With their final album and tour, Sum 41 are going out with a bang. And while metalhead lead guitarist Dave Baksh provides the shred, frontman Deryck Whibley has rediscovered his pop-punk mojo and got his hands on his dream guitar…
Since the late ’90s and early noughties, Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley and Dave Baksh have shown a blatant disregard for the supposedly established con nes of the bouncy, made-for-MTV genre of pop-punk.
Records like AllKillerNoFiller (2001) and DoesThisLookInfected? (2002) were edgy when compared to records by their contemporaries.
But if Whibley, a songsmith who can rattle o catchy tunes with the best of ’em, and Baksh, a raging metalhead at heart, cared about such a lack of integration with the masses, they never showed it.
Sum 41’s shred-head meets pop-laden sound has produced a hell of a lot of hits over the years, combining the hell-on-Earth antics of the Sex Pistols with the sweet melodies of Green Day. But anew double album, Heaven :x:Hell, will be the band’s last, putting a full stop on a career that’s brought them everything and more.
Some will say it’s too soon, as Deryck and Dave are both just 43, but the decision isn’t arbitrary. “I was given a choice whether to pursue education or Sum 41, and that was the last real gamble I took,” Dave says. “I can’t explain what this band has meant to me. The people that have followed this band, and who welcomed me back after I left, outside my family, have been everything. This gave me the life I’ve dreamed of having, and so, to go out on top like this and not just be a band to make money o fans, that’s everything, too.”
Sum 41 might always be remembered as snotty kids who penned sneering tracks like FatLipand StillWaiting, but there is no doubting the emotions in play as Deryck thinks about this nal album and the following trip around the world, wryly billed as the Tour Of The Setting Sum. “This was a di cult decision to come to,” he says. “It was a long process, and kinda feels like a divorce taking a long time to walk out the door from. We still love each other, the music, and the fans. I don’t know what the end feels like –I’m sure I’ll be sad, and it’s terrifying. But I’m excited. I needed to remove the safety net, and I needed the urgency of something else.”
Are you absolutely sure that this is the right time to finish?
Deryck: I’ve been thinking, ‘This is all I’ve ever done since I was 15’ –meaning be the singer of Sum 41. For the past few years, I’ve been getting to a point where I want to do something new. I’ve got other ideas, and I can’t dive into them because this band takes up my entire life. As m
