CKY
Photo: Roadrunner Records

You figure there's got to be a great story — or a great fictitious one, at least — behind a song titled "The Boardwalk Body," right? Well, there is, but fans of "Jackass"-affiliated alternative-metallers CKY will have to wait until the fall to learn all about the inspiration behind frontman Deron Miller's cryptic lyricism.

Without giving too much of the macabre story away, drummer Jess Margera revealed that the track is about a childhood trip Miller took with his family to Wildwood, New Jersey, where he "full-on found some dead body under the boardwalk." Thankfully, CKY's forthcoming yet-untitled fifth LP isn't a concept piece — that just isn't their style. Instead, Margera said the boys plan to take a step back and return to the chugging, fuzzed-out guitar glory of 1999's Volume 1.

"We're taking it one song at a time, because when you do it like that it's kind of a pain in the ass, but every song has its own personality," Margera said of the follow-up to 2005's An Ånswer Can Be Found. The new album is still in the pre-production phase. "We like just banging out 12 songs, because then it just seems like the whole record's from one session, and all the songs kind of blend together. We try to do that with every record, but the last album we ended up doing in two sessions. I love that last album, but I think we got a little too busy. The riffs were just too much, almost, in my opinion."

With An Ånswer, the band's last effort for Island Records, Margera felt CKY tried to show off a bit by overwhelming their trademark sound with insane riffs. "It was a total guitar record," he explained. "On this next one, it'll still sound like a CKY record, but Deron played me a ton of new riffs, and I've been working on a ton of stuff, but a couple of these riffs gave me that feeling I got when we did '96 Quite Bitter Beings' [from Volume 1]. [One] riff is just so distinctive, and when I first heard it, I called out of work so we could go demo it immediately. On this record, maybe some of the riffs are strong enough to be the chorus, like in '96.' I don't know — I just want to get back to doing that stuff. I just want to get back to good rock."

The album will be the band's first for Roadrunner, the label it signed to in December after leaving Island. CKY will self-produce the effort, and according to Margera, of the songs they've been working on, only one other has a definitive title: "Hellions on Parade." CKY will film much of the studio sessions for the recording of the song and hope to release a DVD soon.

In addition to his work with CKY, Margera's been keeping busy working on various side projects and lending his talents to other bands' work. He recorded all the drum tracks on Viking Skull's upcoming Chapter II LP and has formed a band called Partners in Crime with CKY guitarist Chad Ginsburg and Guy Heller of Moistboyz.

But the band he's most excited about — after CKY, that is — hasn't even been assigned a name yet. It features Fireball Ministry's Jim Rota and Clutch main man Neil Fallon.

"I was on a flight back from Germany, and I was looking at my iPod, and I looked at my top 10 list or whatever, and it was just like Clutch, Puny Human, Fireball Ministry, Led Zeppelin," he said. "So I called everybody but Led Zeppelin, for obvious reasons, because I was recording in my home studio. I just invited them all up to my house, and we worked on two or three songs. That turned into five songs, then eight, 10, and now we have 12 songs."

Margera said the Fallon-fronted act sounds like equal parts CKY, Clutch and Fireball Ministry, and had its first practice last month, following his pro-skateboarder brother Bam Margera's wedding to Melissa Rothstein. While the group does intend to release an album, he's not sure when that will be, given that the bands' hectic schedules will make tracking the LP difficult.

"It's like my supergroup, man," he enthused. "It's just cool as hell, and I'm psyched about it."

• Cky

Cassidy's <i>I'm a Hustla</i>
Photo: J-Records

Cassidy will have to observe the release of his new album, I'm a Hustla, from behind bars.

The rapper, who turned himself in on June 17 for the murder of a 22-year-old man in Philadelphia, will be in jail, waiting for a July 19 preliminary hearing when his sophomore album (which features production by Swizz Beatz), hits stores. Cassidy was officially charged with one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated assault and weapons charges.

