cky

They share their name with a series of skate and prank videos CKY created by Bam Margera, who is the brother of the band's drummer, Jess Margera. CKY's music has been featured in all four CKY videos and Jackass, and the track "96 Quite Bitter Beings" from their album Volume 1 also featured on the video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. The songs "Sporadic Movement" from the album Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild and "The Human Drive in Hi-Fi" from Volume 1 were in the video game Backyard Wrestling: Don't Try This At Home. They were also featured in several movie soundtracks such as Resident Evil: Apocalypse.

It is hard to categorize CKY into a specific genre, though Allmusic.com suggests that CKY's music has elements of alternative metal, punk rock and grunge. [1] Most of CKY's songs are riff based and have a synthesized sound (the band used Moogs on their second publicly released album, Infiltrate.Destroy.Rebuild., while their latest album, An Ånswer Can Be Found, featured no synthesizers of any kind).

History

In 1994, West Chester, PA, friends Deron Miller and Jess Margera formed a band under the name Foreign Objects. In 1995 they released a 5-track EP on Distant Recordings called The Undiscovered Numbers & Colors, which was described by some as "Earth Crisis meets Rush." In 1996, they decided to start another band called Oil with a friend they had met through their jobs at UPS, Ryan Bruni. After frustration with the band Deron changed the name to Camp Kill Yourself and decided to head in a new musical direction. In 1998, Jess's brother Bam Margera, a pro skateboarder, was featured on the Toy Machine film "Jump Off A Building," so during the skit "Bam's Park Footy," they played CKY's song (which is now actually a Foreign Objects song) "Genesis 12a." In the credits there was contact info on how to get more CKY recordings. Deron and Jess were ready to record. However, they were to do this without Bruni, as they did not feel his playing was proficient enough to warrant an album performance, although he was eventually told. As such, he does not appear on Volume 1 except for backing vocals on "The Human Drive In Hi-Fi" and 2 and a half minutes of "Lost in a Contraption." This is disputed, because Chad is certain that it is all Deron playing bass, yet Deron says of it; "Ryan played about 2 and a half minutes of Lost in a Contraption, and then I took over during the heavy part. Chad swears that we taped over Ryan's track and the bass on there is all me...but I'd bet both balls that it is in fact Ryan playing." Deron & Jess headed to Groundhog Studios, where they met Chad I Ginsburg, who was working at the studio as a producer. The first CKY material he heard was the "Disengage The Simulator" demo, and he immediately wanted to be part of the band, having left previous band "Rudy + Blitz" shortly before meeting Deron and Jess. When Bam Margera, fast growing in popularity, released a full-length video of similar antics through Landspeed Wheels called "Landspeed: cKy" in March 1999, he used CKY's music exclusively as the soundtrack. The band's first albums "Camp Kill Yourself: Volumes 1 and 2" were released on Teil Martin International to coincide with the videos, and both sold out quickly. The band went on the 1999 Warped Tour and played on the Volcom stage. During this tour, Ryan Bruni, the live bassist, left the band before CKY's performance after an argument between himself and the band. Chad handled the bass duties for the next year until the band were about to embark on the 2000 Warped Tour. Chad, being a guitarist, no longer wanted to play bass live, so CKY enlisted a new live bassist, Vern Zaborowski from Wet Slit. Later on the tour CKY were kicked off after a protest in St. Louis over the prices the tour's vendors were charging.

Later Career

By this time, the band had become superstars in the skateboarding world. They were signed to the Volcom Entertainment record label. Volcom was unhappy with the album cover that had Bud Dwyer shooting himself with a gun, so they used a photo from their 1999 Warped Tour. Volume 1 was released again in December. In 2001, CKY signed to major label Island Records, where they re-released a remastered and enhanced version of Volume 1. In September 2002, after being delayed by Island Records, the follow up album, Infiltrate.Destroy.Rebuild. (IDR) was released.

Towards late 2002, CKY landed the intensely sought-after opening slot on Guns N' Roses' national tour after being handpicked by Axl Rose. Shortly after that, another legendary band came knocking, as James Hetfield of Metallica personally invited CKY to play with them.

In 2003, CKY released the DVD "Infiltrate.Destroy.Rebuild.: The Video Album", which contained music videos for each of the tracks on the Infiltrate.Destroy.Rebuild. album plus "Disengage the Simulator" and "96 Quite Bitter Beings" from Volume 1. All of the videos were directed by Bam Margera. In July 2004, the live bassist, Vern Zaborowski, and CKY parted ways due to personal and performance reasons. This did not affect the recording process because Deron and Chad had both played bass on all of the studio recordings. CKY then enlisted the services of a new bass player, Matt Deis, formerly of All That Remains. The original 3 members of CKY finished writing/recording their new album, An Ånswer Can be Found which was released June 28, 2005. It debuted at #35 on the Billboard Album Chart.

