take an in-depth look at ‘The Holy Grail’ of Buckethead albums, ‘Giant Robot NTT’.
(Scapula)
In 1994 Buckethead released his second studio album ‘Giant Robot’ named after the Japanese Tv Show of the same name…but, this isn’t the album we’re talking about. We’re talking about the 1996 album ‘Giant Robot’. Which is a reworked and updated version of his 1991 Demo tape ‘Giant Robot’.
Yep, 3 albums by Buckethead with the same name. Ah, confusing.
(Well, Well, Well: “Soundtrack to a ride at Bucketheadland”-Buckethead)
(Jowls: “A tribute to the hitchhiker in Texas Chainsaw Massacre played by Ed Neal”-Buckethead)
To distinguish between the albums, most buckethead fans refer to the 1996 album as ‘Giant Robot NTT’. With the story being that NTT was a small Japanese record label that released the album.
However NTT records was a seemingly made up record label, named after a famous Japanese phone company. And the album was actually self-released by Buckethead. Probably.
But for the sake of mythology, NTT was a Japanese company owned by the Yakuza who Buckethead worked for as a hit man. Woo! 暗殺者
(Sally: “love song written for Sally from Texas Chainsaw Massacre”-Buckethead)
(Idle Hands: “They’re cut off, I had to sew them back on”-Buckethead)
Due to the fact that only a few hundred copies of the NTT album were made, and that the album will never be re-released due to its unauthorized use of movie samples, it’s now super rare and highly sought after by hardcore Buckethead collectors.
When the album does show up on auction sites it normally fetches in the region of $400. Because of its rarity the album is also one of the most faked of all Buckethead merchandise, so buyer beware.
(Hog Bitch Stomp: “Leatherface sledge song. Steel door slam. Its chrome”-Buckethead).
(The Void: “a nice song for graveyard people” –Buckethead)
The origins of the album date back to the aforementioned 1991 demo cassette, with all the songs from that cassette being re-recorded for the NTT release.
In 1996 to promote the album Buckethead formed the Giant Robot band, along with producer Pete Scatturo and ex-GNR and Primus drummer Bryan ‘Brain’ Mantia.
(Brain Interview)
Giant Robot was something we had going for years. Because of Bucket being into Giant Robot, I think he has like 5 or 6 huge 6 foot tall Giant Robot dolls.
We’d always talked about making that album. Bucket was like ‘let’s do a Giant Robot album. Because I have all these samples. And that’s that Giant Robot NTT album we did.
(Natternet- It’s great album)
Yeah, I do love that album.
(Natternet – Who’s Mrs Beasley?)
I don’t know, I actually don’t know.
(Natternet - It’s like some doll from the 1940’s or something?)
It could be, he never told me.
(Mrs Beasley: “I don’t know” –Buckethead)
(Chicken Boy: “bad memories of childhood, can’t remember everything, just sometimes, some things”-Buckethead).
Buckethead would later revive the giant robot band as giant robot 2 and again in 2004 as Buckethead’s Giant Robot band…and released a Giant Robot live cassette.
As I’ve mentioned in previous videos, the Giant Robot band performances are by far some of the best live shows that Buckethead has ever done. Ever!
(Scraps – “a tribute song to poor Franklin (Texas Chainsaw). He had been through a lot”-Buckethead)
On his website, In a handwritten break down of the album, Buckethead wrote that Giant Robot NTT “took many years of basement-Pull out, Attic-Pull out”.
He would further write the origins of each song, the majority of which have already been quoted throughout the video.
(Binge Buddies: is “a good soundtrack to martial arts movies such as Operation Scorpio, Fist of Legend and the Game of Death”).
(I Love My Parents: “This I wrote when I moved away to San Francisco. I never been away before. I was sad and missed them. It came out”).
Giant Robot NTT is not only the Holy Grail of Buckethead albums because of its rarity and mythology, it’s also because it’s pretty damn awesome. With classic songs such Scraps and Mrs Beasley and superior versions of the songs Jowls, Scapula and I Love My Parents. Giant Robot NTT rightfully deserves its title as the Holy Grail of Buckethead albums, and one of his very best.
So, if you haven’t heard it yet, what are you waiting for?