LP: I KNOW YOU HAVE RECENTLY BECOME A FATHER. CONGRATULATIONS. HOW IS FATHERHOOD TREATING YOU SO FAR?

 

Jess Margera: Good, except I get no sleep. But it's ok because I have a really good coffee maker so when the baby is crying all night I just fire that bitch up and I'm good on three hours of sleep.

 

LP: THE LAST TIME YOU AND I DID ONE OF THESE INTERVIEWS CKDY HAD A BASS PLAYER. WE ALL KNOW ABOUT VERN'S ABRUPT DEPARTURE AND NOW THATT HE NEW ALBUM HAS BEEN TRACKED, WERE DOES THIS LEAVE CKY AT THE MOMENT?

 

JM: We are planning a tour for July and auditioning people right now. To be honest, CKY has always been just me, Deron, and Chad. The fourth guy is always just our bass player for shows. On every CKY album so far, it's just been the three of us.

 

LP: I READ THAT CKY WILL BE APPEARING ON A REALITY BASED TV SHOW ON MTV IN THE COMING WEEKS. ANY IDEA ON AN AIRDATE AND CONCEPT OF THE SHOW?

 

JM: I think it's premiering May 27th on MTV2. It's basically just footage from tour and us explaining how die-hard the CKY alliance members are.

 

LP: IT WAS REPORTED THAT CKY IS PLANNING A SUMMER STINT ON THE ROCKADIO TOUR.

HAS ANY OF THE TOURING INFORMATION BEEN PLANNED YET?

 

JM: So far all I know about that is it's starting in July. It will hit the United States and Canada first

and I think Fireball Ministry is opening. I would like to get Moistboyz on there as well, but I have no

idea if they would be interested in doing that. The Knives will be playing as well.

 

LP: Y100 IN PHILLY STOPPED BROADCASTING AS WELL AS WHFS IN WASHINGTON DC,

WITH OTHER MODERN ROCK STATIONS AROUND THE UNITED STATES DROPPING LIKE

FLIES. BOTH Y100 AND WHFS WERE AVID SUPPORTERS OF CKY AND NOW THEY ARE GONE.

IN YOUR EYES, IS THE STATE OF ROCK MUSIC TO FAR DOWN THE DRAINS TO HAVE IT

SAVED FROM THESE RADIO STATIONS GOING BELLY UNDER, OR IS IT BASICALLY TIME

TO START INVESTING IN SATELLITE RADIO?

 

JM: I personally think since rock fans download so much, record companies are forced to push rap all day long because rap albums still sell and that's the only way labels make money. And since most people basically only like what MTV throws at them at the moment, everyone is all about rap now and rock radio stations (rock fans as well) are suffering because of it. Oh, and Sirius Satellite radio is great, by the way.

 

LP: IN YOUR MIND WAS THERE ANY SPECIFIC TURNING POINT IN MUSIC WHEN ROCK TOOK THE FINAL BLOW TO THE GUY? ANY DEFINING MOMENT WHEN YOU THOUGHT, "WELL THAT SURE WENT TO SHIT?"

 

JM: Nickelback.

 

LP: DO YOU THINK THESE RECENT STATION CLOSINGS WILL HAVE ANY EFFECT ON ALBUM SALES FOR THE NEW RECORD?

 

JM: I don't think so, because CKY has always been a word of mouth band. I think most radio listeners don't understand us. Both our old albums each sell 1,000 copies a week and have for the past five years with or without radio support. I'm happy that 1,000 new people find out about us every single week since we have been a band.

 

LP: I SEE THAT ADIO IS COMING OUT WITH ANOTHER CKY SHOE THIS YEAR. ANY RELEASE DATE AND IDEAS ON HOW THE SHOE IS GOING TO TURN OUT?

 

JM: There's four different styles coming out this summer. They turned out really good. There's a lot of cushion. Not like those shoes that all those emo nerds are wearing now. Is that emo bullshit over yet? It's fucking awful.

 

LP: A FEW WEEKS AGO YOU WERE TELLING ME ABOUT A SONG YOU WERE WORKING ON FOR THE FAT CITY COMPILATION. HOW DID THAT COMPILATION COME ABOUT AND HAS A RELEASE DATE BEEN SET?

