CKY (band)
Encyclopedia
CKY is an American alternative metal
band that formed in West Chester
, Pennsylvania
in 1998. Centred around core members Deron Miller
(vocals, guitar), Chad I Ginsburg
(guitar, vocals) and Jess Margera
(drums), the band shares its name with a skateboarding and stunt video series
produced by Bam Margera
, brother of drummer Jess. CKY is closely linked with the crew of the same name, and their music is often featured on the crew's productions including the Jackass
and Viva La Bam
television series.
The band was originally formed as Camp Kill Yourself with live bassist Ryan Bruni. He was replaced by Vernon Zaborowski in 2000, who was later fired from the band in 2004. Matt Deis
joined in 2005 as the first full-time bassist of the band, but left in May 2010 and was replaced by Matt "Matty J" Janaitis, previously a live keyboardist with the group. CKY has released four studio album
s.
in their hometown of West Chester, Pennsylvania. The two became friends and began performing music together soon after, forming experimental metal
band Foreign Objects
in 1994 and releasing EP The Undiscovered Numbers & Colors
the following year. Miller and Margera later changed their approach to making music and formed new "radio-friendly" band Oil (stylised oiL) in 1996, with live bassist Andy Smith, and released their debut EP Lifeline in the summer. Ryan Bruni, who Miller and Margera met working at UPS
, later replaced Smith, and remained with the band (as CKY) until 2000.
Oil recorded new material in January 1997, which was released as a self-titled EP later in the year, and began recording their first full-length album at Holland, Pennsylvania studio The Groundhog in November. During these sessions, Miller and Margera met Chad I Ginsburg
, a record producer
and audio engineer
working in Pennsylvania at the time, who they asked to join as a full-time member of the band; impressed by the duo's song "Disengage the Simulator", Ginsburg agreed to join as a guitarist. The band refer to the addition of Ginsburg as "the true beginning of CKY." In 1998, the band dropped the name Oil and replaced it with Camp Kill Yourself, proposed by Miller as "the new band name, the new direction, [and] the new movement," thus dropping their "mainstream ... pop appeal" approach.
on the same day. In 1999 the band joined the Warped Tour
, an extreme sports and music festival in North America, but were kicked off near the end of the tour for joining in with a fan protest. Later in 1999, CKY was signed to record label Volcom Entertainment
, based in California. Volcom reissued Volume 1 in December, printing 1,000 copies of the album still credited to Camp Kill Yourself, which were later sold on the following year's Warped Tour.
Bruni was fired from the band in February 2000, after four years with Miller and Margera, due to his general abilities and performance on the Warped Tour, with Ginsburg taking over live bass duties until later on in the year. Bruni's tenure with the band had been questionable throughout, with the band choosing not to tell him they were recording an album until near the end of the process (resulting to his contributions to "Lost in a Contraption" and "The Human Drive in Hi-Fi"). Responding to a question from a fan in 2002, Ginsburg described Bruni, simply, as "boring". Attempting to justify Bruni's exclusion from the recording of Volume 1, Miller suggests that "he wasn't quite good enough yet [to perform on the album] and he did not have enough money to contribute to the cost of recording." Miller made it clear that there was no "bad blood" between the two, although Ginsburg has said that Bruni "sucked and wasn't rock", also labelling him an embarrassment.
Following their original reissue of Volume 1 in December 1999, Volcom requested the band change their name and album cover, which they deemed to be too offensive. For a 2,000-copy April 1, 2000 reissue of the album, the band was credited as Camp and the album titled CKY, with a photo of Ginsburg performing on the previous year's Warped Tour used as the album cover (changed from the original cover depicting politician Budd Dwyer famously committing suicide). Just one month later, however, at the band's request, Volcom reissued another 4,000 copies of the album with the band name as CKY and the album title as Camp. CKY recruited Vernon Zaborowski as a permanent replacement for live bassist Ryan Bruni in June 2000, in preparation for that year's Warped Tour, and the following month Disengage the Simulator
was released as the band's first EP, to be sold on that tour. With the band's popularity increasing due to exposure on MTV
and through episodes of Jackass
, Volcom released another 20,000 copies of the band's debut album, under the title Camp Volume 1, in October.
for a worldwide distribution deal with Island Records
, labelling Volcom as a "small, unorganized franchise with poor distribution". Soon after the deal was finalised, Island released a "re-mastered and enhanced" version of Volume 1, on June 26, 2001. Four editions, with different coloured printings of the album cover (featuring Ginsburg), were printed and issued – 5,000 copies each in blue, orange and purple, and unlimited copies in red, thus making it the largest release by the band to-date. When CKY had finished touring, they began writing new material for the first time since 1998, for a second full-length studio album; recording started in November 2001 and the album was completed by January the next year. Whilst preparing the new album for release, Island made Volume 1 available worldwide for the first time in June 2002, distributed through Mercury Records
.
On September 24, 2002, over three years after the release of Volume 1, CKY's second studio album Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild
was released in North America. An enhanced CD
album containing music video
s for "Attached at the Hip" and "Flesh Into Gear", the original September pressing of the album was faulty and the enhanced portions of the disc did not work. Shortly after this faulty first pressing, Island fixed the problems and reissued Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild in North America, although did not apparently recall the defective copies of the album. IDR gave the band its first experience of chart success, when it reached number 99 on the Billboard 200
albums chart; promotional single "Flesh Into Gear" also charted at number 38 on Billboard' s Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The band continued with a promotional tour which began before the release of the album and finished in December.
