What a ride Bam Margera has been on for the past five years. Even before he could drive he became a big skateboarding star then Jackass came a calling. After the Jackass movie became a hit he got his own TV show, Viva La Bam. Hes directed one feature film and is prepping another. Now hes founded his own Warped Tour style show called Viva La Bands. I got a chance to talk to Bam while he was on his way to getting a massage [no happy ending though].
Check out the official site for Viva La Bands
Daniel Robert Epstein: How did the Viva La Bands tour come together?
Bam Margera: We just finished filming the 44th episode of Viva La Bam and pretty much every episode I had a guest appearance from one of my favorite bands. So I ended up meeting all of my favorite bands and we thought of the idea of a Viva La Bam tour and we decided to go on five dates. During the show were going to be playing some never seen before footage of funny Jackass type stunts and stuff from the band H.I.M. On the tour were going to have H.I.M., Fireball Ministry and Skindred play so its pretty much like a test run to see if we want to do a full blown US tour to compete with Ozzfest and Warped Tour.
DRE: What cities are you going to be in?
BM: Right now were up for Northfork Virginia, Philly, D.C., New York, and Atlantic City.
DRE: How did you pick those bands?
BM: Fireball Ministry just came out with a brand new album as so has H.I.M. which is my favorite band. H.I.M. has already been touring with Skindred and they wanted to bring them along too. Skindred is this band that is pretty much just like Bad Brains and theyre from England so theyre pretty cool to see live.
DRE: On the tour are you going to be jamming with these guys or will you be doing stunts or skateboarding?
BM: Im going to be putting brand new footage on a big screen, introducing the band as well as some other Viva La Bam cast members. It all depends on which city were in and whos going to show up. Also well be filming the whole thing and behinds the scenes so were probably going to have a special on MTV.
DRE: Do you see Viva La Bands becoming like Tony Hawks Boom Boom HuckJam with a half pipe and everybody doing crazy shit while the bands are playing?
BM: I think were just going to concentrate on the music part of it. The whole mini-ramp thing at the concerts has kind of been done. Thats too Warped Tourish, so Im just going to have full blown rock music and in between videos will be played so youre not just sitting around waiting for the next band to set up. Its going to be a cool thing.
DRE: Are you going to be shooting new stuff for the show?
BM: Yeah its all brand new stuff that hadnt been played yet on anything.
DRE: Whats the age group this tour is going to be appropriate for?
BM: Itll be appropriate for all ages. I know we sold a lot of tickets to 15 year olds and stuff like that. We have a few things like my friend hauling ass down a ramp on a mountain bike naked and I put a spike through the spokes on the bike and he goes flying and he breaks his collarbone. We blurred his ass though.
DRE: What are the big sponsors?
BM: Saturn is the main sponsor and actually you could go on to my website and enter to win a brand new Saturn Sky car and it actually looks really cool.
DRE: Did they give you a car to trash or anything like that?
BM: Were in the works of getting one. We have one for the whole tour to drive around but Im trying to see if we can wreck it by the end.
DRE: What kind of damage are you guys going to be causing on this tour?
BM: We have a lot of funny things to do in case anybody ends up going to sleep early on us. Something will happen because well have the camera on us the whole time.
DRE: Are you going to be doing episodes of Viva La Bam while youre out on the road?
BM: We might still be filming. Its kind of up in the air. Were just filming to get some funny footage and then well see what were going to do with it.
DRE: Do you think you have enough footage maybe you can do your own Jackass type movie?
BM: Yeah, if we get enough then maybe well switch it up a bit.
DRE: What are you up to today?
BM: Today I just got home from Chicago out on a skate tour so my legs are really sore. Im going to get a massage and then I got to pick up my girlfriend from work. Then I have some meetings about this movie called Kiss a Good Mans Ass.
DRE: Whats going on with that movie?
BM: Weve been talking to this company called Radar Pictures. Weve been rewriting it because we want to change little things about it. So we just finished the final script and were all going to read it today and see if anybody wants to make any last minute changes.
DRE: Whats it about?