 

JM: It's a punk magazine out of Boston, and a good friend of ours, Jay Hale is the editor. Lots of times Fat City does compilations of rare tracks from bands, and I gave him a song I tracked with Unkle Matt and the Shitbirdz at the Waffle House. I'm not sure when it will be out.

 

LP: I READ THAT YOU ALSO TRACKED A SONG FOR AN UPCOMING MELVINS TRIBUTE ALBUM THAT ENDED UP BEING A SOLO PERFORMANCE. WHAT SONG DID YOU END UP DOING AND HOW WAS TRACKING A SONG ALL BY YOURSELF?

 

JM: I didn't do it by myself. I had Rich Vose from Gnarkill play guitar on it because I can't play guitar for shit. We ended up doing "Laughing With Lucifer at Satan's Sideshow." Basically because I can totally relate to that major label horseshit they shovel all day long. Plus I owed Ryan Dunn a favor, so we got hammered in my basement and recorded it that night. It was fun.

 

LP: ORIGINALLY THE TITLE FOR THE NEW RECORD WAS CALLED "THE BUTCHERS HAND" BUT WAS RECENTLY CHANGED TO "AN ANSWER CAN BE FOUND." I'VE ALSO READ SOME PRESS ON THE NEW ALBUM ABOUT CERTAIN SONGS BEING DROPPED OR ADDED TO THE TRACK LISTING AT THE LAST MINUTE. DID THE OVERALL THEME OF THE ALBUM CHANGE ENOUGH FOR THE TITLE TO CHANGE OR DID THE BAND JUST DECIDE "AN ANSWER CAN BE FOUND," SOUNDED BETTER?

 

JM: Well both the butchers hand and an answer can be found are lines from certain songs on the record. Originally we liked "The Butchers Hand," because the whole album had sort of a using evil to destroy evil theme. But "An Answer Can Be Found," has so many different meanings for us and it just sounds better, haha.

 

LP: WITHOUT LEAKING TOO MUCH INFORMATION ON THE NEW RECORD, SPILL THE BEANS ON HOW THE NEW SONGS TURNED OUT?

 

JM: They turned out even better than we could have imagined. It still sounds like CKY but

stepped up a couple notches from our last record. The guitar parts have become a bit more

technical but still easy to digest and hard to forget. There are guitar solos on a lot of the songs

now, and the drumming has a lot of 4-on-the-floor paced beats mixed in with some choppy

timing that compliments the guitar riff. Vocals are layered and melodic, except in the song

"Sniped," which is sung or screamed more like Scandinavian black metal.

 

LP: IN AN EFFORT TO FIND SOMETHING WORTHWHILE TO LISTEN TO IN THE LATEST

HEAP OF BULLSHIT THAT HAS BEEN RELEASED, NAME FIVE ALBUMS THAT WERE

RELEASED IN THE LAST YEAR THAT YOU CANT STOP LISTENING TO.

 

JM: Clutch "Blast Tyrant," Turbonegro "Party Animals," Refused "The Shape of Punk to Come,"

re-release in 5.1 surround, The Best of Verve, and Fireball Ministry "Second Great Awakening."

In the future, I'm really looking forward to hearing the new Sigur Ros, new Clutch, and

"Moistboyz IV."

 

LP: TWO WORDS. DIMEBAG DARRELL. WHAT THE HELL WENT WRONG?

 

JM: I was lucky enough to meet him for a split second in San Diego one time at a show we played with the Deftones. He signed Chad's Pantera DVD. But I'll never understand why that happened, and I really wish there wasn't so much shit talking in the press between Dime and Phil before it happened.

 

LP: AS A MEMBER OF A NATIONAL TOURING ACT, DO YOU SEE ANY CHANGES BEING MADE IN THE FUTURE TO STOP THESE SENSELESS ACTS OF VIOLENCE FROM HAPPENING AGAIN?

 

JM: We live in some fucked up times, and the only thing you can do is add more security guards at shows. It sucks but it's necessary sometimes. All it takes is one moron to fuck things up for everybody.

 

LP: IF GIVEN THE CHANCE, HOW WOULD YOU EXPLAIN TO A NEW FAN WHAT CKY IS OFFERING TO THE MASSES?

 

JM: Time-less, trend-less rock for people who need a bit more than what is currently available.