The first time you heard about the guy who plays guitar while wearing a Michael Meyers mask and an empty KFC bucket on his head, you probably thought someone was either pulling your leg or describing the time they dropped acid while watching a Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids Halloween special. But Brian Patrick Carroll aka Buckethead has proven to be the real deal, something many had already figured out over the course of a half dozen or so solo albums recorded before spending 2000 through 2004 with Axl Rose’s Guns ’N’ Roses. That high-profile gig found him playing on the legendarily delayed Chinese Democracy album as well as doing part of the subsequent support tour and appearing with GNR at Rock in Rio 3 and the MTV Video Music Awards.

Throughout his four years with Axl Rose’s rented troupe, Buckethead released studio albums under his pseudonym and recorded with his bands the Corn Bugs and Cobra Strike; he also worked on collaborative projects with Thanatopsis, Les Claypool, and Japanese producer Shin Terai. Now 48, Buckethead has released an insane amount of albums, sometimes dozens per year, lately including vinyl reissues of early material and a brand-new Halloween LP available only on wax. He’s touring with a live band that includes Godflesh bassist Dan Monti and Serj Tankian drummer Bryan Mantia, with his first concert album, Live from Bucketheadland, set to drop early next year