Olorin wrote:

Bumblefoot should be saying this shit to Axl in a one on one conversation, not shouting it across the internet, and if he doesnt get the answers he's looking for then its time to make a decision and stick by it, stay or go.

The only was I could see Bucket returning to a work environment where he was miserable, unpopular, bullied and stifled is if he was offered a humungous six figure sum upfront.
Even then, would all the money in the world be enough for Buckethead to join a band where DJ Ashba has most of the leads? It was bad enough watching Bucket standing filing his nails while Robin got all the best parts to play.

Honestly I think the biggest problem would be Stinson. IIRC Stinson gave Bucket a hard time when he was in the band, and I get the feeling that if Bucket returned, Stinson would have to go. That would create a serious problem, since although there's a perception that any mug could play the bass ("Just ask Duff back!"), Stinson is the guy who organises all the ground-level band stuff like rehearsals.

Frank would probably get the boot too, in favour of Brain (didn't Bucket make it a requirement of his initial hiring that Brain came on board?). So with Bumble, Frank and Stinson out, that would mean a fundamental reconfiguring of the band. Honestly, with all those comings and goings, I wouldn't be surprised if Fortus threw in the towel at that point.

So yes, it's massively unlikely that Bucket would return. Ironically, the one person who I suspect wouldn't cause any problems is Ashba; he and Bucket have mutual interests (horror films and spooky stuff!), they both seem to connect with Axl on a personal level, and what with Ashba being part of an anti-bullying charity I doubt he'd have time for the shenanigans that allegedly drove Bucket out of the band in the first place.

And half of Ashba's Chinese Democracy live solos are Buckethead ones anyway (Sorry, If The World); between the Bumblefoot shred stuff that Bucket would naturally take on, and the Chinese Democracy solos that he originally recorded, I don't think he'd be standing around as much as in 2002.

Downloaded the video bro. Very cool production on both this and the album itself. Hope everything is going alright with Bandcamp and Soundcloud. Definitely agree on your points. I do love artists like NIN that do the free album or music thing every once in awhile. Think it's amazing and shows love for their fans despite not working well for an indie label. I adore Spotify for the most part and interesting to hear a brief analysis on why it doesn't fully pay off for the music industry. For the music I make, I want to add art or something else to it to display progress or illustrate a song so to speak.

I guess I'll post my own tunes as well to promote myself: http://mewisemagic.bandcamp.com/
                                                                                           http://mewisemagic.bandcamp.com/album/oh-boy-3am