Prior to his arrest, the rapper was also getting media attention for his beef with 50 Cent, who warned the MC on Hot 97 to watch his mouth. Fans of Cassidy might take a look at the most recent project from another jailed rapper who also had words for 50 if they're concerned about the future of Cassidy's career. Shyne recorded his entire album Godfather Buried Alive behind bars and saw it debut at #3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

Out Tuesday, June 28:

• 1 Cause 1 Effect - Dropped the Axe (Bungalo)
• Arcana - Le Serpent Rouge (Projekt)
• Astral Doors - Evil Is Forever (Locomotive)
• A Band of Bees - Free the Bees (Astralwerks)
• Bering Strait - Pages (Universal South)
• Bizarre - Hannicap Circus (Sanctuary)
• Cassidy - I'm a Hustla (J-Records)

Read: "Swizz, Mary J. Keep Bangin' On Cassidy's 'I'm A Hustla' "
Buy Now: I'm a Hustla (J-Records)

• Bill Charlap - Plays George Gershwin: The American Soul (Blue Note)
• CKY - An Ånswer Can Be Found (Island)

Read: "CKY Line Up Fall Tour, Won't Have To Pack Any Shoes"
Buy now: An Ånswer Can Be Found (Island)

• Communic - Conspiracy in Mind (Nuclear Blast)
• Rita Coolidge - And So Is Love (Concord)
• Darkest Hour - Undoing Ruin (Victory)
• Debbie Davies - All I Found (Telarc)
• Raheem DeVaughn - The Love Experience (Jive)
  Buy Now: The Love Experience (Jive)
  
• DevilDriver - The Fury of Our Maker's Hand (Roadrunner)
• The Early November - The Acoustic EP (Drive Thru)
• Richard Elliot - Metro Blue (ARTizen)
• Esthero - Wikked Lil' Grrrls (Reprise)
• Fountains of Wayne - Out-of-State Plates (Virgin)
  Read: "Fountains Of Wayne To Spout 26-Song Rarities Collection, Tour In June"
• Sean-Gemini - Inner Me (Lightyear)
• Terry Gibbs - Feelin' Good: Live in Studio (Mack Avenue)
• Gorerotted - A New Dawn for the Dead (Metal Blade)
• Vivian Green - Vivian (Columbia)
  Buy Now: Vivian (Columbia)
  
• The Greencards - Weather and Water (DualTone)
• Anthony Hamilton - Soulife (Rhino)
• Hot Apple Pie - Hot Apple Pie (Dreamworks Nashville)
• Isle of View - Gentle Firefly Radio (Undecided)
• Clay Jones - Mountain Tradition (Rural Rhythm)
• Sean Jones - Gemini (Mack Avenue)
• Ladybug Mecca - Trip the Light Fantastic (Nu-Paradigm)

Read: "Rebirth Of Digable Planets Has Ladybug Mecca Tripping"

• Jamie Liddel - Multiply (Warp)
• A Life Once Lost - Hunter (Ferret)
• Lina - The Inner Beauty Movement (Red Urban)
• Little Barrie - We Are (Artemis)
• Longwave - There's a Fire (RCA)
  Buy Now: There's a Fire (RCA)
  
• Pat McGee Band - Save Me (Kirtland)
• Shannon McNally - Geronimo (Back Porch/EMI)
• David Mead - Wherever You Are (Eleven Thirty)
• Noiseshaper - Rough Out There (Sounds From the Roof)
• Open Road - Lucky Drive (Rounder)
• Joan Osborne - One of Us (Artemis)
• P$C - 25 to Life (Atlantic)
• The Posies - Every Kind of Light (Rykodisc)
  Buy Now: Every Kind of Light (Rykodisc)
  
• Ernest Ranglin - Surfin' (Telarc)
• Skeletons and the Girl-Faced Boys - Git (Ghostly International)
• The Soviettes - LP III (Fat Wreck Chords)
• John Stevens - Red (Maverick)
• George Strait - Somewhere Down in Texas (MCA Nashville)
• The String Cheese Incident - One Step Closer (SCI Fidelity)
• Throwdown - Vendetta (Trustkill)
• Thunderstone - Tools of Destruction (Nuclear Blast)
• Tsar - Band-Girls-Money (TVT)
• Vio-Lence - Eternal Nightmare (Megaforce)
• Patricia Vonne - Guitars & Castanets (CoraZong)
• Steve Walsh - Shadowman (33rd Street)
• John Williams -- "War of the Worlds" soundtrack (Decca)
• World Leader Pretend - Punches (Warner Bros.)

