ck why? 

The skateboarding and prank videos of Jackass have given virtual unknowns Camp Kill Yourself - or CKY - a sizeable cult following.  Drummer Jess Margera, brother of Bam, undertook the band's most daring stunt yet, and met up with uk-fusion on their recent UK tour

How’s the tour going so far?
Awesome!  We did Maaanchester last night, which was fucking nuts! 
Did you check out the nightlife?
I went out in Maaanchester and I got fucked up.  We were drinking absinthe all night and this old dude in a trench coat was like (imitates a grumpy old man) "How long you been here??" so we bought this bottle of champagne and after that, I don’t remember what the fuck happened! Hahahaha!  Thank God my taxi driver was smart ‘cos he picked me up and took me to the hotel.  Apparently I had left my passport on the bar (giggles) so he grabbed it for me. I’m a mess when I get drunk! (laughs)
Can you give us a brief history on CKY?
We started recording Volume One in ’98 and we came up with the name ‘CKY’.  Bam put his video together in ’99 and he was like "Dude, I fucking love this record, I love your name" so he called the video CKY 2, which makes sense because we all went to high school together and all we ever do was record songs and film.  It totally worked out that we could put the two together and it turned into this big cult thing.  I can’t believe how huge it is – it’s fucking nuts!
Your third album Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild came out in January this year and you’ve just re-issued Volume One, so why has it taken you so long to come to the UK?
We’ve wanted to come here for years.  I’m psyched we've finally come here, playing a sold-out gig at the Forum and all that shit. It’s cool, we sold out Maaanchester last night.  We’re playing such huge venues and our record is barely out over here so it’s pretty awesome.
Why doesn't the multi-media bit on the IDR album work?
You know what, it’s weird ‘cos on my Mac it works perfect but yeah, on my PC it was all weird so I don’t know what that’s about. I think you need the newest version of QuickTime or something like that.  I don’t know who did that – it’s fucked up. (laughs)
How much has Jackass helped spread the word about CKY?
We had a big cult thing going on but that [Jackass] brought us into the mainstream more.  Bam has his own show right now, MTV plays our stuff a lot and it’s cool they’re supporting us.  I have mixed feelings about MTV...I’m going to try and give some good music on there.  When they play our video, that’s just one more video better than Good Charlotte.
What’s the worst Christmas present you’ve had?
My aunt is from Pittsburgh and she is so out of touch. She still thinks I’m 10 years old (she hasn’t seen me in so long) so she’ll just get me these random toys for kids.  I’m 25!  Last year she got me this bowling set for ages 5 to 12.
Does Bam get the same?
Yeah, he gets the same shit. We make fun of it every year! (laughs)
What’s the CKY alliance about?
You could compare it to a fan club but it’s way more than that. It’s just a bunch of kids who are just as pissed off as we are at how bad rock is right now. We’re in a state of great depression with rock’n’roll. All that pop punk shit is so bad, it’s embarrassing! I’m embarrassed to tell people I’m in a rock band.  I told this girl it the bar last night I was a plumber.  
Did that work?
Yeah, dude!  I really did because if I say 'rock band', she might think I’m in a band like Simple Plan and I’d kill myself, if that was the case! 
Do you reply to your emails?
Yeah, I try to but it’s crazy. I get like a thousand emails a day and I sit at my computer for four hours a day to answer them all; I try to keep up with it as much as possible. The best thing to do is go on CKY Music and onto Ask CKY ‘cos we just go there all the time and answer questions.
Simple Plan promised to reply but they didn’t.
Oh really?  I heard one of their songs – that shit is terrible!  I don’t know how people listen to that shit and I feel bad because Benji and Joel [Madden of Good Charlotte] came up to me and said "Oh we love your band!" but I have no respect for them. They’re nice guys but that shit is just bad!  Chris Rock said it best [at the VMAs]:  "I don’t get it – it just sounds like a mediocre Greenday to me!"