The band are extremely involved with their fanbase, dubbed the "CKY Alliance", and are constantly in contact with them via "Ask CKY", a feature on their website. Over 8,500 questions have been answered since 2001, and the band holds the "Guinessburg" (a play on Chad's last name) World Record for the longest interview ever conducted with a band. The Alliance are heavily involved with the promotion and expansion of the band, and the band shares a symbiotic relationship with the Alliance. The Alliance's logo, an Å, is even featured on the cover of An Ånswer Can Be Found, as a tribute to the Alliance. Almost everything CKY releases is dedicated to their fans.

On April 15, 2006, CKY announced that they were dropped from their label, Island Records. The announcement came in an e-mail to the members of the CKY Alliance forum stating:

Today we were finally released from our contract with island records. We had been asking to be let go since 2003 when it was clear that the label had no idea how to market a band that doesn't write songs about breaking up with their girlfriends. To this day I truly don't know why they signed us in the first place. They wanted to do our 4th album, but giving them a fourth chance to deliver disappointing empty promises seemed ludicrous. It wasn't making sense. To be fair, I want to say that I don't blame them for not knowing what to do with a band that isn't a flash in the pan. Major labels are afraid of bands that don't do what they're told to do. I want to say to Paul Pontius, the guy who signed us... thanks for the 5 years. I'm sure we all learned a lot about how much the music industry sucks and why its all going downhill. The clock is ticking for major labels... to all of our fans worldwide, present and future... thank you for your undying loyalty, the best is yet to come. See you on tour!

It is yet unknown what label the band will sign with next, although Deron had stated in early May 2006 on his official website that CKY has plans to record 2 new albums this year, along with a re-release of their first full length album "Volume 1" with new packaging and bonus tracks.

On June 20, CKY played a show at Mr. Small's in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was their longest concert ever at nearly 3 hours in length. This show was recorded for the making of a live album, which Chad has since confirmed via the CKY Alliance site is going to be worked on in the near future.

On June 24, CKY played a show in Burlington, Vermont. This show was cut short when Deron Miller had a meltdown onstage and walked off. On June 28, he posted a statement on the CKY Alliance website ^[1]:

I walked offstage because i had no control over myself at that point. half a bottle of jack and a handful of anti-depressants didnt help much. i have tried unsuccessfully for years to quit these habits, but to no avail. the problem seems to be getting worse and worse... it wasn't because of a stage diver, equipment or roadies...it was going to happen regardless. in my life ive had about 15 of these black out episodes where i conjure up something thats been bothering me and get out of control to the point where i have no idea what im doing....im using the month of july to check into a detox program, going on vacation, and writing new material. i dont know what will happen, but my plans are to do all the tours we have coming up and carry through with all plans. what im saying is that i haven't quit. but this is not all completely my fault. yes im an alcoholic but i do have a few personal frustrations about this band currently....

CKY have toured North America extensively, as well as most of Europe and recently ventured to Australia for the first time in the bands history.. The band recently wrapped up their "Summer Of Freeness" U.S. tour, and finished their European tour with shows in Sweden, Finland, Amsterdam, and many other European countries.

An announcement from Chad Ginsburg states that 2 shows will be played in Philadelphia on December 22nd and December 23rd ("Christmas with CKY").

A new CKY Album has been rumoured/planned for release in 2007. It is possible this could include a continuation of the popular 'Hellview' series of songs.

Discography

• Volume 1 (1999)

• Volume 2 (1999)

• Disengage the Simulator EP(2000)

• Infiltrate.Destroy.Rebuild. (September 24, 2002)

• • Hellview (2003)
    • Limited to 2,200 copies on cinderblock.com but still sold in Hot Topic

• An Ånswer Can be Found (June 28, 2005)

Singles

References

1. ^ http://www.ckyalliance.com/news/detail.cfm?newsID=344

External links

• CKYAlliance.com - CKY's Official Website and the site of the CKY Alliance
• DeronMiller.com - Official Website of Deron Miller
• ChadGinsburg.com - Official Website of Chad I. Ginsburg
• MattDeis.com - Official Website of Matt Deis
• MySpace.com/CKY CKY's MySpace
• CampKillYourself.net
• Camp CKY
• Camp Kill Yourself at the Internet Movie Database

Regional Alliance Websites

• UK Alliance
• Australian Alliance
• The Swedish Alliance
• The Polish Alliance
• The Finnish Alliance
• The German Alliance
• The Dutch Alliance