While many hard-rock bands today are blamed for the destructive acts committed by their listeners, few groups can admit their music offered the soundtrack for near-death stunts and honestly laugh about it. Through “Jackass”‘ three-season lifespan, Camp Kill Yourself (CKY for short) has provided the background music for countless idiotic/ingenious adventures of Johnny Knoxville and company.
Long before the monetary potential of videotaping oversized adolescents shooting each other with taser guns was realized, CKY was just another unit of “Jackass” veteran Bam Margera’s skateboarding/film-making/prankster army.
With the setting of the “Jackass” sun, the boys of CKY have emerged from their shadowy resting places to carry the torch of the indie-skate-scene mentality a little further. In the words of lead guitarist Chad Ginsburg, the five-year-old Pennsylvanian-bred CKY was built on the master plan to “take over the name of rock and roll and piss in its face.”
By the end of its third, and latest, album Infiltrate, Destroy, Rebuild, one can almost hear the sound of a zipper.
There is not a single genre of the late 20th century that this talented band of rock musicians doesn’t borrow from. Between Bam’s equally talented brother Jess on drums, Vern Zebowski demonstrating a powerfully stoic approach on bass, Ginsburg backing up every single one of his words on guitar and Deron Miller pushing the mic and Moog synthesizer to new limits, one finds oneself at a loss for words to pigeonhole this incredible band.
One part classic rock, one part grunge, one part funk and one part innovation, CKY hits its listener hard without the distractions and artistic unoriginality most bands find themselves committing today.
With first single “Flesh Into Gear,” Miller and company revisit the laidback rhythm of the early 1990s alternative-rock movement combined with 1970s fuzzed guitars, 1980s synth work and turn-of-the-century lyrical angst. Using a hard-rock foundation, the crossbreeding of genres only gets more interesting as this album progresses.
In “Shock & Terror,” the listener is taken on a funkadelic trip, while “Plastic Plan” screams discotheque, and “Sporadic Movement” pays tongue-in-cheek tribute to the modern nu-metal scene.
The force that ties these musical polar tendencies together is found in the second single and masterpiece, “Attached at the Hip.” This song alone helps to make sense of this multi-directional band.
Why would a band of this caliber work so hard to act as a chameleon? Why would a guy strap blocks of ice to his feet in an attempt to ski down a grassy hill? The answer: Because it’s fun. As musical as Miller’s lyrics are, just a brief scan of the album notes reveals this band is in no way trying to convey an aura of seriousness.
In a world that is gagging on prefabricated boy bands, dolled-up, lip-synching Britneys and rock bands more concerned with crawling in the corner and crying about having a bad childhood than making original music, CKY is a fresh alternative. Even its sentimental “Close Yet Far” leaves the listener smiling and feeling good rather than depressed and searching for the bottle of Jack Daniels.
Forty minutes of talent, fun and diverse music: What more could a rocker ask for in an album? When you’re out shopping for your little skater-punk brother or cousin this holiday season, pick up two copies of CKY’s Infiltrate, Destroy, Rebuild: one for your loved one and one for you. Every time this album rings up, a boy band calls it quits.
Grade: A/B