Read: "World Leader Pretend: Bluffing Their Way To The Top"
Buy Now: Punches (Warner Bros.)

• Ying Yang Twins - U.S.A. (United State of Atlanta) (TVT)

Read: "WYing Yang Twins Fly The Flag For The U.S.A. (United State of Atlanta)"
Buy Now: U.S.A. (United State of Atlanta) (TVT)

• Various artists - Spectral Sound, Vol. 1 (Spectral Sound)
• Various artists - Wendy Williams Brings the Heat, Vol. 1 (Virgin)
• Various artists -- "Devil's Rejects" soundtrack (Hip-O)
• DVD: Chicago/ Earth, Wind & Fire -- "Live at the Greek Theatre" (Image)
• DVD: Low -- "In Europe" (Plexifilm)
• DVD: Bette Midler -- "The Divine" (Shout! Factory)
• DVD: Niacin - "Live in Tokyo" (Eagle Rock)
• DVD: Lee Ritenour -- "Overtime" (Eagle Rock)
• DVD: Tom Russell - "Hearts on the Line" (HighTone)
• DVD: Keller Williams -- "Sight" (SCI Fidelity)
• DVD: Various artists -- "Eminem Presents the Anger Management Tour" (Aftermath/Interscope)

July 5:

• R. Kelly - TP3 Reloaded (Sony)
• Sufjan Stevens -- Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty)
• Various artists - "Fantastic Four" soundtrack (Wind-Up)

July 12:

• All-American Rejects - Move Along (Interscope)

Read: "All-American Rejects 'Had To Step It Up' On New LP — Or Else"

• Black Dahlia Murder - Miasma (Metal Blade)
• Bow Wow - Wanted (Sony)

July 19:

• DMX - Here We Go Again (Ruff Ryders)

Read: "Mase Advises DMX To Rap Again, Wait For The Lord's Call"
Buy Now: Here We Go Again (Ruff Ryders)

• Frank Black - Honeycomb (Back Porch)

Read "Frank Black Covers Elvis, Duets With Ex-Wife On Dylanesque Album"

• Cassidy
• Cky
• Ying Yang Twins
• Fountains of Wayne
• Ladybug Mecca

CKY (file)
Photo: Island

Bam Margera is such a big deal that even his brother's band gets to headline a fall tour. And the group gets a whole bunch of free shoes just for doing it.

Starting August 8, CKY (featuring Jess Margera on drums) will hit the road as headliners of the Rock Adio Tour, a five-week jaunt sponsored by Adio footwear, makers of fine skateboarding shoes for everyone from Tony Hawk and Bam Margera to, well, CKY themselves.

They'll be touring in support of their upcoming album, the typographically challenging An Ånswer Can Be Found, (check the Scandinavian "A"). Produced by guitarist Chad I. Ginsburg, Ånswer (due Tuesday) sticks to bottom-heavy rock and elastic-fingered fret-ology that Ginsburg is so proud of (see "CKY Need A Bass Player; What They Don't Need Is An Ego Boost"). The first single, "Familiar Realm," features a chugging low end, rubbery solos and frontman Deron Miller bellowing, "If they've told you who to be, you've entered a familiar realm/ Break out and carry on."

Fans can also hear "Realm" on the just-released compilation Viva la Bands, which features 21 hand-picked tracks by Bam Margera (see "Skater Bam Margera's Latest Trick: Making Bands Blow Up").

Joining CKY on the tour are their good buddies Fireball Ministry and the Knives. According to CKY's label, Island Records, advance Rock Adio Tour tickets will be available to members of CKY's fan club, the CKY Alliance, in the coming weeks. For more information, check out CKYMusic.com.

