For over 6 years now I’ve had the pleasure of being friends with some of the best guys in the music business. I’ve never met or read about anyone else who has put as much blood, sweat, tears and heart into what they do as far as music goes. They, like us, had humble beginnings in West Chester, PA. So, I wanted to do all I could to help them in whatever way possible to succeed. Naturally, this meant with the internet.

This is actually how I got started with my career, as these guys (specifically, Deron Miller) were the only ones to give me a shot at doing a website way back in the day. When I joined Inclind in 2005, I was really able to step up their game online and help them with their continuing success. Their website has over 30,000 registered members and receives on average 20k hits, viewed by millions, and their forum is very active with thousands and thousands of posts and topics. It is one of our cornerstone websites and one of our most unique clients. You may have spotted them before on MTVs “Viva la Bam” or “Jackass”, but the real deal lies in the music of the band.

The roots of the relationships that bring you the present-day CKY date back to late 1992 at East High School in West Chester, PA. 14-year-old drummer Jess Margera is a freshmen in Pre-Algebra 1A class, where he meets 16-year-old guitarist/vocalist Deron Miller, a junior who had past credits to make up. They became friends, but it wasn’t until later that they started playing music together. By 1995, they were writing songs and practicing together exclusively in Jess’ basement under the band name Foreign Objects. They entered the studio that summer, and, on October 1, they released a five-song EP, The Undiscovered Numbers & Colors, which was a popular local release. They played two official shows as Foreign Objects with the first of many live bassist’s over the next few years.

In the spring of 1996, the two decided to take a different musical route, stripping away their metal sound and recording a more simple, radio-friendly form of music under the name Oil. The writing and recording of music under the name Foreign Objects never ceased, however they would only release music as Oil for the next three years. They performed several shows in Summer 1996 with their second live bassist, Andy Smith,and released a four-track EP cassette titled Lifeline (the name of the studio it was recorded in), which was limited to 150 copies. Later in the year, Deron and Jess took on their third live bassist, Ryan Bruni, whom they met while working at UPS.The two began recording new material in January 1997, which would be released months later as their self-titled second EP cassette (referred to as the Gold Tape), limited to 500 copies. Oil continued on through November 1997, when they started recording their first official album (which would later become CKY’s Volume 1). It was during these recording sessions where they met engineer/producer Chad Ginsburg. Chad was attracted to Oil’s song “Disengage the Simulator”, and was asked to join the band as a second guitarist. This addition is the true beginning of CKY.

By 1998, with a concrete writing core of Chad Ginsburg, Jess Margera, and Deron Miller, and their live bassist Ryan Bruni, Oil dissolved. Sitting around a pizza place in West Chester, Deron came up with Camp Kill Yourself as the new band name, the new direction, the new movement. No more mainstream and no more pop appeal. Camp Kill Yourself finished writing and recording their first album as a group. The album, titled Volume 1, was released on February 27, 1999. The same day, they released an unofficial compilation album titled Volume 2; the CD contained demos, b-sides, and prank phone calls, serving as a soundtrack album for Jess’ brother’s first skate video.

Volume 1 went on to have many editions and releases and sold 500,000 copies and is still selling to this day. The band’s second release, Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild (2003) also sold over 400,000 copies, and launched the band upward into their first international tours. It also was accompanied later by a 2 disc DVD of the same name, with music videos for each track on Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild, and 3 hours of concert footage from a myriad of shows. It too, achieved gold status.

A supporting tour began for Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild continued into December, when the band was asked to open for Guns ‘n’ Roses on their “Chinese Democracy Tour”. However, the tour’s first show in Vancouver, British Columbia was cancelled 20 minutes before the doors opened, inciting massive rioting at the arena. The surreal event occurred while the band was setting up on stage, and it garnered international news media attention. The band stayed on the tour until it was eventually cancelled early December before the show in Philadelphia, PA, CKY’s home-town.

Fresh off the “Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild” and “Chinese Democracy” tours, the band jumped right into the first dates of 2003, the “Out On the Noose Again Tour”. In late March, after a show at the House of Blues in Chicago, IL, Chad tripped while walking down a flight of stairs and broke his tailbone, postponing the tour until May. Guns ‘n’ Roses wouldn’t be the only legendary band to show interest in CKY- heavy metal legend Metallica contacted the band shortly after the failed Guns ‘n’ Roses tour. James Hetfield personally phoned Deron to request them to open for Metallica at the Fillmore in May of 2003- the first time Metallica had performed since losing Jason Newsted in 2000. This was a major step for the band and a dream come true, especially for Deron Miller, who considers Metallica iconic and Hetfield an inspiration.

In June 28th, 2005, the band re-emerged with “An Answer Can Be Found”- their third major release and most ambitious to date. Debuting at #35 on the Billboard Top 100, the band once again laid down fierce riffs interladen with catchy melodies. At the same time, they finally revealed that their new bassist would be Matt Deis, formerly of the band All That Remains. With Deis, the band hit the road bringing with them a monstrous bass player that really brought their live shows back into full gear. Along with being a fantastic live bassist, Deis also brought the first major change to the band- he’s assisting with songwriting. Being a bass AND guitar player with music theory under his belt, Deis became a vital piece of CKY’s future. The addition of Deis was a shot of adrenaline to the rest of the band, who had shown sheer jubilance and excitement at how things were coming together. It had been a long time since the band played any shows; and it was time to get back out there, kick ass and take names.

Between the members each are involved in many side projects. Jess Margera’s new band “Viking Skull” just released their new album “Chapter Two” available now on cdbaby.com. Deron Miller has a melodic death metal side project “World Under Blood” which is currently finishing up and awaiting album release. Chad Ginsburg produces everything for CKY and also other bands, such as Viking Skull. His extensive experience and skill can be heard in every nuance of the sonics in a recording.

We are proud to not only have them as a client, but as good friends as well.

Inclind provided the band with the tools they needed to update their site from wherever they are, at home, the studio, or on the road. They can easily log into their CMS (Content Management System) and post news, tour dates, upload photos/video/audio, as well as quickly find contact information for anyone just a click away. They love what they have and trust us fully to lead them into the next stage of their website, taking place early 2008. This kind of quality is only available from Inclind. Stay tuned.

CKY is featured on the following:

• FUSE.tv
• MTV
• MTV2
• Sirius Radio – Faction 28
• Sirius Radio – Faction 28 “Radio Bam” (sometimes also guest host the show)
• Viva la Bam
• Jackass
• Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 Video Game
• Resident Evil 2 Soundtrack
• AMC Top 100 Horror Films Of All Time (Deron Miller guest)
• Guitar One magazine
• Guitar World magazine

Find out more about CKY:

• CKY Official Site
• CKY Tour Schedule
• CKY MySpace
• CKY on Amazon
• World Under Blood MySpace
• Viking Skull MySpace
• Jess Margera Official Site
• CKY on Wikipedia
• CKY on RoadRunner Records
• CKY on YouTube
• Deron Miller on Wikipedia
• Chad Ginsburg on Wikipedia
• Jess Margera on Wikipedia
• Matt Deis on Wikipedia

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