The day after the release of CKY's second album, legendary hard rock
band Guns N' Roses
(which by now included vocalist Axl Rose
as the sole original member) announced that they would be embarking on their first tour in almost nine years, beginning in November of that year. Three days before the tour was due to begin with a show in Vancouver, Canada, CKY received the news that Rose had chosen them to appear as a support act, from a shortlist of approximately ten bands. Speaking about receiving the news on such short notice, drummer Margera said the following:
However, due to apparent "mechanical troubles" delaying Rose's arrival in Vancouver from Los Angeles, the first show of the tour was cancelled 20 minutes before it was due to begin with CKY's performance, with the band onstage setting up when the cancellation was announced and was followed by riots. Most of the rest of the North American tour continued as planned, until it was cancelled almost a month prematurely before a show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (thus making it CKY's 'hometown gig'), which also ended in riots.
Following the 2002 tours, CKY began 2003 by performing on the Out on the Noose Again Tour, which continued until March when Ginsburg broke his tailbone and thus postponed the tour until May. Two-song 7" vinyl
EP Hellview was released on March 18, featuring "96 Quite Bitter Beings
" (from Volume 1) and "Escape from Hellview" (from Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild). On May 18, the band supported heavy metal
veterans Metallica
at the first of a series of four shows at The Fillmore
in San Francisco, California, following a personal phone call to Miller (who considers Metallica "iconic") by the band's lead vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield
shortly after the Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy Tour. The Out on the Noose Again Tour continued until July, when the band took time out and prepared for an upcoming show at Electric Factory
, Philadelphia on October 31 (Halloween
) dubbed "Live from Hellview" which was to be recorded for a proposed DVD release. In November a full-length video album titled Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild: The Video Album was released, featuring music videos for all ten tracks from the album and two Volume 1 tracks, as well as behind-the-scenes
videos for all music videos; and beginning in December, ending in March 2004, CKY completed their first tour of Western Europe. During the recording of the video for opening song "Escape from Hellview", guitarist Ginsburg was almost killed while pretending to be hung from a tree in reference to a line in the song. Speaking about the incident, Ginsburg explained that he "hung there for close to a minute" and "passed out 10 seconds in", assuring however that he "never came that close to dying".
, which Ginsburg labelled an "instant classic", was released on June 28, 2005, debuted at number 35 on the Billboard 200, and at the same time it was revealed that Matt Deis
was to become the band's first full-time bassist, beginning in July. "Familiar Realm", the lead single
from An Answer Can Be Found released on May 25, surpassed "Flesh Into Gear" by charting at number 32 on the Mainstream Rock singles chart. Throughout the remainder of 2005 and into 2006, the new-look CKY toured extensively in promotion of their music, headlining the Rock Adio
Tour between August and September of the former year.
In 2006, however, "things finally came to a head between CKY and Island Records", with the contract ending by mutual consent and the band issuing the following derogatory statement:
With the majority of the remainder of the year spent touring, it was announced on December 7, 2006 that the band had signed a worldwide distribution deal with major record label Roadrunner Records
, with Miller calling the label "one of [his] all-time favorite[s]" and Margera proclaiming that "It's seriously an honor to be working with such a legendary rock/metal label like Roadrunner".
In March MTV
reported that the band were "almost done" with the album, revealing that it would contain a song entitled "The Boardwalk Body", which Margera revealed was written by Miller about a childhood trip on which he discovered a dead body. The update, which also named "Hellions on Parade", also came with the news that Margera had formed his own "cool as hell" supergroup
with Fireball Ministry
guitarist Jim Rota and Clutch
vocalist Neil Fallon
, which eventually became The Company Band
. In July 2007 it was revealed that CKY would be performing on the newly-formed Viva la Bands Tour founded by Jess's brother Bam Margera
taking place from September to November, after their inclusion on the albums Viva la Bands
(2005) and Viva la Bands, Volume 2
(2007).
Despite MTV previously reporting that the album was nearly completed, CKY issued the first update on the recording process in August. In the update, the band wrote the following:
However, following this news, rumors began to surface that the band had, or were due to, split up. In October MTV reported that "there's trouble in the world of CKY", alleging that "a physical altercation recently broke out between various members of the group", quoting Ginsburg as saying that Miller "has quit CKY to pursue his own band" and that he and Margera would continue as CKY. Miller was also quoted as explaining that after hearing them "talk smack" about him, "he confronted the rest of the band, after which a fight broke out", threatening legal action should any of the songs written for the band's album appear without his consent. Following this incident, the band went on a short hiatus, focusing on side-projects and personal lives for almost a year.