CKY tour dates, according to Island Records:

• 8/8 - San Diego, CA @ Soma
• 8/9 - Phoenix, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
• 8/11 - Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues
• 8/12 - San Francisco, CA @ The Pound
• 8/13 - Reno, NV @ New Oasis
• 8/14 - Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
• 8/15 - Vancouver, BC @ Croatian Cultural Centre
• 8/17 - Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
• 8/18 - Spokane, WA @ Big Easy Concert House
• 8/19 - Boise, ID @ The Big Easy
• 8/20 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Lo Fi Cafe
• 8/21 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
• 8/23 - Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theatre
• 8/24 - Minneapolis, MN @ The Quest
• 8/25 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave
• 8/26 - Sauget, MO @ Pops
• 8/27 - Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
• 8/30 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
• 8/31 - Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall
• 9/2 - Toronto, ON @ Docks
• 9/3 - Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
• 9/4 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Zoo
• 9/5 - Reading, PA @ The Silo
• 9/6 - New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
• 9/8 - Hartford, CT @ Webster Theater
• 9/9 - Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
• 9/10 - Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
• 9/11 - Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa Theatre

• Cky

Bam Margera
Photo: MTV News

You wouldn't know it from his ragged, goofball public persona, but Bam Margera is quite the workhorse. In addition to his "Viva la Bam" TV show, his DVD series, his popular video game franchise and his ever-expanding line of skateboarding paraphernalia, he's also got a whole bunch of other projects set to drop.

The first is Viva la Bands (which hits stores Tuesday), a 21-track CD/DVD collection of Bam's favorite acts, which of course includes his brother Jess' band, CKY, and Finnish goth-rockers HIM, whom Margera seems to shout out at every single opportunity, but also a whole lot of other, lesser-known bands that Margera grew up listening — and skating — to.

"I'm a skater, so music is everything for me," Margera said. "That's what gets me pumped up to jump down a flight of stairs. Bands that I like mean so much to me that I thought one day, 'I need to have a CD of my favorite songs by my favorite bands, and just have everyone see it.' Because all the bands I like are pretty much from Scandinavia or England, and you really can't hear them over here."

Those bands include Finland's Children of Bodom, England's Viking Skull and Norway's Turbonegro. And while many people may have no idea who those acts are, that's kind of the whole idea.

"All these bands have #1 hits in Finland, but you'll never hear them here. I take those songs and bring 'em here to show everybody. I mean, they sing in English," Margera said. "But they never sign those acts here. And it's so frustrating, so I have to take the matter into my own hands."

And he's applied that method to his TV show too. In recent seasons Bam has booked a lot of his favorite acts on "Viva" — like HIM, Clutch and Cradle of Filth (who will appear on the upcoming season) — in an effort to raise awareness and record sales.

"I always love having a band come on and play. Like, with Cradle of Filth, they have such a diehard fanbase, but they never play them on the radio," he said. "So if I have 'em here, there's a bunch of 13- to 20-year-olds that are going to find out about them here. So it's a good marketing campaign for them. It's a no-brainer."

And when he's not playing publicist, Margera is stepping behind the cameras to make another film (after 2002's "Haggard"), but this time he's getting a little serious, with a dark comedy called "The Dream Seller," based on the misadventures of his roommate (and "Viva la Bam" regular) Brandon Novak.

"Novak was going to be a professional skateboarder — Tony Hawk signed him and everything — but being that Baltimore is the heroin capital of the world, he got introduced to it at the age of 14, and he did it for 10 years," Margera explained. "So it's all about the things that happened to him. Like, he'd fall asleep in the bed of a pickup truck in a parking lot, because he saw a blanket in the back. And then the guy would start driving to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, like three hours away. It's so ridiculous, so you'll laugh and you'll cry a bit too."

Margera said "The Dream Seller" will be available on DVD in June 2006. The new season of "Viva la Bam" kicks off Sunday.

• Cky
• HIM

CKY (file)
Photo: Island Music Group

CKY's Chad Ginsburg is so excited about his band's forthcoming disc, An Answer Can Be Found, that he's practically bursting at the seams with rabid energy. The guy's just pumped. Every expressive word that comes out of his mouth just teems with enthusiastic anticipation as he describes this, the band's fourth opus.

