“He’d call me at four in the morning and leave a 15-minute guitar solo on my voicemail”: Serj Tankian on his collaborations with the enigmatic Buckethead – and the time they played a high school battle of the bands together

Few guitarists in history have proven to be as authentically enigmatic as Buckethead. The bucket-wearing, genre-spanning guitar virtuoso has collaborated with everyone from Iggy Pop to Les Claypool, not to mention his short stint in Guns N' Roses. His 2005 release, the acclaimed Enter the Chicken, was in fact the product of a fruitful collaboration between him and System of a Down's Serj Tankian. 

In his new 10-hour audiobook, System of a Down's Serj Tankian reveals the story behind this album, and how he ended up performing at a high school battle of the bands with Buckethead.

“I'd met him through Bill Laswell, an avant-garde bassist and producer back when Buckethead was playing guitar for Guns and Roses," Tankian recalls. 

“We sent each other music or books we'd like. We'd hang out sometimes, we talked about music. One day, Bucket called me and told me he needed money.”

Tankian promptly told him he was more than happy to give him some money. However, Buckethead had other plans. “He said, ‘Let me make a record for you.’”

Around that same time, Tankian had built an 800-square foot studio right next to his house. Curious about Buckethead's vision for his new album, Tankian brought in different artists to work with him, including Saul Williams, Bad Acid Trip, Deli Creep's Maximum Bob.

“I wrote a couple of songs with Bucket, played and sang on them, and co-produced the whole album,” he says. Tankian also released the album through his label, Serjical Strike. 

"Working with Buckethead was, to put it simply, quite an experience. It's not like when he takes the KFC bucket off his head and puts away his mask, he's just a regular guy. A regular guy he is most definitely not.

“Sometimes he would call me at four in the morning and leave a 15-minute guitar solo on my voicemail. He was eccentric and acutely sensitive, but such a singular creative spirit.”

Tankian's Buckethead experience also included a taxidermy-inspired music video, which perfectly sums up the left-field ethos of Enter The Chicken. “In We Are One [a single from the album] Bucket plays a taxidermist who picks up a bunch of roadkill and then Frankensteins their parts together into some sort of monstrous super animal.”

His artistic camaraderie with Buckethead didn't stop there, however. “He called and asked me to play a show with him at his old high school,” says Tankian. “If I remember correctly, and I may not, the event was a battle of the bands.”

Buckethead plays at his former High School (with Serj Tankian) - YouTube

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Together with Primus drummer Bryan “Brain” Mantia, Tankian made a surprise appearance at the event. To the students' delight, Buckethead, Tankian, Mantia, and Buckethead bassist Anthony “Butthouse” Chaba even gave their own rendition of Enter the Dragon's theme song.

“We set up in the school gym and just jammed out with me making up the vocals as I went along,” remembers Tankian.

“Pure stream of consciousness. The kids at this school went nuts! After doing things in such a regimented way for years with System, this looser approach to everything was incredibly refreshing.”