CKY are heading back to Australia later this month, and this time it’s on their own terms.
After a cancelled run left fans frustrated, the Pennsylvania band will return for three headline shows, marking their first standalone Australian dates in years.
We caught up with bassist Mike Leon who let us know about joining the band he grew up idolising, what fans can expect from the shows, and why 2026 is shaping up to be a big year for CKY, Leon’s path to CKY is an unusual one, even by heavy music standards.
For the past decade, he’s been holding down bass duties in Soulfly, touring relentlessly across the globe, stepping into CKY, he admits, still feels surreal.
He says it’s “a really crazy journey”, explaining that CKY were the band that “made me want to play music and pursue a career in music”.
After years on the road, being able to do it with what he calls “my favourite band of all time” feels like “a blessing”.
Australia
Australia already holds strong memories for Leon, he recalls playing Good Things Festival with Soulfly alongside Deftones, Gojira, Jinjer, and Sabaton, describing the experience of running into friends at airports each morning before hitting the stage later that day.
Add in time spent in Melbourne and family in Sydney, and it’s clear why he says he loves coming back, even if the flight is brutal. The only real downside, in his words, is “the flight to get out there and back” and wishing Australia had “more cities so we could play longer tours”.
Joining CKY also feels natural because Leon’s history with the band goes back decades, he met Chad I Ginsburg and Jess Margera when he was young, after following the band around out of pure fandom.
Those early interactions left a mark:
Now, playing alongside them, he says that while he’s “the new guy”, it feels like he’s been there the whole time, having watched “every chapter up until now”, being part of what comes next is, for him, “the most insane feeling”.
That next chapter includes new music (including Can’t Stop Running below), Leon confirmed that CKY have a new music on the way and by the time the band hits Australia, he says there should be “a couple of them out”, adding that “2026 is going to be a busy year for CKY”.
Life outside of music
Leon has been embracing a slower pace after years of constant touring, now based in Los Angeles, he balances band commitments with his role in artist relations for guitar case company Enki USA, while also finding time to write his own music.
He spends his downtime with his wife and their two cats, one of whom they adopted recently and who, Leon jokes, keeps them “very busy”.
As for what fans can expect from the shows, Leon doesn’t overcomplicate it, CKY’s legacy speaks for itself, from ‘96 Quite Bitter Beings’ to ‘Flesh Into Gear’, and the band’s chaotic live reputation is firmly intact.
For Australian fans who were left hanging last time, this run is a reset, and a loud one, check out the dates below:
CKY 2026 Australian tour dates
Friday, January 23: Max Watts, Melbourne
Saturday, January 24: Crowbar, Sydney
Sunday, January 25: Crowbar, Brisbane
Get your tickets here.
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