For those still left out in the cold, CKY (or Camp Kill Yourself) formed in 1998 and gained notoriety with their skateboarding and DIY prank videos, as directed by drummer Jess Margera's younger brother Bam. Then Jackass followed, sampling CKY's music in its shows and the rest?  Well, go figure.

Due to public demand, tonight's gig has been upgraded from the Mean Fiddler to the Forum (well over twice the capacity), and this is their first UK visit.  Hundreds of kids are shivering in the cold - at least two hours before the doors open - all dressed in baggy pants and hooded tops. 

When CKY take to the stage, they look virtually unrecognisable from their publicity shot - extremely hairy, scruffy and in need of a good scrub.  Frontman Chad I Ginsburg's hair is overgrown and messy, as is guitarist Deron Miller's, who looks as if he's just wandered off a building site in his lumberjack shirt.  

Bassist Vern Zaborowski, who earlier had been wandering in and out of the venue during the support act (completely oblivious to the crowd until he approached me and asked if I was OK), spent most of the night hiding under his beanie hat, only to take it off briefly to reveal a full crop of hair too.  It wasn't the same colour as his beard.  Only Jess held onto his baseball cap.  Jess, whose chin-pubes were a strange shade of orange, as opposed to his barnet being brown.

Choosing to play a set-list comprising of songs from their back catalogue - Volume 1, Volume 2 and Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild, it's like watching your mates jam in the garage - just lots of head-banging, gruff vocals and somewhere in the equation, a tune.  Phil and April Margera are momentarily brought out, as is Chris Raab (or Raab Himself), who jumps around for a minute before deciding he's had enough.

'96 Quite Bitter Beings', 'Flesh Into Gear' and 'Sporadic Movement', the strongest and catchiest tracks, lose their flavour in an instant while the sordid sounding 'My Promiscuous Daughter' goes in one ear and out the other.  With lyrics like "I caught my daughter giving head to my brother" repeated four times over, you start to question just where they get their ideas from.

There's very little crowd-surfing going too, which could only mean one thing - the kids aren't impressed either.  And choosing to play a relatively large scale venue so early on is more a case of having bitten off more than they can chew.  A little more homework next time, boys.  Sponging off a household brand name doesn't grant you the easy way out. 
(3/5)

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