"Um, it's a CKY album, dude," Ginsburg explained, half-awake. "It's the only kind of album we make." Damn, can't you just feel this man's febrile passion?

"It's the only rock record I'll be listening to this year," he said. "It's an instant classic. It's a CKY record. I don't want anyone else's record. I want this one. It's a great record. We love it. The songs, they're new songs. They're not the same songs that were on the last record."

Maybe Ginsburg, guitarist for the progressive, prank-pulling post-hardcore chug-rock trio, doesn't feel he needs to go into detail about An Answer Can Be Found because, well, he agrees with singer/guitarist Deron Miller's recent online boasts, that the record is hands down 2005's best rock album. In fact, when it comes to CKY, everything the band does is, naturally, the best ... according to CKY, anyway.

"Why wouldn't it be? What else would I be existing for? This is stupid," Ginsburg said. "Everything you do better be the best. Other than that, get out of my way. It's not bullsh--. It's loud, it's passionate. But I ain't f---ing lying to you. Confidence is key. What are you going to do, commit suicide? Live, dude. It's about making sure you force the change. There are kids out there who are going to need to learn from you. It takes a certain amount of being pissed to make sure other people are happy. If I come across as cocky, I'm doing it for the good of everyone else."

The latest from CKY — whose lineup is rounded out by drummer Jess Margera, Bam's bro — is due June 28, but there's much to do before then. First of all, the boys need to shoot a video for their single "Familiar Realm."

"We're going to do another one with Bam, which keeps it all CKY," Ginsburg explained. "Getting other people involved tends to distract things. We like to keep things in-house. We've made plenty of videos — maybe 14 so far with Bam. Hopefully, we'll spend more money on it than we ever have before. We could do it cheap. We've done a lot of low-budget videos, and they're still better than everybody's."

They'll also need to find themselves a new bassist they can take on the road for a summer tour Ginsburg said is in the planning stages: "When we can get a dude who can deal with us and we can deal with, we'll get out on tour as soon as possible. I'm anxious and ready to furiously fire the hell out of people. We're ready to do this."

And then there's the airing of CKY's "A Very Special Special" on MTV2 on May 27. The documentary-style program will provide fans with behind-the-scenes, backstage and onstage glimpses of the group while previewing material from An Answer Can Be Found. Featuring soaring guitar solos for the first time in the band's brief history, Answer includes the tracks "Suddenly Tragic," "Dressed in Decay," "Deceit is Striking Gold," "Behind the Screams" and "Don't Hold Your Breath."

• Cky

CKY
Photo: Gregg Delman

Members of the press have long grumbled about how they're the last to find out any news about Guns N' Roses. For example, when the band made a surprise appearance at this year's MTV Video Music Awards, even insiders didn't hear about it until show time. And when the group's new tour was finally announced, the band was practically already on the road. But journalists aren't the only ones left in the dark by Axl Rose, GN'R's secretive frontman.

Pennsylvania modern metal band CKY, who are opening the Guns U.S. tour starting Thursday night (November 7) in Vancouver, didn't know they were on the bill until three days ago. At the time, the band was heading from Michigan to California to finish up a tour with Leisure.

"All of a sudden, Axl picked us. We had to cancel two sold-out shows in California and turn right full rudder all the way to Vancouver," said CKY drummer Jess Margera by cell phone as the band's tour bus approached the Canadian border. "We were at least 2,000 miles out of the way when we got the call. We've been driving for three days, but this is an awesome tour so it's worth driving all that way."

CKY landed the tour after their management found out GN'R still hadn't chosen a tour opener. So they overnighted a package to the band's management company and were handpicked by Axl from about 10 groups.

"I'm psyched because that's probably the biggest tour of this year," Margera said. "And we've all been fans of Guns N' Roses for a long time. I got Appetite for Destruction when I was 10 years old, so I've been listening to that for a while. And I'm a big fan of [guitarist] Buckethead and Brain is a really awesome drummer. I can't wait to hang out with him."

