Interview: Bam Margera is back!
Professional skater and star of Jackass, Bam Margera heads to Australia in May with his band, Fuckface Unstoppable. Somethingyousaid.com’s Adrian Pedić has a chat with him to find out what he’s been up to. Stick around to the end of the interview to find out how you can win tickets to his gigs:
“I wrote that song as a complete joke, but you know, you read interweb comments, like ‘Bam’s lost it, he wants to bend his dick back to his ass and fuck himself!’ It’s a fucking joke song you idiots,” says Bam Margera of “Bend My Dick To My Ass”, one of his older tracks that will be making a return on his upcoming Australian tour. However, even though his sense of humour is still thankfully intact, Bam Margera is back, and wants to be taken seriously.
After a few quiet years following the passing of his best friend, Ryan Dunn, Margera seems intent on making up for lost time with a variety of new projects, which include a new band, a film, a cartoon, and a new clothing line. The new band, Fuckface Unstoppable, have just added Andy McCoy, the guitarist from Hanoi Rocks, who’s also played with Iggy Pop. He’s also one of Bam’s personal heroes.
“Now we’ve got a legendary guitar player rocking with us. He’s been banned from the US, for like 20 years, for having counterfeit money back in the day. So we’ve gotta go to Finland first before Australia to practice a little,” he says, laughing.
He’s also starting a new band with McCoy called Irve Rocker, which will focus more heavily on McCoy as the guitarist.
Bam admitted to wearing his influences on his sleeve – literally. “My arms are covered with people that are still alive and friends that inspire me,” he says, before rattling off a list of names – including Andy McCoy.
Along with McCoy, the album with also feature Chuck Treece from Bad Brains and Brent Hinds from Mastodon.
As well as touring with Fuckface Unstoppable, Bam Margera also has a film that he’s been working on for “a long, long time” that will chronicle the story of his life.
“Started skateboarding at age eight, turning pro at age 17 and Jackass happened, turning pro to a millionaire at age 18, then Ryan Dunn got in a car accident. After Ryan died I went into a little booze slump there, snapped out of it, started a band,” he said.
The film, called I Need Time To Stay Useless, will feature “everybody”, including the members of Jackass, the CKY crew, rock bands and skaters, including Tony Hawk. As is expected, there’s also going to be a fair amount of their patented brand of bad behaviour.
“I cut a hole in the top storey of my house with a carpet over it, and I had Novak walk in and he fell right through it, all the way down to the next storey below into a big pile of steaming hot trash. That was a recent one,” he laughs.
Given that his sense of humour seems to be intact, it’s hard to be surprised that his next project will be a cartoon. “We’re all cats, there’s a Bam cat, a Novak cat, you know, and it’s called Cautionary Tales,” he said, once more laughing.
Coming from the man who once branded a penis shape onto his ass, it’s going to be interesting to see what his take on ‘cautionary tales’ will be.
On top of all that, he’s also got a clothing line coming out, named Irve Rocker Clothing, with a line for females called Princess Paranoia.
‘Where’s he been lately?’ was a question I heard a lot coming into my interview with Bam Margera. He seems to be intent on reminding everybody why he’s famous in the first place.
Not for the stunts, but for the work ethic, that same entrepreneur spirit that made him buy a camcorder and start filming his stunt videos and skating. The edge that made him a star on MTV, and an inspiration to countless kids around the world.
With his new projects on the horizon, Bam seems intent on making a name for himself once again, though this time he’s pushing into new fields entirely.
Who’s surprised though? The man has always worked best while taking risks.
We’re giving away double passes to Fuckface Unstoppable’s Aus/NZ shows this May. To win, go here.
Interview by Adrian Pedić.