BM: Its about a kid who invents this garbage juicer which basically mashes trash and out comes delicious root beer, kerosene or rat piss. You can choose which one you want to come out. A businessman sees the invention and totally claims it as his own. The young kid spends the whole rest of time getting it back.
DRE: It sounds like the kind of drink Don Vito might like.
BM: Don Vito would like the rat piss.
DRE: Whats coming up on Viva La Bam?
BM: Were going to do a Valentines Day special but besides that I just have these three movies that Im doing. One is called The Dream Seller and I might do this movie called Ride which is about snowboarding in Canada.
DRE: Do they all have stories?
BM: Yeah they all have plots.
DRE: Are you turning into a writer?
BM: I just like writing my own stuff because I dont do casting calls when I do my movies because I already know who is going to play what parts so I know how they say things and what words they choose. It makes it really easy for me to write a funny comedy movie with my friends.
DRE: Do you still skateboard professionally for fun, for money or both?
BM: I do it for fun but theres definitely the benefit of money. But I was filming Viva La Bam for two years straight and I found myself not skating as much because I was so damn busy filming the show. I just wanted to chill on the Viva La Bam episodes and start skating a lot again to get all my tricks back.
DRE: Whats the status of you doing your own video games?
BM: Weve been talking to some companies about it and its still up in the air but well have a few meetings and see if its worth doing.
DRE: The last Tony Hawk game that you were in was pretty vicious, how would you up to ante for a Bam game?
BM: Probably just add on some Jackass type things like shopping carts on the curb. Well figure out some funny shit that to do.
DRE: Whenever Johnny Knoxville does a press tour, like he did for Dukes of Hazzard, he always gets asked about doing something else with Jackass. Would you be interested in bringing everyone back together?
BM: Weve all been why cant we do that? Once we start coming up with ideas and if we have enough then maybe well start negotiating another movie.
DRE: Is it because you guys would need to travel to places where they dont know?
BM: Yeah thats the thing. If we did do it we would have to go to like Moscow and shit. Places where we can mess with people without them recognizing us.
DRE: What do you know about SuicideGirls?
BM: I just looked on their website today and it seems like a lot like myspace with some hot chicks showing their titties. I think those kinds of chicks are hot.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Check out the official site for Viva La Bands
Daniel Robert Epstein: How did the Viva La Bands tour come together?
Bam Margera: We just finished filming the 44th episode of Viva La Bam and pretty much every episode I had a guest appearance from one of my favorite bands. So I ended up meeting all of my favorite bands and we thought of the idea of a Viva La Bam tour and we decided to go on five dates. During the show were going to be playing some never seen before footage of funny Jackass type stunts and stuff from the band H.I.M. On the tour were going to have H.I.M., Fireball Ministry and Skindred play so its pretty much like a test run to see if we want to do a full blown US tour to compete with Ozzfest and Warped Tour.
DRE: What cities are you going to be in?
BM: Right now were up for Northfork Virginia, Philly, D.C., New York, and Atlantic City.
DRE: How did you pick those bands?
BM: Fireball Ministry just came out with a brand new album as so has H.I.M. which is my favorite band. H.I.M. has already been touring with Skindred and they wanted to bring them along too. Skindred is this band that is pretty much just like Bad Brains and theyre from England so theyre pretty cool to see live.
DRE: On the tour are you going to be jamming with these guys or will you be doing stunts or skateboarding?
BM: Im going to be putting brand new footage on a big screen, introducing the band as well as some other Viva La Bam cast members. It all depends on which city were in and whos going to show up. Also well be filming the whole thing and behinds the scenes so were probably going to have a special on MTV.
DRE: Do you see Viva La Bands becoming like Tony Hawks Boom Boom HuckJam with a half pipe and everybody doing crazy shit while the bands are playing?
BM: I think were just going to concentrate on the music part of it. The whole mini-ramp thing at the concerts has kind of been done. Thats too Warped Tourish, so Im just going to have full blown rock music and in between videos will be played so youre not just sitting around waiting for the next band to set up. Its going to be a cool thing.