In October 2008 the silence was finally broken, as Miller reported that the band were back together and were "98% done tracking the new CKY record". It was also revealed on the band's MySpace
page that two shows were scheduled for 2008, on October 30 and 31 in West Chester dubbed "Hellview III". Recording ended in November of that year. On January 29, 2009 it was finally revealed that CKY's fourth studio album would be called Carver City
and be released on May 19 Further song titles revealed were "Karmaworks" and "Woe Is Me", and Miller praised "the undying hardcore support of our fans, our unorthodox musical approach and a brand new partnership with Roadrunner Records" for "keeping CKY strong". Described as "more inventive ... more layered ... [and] the most inspired album [by the band]" by Ginsburg, Miller revealed that Carver City contains a "dark summer vacation vibe" and explained the album's title thus:
In March the album's cover artwork was revealed; in April it was revealed that "Hellions on Parade" would be the lead single
from Carver City and that a music video
directed by Bam Margera (for what was eventually revealed to be "A#1 Roller Rager") was to be recorded on April 20 with fan involvement; and on May 19 the album was released in North America. On July 3 Carver City was released as an LP album
, following a petition started by members of the CKY Alliance, the band's official fanbase. Following the release of their fourth album, CKY toured North America and Europe extensively.
profile that he was to be "recording new CKY with Deron [Miller]" that day, and on the following day noted that he was "Still recording with Deron". On May 5, Margera revealed on the band's official website that "we are going to finish recording the stuff we have been working on next week", while Miller explained that "anything we release musically will be done by ourselves", rather than being released through a record label, despite the band's continuing association with Roadrunner. On May 5 it was also revealed that the band will perform at the Sonisphere Festival
in Knebworth
, England
held between July 30 and August 1, which frontman Miller described as "bound to be the biggest highlight of cKy’s summer touring schedule by far." On May 16, Ginsburg posted another update on his Twitter profile, stating that he was "Still in the studio. Gettin a lot done too. New n old stuff", also revealing that he "sang lead [vocals] on a new [song] too". At the end of May it was revealed that Matt Deis had left the band, after many rumors and hints by the band toward the outcome, with Miller explaining that he "can no longer commit to CKY ... [which] we all knew was going to happen months ago".
On August 1, 2010, the band returned to the United Kingdom to make an appearance at Sonisphere Festival
, appearing alongside such artists as Iggy Pop
, Iron Maiden
and Alice Cooper
, playing in front of 60,000 people on the main stage. This was followed by a tour of Australia and New Zealand. On September 1 it was revealed that a new song titled "Afterworld
" will be featured on the upcoming movie Jackass 3D
, to be played during the credits of the film. It is the first material released since 2009's Carver City and the band's first song to feature someone other than Deron Miller on lead vocals (in this case Chad I Ginsburg) and new bassist Matty J. The band are also due to record a music video for the song in the first week of October, after which it will be made available for download on iTunes
. The "Afterworld" single was released on September 29 backed with an acoustic version of the Carver City track "The Era of an End".
In March 2011 the band released B-Sides & Rarities
, a collection of previously unreleased, out-of-print and alternative version songs, supported by the single release of "Afterworld". It is currently unclear as to the band's future intentions: Miller has proposed that the band produce four solo albums, one by each member, and then release them as a four-disc CKY package, although Ginsburg has displayed opposition to this idea and would prefer to record a fifth CKY record.
After spending much of 2011 to take a break due to turmoil within the band and to focus on other projects, CKY were announced to be playing the Soundwave Festival
in Australia scheduled for early 2012. Only one show in the USA has been announced for the last half of 2011, with the band stating the is the last show within the Untied States for quite some time, fans are unsure if the band is still to continue after the scheduled 2012 dates.
Former members
Live members
Former live members
Timeline
Other albums
Alternative metal
Alternative metal is a genre of alternative rock and heavy metal that gained popularity in the early 1990s. Most notably, alternative metal bands are characterized by heavy guitar riffs and experimental approaches to heavy music.-Origins:...
band that formed in West Chester
West Chester, Pennsylvania
The Borough of West Chester is the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,461 at the 2010 census.Valley Forge, the Brandywine Battlefield, Longwood Gardens, Marsh Creek State Park, and other historical attractions are near West Chester...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
in 1998. Centred around core members Deron Miller
Deron Miller
Deron John Miller is the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for World Under Blood and CKY , which has been through various incarnations since being founded in 1998. CKY's most recent release was 2009's Carver City....
(vocals, guitar), Chad I Ginsburg
Chad I Ginsburg
Chad I. Ginsburg is an American musician and music producer, best known for playing guitar in the alternative rock band CKY.Ginsburg moved to Bucks County, PA when he was 8...
(guitar, vocals) and Jess Margera
Jess Margera
Jesse Phillip Margera is the drummer in the band CKY, its predecessor Oil and Foreign Objects, Viking Skull, and The Company Band.-Life and career:...
(drums), the band shares its name with a skateboarding and stunt video series
CKY (video series)
The CKY video series is a series of videos produced by Bam Margera and Brandon DiCamillo and other residents of West Chester, Pennsylvania. Four videos have been released to date, Landspeed presents: CKY , CKY2K, CKY 3, and CKY4: The Latest & Greatest...
produced by Bam Margera
Bam Margera
Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera is an American professional skateboarder, television and radio personality, actor and daredevil. He released a series of videos under the CKY banner and came to prominence after being drafted into MTV's Jackass crew...
, brother of drummer Jess. CKY is closely linked with the crew of the same name, and their music is often featured on the crew's productions including the Jackass
Jackass (TV series)
jackass is an American reality series, originally shown on MTV from 2000 to 2002, featuring people performing various dangerous, crude, ridiculous, self-injuring stunts and pranks...
and Viva La Bam
Viva La Bam
Viva La Bam is an American reality television series that stars Bam Margera and his friends and family. The show was a spin-off from MTV's Jackass, in which Margera and most of the main cast had appeared...
television series.
