CKY's Vern Zaborowski and the rest of his band want to change the state of music. They're sick of the state of the world and after years of hearing complaints, they finally have the chance to make a statement.
But why has it taken America so long to discover CKY? And why did it take a show called "Jackass" to make the letters something more than just an acronym?
"We're just sick of the correlation between the two of us," Zaborowski said in a recent phone interview from Minneapolis, the site of one of the stops of CKY's current tour with Guns 'N Roses. "People don't understand where we came from and we're different. We just got noticed through 'Jackass' because nobody knew what CKY the movie was."
But CKY is also more than just a band. According to Zaborowski, it's a machine. It's a group of guys that like to skateboard, make movies, and be well, jackasses.
"As a machine things have parts," Zaborowski said. "You've got the crew doing their part and we've got the band doing our part, and together we're just an unstoppable machine...I just consider us all as one. We're like the Wu Tang of rock ... We can't be stopped."
Drummer Jess Margera is the brother of Bam Margera, best known for his appearances in "Jackass" and the lengths he'll go to make his father Phil's life a living hell. Bam and the rest of the crew got their start in Pennsylvania in 1998 and it's most-likely CKY's music that viewers hear when watching the show.
"We travel in a pack and we go multimedia ... We're already talking about video games. How cool would it be to have a Camp Kill Yourself video or an 'Escape from Hellview' video game?" Zaborowski asked. "We're not going to stop with the media. That's what makes CKY so unique ... Usually it's just a band."
CKY released its debut album "Volume 1" and sophomore album "Volume 2" in 1999. Its latest album "Infiltrate.Destroy. Rebuild" released on Island Records debuted at No. 99 on Billboard's Top 200 on Sept. 24.
The CKY Alliance is the band's devout group of fans. According to the band's Web site, www.ckymusic.com, the alliance is to be part of a coming change. Zaborowski said they learn from them and they share a "symbiotic relationship."
"That's why we signed to Island, too ... CKY has created its own fanbase by themselves for years without any help," he said. "And the label thought that was amazing. They were like, 'How can you do this on your own without help from a label?' It's because you can do anything you want."
But for Zaborowski, there's a fine line between doing what you want and getting what you want. MTV is just fuel to his fire, let alone having music critics misinterpret constant death metal riffs as "suburban alienation."
"CKY music is CKY. We're not going to try to explain it any other way because we're sick of labels and genres," he said. "We're sick of being called 'nu metal.' ... It's all about what you classify a genre as. Why can't you say CKY is CKY? If you don't understand it go listen to it."
In fact, Zaborowski said he thinks MTV needs to be destroyed and rebuilt, hence the album title of the new album. According to Zaborowski, MTV won't show CKY's videos because it's MTV.
"They have it on MTV2, but they won't put it on MTV. And they won't really tell us why. They just said 'We're MTV,'" he said. "They're just poisoning the minds of kids."
Zaborowski said he's sick of music being shoved in people's faces from mainstream outlets.
"Some people, they go through their lives and they don't listen to any cool music because they don't have anyone cool to introduce it to them," he said. "We're all hoping that if people are smart enough and they want change ... which CKY definitely wants... they'll be smart and hop on the bandwagon."
CKY's career course was changed indefinitely when it was asked to join the Guns 'N Roses tour. After 35 dates on the Tony Hawk tour the band left from Detroit to San Diego and had to reroute to Vancouver within a matter of days. But after the riots in Vancouver, Zamborowski said it's going surprisingly well. It's just a bunch of drunk people swaying to Axl Rose jumping on stage, he said.
For the members of CKY, it's also a lot different than what they're used to. When they go out on the road again at the beginning of the new year, they'll be relieved of the barriers, security and "a lot of girls doing their little dance waiting for their backstage passes."
But Zamborowski loves the times when he and guitarist Chad I. Ginsburg will sit in the back of the venue and get tapped on the back by young fans.
"I got in here to make kids' lives better and do what I can...The fact that that moment when kids ask for the autograph, that means the world to them. It just blows me away. It's so great and I'm glad that I'm a part of this CKY machine."
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