DRE: Are you going to be shooting new stuff for the show?
BM: Yeah its all brand new stuff that hadnt been played yet on anything.
DRE: Whats the age group this tour is going to be appropriate for?
BM: Itll be appropriate for all ages. I know we sold a lot of tickets to 15 year olds and stuff like that. We have a few things like my friend hauling ass down a ramp on a mountain bike naked and I put a spike through the spokes on the bike and he goes flying and he breaks his collarbone. We blurred his ass though.
DRE: What are the big sponsors?
BM: Saturn is the main sponsor and actually you could go on to my website and enter to win a brand new Saturn Sky car and it actually looks really cool.
DRE: Did they give you a car to trash or anything like that?
BM: Were in the works of getting one. We have one for the whole tour to drive around but Im trying to see if we can wreck it by the end.
DRE: What kind of damage are you guys going to be causing on this tour?
BM: We have a lot of funny things to do in case anybody ends up going to sleep early on us. Something will happen because well have the camera on us the whole time.
DRE: Are you going to be doing episodes of Viva La Bam while youre out on the road?
BM: We might still be filming. Its kind of up in the air. Were just filming to get some funny footage and then well see what were going to do with it.
DRE: Do you think you have enough footage maybe you can do your own Jackass type movie?
BM: Yeah, if we get enough then maybe well switch it up a bit.
DRE: What are you up to today?
BM: Today I just got home from Chicago out on a skate tour so my legs are really sore. Im going to get a massage and then I got to pick up my girlfriend from work. Then I have some meetings about this movie called Kiss a Good Mans Ass.
DRE: Whats going on with that movie?
BM: Weve been talking to this company called Radar Pictures. Weve been rewriting it because we want to change little things about it. So we just finished the final script and were all going to read it today and see if anybody wants to make any last minute changes.
DRE: Whats it about?
BM: Its about a kid who invents this garbage juicer which basically mashes trash and out comes delicious root beer, kerosene or rat piss. You can choose which one you want to come out. A businessman sees the invention and totally claims it as his own. The young kid spends the whole rest of time getting it back.
DRE: It sounds like the kind of drink Don Vito might like.
BM: Don Vito would like the rat piss.
DRE: Whats coming up on Viva La Bam?
BM: Were going to do a Valentines Day special but besides that I just have these three movies that Im doing. One is called The Dream Seller and I might do this movie called Ride which is about snowboarding in Canada.
DRE: Do they all have stories?
BM: Yeah they all have plots.
DRE: Are you turning into a writer?
BM: I just like writing my own stuff because I dont do casting calls when I do my movies because I already know who is going to play what parts so I know how they say things and what words they choose. It makes it really easy for me to write a funny comedy movie with my friends.
DRE: Do you still skateboard professionally for fun, for money or both?
BM: I do it for fun but theres definitely the benefit of money. But I was filming Viva La Bam for two years straight and I found myself not skating as much because I was so damn busy filming the show. I just wanted to chill on the Viva La Bam episodes and start skating a lot again to get all my tricks back.
DRE: Whats the status of you doing your own video games?
BM: Weve been talking to some companies about it and its still up in the air but well have a few meetings and see if its worth doing.
DRE: The last Tony Hawk game that you were in was pretty vicious, how would you up to ante for a Bam game?
BM: Probably just add on some Jackass type things like shopping carts on the curb. Well figure out some funny shit that to do.
DRE: Whenever Johnny Knoxville does a press tour, like he did for Dukes of Hazzard, he always gets asked about doing something else with Jackass. Would you be interested in bringing everyone back together?
BM: Weve all been why cant we do that? Once we start coming up with ideas and if we have enough then maybe well start negotiating another movie.
DRE: Is it because you guys would need to travel to places where they dont know?
BM: Yeah thats the thing. If we did do it we would have to go to like Moscow and shit. Places where we can mess with people without them recognizing us.
DRE: What do you know about SuicideGirls?
BM: I just looked on their website today and it seems like a lot like myspace with some hot chicks showing their titties. I think those kinds of chicks are hot.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
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and he's growing up now