Artists
CKY
Once upon a time, CKY burned it all down, with a raucous, anarchic, hard rock sound soaked in the skate-punk culture that birthed them and a hard-partying lifestyle onstage and off that decimated relationships and reputations in its wake.
Chad I Ginsburg, the band’s guitarist and singer, steps into the frontman role with charisma, charm, and bravado, confidently delivering a diverse performance as he claims a position that was clearly rightfully his to own.
He’s joined in enduring partnership and musical and personal chemistry by fellow CKY cofounder, Jess Margera, the drummer whose extracurricular work in projects like The Company Band (with guys from Clutch and Fireball Ministry) expanded CKY’s horizons as much as Ginsburg’s solo work has as well.
Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, and Deftones have all personally invited CKY on tour, cementing a legacy as a hard-charging live act. CKY built a worldwide fanbase of dedicated acolytes, friends, and supporters, lovingly dubbed the CKY Alliance, with a broader group of musicians, athletes, and other creative types in the CKY family, both literally and figuratively.
Carver City (2009) debuted at #4 on the Hard Music charts. It was the second CKY album to debut in the Top 50 on the Billboard 200: An Answer Can Be Found (2005) hit #35 upon its release. But if anything, The Phoenix is a spiritual successor to CKY’s breakthrough, Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild (2002), with a hint of the appropriately titled debut, Volume 1 (1999).
“We’re grown adults now with an eagle-eye perspective on who we are, what we do, and how to do it right,” Ginsburg declares, with matter-of-fact certainty. “None of us are out there in the clouds. We’re pretty well-grounded people that have an honest perspective on where we’re at.”
The totality of the CKY experience is perhaps best summarized by a quote from enigmatic comic book legend, author, and self-proclaimed magician, Alan Moore. “My experience of life is that it is is not divided up into genres; it’s a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you’re lucky.”
Margera observes that it was “a perfect storm of events” that led to CKY becoming a pretty popular name. “When it’s happening, you’re not paying attention. But once you get a couple of years under your belt, you realize, ‘Holy shit, man. That was lucky as hell that happened to us!’, ya’ know?”
“We’re feeling rather lucky,” Ginsburg agrees. “We’re not taking things for granted. We’re saturated in gratitude. It’s an incredibly humbled CKY, with a fire to last another twenty years. The point is to go play rock n’ roll and appreciate everybody else who does it, too. It’s a lucky job to have.”
Crobot
With tens of millions of streams, countless shows and acclaim from the likes of Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Kerrang, BBC Radio, SiriusXM Octane, Loudwire, Guitar World and more, Brandon Yeagley [vocals], Chris Bishop
[guitar], Tim Peugh [bass], and Dan Ryan [drums] realize their vision like never before on their fifth full-length, Feel This [Released June 3 via Mascot Records].
Feel This is the follow-up to 2019s Top 10 Heatseekers album Motherbrain – whose cumulative streams have surpassed 30 million. 20 million of which were for the goliath single "Low Life" - a US Top 10 at active rock radio on the Billboard Mainstream with a 29-week run.
"This is the record we've been wanting to do ever since we started," exclaims Brandon. "We've always thought of ourselves as a live act," he continues. "When Jay Ruston described his process of recording, we were beyond excited about getting in and getting our hands dirty. It involved performing live as a unit and finishing all instruments on a song before moving on to the next. We recorded 16 songs in 21 days, which is a feat in itself."
Feel This is a tale of perseverance. "Through constant struggles, we learn more what it's like to be human. Our shortcomings and strengths alike make us a unique species," Brandon reflects. "Feel This very well may point to our biggest strength of all, our ability to feel emotion (for better or worse)."
Human nature is threaded throughout the album, from volatile relationships ["Dizzy"] to imperfections and learning from mistakes on "Holy Ghost." Its warbling harmony wraps around the wah-drenched guitar straight out of Seattle; Brandon's grunge-y wail rings out on the hook, "I am not the holy ghost. I won't ever save your soul." There's "believing in something so much" on "Set You Free," which spirals towards a seismic crescendo and emotionally charged guitar lead from Bishop.