The band was originally formed as Camp Kill Yourself with live bassist Ryan Bruni. He was replaced by Vernon Zaborowski in 2000, who was later fired from the band in 2004. Matt Deis
Matt Deis
Matthew Christopher "Matt" Deis is an American musician and songwriter. Originally from Peterborough, New Hampshire, he is best known as the former bassist of CKY with whom he performed with between 2005 and 2010, and metalcore band All That Remains, with whom he performed between 2003 and...
joined in 2005 as the first full-time bassist of the band, but left in May 2010 and was replaced by Matt "Matty J" Janaitis, previously a live keyboardist with the group. CKY has released four studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
s.
Formation and early years (1992–1998)
The foundations of CKY can be traced back to 1992, when vocalist/guitarist Deron Miller and drummer Jess Margera met at East High SchoolWest Chester East High School
West Chester East High School is a public four-year high school located in West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA....
in their hometown of West Chester, Pennsylvania. The two became friends and began performing music together soon after, forming experimental metal
Experimental rock
Experimental rock or avant-garde rock is a type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the genre, or which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique....
band Foreign Objects
Foreign Objects (band)
Foreign Objects was an American experimental metal band that formed in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1994 and was active until 1996. Its members were Deron Miller and Jess Margera, best known as current members of the band CKY...
in 1994 and releasing EP The Undiscovered Numbers & Colors
The Undiscovered Numbers & Colors
-Personnel:Foreign Objects*Deron Miller – vocals, guitars, bass, synthesizers, production, mixing*Jess Margera – drums, backing vocals, production, mixing, graphic design, layoutAdditional personnel...
the following year. Miller and Margera later changed their approach to making music and formed new "radio-friendly" band Oil (stylised oiL) in 1996, with live bassist Andy Smith, and released their debut EP Lifeline in the summer. Ryan Bruni, who Miller and Margera met working at UPS
United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service, Inc. , typically referred to by the acronym UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the...
, later replaced Smith, and remained with the band (as CKY) until 2000.
Oil recorded new material in January 1997, which was released as a self-titled EP later in the year, and began recording their first full-length album at Holland, Pennsylvania studio The Groundhog in November. During these sessions, Miller and Margera met Chad I Ginsburg
Chad I Ginsburg
Chad I. Ginsburg is an American musician and music producer, best known for playing guitar in the alternative rock band CKY.Ginsburg moved to Bucks County, PA when he was 8...
, a record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and audio engineer
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
working in Pennsylvania at the time, who they asked to join as a full-time member of the band; impressed by the duo's song "Disengage the Simulator", Ginsburg agreed to join as a guitarist. The band refer to the addition of Ginsburg as "the true beginning of CKY." In 1998, the band dropped the name Oil and replaced it with Camp Kill Yourself, proposed by Miller as "the new band name, the new direction, [and] the new movement," thus dropping their "mainstream ... pop appeal" approach.
Debut album and initial recognition (1998–2000)
The band completed recording their debut album in February 1998, and released the finished product as Volume 1 (still under the name Camp Kill Yourself) on February 27, 1999 through Teil Martin International/Distant Recordings (limited to 2,500 copies), in addition to "unofficial compilation" Volume 2Volume 2 (CKY album)
Volume 2 is a soundtrack album by American alternative metal band CKY featuring songs and skits from the 1999 skateboarding/stunt video Landspeed Presents: CKY. Released on February 27, 1999 in conjunction with the band's debut studio album Volume 1, the album has subsequently been reissued a...
on the same day. In 1999 the band joined the Warped Tour
Warped Tour
The Warped Tour is a touring music and extreme sports festival. The tour is held in venues such as parking lots or fields upon which the stages and other structures are erected. The BMX/skateboarding shoe manufacturer Vans, among others, has sponsored the tour every year since 1995, and it is...
, an extreme sports and music festival in North America, but were kicked off near the end of the tour for joining in with a fan protest. Later in 1999, CKY was signed to record label Volcom Entertainment
Volcom Entertainment
Volcom Entertainment, officially founded in 1995, in Newport Beach, California, and currently based in Costa Mesa, CA is the brainchild of Volcom founder Richard Woolcott and theLINE's singer/guitarist Ryan Immegart. Ryan being Volcom's first sponsored snowboarder and having a love for music...
, based in California. Volcom reissued Volume 1 in December, printing 1,000 copies of the album still credited to Camp Kill Yourself, which were later sold on the following year's Warped Tour.
Bruni was fired from the band in February 2000, after four years with Miller and Margera, due to his general abilities and performance on the Warped Tour, with Ginsburg taking over live bass duties until later on in the year. Bruni's tenure with the band had been questionable throughout, with the band choosing not to tell him they were recording an album until near the end of the process (resulting to his contributions to "Lost in a Contraption" and "The Human Drive in Hi-Fi"). Responding to a question from a fan in 2002, Ginsburg described Bruni, simply, as "boring". Attempting to justify Bruni's exclusion from the recording of Volume 1, Miller suggests that "he wasn't quite good enough yet [to perform on the album] and he did not have enough money to contribute to the cost of recording." Miller made it clear that there was no "bad blood" between the two, although Ginsburg has said that Bruni "sucked and wasn't rock", also labelling him an embarrassment.