Opening a tour for any stadium band is challenging for a new act, but warming the crowd for Guns N' Roses can be a recipe for disaster. Many members of the audience will likely be fans of old-school metal, not nü-metal or alternative rock, and may not have the patience to be polite to a band they've likely never heard.

"I'm not worried," Margera said. "I'm sure a lot of people will be psyched to see Guns N' Roses, but we'll be raging hard enough that they can't just write us off. Our live shows are pretty gnarly and it's hard not to watch."

Even if CKY aren't treated like rock royalty, they've gotten used to playing to tough crowds (see "'Jackass' Band CKY Hang Guitarist, Denounce Hives, Strokes"). Last year, the band was booked on a tour with Godsmack, Deftones and a then-unknown Puddle of Mudd, and CKY had to bail partway through because they were so poorly received.

"We were on the tour just for the Deftones because they invited us and they're really nice guys," Margera said. "But the Godsmack crowd is pretty much just the radio crowd and they're not feeling anything but that nü-metal type deal. And [Godsmack frontman] Sully [Erna] was a di--. He was all about himself and we weren't down with dealing with that."

The last straw for CKY came when Erna wouldn't let the band jam onstage with the Deftones during their set, but that wasn't their only bone of contention.

"One time we were walking around backstage and someone put a CKY sticker on the Godsmack laminate over the picture of Sully's face," Margera recalled. "And he just told everyone that can't be happening. 'My face can't be covered on that laminate,' he said, and he made whoever had a sticker on their laminate take it off."

Godsmack weren't the only group on the tour that CKY had beef with. While Puddle of Mudd weren't specifically rude, Margera said he thinks Wes Scantlin and his bandmates stole some of CKY's designer clothing.

"We're endorsed by Adio Shoes, so we have all this gear, and we just saw them suddenly wearing all these Adio shoes, jackets and hats, and it had to come from us," Margera said. "It just pissed us off. We're walking around with Adio gear because that's our sponsor, and then they're rocking Adio stuff too, so it just looked ridiculous."

• Cky
• Guns N' Roses

In a week of hip and twangy rock boys, the epitome (Beck) and his close second (Ryan Adams) showcase their melancholy new albums.

Beck's Sea Change finds him reunited with producer Nigel Godrich and mourning the end of a relationship, while Ryan Adams' Demolition, the unofficial follow-up to Gold, consists of 13 previously unreleased tracks that also recount romantic disaster.

"Jackass" cohorts CKY (Camp Kill Yourself) release their second album, Infiltrate. Destroy. Rebuild. alongside more, shall we say, mature music courtesy of Peter Gabriel's Up and India.Arie's Voyage to India.

And finally, Eyes Adrift, an alt-country group consisting of former members from embattled bands Krist Novoselic (Nirvana), Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets) and Bud Gaugh (Sublime), release their self-titled debut album.

Now, eyes down to the rest of the list.

Out Tuesday, September 24:

• 60 Watt Shaman - Reason to Live (Spitfire)
• Aborym - Kali-Yuga-Bizarre (World War III)
• Ryan Adams - Demolition (Lost Highway)
   
• The Agenda! - Start the Panic (Kindercore)
• Steve Almaas & Ali Smith - Duets (Parasol)
• Jade Anderson - Dive Deeper (Columbia)
• Antimatter- Saviour (The End)
• Astroqueen - Into Submission (Crash)
• Asylum Street Spankers - My Favorite Record (Bloodshot)
• Bailey - Soul Thunder (Breakbeat Science)
• Gato Barbieri - The Shadow of the Cat (Peak)
• The Beautiful Mistake - Light a Match, for I Deserve to Burn (The Militia Group)
• Beck - Sea Change (Geffen)
  Read: "Beck Living After Midnite Vultures, Rocking With New Album"
   
