Chad Bowar: You have a couple of new members since your last CD. How did they come to join the band?
Jess Margera: Jules (Cooper) left the band. He’s actually a guitar teacher and landed a good job in England. He didn’t have time to do the band anymore. Luckily The Brandywine Eel lives around here and started played for us. Dom is friends with Roddy and Waldie, so it worked out pretty nicely. Roddy played guitar on the last tour, but he feels like his stage show suffers when he has to sing and play guitar.
This is your second CD with Viking Skull. How did you originally join the band?
They were opening for CKY, and I was a big fan for a long time. The band broke up, and I unwittingly had something to do with it. We were in Germany, and they didn’t have any tour support. I could tell they were having a (crappy) time on tour, so I took them to this bar. I got them nice and loaded. I wasn’t ready for the party to end, so I invited them on the bus to keep drinking. I didn’t realize what type of drama that would create. They were already arguing about stuff, and the absinthe I’m sure didn’t help much. I told them two of them could sleep in a nice cozy bunk, and two would have to go in the van. There was fighting over it, and it was pretty bad. I got home from tour and found out Viking Skull split up. So I called Roddy and he said Gordon the drummer left. I told him I would be the new drummer. It worked out well for me. I love those guys and had plenty of time. CKY takes three or four years to do a record, so I had time on my hands.
I started another band with Neil Fallon from Clutch and that’s a lot of fun. We’re going to play a show at the Note Theater in West Chester, my brother’s venue. It’s a 500 seat venue. It will be our first show. Then Viking Skull plays there after the Clutch tour. We’re going to film a video with Bam.
Is the sound of Doom Gloom Heartache & Whiskey in the vein of Viking Skull’s last album?
Yes. They’ve had a string of (crappy) luck, which sucks for them, but at the same time creates a lot of material. Roddy has been writing songs left and right. It’s pretty cool that they are getting recognition over here, and CKY kids are buying Viking Skull records since I’m in the band.
Were the songs written and ready to go when you went into the studio, or did you do some writing once you got there?
We did a lot of demoing through the internet. When they got here we had a pretty good idea of what we were going to be doing, and we got right into recording in my basement. Then we went to Rich’s place and finished everything. We were on a mission. There was time for fun, but we also played two shows that week, so it was busy.
What’s the tour schedule looking like?
We’re going to Europe for two weeks. We’re doing the Hard Rock Hell Festival, which I’m looking forward to. It’s Black Label Society, Thin Lizzy and Clutch. It’s in Wales. Then after Christmas we come back here and do some dates with Clutch and a couple headlining dates.
Is The Company Band you started with Neil from Clutch going to record a CD?
We did an EP. It’s out on iTunes and Amazon. We recently wrote a whole record. I’m busy these days with three bands and three kids.
Is the next CKY album coming out some time next year?
Yes, in March. I just heard the final mix. It’s worth the wait. The production is killer, and the songs turned out amazing. It sucks having to wait so long, and it’s hell to make. It’s not fun like Viking Skull. A Viking Skull recording session is a party. There’s a case of beer and everybody is raging and it’s a good time. With CKY records everybody means business and everything’s under a microscope. It’s kind of miserable, but the results are worth it in the end.
The thing with CKY is that the songs are very technical and the riffs are almost robotic. You have to play like a metronome, and I like to loosen up a bit. But I enjoy the challenge. With Viking Skull you just let loose. I appreciate bands like Viking Skull because rock and roll isn’t supposed to be perfect. I like that about Viking Skull. You can’t get away with mistakes in CKY.
In addition to music you’ve also done some acting in your brother Bam’s movies.
I popped up in Minghags briefly. I was also in Where The F*&% Is Santa where we took a trip to the Arctic Circle and kidnapped Santa. It was a lot of fun. That’s coming out soon on Warner Brothers. There’s a bunch of Viking Skull music in it. Ville from HIM is in it, and so is Andy McCoy from Hanoi Rocks. He had the best line I ever heard. We were sitting in Finland and they were playing a show. We went to this hotel bar and got pretty wasted. Andy was trashed, and me and Bam asked him if he was prepared to play a show in an hour. He just looked at us and said, “Don’t teach your Daddy how to (screw).” That should be a tee shirt.
Who are some drummers that you admire?
Everyone says this, but John Bonham. That guy had more style in his pinky finger than any drummer today. I definitely aspire to be half as decent as his shadow. I got Ludwig drums just because he played them. I made them make me the kit that he played in The Song Remains The Same. Ludwig started producing them again, and they are selling great. They are great drums. I’m proud to say I helped Ludwig make those drums again.
There are a lot of good drummers out there, especially the metal guys. They play really fast. As much as that is impressive, sometimes you don’t want to listen to that. It’s like a construction site. A jackhammer sounds the same. I’m impressed, but in the way that I’m impressed when a guy runs a mile in four minutes. It’s more of an athletic thing rather than style or something I want to listen to. I’m not into playing that fast. It would be a good workout, but my heart’s not really in it. For the most part I want to put on an AC/DC record.