Around the psyche-digging lyrics, they are never far away from thunderous rock 'n' roll. "Electrified" kickstarts the album as a rip-roaring livewire anthem. "It's your classic rock 'n' roll tune about Frankenstein boots and being invincible!" Brandon says. There's an epic anti-hero tale on "Without Wings," and then there's "Dance with the Dead." Forgetting your troubles over an irresistible groove, the song struts with high-register harmonies and the infectious chant of "Let's go dance with the dead. They know how to kill it!"
"Golden" is a soaring homage to a god-gone-too soon. "When it came to the lyrics, we collectively wanted it to be a tribute to Chris Cornell," says Brandon. "We're so influenced by everything he and Soundgarden have done. We ran with the song in honor of his legacy."
They made waves with Legend of the Spaceborne Killer [2012], Something Supernatural [2014], and Welcome To Fat City [2016]. However, Motherbrain [2019] represented a high watermark. They've crisscrossed the US and the world in road-warrior style, playing with the likes of Anthrax, Black Label Society, Chevelle, Clutch, Volbeat and more. They've lit up festival bills and the annual Shiprocked! Cruise. "We tour the pockets off of our pants and sleep in our van for half of the year. To some, that may seem like misery, but to us - it's Heaven baby!" the frontman says. Something they highlight on the new song, "Livin' on the Streets".
2019 ended with a US tour supporting Steel Panther, and then Covid19 punched the world in the face. As the Global Pandemic descended upon us, Chris and Dan hunkered down in Austin to jam and cut demos, sending ideas to Brandon back in Pennsylvania. 2021 saw the boys enter Orb Studios in Austin with producer Ruston [Stone Sour, Anthrax, Steel Panther]. Since the world has begun to open up, the band have not stood still. Rat Child EP was released last summer and featured a mighty cast of Frank Bello [Anthrax], Howard Jones [Light The Torch/ex-Killswitch Engage] and Stix Zadinia [Steel Panther]. They've also headed out on headline tours, played ass-kicking performances at festivals such as Rocklahoma, Aftershock, the Jericho Cruise and supported Halestorm.
You'll feel rock 'n' roll comes to life in Crobot's hands. "We never want to make the same album twice," Brandon leaves off. "There is something for every Crobot fan out there as well as newcomers. At the same time, we're having fun. We want to be taken seriously, but not too seriously—because this is monkey hour after all." "That's the fucking line right there," agrees Bishop. "We want you to walk away smiling. If I can make you smile, I've done my job."
Chase the Comet
In 2016 ’Chase the Comet’ members, frontwoman Nika Comet and guitarist Alexander Mishustov hopped on a flight from Moscow, Russia to Los Angeles, CA, and experienced eye-opening inspiration. Leaving behind the band that had brought them great success in their home country, they decided to follow their dreams and ‘deliver their music to the whole world.’
They started their first band 'The Sun' when they were in high school. After taking part in a TV-project like 'American Idol', releasing 2 full-length albums, first under the name 'The Sun' and then 'MyRockBand', playing at almost all biggest rock-festivals in Russia they realized they were ready for a more serious challenge.
By that time vocalist Nika Comet had an impressive resume providing backing vocals for one of the most popular Russian rock-bands ‘TARAKANY!’ and guitarist Alexander Mishustov had shared huge stages opening for the likes of ‘Metallica’, ‘Linkin Park’, ‘Muse’ and ‘Incubus’, just to name a few.
It was time for them to move on and focus on their own music.
In the United States, Nika and Alex began playing in legendary Los Angeles venues such as ‘Whisky a Go-Go’ (opening up for Michale Graves (ex-MISFITS) and Joe Lynn Turner (Deep Purple, Rainbow), ’Viper Room’, ‘Loaded’, ‘Musicians Institute’, ’Skinny’s Lounge’ and events such as ‘Tattoo Expo’ at Pomona Fairplex.
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