• Tab Benoit & Jimmy Thackery - Whisky Store (Telarc)
• B Funk - Funk Related (Numillennium Dist. Group)
• Big Brutha Soul - Bruthaland (Higher Octave)
• Blank Theory - Beyond the Clam of the Corridor (Scratchie)
• B-Legit - Hard 2 B-Legit (In the Paint)
• Blue Öyster Cult - Long Days Night (CMC International)
• Terry Bozzio & Billy Sheehan - Nine Short Films (Magna Carta)
• Jim Breuer - Smoke and Breu (Comedy Central)
• Savoy Brown - Rock'N'Roll Warriors (Cleopatra)
• Jackson Browne - The Naked Ride Home (Elektra)
• Burning Brides - Fall of the Plastic Empire (V2)
• Jeremy Camp - Stay (BEC/Tooth & Nail)
• CKY - Infiltrate. Destroy. Rebuild. (Island)
  Read: "'Jackass' Band CKY Hang Guitarist, Denounce Hives, Strokes"
• Claire Voyant - Love Is Blind (Metropolis)
• Les Claypool - The Frog Brigade Presents Purple Onion (Prawn Song)
• Tom Cochrane & Red Rider - Anthology: 1980 — 1987 (One Way Records)
• Alice Cooper - Dragontown (Spitfire Active)
• The Cranberries - Stars: Best of 1992 — 2002 (Island)
• Peppino D'agostino - Every Step of the Way (Favored Nations)
• Dena DeRose - Love's Holiday (Sharp Nine)
• Dies Irae - The Sin War (Metal Blade)
• Doro - Fight (Steamhammer)
• Steve Earle - Jerusalem (E-Squared/Artemis)
• Eartha - Sidebars (AFRT Music)
• Eliane Elias - Kissed by Nature (Bluebird)
• Darren Emerson & Tim Deluxe - Underwater: Episode 1 (Thrive)
• Tommy Emmanuel - Only (Favored Nations Acoustic)
• Bill Engvall - Cheap Drunk: The Autobiography (Warner Bros.)
• Eternal Lies - Spiritual Deception (Crash)
• Orrin Evans - Meant to Shine (Palmetto)
• Evolution - Unnatural Selection (Nettwerk)
• Eyes Adrift - Eyes Adrift (SpinART)
• Fallen - Front Towards Enemy (Metal Blade)
• Firefall - Elan (Collectables)
• The Forty-Fives - Fight Dirty (Yep Roc)
• Peter Gabriel - Up (Geffen)
  Read: "Peter Gabriel Pens Very Brady Single On Death-Inspired Up"
   
• Goneblind - Goneblind (EP, Roadrunner)
• Gran Torino - The One and Only (The Red Eye Label)
• Greenhouse Effect - Phase One (Orpheus)
• Nanci Griffith - Winter Marquee (Rounder)
• Mary Cleere Haran - Crazy Rhythm (Fynsworth Alley)
• Hazeldine - Doubleback (Okra-Tone)
• Warren Hill - Christmas (Narada Jazz)
• Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys - Your Favorite Fool (Bloodshot)
• Michael Houser - Door Harp (Sanctuary)
  Read: "Widespread Panic Set Tour; Posthumous Houser LP Due"
• Abdullah Ibrahim - African Symphony (Enja)
• India.Arie - Voyage to India (Motown)
  Read: "India.Arie Takes A Voyage On Second Album"
     Buy Now: Voyage to India (Motown)
• Iron and Wine - The Creek Drank the Cradle (Sub Pop)
• Bob James - Morning, Noon and Night (Warner Bros.)
• Jet 68 - SuperQueen (Cleopatra)
• Glenn Jones - Feels Good (Peak)
• Indira Khan - What Can I Do? (AFRT Music)
• Left Rights - Left Rights (Uppity Cracker)
• Living Sacrifice - Conceived in Fire (Solid State)
• Lo Hi - Say It More (Tiger Style)
• Low - Trust (Kranky)
• Mad Cap - East to West (Side One Dummy)
• Delbert McClinton - Room to Breathe (New West)
• McLusky - Do Dallas (Too Pure/Beggars Group)
• Rhett Miller - The Instigator (Elektra)
  Read: "Alt-Country Hero Rhett Miller Flees New York, Goes Pop"
• Alison Moyet - Hometime (Sanctuary)
• NAAM Brigade - Early in the Game (Artistdirect)
• Ted Nugent - Craveman (Spitfire)
• Nutty Boys - Crunch! (Mapps Café)
• Of Montreal - Aldhils Arboretum (Kindercore)
• Omnimotion - Omnimotion (Waveform)
• Parker & Lily - Here Comes Winter (Manifesto)
• Pastor Troy - Universal Soldier (Universal)
• Gary Pierce - Live at Schuba's (DCN)
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  Read: "Sum 41 Ask, Does This Look Infected?"

