CKY

Once upon a time, CKY burned it all down, with a raucous, anarchic, hard rock sound soaked in the skate-punk culture that birthed them and a hard-partying lifestyle onstage and off that decimated relationships and reputations in its wake.

Chad I Ginsburg, the band’s guitarist and singer, steps into the frontman role with charisma, charm, and bravado, confidently delivering a diverse performance as he claims a position that was clearly rightfully his to own.

He’s joined in enduring partnership and musical and personal chemistry by fellow CKY cofounder, Jess Margera, the drummer whose extracurricular work in projects like The Company Band (with guys from Clutch and Fireball Ministry) expanded CKY’s horizons as much as Ginsburg’s solo work has as well.

Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, and Deftones have all personally invited CKY on tour, cementing a legacy as a hard-charging live act. CKY built a worldwide fanbase of dedicated acolytes, friends, and supporters, lovingly dubbed the CKY Alliance, with a broader group of musicians, athletes, and other creative types in the CKY family, both literally and figuratively.

Carver City (2009) debuted at #4 on the Hard Music charts. It was the second CKY album to debut in the Top 50 on the Billboard 200: An Answer Can Be Found (2005) hit #35 upon its release. But if anything, The Phoenix is a spiritual successor to CKY’s breakthrough, Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild (2002), with a hint of the appropriately titled debut, Volume 1 (1999).

“We’re grown adults now with an eagle-eye perspective on who we are, what we do, and how to do it right,” Ginsburg declares, with matter-of-fact certainty. “None of us are out there in the clouds. We’re pretty well-grounded people that have an honest perspective on where we’re at.”

The totality of the CKY experience is perhaps best summarized by a quote from enigmatic comic book legend, author, and self-proclaimed magician, Alan Moore. “My experience of life is that it is is not divided up into genres; it’s a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you’re lucky.”

Margera observes that it was “a perfect storm of events” that led to CKY becoming a pretty popular name. “When it’s happening, you’re not paying attention. But once you get a couple of years under your belt, you realize, ‘Holy shit, man. That was lucky as hell that happened to us!’, ya’ know?”

“We’re feeling rather lucky,” Ginsburg agrees. “We’re not taking things for granted. We’re saturated in gratitude. It’s an incredibly humbled CKY, with a fire to last another twenty years. The point is to go play rock n’ roll and appreciate everybody else who does it, too. It’s a lucky job to have.”