Following their original reissue of Volume 1 in December 1999, Volcom requested the band change their name and album cover, which they deemed to be too offensive. For a 2,000-copy April 1, 2000 reissue of the album, the band was credited as Camp and the album titled CKY, with a photo of Ginsburg performing on the previous year's Warped Tour used as the album cover (changed from the original cover depicting politician Budd Dwyer famously committing suicide). Just one month later, however, at the band's request, Volcom reissued another 4,000 copies of the album with the band name as CKY and the album title as Camp. CKY recruited Vernon Zaborowski as a permanent replacement for live bassist Ryan Bruni in June 2000, in preparation for that year's Warped Tour, and the following month Disengage the Simulator
Disengage the Simulator
-Personnel:CKY*Deron Miller – guitars, bass, vocals on all tracks except 2, 3 and 7, production on tracks 6 and 7*Chad I Ginsburg – guitars, bass, production on all tracks except 6 and 7*Jess Margera – drumsAdditional personnel...
was released as the band's first EP, to be sold on that tour. With the band's popularity increasing due to exposure on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and through episodes of Jackass
Jackass (TV series)
jackass is an American reality series, originally shown on MTV from 2000 to 2002, featuring people performing various dangerous, crude, ridiculous, self-injuring stunts and pranks...
, Volcom released another 20,000 copies of the band's debut album, under the title Camp Volume 1, in October.
Second album and international exposure (2000–2004)
Throughout the end of 2000 and the beginning of 2001, the band continued to perform on tours in promotion of their debut album. In April, another 5,000 copies of Volume 2 were released, before in May the band signed with The Island Def Jam Music GroupThe Island Def Jam Music Group
The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group, formerly The Island Def Jam Music Group, is an umbrella label formed in 1999 when Universal Music Group merged two of its daughter companies, Island Records and Def Jam Recordings, to create a label group. In 2011, Motown Records was split from the Universal...
for a worldwide distribution deal with Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
, labelling Volcom as a "small, unorganized franchise with poor distribution". Soon after the deal was finalised, Island released a "re-mastered and enhanced" version of Volume 1, on June 26, 2001. Four editions, with different coloured printings of the album cover (featuring Ginsburg), were printed and issued – 5,000 copies each in blue, orange and purple, and unlimited copies in red, thus making it the largest release by the band to-date. When CKY had finished touring, they began writing new material for the first time since 1998, for a second full-length studio album; recording started in November 2001 and the album was completed by January the next year. Whilst preparing the new album for release, Island made Volume 1 available worldwide for the first time in June 2002, distributed through Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
.
On September 24, 2002, over three years after the release of Volume 1, CKY's second studio album Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild
Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild
-The Video Album:Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild: The Video Album was released in 2003, and contained the following features:*Music videos for all ten songs from Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild*'Making-of' videos for all ten music videos...
was released in North America. An enhanced CD
Enhanced CD
Enhanced CD, also known as CD Extra and CD Plus, is a certification mark of the Recording Industry Association of America for various technologies that combine audio and computer data for use in both Compact Disc and CD-ROM players....
album containing music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s for "Attached at the Hip" and "Flesh Into Gear", the original September pressing of the album was faulty and the enhanced portions of the disc did not work. Shortly after this faulty first pressing, Island fixed the problems and reissued Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild in North America, although did not apparently recall the defective copies of the album. IDR gave the band its first experience of chart success, when it reached number 99 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
albums chart; promotional single "Flesh Into Gear" also charted at number 38 on Billboard
The day after the release of CKY's second album, legendary hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
band Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
(which by now included vocalist Axl Rose
Axl Rose
W. Axl Rose is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist and only remaining original member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he enjoyed great success and recognition in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before disappearing from the public eye for several years...
as the sole original member) announced that they would be embarking on their first tour in almost nine years, beginning in November of that year. Three days before the tour was due to begin with a show in Vancouver, Canada, CKY received the news that Rose had chosen them to appear as a support act, from a shortlist of approximately ten bands. Speaking about receiving the news on such short notice, drummer Margera said the following:
However, due to apparent "mechanical troubles" delaying Rose's arrival in Vancouver from Los Angeles, the first show of the tour was cancelled 20 minutes before it was due to begin with CKY's performance, with the band onstage setting up when the cancellation was announced and was followed by riots. Most of the rest of the North American tour continued as planned, until it was cancelled almost a month prematurely before a show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (thus making it CKY's 'hometown gig'), which also ended in riots.
Following the 2002 tours, CKY began 2003 by performing on the Out on the Noose Again Tour, which continued until March when Ginsburg broke his tailbone and thus postponed the tour until May. Two-song 7" vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
EP Hellview was released on March 18, featuring "96 Quite Bitter Beings
96 Quite Bitter Beings
-2010 Remastered:Released only through iTunes.# 96 Quite Bitter Beings# Dressed In Decay "live"# All Power to Slaves "live"# To All of You "Live"...
