CKY (band)

CKY
CKY in 2017. Left to right: Jess Margera, Chad Ginsburg, and Matt Deis
CKY in 2017. Left to right: Jess Margera, Chad Ginsburg, and Matt Deis
Background information
Also known as
  • Camp Kill Yourself
  • Camp
OriginWest Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genres
DiscographyCKY discography
Years active1998 (1998)–present
Labels
Spinoffs
Spinoff ofForeign Objects
MembersJess Margera
Chad I Ginsburg
Ronnie Elvis James
Past membersDeron Miller
Matt Deis
Matt "Matty J" Janaitis
Daniel Davies
Chris Weyh

CKY (abbreviation of Camp Kill Yourself)[5] is an American rock band from West Chester, Pennsylvania formed in 1998 by vocalist and guitarist Deron Miller, guitarist Chad I Ginsburg and drummer Jess Margera. In 2011, Miller left the band which has since continued with Margera and Ginsburg, along with touring bassist Ronnie Elvis James who began performing with the band in 2023. Since Miller's departure in 2011, Ginsburg has taken over as frontman. Miller has since reformed pre-CKY group Foreign Objects (which originally included Margera) and founded 96 Bitter Beings, his own continuance of the material he previously played with CKY.

CKY initially found mainstream recognition through its contributions to the CKY video series and Jackass TV series, both of which featured Margera's brother Bam. After the release of their debut album Volume 1 in 1999, CKY signed with Island/Def Jam and issued Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild in 2002, which gave the band its first experience of US chart success. In 2005 the album An Answer Can Be Found followed, after which the group signed with Roadrunner Records and released Carver City in 2009. Miller left the band in 2011, after which Ginsburg, Margera and bassist Matt Deis released The Phoenix on Entertainment One Music in 2017.

CKY has been categorized in various genres, including alternative rock/metal, post-grunge, stoner rock and hard rock. The band's songwriting in the past was typically led by Miller, with production, engineering and mixing handled by Ginsburg.

  1. ^ Sources referring to CKY as alternative metal:
    • Prato, Greg. "CKY: Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
    • Jackson, Nate (March 25, 2010). "CKY". OC Weekly. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
    • DiVita, Joe (May 1, 2017). "CKY Share Album Details + Song Feat. Mastodon's Brent Hinds". Loudwire. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  2. ^ Sources referring to CKY as stoner rock/metal:
  3. ^ Sources referring to CKY as alternative rock:
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference allmusic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^
    • Prindle, Mark (March 18, 2003). "Interview with Jess Margera of CKY". rebelnoise.com. Rebel Noise. Retrieved June 14, 2024. Our first record label, Volcom - they had a problem with it. They thought they'd get sued by angry parents, you know. So we kinda just shortened it to CKY. Actually, they were calling us Camp for a while.
    • Hodgson, Alisdair (April 20, 2022). "10 Rock Bands Who Were Forced To Change Their Album Covers". What Culture. Retrieved June 14, 2024.
    • "96 Bitter Beings - Return to Hellview". nuclearblast.com. June 14, 2024. Retrieved June 14, 2024. Miller co-founded Foreign Objects and later Camp Kill Yourself (a name born of his love of VHS slasher classics) in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in the '90s.
    • "HARDCORE CKY AT WEBSTER". courant.com. Hartford Courant. March 6, 2003. Retrieved June 14, 2003. By 1996, singer and guitarist Deron Miller had come up with a new name — Camp Kill Yourself, CKY for short, which he thought sounded like a good title for a horror movie.
    • "About CKY". www.mm-group.org. M&M Group Entertainment. Retrieved June 14, 2024. 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.