CKY: 25 Years in the Making
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 soundtrack helped launch the career of some of the biggest bands in the alternative music scene – including CKY. But it takes talent to stay at the top. As the band celebrates 25 years, drummer Jess Margera reflects on the fallouts and fortunes that led them to today.
Words by Tobias Handke
Image supplied
It’s a good time to be a CKY fan. Not only are they in the process of recording their long-overdue sixth album, but the band have announced their first Australian tour in over a decade, celebrating their 25th anniversary. But according to drummer Jess Margera, the band’s journey to this point hasn’t been all smooth sailing.
“I wish I could say it flew by, but it hasn’t,” he says with a laugh as we chat over Zoom. “It feels like 25 years. Lots of ups and downs but it’s cool to be doing it after all this time. I didn’t anticipate that a song we wrote in my bedroom in high school would pay a lot of my bills when I’m 45 years old.”
That song is ‘96 Quite Bitter Beings’, CKY’s anthemic debut single. The song first blew up in 2000 when it appeared in the first ever episode of MTV runaway Jackass (Jess’ brother, Bam Margera, was an OG member of the franchise, too). It had only been a year since vocalist/ guitarist Deron Miller, guitarist Chad I Ginsburg and Jess formed the band. The track’s popularity surged again in 2001 after it was featured in cult-favourite video game Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3.
The three-minute-twenty track plucked CKY from obscurity and turned them into idols of the alt-music scene. But despite their early success, internal conflict plagued the band for years. After four albums, frontman Deron departed in 2011, citing disagreements with the group’s direction. The outfit also experienced a revolving door of bassists, with Jess referring to CKY as ‘the Spinal Tap of bass players.’
After a short reunion with Deron and a six-year hiatus, Chad and Jess recruited bassist Matt Deis (his second stint in the band) and recorded 2017’s The Phoenix, an album Jess describes as ‘Quincy Jones producing Kyuss.’ The surprise success of the LP promoted CKY to resume touring, with Australian dates locked in before COVID-19 struck.
Once again, the future of the band was in limbo. But Jess says the time away was ‘a blessing in disguise.’ Bunkering down in his home state of Pennsylvania, the stickman used his free time to complete a long list of chores, binge his favourite Netflix shows and spend time with his kids. It also gave him space to contemplate where his career was heading after two decades of being in CKY.
“You get in such a grind of just recording, touring, recording, touring,” he explains. “You don’t get to stop and ask questions like, ‘Do you want to keep making music or do something else?’ But when you really think it over and decide ‘I want to keep doing music’, then you come back with a fire under your ass like you’ve never had. It’s great.”
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That burning drive sparked CKY’s forthcoming album, New Reason To Dream. Chad, who Jess describes as ‘goddamn prolific,’ wrote close to a song a day during lockdown. Once restrictions lifted, Chad would travel from Nashville to Pennsylvania to lay down tracks with Jess. The drummer remains tight-lipped about what we should expect on the LP. However, he lets slip that there are metal influences, ‘songs that sound like Pentagram and Orange Goblin’, and a number that sounds like CKY wrote it for The Breakfast Club soundtrack.
This mishmash of genres is likely why critics have always struggled to pinpoint who CKY are. Their impressive back catalogue tumbles through genres of punk-pop, post-grunge, alt-metal and stoner rock to create a sound that’s immediately comfortable but ahead of the curve. It’s something Jess is acutely aware of.
“In a way, it’s been a double-edged sword because we don’t sound like anybody, which gives you a career. But at the same time, we haven’t found any kind of scene or genre that we fit into. Every festival we play, they don’t know where to put us. We’ve been on the metal stage, the punk stage, the hardcore stage, the rock stage. All the bands that Chad and I are fans of seem like that too. Ween, Clutch, Primus. We’re definitely our own thing.”
In turn, CKY have attracted a loyal following – something which prompted Jess and Chad to hit the road and tour North America to commemorate their quarter-of-a-century anniversary earlier this year. They recruited longtime friend and former Warner Drive member Ronnie Elvis James on bass and it’s this iteration of the band that’ll head to Australian shores in 2025, alongside alt-rock outfit Alien Ant Farm. “They were on the Tony Hawk 3 soundtrack with us!” says Jess. “It was such a cultural phenomenon, it’s insane how it still connects people.”
CKY will play Lion Arts Factory on February 11, 2025. It’ll be their first time Down Under since performing on the Soundwave festival circuit in 2012. As for what this tour holds? Jess breaks into a broad grin before saying, “We brought back a lot of songs we haven’t played in a while because people on the internet wouldn’t shut the hell up about it.” One such song is ‘Familiar Realm’ from 2005 record, An Answer Can Be Found. “That was a big one. It feels good to play those songs again.”
Twenty-five years later, CKY still refuse to be put in a box. But their no-fucks-given energy is partially why their impact on the scene feels worthy of legend status. “It’s been a rollercoaster,” says Jess, reflecting on the band’s journey to today. “I hope people look back at our catalogue and appreciate the chances we took. I’ve learned to do music that makes Chad and I happy. If people dig it, great. And if they don’t? That’s great, too.”
CKY perform with Alien Ant Farm at Lion Arts Factory on February 11, 2025. Tickets on sale now via The Phoenix.