" (from Volume 1) and "Escape from Hellview" (from Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild). On May 18, the band supported heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
veterans Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
at the first of a series of four shows at The Fillmore
The Fillmore
The Fillmore Auditorium is a historic music venue in San Francisco, California, made famous by Bill Graham. Named for its original location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard, it lies on the boundary of the Western Addition and the Pacific Heights neighborhoods.In 1968,...
in San Francisco, California, following a personal phone call to Miller (who considers Metallica "iconic") by the band's lead vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield
James Hetfield
James Alan Hetfield is the rhythm guitarist, co-founder, main songwriter, and lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Metallica. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering a classified advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler,...
shortly after the Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy Tour. The Out on the Noose Again Tour continued until July, when the band took time out and prepared for an upcoming show at Electric Factory
Electric Factory
The Electric Factory is a concert venue in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaThe original "Electric Factory" venue was a converted tire warehouse at 22nd and Arch Streets, which opened in 1968. The first performers, on February 2, 1968, were the Chambers Brothers...
, Philadelphia on October 31 (Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
) dubbed "Live from Hellview" which was to be recorded for a proposed DVD release. In November a full-length video album titled Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild: The Video Album was released, featuring music videos for all ten tracks from the album and two Volume 1 tracks, as well as behind-the-scenes
Making-of
In cinema, a making-of, also known as behind-the-scenes, is a documentary film that features the production of a film or television program...
videos for all music videos; and beginning in December, ending in March 2004, CKY completed their first tour of Western Europe. During the recording of the video for opening song "Escape from Hellview", guitarist Ginsburg was almost killed while pretending to be hung from a tree in reference to a line in the song. Speaking about the incident, Ginsburg explained that he "hung there for close to a minute" and "passed out 10 seconds in", assuring however that he "never came that close to dying".
Third album and deal with Roadrunner (2004–2006)
Following the tour of Europe ending in March 2004, the band began recording their follow-up to 2002's Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild on April 7. During recording, the band also performed a number of free shows around the country, but in June it was decided that live bassist Zaborowski should be removed from the band; in the same fashion as when Bruni was fired, Ginsburg filled in on bass at the remaining shows. In order to focus on recording, the band went on 'hiatus' and "cut themselves off from the outside world". An Answer Can Be FoundAn Ånswer Can Be Found
-Personnel:Musicians*Deron Miller – Vocals, Guitar, Bass*Chad Ginsburg – Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Production, Mixing*Jess Margera – Drums*Jena Kraus - Backing Vocals on "The Way You Lived"Production personnel...
, which Ginsburg labelled an "instant classic", was released on June 28, 2005, debuted at number 35 on the Billboard 200, and at the same time it was revealed that Matt Deis
Matt Deis
Matthew Christopher "Matt" Deis is an American musician and songwriter. Originally from Peterborough, New Hampshire, he is best known as the former bassist of CKY with whom he performed with between 2005 and 2010, and metalcore band All That Remains, with whom he performed between 2003 and...
was to become the band's first full-time bassist, beginning in July. "Familiar Realm", the lead single
Lead single
A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...
from An Answer Can Be Found released on May 25, surpassed "Flesh Into Gear" by charting at number 32 on the Mainstream Rock singles chart. Throughout the remainder of 2005 and into 2006, the new-look CKY toured extensively in promotion of their music, headlining the Rock Adio
Adio
Adio Footwear is a skateboarding footwear and clothing company, founded by skater Chris Miller in 1999. It was later acquired by K2, based in Carlsbad, California. K2 was acquired by the Jarden Corporation in 2007....
Tour between August and September of the former year.
In 2006, however, "things finally came to a head between CKY and Island Records", with the contract ending by mutual consent and the band issuing the following derogatory statement:
With the majority of the remainder of the year spent touring, it was announced on December 7, 2006 that the band had signed a worldwide distribution deal with major record label Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records is an American record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal bands. It is currently a subsidiary of Warner Music Group.-History:...
, with Miller calling the label "one of [his] all-time favorite[s]" and Margera proclaiming that "It's seriously an honor to be working with such a legendary rock/metal label like Roadrunner".
Hiatus and Carver City (2006–2010)
The band began writing material for their fourth album, and first with Roadrunner, in 2006, with a 2007 release planned. Recording began in January 2007 at Ginsburg's "Studio CIG" in New Hope, Pennsylvania with the guitarist once again at the forefront of the album's production. Frontman Miller said of the band's approach to the recording of the album:In March MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
reported that the band were "almost done" with the album, revealing that it would contain a song entitled "The Boardwalk Body", which Margera revealed was written by Miller about a childhood trip on which he discovered a dead body. The update, which also named "Hellions on Parade", also came with the news that Margera had formed his own "cool as hell" supergroup
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
with Fireball Ministry
Fireball Ministry
Fireball Ministry is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California formed in 1999.- Biography :Conceived in Cincinnati in the late '90s by James A. Rota II and Emily Burton, the band moved to New York City before settling in Los Angeles. In 2000 they performed at the two-day "November...
guitarist Jim Rota and Clutch
Clutch (band)
Clutch is an American rock band from Germantown, Maryland, formed in 1990. The band's first release was an EP entitled Pitchfork, which debuted in October 1990. Their first studio album, Transnational Speedway League, was released three years later in 1993. To date, Clutch has released nine studio...
vocalist Neil Fallon
Neil Fallon
Neil P. Fallon is the lead singer and occasional rhythm guitarist, keyboardist and percussionist for the rock band Clutch, and lead singer for The Company Band...
