Former Guns N’ Roses guitarist DJ Ashba says Buckethead didn’t fit the band: “That took the coolness out of the band”

Guitarist DJ Ashba joined the legendary Guns N’ Roses in 2009, succeeding Robin Finck. In a recent interview with Antihero Magazine, Ashba says he wanted to bring the same rock and roll energy to the band as in Slash’s day.

In the interview, DJ Ashba describes how the eccentric Buckethead, who played in the band from 2000 to 2004, did not represent that rock and roll energy and, for all his weirdness, did not fit the band’s image.

“I didn’t know what to expect. I was hoping that one day Slash would come back, and the reason I took the gig is that, honestly, I was — no disrespect to Buckethead or anybody — but seeing a guy run around with a chicken bucket on his head, it’s, like, to me, that took the coolness out of the band that I grew up loving, and that’s one of the main reasons I wanted to get in there and try to do whatever I could do to get justice, bring back that reckless rock and roll vibe of what Slash was all about and GNR’ was all about. To me, it was in a sense losing that thing that I loved about the band. And I love Buckethead as a guitarist. No disrespect at all — it’s just, in my opinion, he didn’t really fit the band.”

Guns N’ Roses will release a new EP “Hard Skool” on 25th of February.