CKY Announce East Coast Australian Tour For January 2026

CKY have announced their return to Australia, with a whirlwind 72-hour tour booked for the last weekend of January 2026. The American pop-punk band is set to play three shows in three days on the east coast, covering the major capital cities. The full list of tour dates can be found below.

CKY have not toured Australia since they were part of Soundwave Festival back in 2012. These were the band’s first shows without original frontman Deron Miller, with Year Long Disaster’s Daniel Davies subbing in as frontman. Ginsburg, the band’s founding guitarist, ultimately took over as the band’s new lead singer in 2015. They had been scheduled to return to Australia on a bill that also included Alien Ant Farm, Hoobastank, Wheatus and Lit in 2017 as part of a package nostalgia tour dubbed Sing It Loud!; however, that was ultimately cancelled just weeks before it was scheduled to happen.

The band’s 2026 tour will take place almost a year after the band were supposed to come to Australia, which was in February 2025 alongside the aforementioned Alien Ant Farm. In November 2024, however, the two bands’ partnership came to an abrupt end following an alleged altercation on their co-headlining European tour. Alien Ant Farm frontman Dryden Mitchell shared on Instagram at the time, in a since-deleted post, that CKY’s Chad I Ginsburg had allegedly assaulted him – leading to the band getting kicked off the tour.

CKY – ’96 Quite Bitter Beings’

“Chad punched me in the face earlier today,” Mitchell wrote in his statement. “I’ve watched him treat multiple crew members and opening band members like trash through the Europe shows and cause general drama around our camp.” Mitchell alleged further that Ginsburg upended a table and smashed his phone when confronted about his behaviour, and that Ginsburg attacked him following a meeting with CKY’s manager about these issues.

“I… apologize to all the CKY fans for Chad’s behavior,” he continued. “We have zero hard feelings for Jess [Margera] and Elvis [James] in CKY, and are gutted to see them go, but I will never knowingly put myself in volatile situations so this had to end.” Mitchell concluded his statement by telling Ginsburg to “find a therapist” and to “get help”.

Ginsburg, for his part, took to his own Instagram account to offer a brief statement in retort. “I had no choice, and [there was] good reason for what happened,” he wrote. “I will always defend myself. You know me much better than that. More info to come. Apologies to the fans.” CKY were ultimately replaced on the bill by Drowning Pool, and the tour went ahead alongside Frankenbok in February.

Since the incident, CKY have continued to tour throughout North America – including performing at Tool‘s Live In The Sand mini-festival in the Dominican Republic alongside Mastodon, Eagles Of Death Metal, Primus and Coheed & Cambria. The band also welcomed in a new bass player last month: Mike Leon, who had previously played in Soulfly for 10 years before departing back in April.

CKY 2026 Australian Tour

• Friday, January 23rd – Max Watt’s, Melbourne VIC
• Saturday, January 24th – Crowbar, Sydney NSW
• Sunday, January 25th – Crowbar, Brisbane QLD

Tickets for all shows are on sale now via ThePhoenix.au.

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