, which eventually became The Company Band
The Company Band
The Company Band is a rock supergroup featuring Clutch frontman Neil Fallon, Fireball Ministry frontman James Rota, CKY drummer Jess Margera, Guitarist Dave Bone, and Fu Manchu bassist Brad Davis.-Formation And Sign Here, Here and Here:...
. In July 2007 it was revealed that CKY would be performing on the newly-formed Viva la Bands Tour founded by Jess's brother Bam Margera
Bam Margera
Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera is an American professional skateboarder, television and radio personality, actor and daredevil. He released a series of videos under the CKY banner and came to prominence after being drafted into MTV's Jackass crew...
taking place from September to November, after their inclusion on the albums Viva la Bands
Viva la Bands
Viva La Bands is a series of CDs compiled by skater/Jackass alumnus Bam Margera, featuring songs from some of his favorite bands. It was released on June 21, 2005...
(2005) and Viva la Bands, Volume 2
Viva la Bands, Volume 2
Viva La Bands, Volume 2 is a CD compiled by skater/Jackass Bam Margera, featuring songs from some of his favorite artists. It was released on September 4, 2007...
(2007).
Despite MTV previously reporting that the album was nearly completed, CKY issued the first update on the recording process in August. In the update, the band wrote the following:
However, following this news, rumors began to surface that the band had, or were due to, split up. In October MTV reported that "there's trouble in the world of CKY", alleging that "a physical altercation recently broke out between various members of the group", quoting Ginsburg as saying that Miller "has quit CKY to pursue his own band" and that he and Margera would continue as CKY. Miller was also quoted as explaining that after hearing them "talk smack" about him, "he confronted the rest of the band, after which a fight broke out", threatening legal action should any of the songs written for the band's album appear without his consent. Following this incident, the band went on a short hiatus, focusing on side-projects and personal lives for almost a year.
In October 2008 the silence was finally broken, as Miller reported that the band were back together and were "98% done tracking the new CKY record". It was also revealed on the band's MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page that two shows were scheduled for 2008, on October 30 and 31 in West Chester dubbed "Hellview III". Recording ended in November of that year. On January 29, 2009 it was finally revealed that CKY's fourth studio album would be called Carver City
Carver City
Carver City is the fourth studio album by American alternative metal band CKY. Recorded at guitarist and producer Chad I Ginsburg's Studio CIG, the album was released on May 19, 2009 and charted at number 46 on the American Billboard 200 albums chart...
and be released on May 19 Further song titles revealed were "Karmaworks" and "Woe Is Me", and Miller praised "the undying hardcore support of our fans, our unorthodox musical approach and a brand new partnership with Roadrunner Records" for "keeping CKY strong". Described as "more inventive ... more layered ... [and] the most inspired album [by the band]" by Ginsburg, Miller revealed that Carver City contains a "dark summer vacation vibe" and explained the album's title thus:
In March the album's cover artwork was revealed; in April it was revealed that "Hellions on Parade" would be the lead single
Lead single
A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...
from Carver City and that a music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
directed by Bam Margera (for what was eventually revealed to be "A#1 Roller Rager") was to be recorded on April 20 with fan involvement; and on May 19 the album was released in North America. On July 3 Carver City was released as an LP album
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
, following a petition started by members of the CKY Alliance, the band's official fanbase. Following the release of their fourth album, CKY toured North America and Europe extensively.
Departure of Matt Deis and future (2010–present)
On April 28, 2010, Ginsburg revealed on his TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
profile that he was to be "recording new CKY with Deron [Miller]" that day, and on the following day noted that he was "Still recording with Deron". On May 5, Margera revealed on the band's official website that "we are going to finish recording the stuff we have been working on next week", while Miller explained that "anything we release musically will be done by ourselves", rather than being released through a record label, despite the band's continuing association with Roadrunner. On May 5 it was also revealed that the band will perform at the Sonisphere Festival
Sonisphere Festival
The Sonisphere Festival is a touring music festival which takes place across Europe between June and August. The festival is owned by John Jackson and Kilimanjaro Live. It is jointly-promoted by K2 and Kilimanjaro Live...
in Knebworth
Knebworth
Knebworth is a village and civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Whitwell, St Paul's Walden and Langley, and encompasses the village of Knebworth, the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
held between July 30 and August 1, which frontman Miller described as "bound to be the biggest highlight of cKy’s summer touring schedule by far." On May 16, Ginsburg posted another update on his Twitter profile, stating that he was "Still in the studio. Gettin a lot done too. New n old stuff", also revealing that he "sang lead [vocals] on a new [song] too". At the end of May it was revealed that Matt Deis had left the band, after many rumors and hints by the band toward the outcome, with Miller explaining that he "can no longer commit to CKY ... [which] we all knew was going to happen months ago".
On August 1, 2010, the band returned to the United Kingdom to make an appearance at Sonisphere Festival
Sonisphere Festival
The Sonisphere Festival is a touring music festival which takes place across Europe between June and August. The festival is owned by John Jackson and Kilimanjaro Live. It is jointly-promoted by K2 and Kilimanjaro Live...
