CKY – 09-11-2009

Interview with: Cky
By: Nina Mende

Before the show I had a little interview with CKY, a very interesting one where every one of the band and crew joined to say something throughout the interview.

The first thing we talked about was the current tour and playing shows in general ending in a Europe / USA comparison. Before they went to Europe they played some shows in the US. The interview began with Matt and Jess, so that were also the two talking about that.

The European tour started in Dublin and it has been raining ever since, so was it today. Right before Europe they played the South of the US where the shows were not as great as in Europe. Especially and outstanding bad was the show in North Carolina. The people did not know the band nor get into it too much. We agreed on nobody should be living there. Matt and Jess explained that there is parts of the US where they simply haven’t made it. People there seem to be more into Rap, Hip Hop or Country instead of rock. Back talking about Europe I was wondering why they are in Germany for one show only. They started explaining that they would spend the following day in Hamburg on their way to Denmark. The guys were all looking forward to their day off in Hamburg. After that Jess explained that the UK dates were scheduled first, then the Scandinavian dates were added. To fill up the short time in between these two “tours” the other dates were added. Very excited they told me about having a show on a boat. On a ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki, the so called “booze cruise”. At that point I found out that Matt knows Swedish so we talked a little bit in Swedish. Jess did not get a word and just stared at us. So we stopped chatting in Swedish and switched back to English. The Scandinavian tour would include Stockholm, the booze cruise and Helsinki before they would go to Moscow and St. Petersburg. They didn’t know what to expect but were looking forward to it. Besides with CKY Jess had been to Europe with his other band, a metal band where he’s also playing the drums. He said it was fun.

For some reason CKY is much more popular in Europe than in the US these days, and surprisingly Canada is also doing pretty well. At that point Hanna came up telling us about the fans downstairs that were rowdy.

We continued talking about their albums. First I was wondering about the long break between the last one and the latest one. Jess explained that the band needed a break. After 10 years of constantly touring and being together they were just sick of each other and needed some distance. For the previous record they were almost going on autopilot. So they decided to take a year off. After the break they were more on one level again, all being thankful again to do music as a job and finally could start working on the new album Carver City. Jess thinks Carver City is one of their best albums.
Chad build a studio in his house, there CKY recorded the album. The other records were recorded in different studios in Hawaii, Los Angeles and so on. For a lot of money you had limited time there and just wanted to get done, so you didn’t experiment much. Further was it foreign equipment. You could tell when listening to it. The first album of CKY was also recorded on known equipment and you can definitely tell the difference. So you can also on this album. Chad knows his surroundings in his studio, and the guys had more time to experiment because they didn’t have to worry about the money or a clock ticking for the rented amount of time. Matt explained here that Chad had bought all the equipment they used for the first album and brought it to his house. The only bad thing about it only was that it took a little longer to record Carver City. But then again the results are so much better.

The feedback from the fans for Carver City was quite positive. A lot of the dug it. All the reviews seemed to be positive. A few people just said there is too much going on. Carver City is not a record you really get the first time you hear it. It definitely takes a few listens to get it all, but then it really flows. Jess explained here that all his favorite records he didn’t get the first time. But listen by listen he found more on the album and began liking it even more.
Matt told that he and his wife had the Carver City album in their car for ages now without even realizing it. Jess also said he’s been listening a lot and thought he’d heard it all. But then he listened to it on headphones and discovered even more stuff on it.

The fan base in Europe seems a little bigger than it is in the US. Just in Germany the fan base isn’t as big. But in the UK and in Scandinavia it is quite big. In the US just certain parts seem to have many CKY fans, whereas other parts almost nobody seems to care about the band. Basically everything between the two coasts is not really into it. Jess comments that there seems to be no science to it at all. Because during the last tour Seattle rocked and Portland was lame, this time it was the way around. Maybe it just depends on what day of the week it is but all in all there is definitely no science to it. But in Europe it is noticeable more energetic. Except for hometown shows or big city shows in the US, the kids don’t get that crazy during the shows. US festivals Jess doesn’t enjoy so much. But European festivals are a lot of fun, because you have different bands and styles playing at one festival together. Whereas in the US you just have a bunch of bands that all sounds more or less alike.

Meanwhile Chad had joined us, listening quietly for most of it.

Plans the guys have is mostly to keep on touring. A tour in Japan was coming up. Another plan was to record a single. Because Jess thinks that the kids nowadays have a hard time to get an entire album of more than ten songs, their attention is limited to a short period of time. So it seems to be smarter to have singles or EPs with a few songs only. Jess is the same he said, if he likes a band he picks the few songs he likes, gets them on mp3 and that’s it. The whole album idea doesn’t seem to work to well anymore.

By now almost everybody was sitting around with us. We were joking around and chatting about random stuff more than having an actual interview. So I was asking for the last words.

Chad began talking here: He would love to play at Highfield festival. And playing some German festivals in general.

Thanks for this gorgeous interview. It was a lot of fun. See you around soon!

Links:
Cky MySpace
Cky Official