MagX interview with CKY

CKY is definitely one of the hidden gems of the music industry.  No matter what type of music you like CKY makes you just want to go nuts!  If you have a chance pick up the latest CKY album Carver City, you will not be dissapointed. “Listen up you little jerks, listen to CKY or I will have to kill all your mothers”
A quote from Bam Margera.  I couldn’t have said it better myself.  Enjoy the interview.

Things seem to be going well with you all. You have a new record out and you have also found the time to change labels, signing with Roadrunner Records, do you feel the music has evolved because of these changes?

The funniest thing is that we signed with Roadrunner in ‘06 and it’s just taken this long to get the record done. But overall we’re all happy with the record.  Sometimes you just can’t rush the creative process.  This time we had a lot of inner turmoil while making the record which was interesting, but overall this is probably our best record since we worked out all our differences. It helped us want to make this record the best possible record we can make.

How was the recording process for “Carver City”? Did you all go in starting from scratch, or were the songs completed before recording took place?

We went in with very rough ideas, I’m talking about just a few guitar parts that worked well together and that’s it.  When I was recording my drums I didn’t really know what the hell was goin’ to happen since there wasn’t really anything written or recorded so we pretty much built it from the ground up, the results really ended up good.  Sometimes, the best part is not knowing what’s going to happen then seein how it turns out.

A big difference I hear on this album is the use of keyboards and synths. I found this to add atmosphere during times when Chad and Daron would play harmonized riffs. What made you decide to incorporate more synths?

We experienced with some moogs & synths on our Infiltrate, Rebuild, & Destroy record. It was kind of a good thing, but for some reason we chose to go meat and potatoes on Answer Can Be Found. So I guess for Carver City we just wanted to go all out for this one.  Now we have our own studio so that meant we didn’t have to worry about money and time. Honestly, we took our time making ths record as opposed to when you’re booked in a studio that cost like $1000 a day to be in.  Knowing that you’re paying that much you don’t really want experimen t much you just want to get it done.  Half  of the stuff we recorded didn’t even make the record.  There was just too much experimenting going on so we kind of just got carried away with layering things. (laughs) It’s easy to get carried away with stuff like that.

After listening to the album, there’s one thing that’s clear, the shred is not dead. The riffs are CKY huge and the solos are very shred oriented. Guitar wise, was this album harder to make because of the progressive elements?

I think honestly there was just a lot more room to go nuts on this record.  On an Answer Can Be Found, a lot of the riffs were off the wall and robotic. I didn’t have much room to play around, I had to just keep the beat and be drummer.  On this one there was just soo much room to throw in fills and just go a bit nuts and show off a little bit.

I even found some disco elements courtesy of Jess in “Imaginary Threats”. You all have been known to cover various genres of music within a song, are there any limitations when it comes to writing a song?

Theres definitely disco influences from all 3 of us.  We may not put on some Beegees records but we ended up with that influence by our parents listening to that shit. You try living in a place where they play fucking Abba records, it’s not easy to ignore.  As far as limitations in a song FOR CKY ABSOLUTELY NOT!  We just did not give a shit on this record anymore.  A few years ago it would been like “ehh I’m not feeling this sound feels dated & cheesey” But now it seems like everything’s been done. So we just decided to put everything in there.

The artwork is mysterious, as does the album at times. What’s the story behind “Carver City”?

We’ve always played around with storylines.  We always wanted to do a horror movie called Camp Kill Yourself. It was supposed to be a cheesy horror movie we just never got around to it, so we just decided to call the band that (cky = camp kill yourself).  The basis was going to be this town that was like a nice town, family vacation getaway type shit town.  In reality it was just fuckin’ horrible. The town was plagued by crime and crazy shit.  This one is a beach town, it’s inspired by a true stroy that happen to Daren (vocals) as a kid. The town was Wildwood, New Jersey which was basically North Philladelphia by the beach.  It’s gotten a little better but damn, it used to be pretty bad.  He was 12 and his parents let him stay out a little late. So he’s on his way home from an arcade and there was a dead lady under the boardwalk! The boardwalk body, the whole idea just built from there.

What’s favorite tour story?

I would have to say getting invited to do the Metallica, St. Anger tour. They booked 4 nights at the Filmore in San Francisco and invited us to play the FIRST NIGHT! It was so weird, while we were playing “96 Quite Bitter Beings” I looked over at the green room balcony and saw Hetfield & Lars playing air drums to my song. What the fuck?! If someone would have told me this was going to happen when i was younger,  I would’ve shit myself.

Downtime while on tour can be pretty boring, are there any hobbies you guys have picked up since joining the band?

I play in 3 bands  and have 3 kids, it’s a  crazy fuckin life. The tour essentially is my downtime.  When we go on the road,  I look forward to getting sleep and playin video games. I’m a huge Grand Theft Auto fan and have yet to play GTA4.  First thing I  will do on tour is get a Playstation 3 and play GTA4 for 3wks!

What are CKY’s plans for the rest of 2009?
We haven’t toured much in 2 years so we lookin forward to getting back out there  playin on stage and meeting all of our fans.  We fell of the face of the fuckin earth for like 2 years so now we’re going to hit it hard.  We’ll be out on the road with Earlyman for the start of the tour then with Graveyard and ASG. Graveyard is one of my favorite bands right now so it will be fun.

How was it having Chad as the producer of the album? Does the band find it easier to create having him produce instead of an outside source?

I think any other producer would run screaming. We’re hard to work with. We know what we want. So with an outside producer we wouldn’t get very far.  The cool thing is Chad’s the reason we have our own sound. Top name producers do the same shit to all bands. We like to work with no rules or boundaries. We’ll try anything even if it’s completely fucking ridiulous. We miked up some spray cans because we wanted that sample for this one part, so we did it. There is absofuckinlutely no rules in our recording sessions.

Whats your favorite fast food restraunt while on tour?

I always look forward to going to In-and-Out Burger when I go to California. I don’t miss California much but I really do miss In-and-Out Burger.