, appearing alongside such artists as Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
, Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
and Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
, playing in front of 60,000 people on the main stage. This was followed by a tour of Australia and New Zealand. On September 1 it was revealed that a new song titled "Afterworld
Afterworld (CKY song)
"Afterworld" is a song by American alternative metal band CKY, featured on the soundtrack album to the 2010 comedy film Jackass 3D. The song is the first by the band to feature Chad I Ginsburg on lead vocals, replacing regular lead vocalist Deron Miller. It is also the first track to be released...
" will be featured on the upcoming movie Jackass 3D
Jackass 3D
Jackass 3D is a 2010 American 3D comedy film and the fourth film in the Jackass series. It was released on October 15, 2010 by Paramount Pictures and MTV Films to American theaters and marked the 10th anniversary of the franchise, which started in 2000...
, to be played during the credits of the film. It is the first material released since 2009's Carver City and the band's first song to feature someone other than Deron Miller on lead vocals (in this case Chad I Ginsburg) and new bassist Matty J. The band are also due to record a music video for the song in the first week of October, after which it will be made available for download on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
. The "Afterworld" single was released on September 29 backed with an acoustic version of the Carver City track "The Era of an End".
In March 2011 the band released B-Sides & Rarities
B-Sides & Rarities (CKY album)
-Personnel:*Deron Miller – vocals, guitars, bass, synthesizers*Chad I Ginsburg – guitars, vocals, bass, synthesizers, production, mixing*Jess Margera – drums*Matt "Matty J" Janaitis – bass on "Afterworld", drums on "Deepest Depths"...
, a collection of previously unreleased, out-of-print and alternative version songs, supported by the single release of "Afterworld". It is currently unclear as to the band's future intentions: Miller has proposed that the band produce four solo albums, one by each member, and then release them as a four-disc CKY package, although Ginsburg has displayed opposition to this idea and would prefer to record a fifth CKY record.
After spending much of 2011 to take a break due to turmoil within the band and to focus on other projects, CKY were announced to be playing the Soundwave Festival
Soundwave Festival
Soundwave Festival, held every year at the Scarborough Spa Ocean Room, Scarborough, UK, is a music and arts festival created by the DIY Collective, a group of young people from around the Scarborough area. It was first held in 1999 on South Bay Beach, Scarborough and was moved to the Spa Complex...
in Australia scheduled for early 2012. Only one show in the USA has been announced for the last half of 2011, with the band stating the is the last show within the Untied States for quite some time, fans are unsure if the band is still to continue after the scheduled 2012 dates.
Band members
Current members- Deron MillerDeron MillerDeron John Miller is the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for World Under Blood and CKY , which has been through various incarnations since being founded in 1998. CKY's most recent release was 2009's Carver City....
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s (1998–present) - Chad I GinsburgChad I GinsburgChad I. Ginsburg is an American musician and music producer, best known for playing guitar in the alternative rock band CKY.Ginsburg moved to Bucks County, PA when he was 8...
– guitars, vocals, bass, synthesizers (1998–present) - Jess MargeraJess MargeraJesse Phillip Margera is the drummer in the band CKY, its predecessor Oil and Foreign Objects, Viking Skull, and The Company Band.-Life and career:...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(1998–present) - Matt "Matty J" Janaitis – bass, keyboardKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
s (2010–present)
Former members
- Matt DeisMatt DeisMatthew Christopher "Matt" Deis is an American musician and songwriter. Originally from Peterborough, New Hampshire, he is best known as the former bassist of CKY with whom he performed with between 2005 and 2010, and metalcore band All That Remains, with whom he performed between 2003 and...
– bass, occasional backing vocals (2005–2010)
Live members
- Robert "Murry" Valeno – keyboards, backing vocals (2010–2011)
Former live members
- Ryan Bruni – bass (1998–2000)
- Vernon Zaborowski – bass (2000–2004)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums- Volume 1 (1999)
- Infiltrate•Destroy•RebuildInfiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild-The Video Album:Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild: The Video Album was released in 2003, and contained the following features:*Music videos for all ten songs from Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild*'Making-of' videos for all ten music videos...
(2002) - An Answer Can Be FoundAn Ånswer Can Be Found-Personnel:Musicians*Deron Miller – Vocals, Guitar, Bass*Chad Ginsburg – Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Production, Mixing*Jess Margera – Drums*Jena Kraus - Backing Vocals on "The Way You Lived"Production personnel...
(2005) - Carver CityCarver CityCarver City is the fourth studio album by American alternative metal band CKY. Recorded at guitarist and producer Chad I Ginsburg's Studio CIG, the album was released on May 19, 2009 and charted at number 46 on the American Billboard 200 albums chart...
(2009)
Other albums
- Volume 2Volume 2 (CKY album)Volume 2 is a soundtrack album by American alternative metal band CKY featuring songs and skits from the 1999 skateboarding/stunt video Landspeed Presents: CKY. Released on February 27, 1999 in conjunction with the band's debut studio album Volume 1, the album has subsequently been reissued a...
(1999) - B-Sides & RaritiesB-Sides & Rarities (CKY album)-Personnel:*Deron Miller – vocals, guitars, bass, synthesizers*Chad I Ginsburg – guitars, vocals, bass, synthesizers, production, mixing*Jess Margera – drums*Matt "Matty J" Janaitis – bass on "Afterworld", drums on "Deepest Depths"...
(2011)