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Why did Buckethead leave?


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GN'R press release:

A Message from W. Axl Rose

LISBON, Portugal--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 30, 2004--Guns N' Roses will not be performing as scheduled at Rock In Rio - Lisbon.

The band has been put in an untenable position by guitarist Buckethead and his untimely departure. During his tenure with the band Buckethead has been inconsistent and erratic in both his behavior and commitment - despite being under contract - creating uncertainty and confusion and making it virtually impossible to move forward with recording, rehearsals and live plans with confidence. His transient lifestyle has made it impossible for even his closest friends to have nearly any form of communication with him whatsoever. Last time I talked to Bucket, he called to tell me he had bought a bootleg DVD off EBay and how proud he was to be in Guns and how impressed he was with everyone's performance. Then, in February we got word from Brain that Bucket had called him and said he was back in Guns!? Apparently, according to Bucket he had been "Gone" but had turned himself around and was really excited to do Rio-Lisbon and a European tour. Somewhere in the following month things changed once again. According to those who have actually spoken with Buckethead it appears his plans were to secure a recording contract with Sanctuary Records which I encouraged my management to make available to him, quit GN'R and to use his involvement in the upcoming Guns release to immediately promote his individual efforts...Nice guy!

There is not a member of this camp that is not hurt, upset and ultimately disappointed by this event, and more to the point - if not this individual, certainly this individual's choices. Regardless of anyone's opinions of me and what I may or may not deserve, clearly the fans, individuals in this band, management, crew and our support group do not deserve this type of treatment. We as a whole, definitely feel that we afforded Bucket every accommodation perhaps so much so that it may be that we or more precisely, I may have done Guns a disservice and unintentionally allowed Guns to be put in this position.

On behalf of Guns N' Roses and myself I apologize to the fans who planned to see us at Rock In Rio - Lisbon. The festival and its tradition mean a lot to me personally and I sincerely do not enjoy being robbed by one of our own of the opportunity to be the first artist to play it for the third time. I would also like to express my gratitude to those who chose to embrace Buckethead's role in Guns and support our new line up. We greatly appreciate Bucket's contributions and remain open to "discussions" as there are obviously several issues to resolve. In the meantime rather than dwelling on the negative, Guns will be moving forward and surprisingly (without giving away any details) this unfortunate set of circumstances may have given us the opportunity to take our recording that one extra step further. Regardless we hope to announce a release date within the next few months.

Sincerely,

W. Axl Rose

The Festival will shortly announce the name of a new headliner to perform with EVANESCENCE, KINGS OF LEON and XUTOS E PONTAPES amongst others

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/articles/showarticle.php?articleid=104

Stuff via. Bucket's camp:

Guitarist Buckethead has officially left GUNS N' ROSES. According to MTV.com, Buckethead became fed up with GUNS' inability to complete an album or tour and stopped working the group late last year, his manager said.

Although Buckethead appeared on the green carpet at the Grammy Awards last month and was introduced by PARLIAMENT/FUNKADELIC bassist Bootsy Collins as a member of GUNS N' ROSES, he had already told GUNS frontman Axl Rose he no longer wanted to be in the band, the manager told MTV.com.

The guitarist will now focus on numerous projects, including two solo albums — "Population Overdrive" and "Cuckoo Clocks of Hell" — which are due this summer.

GUNS N' ROSES are scheduled to headline the Rock in Rio festival in Lisbon, Portugal, on May 30. It is unclear whether the band will have a new guitarist by then. GUNS N' ROSES' label would not comment on Buckethead's departure, according to MTV.com.

http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=7987

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GN'R press release:

A Message from W. Axl Rose

LISBON, Portugal--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 30, 2004--Guns N' Roses will not be performing as scheduled at Rock In Rio - Lisbon.

The band has been put in an untenable position by guitarist Buckethead and his untimely departure. During his tenure with the band Buckethead has been inconsistent and erratic in both his behavior and commitment - despite being under contract - creating uncertainty and confusion and making it virtually impossible to move forward with recording, rehearsals and live plans with confidence. His transient lifestyle has made it impossible for even his closest friends to have nearly any form of communication with him whatsoever. Last time I talked to Bucket, he called to tell me he had bought a bootleg DVD off EBay and how proud he was to be in Guns and how impressed he was with everyone's performance. Then, in February we got word from Brain that Bucket had called him and said he was back in Guns!? Apparently, according to Bucket he had been "Gone" but had turned himself around and was really excited to do Rio-Lisbon and a European tour. Somewhere in the following month things changed once again. According to those who have actually spoken with Buckethead it appears his plans were to secure a recording contract with Sanctuary Records which I encouraged my management to make available to him, quit GN'R and to use his involvement in the upcoming Guns release to immediately promote his individual efforts...Nice guy!

There is not a member of this camp that is not hurt, upset and ultimately disappointed by this event, and more to the point - if not this individual, certainly this individual's choices. Regardless of anyone's opinions of me and what I may or may not deserve, clearly the fans, individuals in this band, management, crew and our support group do not deserve this type of treatment. We as a whole, definitely feel that we afforded Bucket every accommodation perhaps so much so that it may be that we or more precisely, I may have done Guns a disservice and unintentionally allowed Guns to be put in this position.

On behalf of Guns N' Roses and myself I apologize to the fans who planned to see us at Rock In Rio - Lisbon. The festival and its tradition mean a lot to me personally and I sincerely do not enjoy being robbed by one of our own of the opportunity to be the first artist to play it for the third time. I would also like to express my gratitude to those who chose to embrace Buckethead's role in Guns and support our new line up. We greatly appreciate Bucket's contributions and remain open to "discussions" as there are obviously several issues to resolve. In the meantime rather than dwelling on the negative, Guns will be moving forward and surprisingly (without giving away any details) this unfortunate set of circumstances may have given us the opportunity to take our recording that one extra step further. Regardless we hope to announce a release date within the next few months.

