The Viva La Bands tour brought
Cradle of Filth, GWAR, CKY and
Vains of Jenna to Virginia as the
tour stopped off in Norfolk on
Wednesday, Sept. 26.
Organized by Bam Margera and
Rockstar energy drink, the Viva
La Bands tour springs from the
compilation album of the same
name, “Viva La Bands, Volume 2,”
featuring Children of Bodom, The
69 Eyes, Viking Skull and CKY,
among others.
The tour began Sept. 24 in Baltimore
and made its third stop at the
NorVa in Norfolk. I had a chance
to sit down with Jess Margera, Matt
Deis and Chad Ginsburg of CKY to
talk about the tour, Bam and touring
in Europe.
Grant: I’ve got to ask this. Is Bam
going to attend tonight?
Chad: Well, contractually he’s
only contracted to be at 12 shows.
He was at the first two shows. I don’t
know where he is tonight. Half the
time, I’d want him on our bus. Not
all the time, unless he wants to chip
in, because he’s the one that’s going
to be vomiting on everything.
Grant: So are you having fun
with GWAR on the road?
Chad: They put on a great
show. GWAR is worth the ticket
price alone, and for Richmond, you
know, you should be proud because
GWAR’s done a lot. Everyone knows
who GWAR is.
Matt: They still support Richmond
as much as they can, too, with all the
stuff that they’ve done, like recording
other bands in Richmond. They are
a great band in many ways.
Grant: How did Cradle of Filth
jump on this tour? I heard they were
added last minute.
Jess: Yeah, actually Children of
Bodom was supposed to be headlining
this thing, but they got all busy
with s— over in Finland and I don’t
know. Cradle jumped on.
Grant: What is CKY up to right
now? Tell me a bit about your
last release, “An Answer Can Be
Found,” and what’s up with the
new record.
Chad: Our last album was the last
record we did with Island Records,
and it was fine. It’s another CKY
record that we’re proud of. However
it’s received, it gets received. It gets
more positive responses these days
as people give it more time. The new
record’s going to be really sick. I built
my own studio this time, and the new
record company . there’s going to
be a lot of new possibilities.
Grant: Any tentative release
dates? How close are you to being
finished?
Matt: When it’s done, it’ll be done.
We’re not going to try to be one of
those bands that just sit around and
let it happen.
Chad: The label would love it
whenever we can give it to them. But,
as (the) Christmas season passes,
we’ll still be working on it.
Grant: Chad, you run all the
audio for Radio Bam, Bam’s weekly
radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio.
Are you going to be doing the show
while on tour?
Chad: Yeah, I have a mobile radio
show on the bus. I got to wait ’til
Bam realizes that we’re on tour right
now. This Monday’s show is up in
the air, but I’m ready.
Grant: You guys played the East
Coast Surfing Championships in
Virginia Beach this past August.
Tell me about that.
Matt: It was 15,000 people down
at the beach, at minimum. The sun
was setting over the horizon, and
the waves were coming in. It was
the recipe for the perfect show.
Chad: It was free too, which
makes it even more of a recipe for
a perfect show.
Grant: You’ve been touring in
Europe for a while. How do you
like touring over there?
Matt: You know how, like, over
here, if your friends, whether you’re
in to rap or rock or whatever, if your
friends are like “Hey, you want to
go to the bar and just grab a drink?”
you know, and everyone can do
that.Over there it’s like “Hey, do
you want to go check out this rock
band?” and whether you like rock,
it’s just something they do over there
that’s communal and social.
Chad: It’s hard to make money
over there. Our money is not worth
much, plus we spend a lot to eat.
So when a band comes over here
to tour they have to charge several
more dollars for T-shirts.
The Viva La Bands tour will be
rolling across the country until its
final stop in Worcester, Mass., on
Nov. 3.