• Beck
• Cky
• Ryan Adams
• India.Arie
• UGK

CKY
Photo: Island/Def Jam

There's a line in the CKY song "Escape From Hellview" that goes, "I'm on the loose with my neck in the noose/ But hey, I enjoy the intense." So when they picked up cameras to shoot a video for the tune, they decided it would be cool to hang guitarist Chad Ginsburg from a tree. It almost became the last stunt Ginsburg would ever pull.

Since the grass-roots band self-financed the shoot on a meager budget, the only stunt coordinator they could afford turned out to be unqualified. The harness he tied around Ginsburg wasn't secure enough, and the guitarist almost died.

"I hung there for close to a minute," Ginsburg said. "I passed out 10 seconds in, but they didn't know until my body was flailing. I never came that close to dying. If you want to see that footage, it's gonna be on the next DVD that we release."

Most bands probably wouldn't release footage of one of its members almost getting snuffed, but CKY, who have shot six new music videos in the past year, are a different breed. Drummer Jess Margera's professional skateboarder brother Bam starred in the original "Jackass" episodes, Jess has been seen on the show on numerous occasions — most notably rolling down steep hills in a shopping cart — and the band's music has been featured prominently in both the series and the upcoming movie. However, as much as the name association has helped CKY, it has also painted them into a corner.

"We're not really part of the 'Jackass' crew," Ginsburg groaned. "The band doesn't go out and play concerts and fall off the stage on purpose because it's funny. You're not gonna find me up there with a stapler."

The "Jackass" label hasn't just been creatively stifling, it has also made it more difficult for CKY to book shows.

"Bands we're booked with and club owners are always freaked out," Ginsburg said. "They think we're gonna [urinate] in their deli trays and all types of sh--. We're banned from Philadelphia right now because when we were there somebody got too drunk and tried to impress us by throwing a bottle through some lady's window, and we got blamed for it. Everyone was like, 'Oh, the "Jackass" guys must've broken the window.' But it wasn't us."

It's not easy for a band like CKY to escape the frustrations of the labeling factory, but with their upcoming album, Infiltrate.Destroy.Rebuild, they might just break free. Unlike their two independently released albums CKY 1 and CKY 2, which both sounded like what they were — soundtrack music for skateboard movies — the new album stands on its own without visual augmentation. From song to song, the band experiments with various styles including metal, new wave and power pop, and while many of the choruses soar and sail, the music is undeniably heavy.

"Basically, CKY has got slowed down death metal riffs that are more melodic than death metal," Ginsburg said. "But the beat is not a metal beat, so it kills the death metal right away. And then we work in the vocal melodies, which is a whole 'nother section of what we're about."

The music of CKY sounds so intense and impassioned because for them music isn't just a vehicle for entertainment and expression, it's a vehicle to revolution. Ginsburg is fascinated with cult leaders like Jim Jones and Charles Manson, and one of his biggest role models is GG Allin, a controversial bandleader who defecated and masturbated onstage and attacked his own audiences before he died of a heroin overdose in 1993.

"Making videos, movies and music is a lot of work, but it's definitely worth it because it's gonna lead to a noticeable change that we've all been waiting for," Ginsburg said. "I can't afford to be a Hives fan. I don't have the designers to design my clothes to go to the shows. I don't know where the cool vintage shops are to be a Strokes fan. It's hard to buy into those bands right now. So we're gonna provide an alternative to that and shake things up and tear things down. We'll give people nothing but the best, and we could be their favorite rock and roll band for like the next 15 years."

• Cky