Sincerely,

W. Axl Rose

The Festival will shortly announce the name of a new headliner to perform with EVANESCENCE, KINGS OF LEON and XUTOS E PONTAPES amongst others

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/articles/showarticle.php?articleid=104

Stuff via. Bucket's camp:

Guitarist Buckethead has officially left GUNS N' ROSES. According to MTV.com, Buckethead became fed up with GUNS' inability to complete an album or tour and stopped working the group late last year, his manager said.

Although Buckethead appeared on the green carpet at the Grammy Awards last month and was introduced by PARLIAMENT/FUNKADELIC bassist Bootsy Collins as a member of GUNS N' ROSES, he had already told GUNS frontman Axl Rose he no longer wanted to be in the band, the manager told MTV.com.

The guitarist will now focus on numerous projects, including two solo albums — "Population Overdrive" and "Cuckoo Clocks of Hell" — which are due this summer.

GUNS N' ROSES are scheduled to headline the Rock in Rio festival in Lisbon, Portugal, on May 30. It is unclear whether the band will have a new guitarist by then. GUNS N' ROSES' label would not comment on Buckethead's departure, according to MTV.com.

http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=7987

Meh :shrugs: despite the occasional rabid buckethead guitar geek protesting his genius he's destined to be a footnote in GNR history.

Edited by spunko12345
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I really did fully embrace his role in the band and anyone I showed clips to of him playing (especially Nightrain) was instantly converted. We were told that if Slash was Jesus that Bucket was the second coming and he had enough chops and charisma and creativity that I just damn well believed it. If the album would of dropped in 2002 and the tour would of kept going I could totally envision the press really coming along for the ride. Is a Rolling Stone cover story about Guns version 2.0 with Axl and Bucket on the cover really that far out of the question? If you thought it was a stupid gimmick that was fine but the playing was undeniable, and I think he may of been more of an inspiration to Axl then Finck ever was. Think of all the people who have slighted Axl in the past, what does he do to them? There ALWAYS totally shunned, in Bucket's case he left them right before a tour, with an album that wasn't done, still under contract, and maybe was only leveraging to get a new record deal. It's really about as much of a betrayal as you can get in that industry. Yet Axl states in that letter and has said in the last few years that he would STILL be open to having Buckethead back. I love everything old guns put out, and I would have no problem saying Slash is a huge part to thank for that. But with him it's like ok 4 albums worth isn't as much as I would of liked but its enough to hold me over. With Bucket it's like this never ending question of what more could of come.

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Duff didn't just give up. It was not as simple as that. He couldn't take it anymore. He was sick and tired of anything related to GnR. He needed a change in his life. Read the official biography. It's all there.

Yeah, he was clearly getting tired of the late starts, in-fighting and pissed off fans...but it was his change in lifestyle and something as simple as Axl's being a night person that did him in. The band wasn't doing anything, they weren't recording, and he didn't want to hang around the studio all hours of the night until/if Axl showed up. Just seems like he had other things in his life to focus on and GNR was too dramatic and difficult for him.

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Duff didn't just give up. It was not as simple as that. He couldn't take it anymore. He was sick and tired of anything related to GnR. He needed a change in his life. Read the official biography. It's all there.

Duff's auto gave me the impression that Axl had very little to do with Duff's decision to leave, which I kinda question. Maybe the feelings now are different than they were then.

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Duff didn't just give up. It was not as simple as that. He couldn't take it anymore. He was sick and tired of anything related to GnR. He needed a change in his life. Read the official biography. It's all there.

Yeah, he was clearly getting tired of the late starts, in-fighting and pissed off fans...but it was his change in lifestyle and something as simple as Axl's being a night person that did him in. The band wasn't doing anything, they weren't recording, and he didn't want to hang around the studio all hours of the night until/if Axl showed up. Just seems like he had other things in his life to focus on and GNR was too dramatic and difficult for him.

This

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Bucket left because he is self-serving.

He has a good career as a solo musician (not playing big arenas like he did with GNR, but still, he does OK) and he didn't find it fulfilling to play other peoples' music. I mean, I fully understand that as a classic act Axl has to go out there and give the fans the hits they want, but I'm sure when Bucket joined he had other ideas of what the gig would be like than playing 15 old songs and three new ones, none of which he had a hand in writing, every night. I was disappointed when he left, but I don't feel like he really fit into a mainstream hard rock band in the first place and you have to admire him choosing his own path rather than taking the easy paycheck.

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There seems to be a pattern here. People wanting to progress the Recording process for new music and them leaving.

Now which current members have been talking about trying to get new songs and working on a new album? Odds are that they will be the first ones to go....

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This story would probably be completely different if Axl had dropped the GNR name. That band with Bucket and Finck was totally insane and with a different name they wouldn't have had to drag the ghost of Slash around with them.

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Meh :shrugs: despite the occasional rabid buckethead guitar geek protesting his genius he's destined to be a footnote in GNR history.

he is the best aspect of gnr history.

considering what axl and slash have become, he is the only one i really have positive feelings towards.

and bucket > slash in general.

to answer the OP, too cool for school, essentially.

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'During his tenure with the band Buckethead has been inconsistent and erratic in both his behavior and commitment - despite being under contract..'

I can't blame Bucket really. Reading those words made me feel a bit sick. (via contract) Axl wanted control over Bucket, and I doubt Bucket ever wanted to be in such a situation. To some degree it possibly dented his imagination. Since his departure, he has creating some wonderful music.

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