Buckethead, aka virtuoso guitarist Brian Carroll, revealed in a rare out-of-character interview that he's battling a serious heart condition. Buckethead has released more than 300 albums and has collaborated with a wide range of artists including Iggy Pop, Mike Patton and was a member of Guns N' Roses between 2000-2004.

In response to a question about "the hardest thing you've ever gone through," Carroll detailed some of his recent health concerns: "Well really recently, my heart?I have a heart problem where my heart beats out of rhythm. It's been doing it for a long time, but recently it just really kicked up into a really intense... I really didn't know what was going on, I just tried to deal with it, and let it do what it did, and then eventually it would stop, but it got really intense so I went to the doctor and they said, 'Oh, you're on the verge of having a stroke.' I'm like, 'Ohh.' Because I felt so good prior to having it, I was doing pretty well and everything."




"They suggested I had a thing called an ablation, they go in and freeze your heart. It's supposed to do something with the nerves, because they said my heart was fine, but it could be a genetic thing, they didn't really know. I had that procedure, and it didn't really stop it, and I'm still dealing with it," he added.

"I take medication, which is tough, because I never took anything my whole life, although if I eat food or drink something that's probably worse anyway (laughs). So it's been really difficult, because it's scary because it comes on. Even walking across a room is difficult, luckily the medication I'm thankful for, because it's kept it from going berserk, but it's pretty intense."

"I could be gone tomorrow," he concluded. "Anybody could be gone, but that's a heavy experience. I want to play right now, and I want to play that experience."

Source:	thetoolsbook.com
Band profile:	Buckethead