Sum 41 - Still Rockin'

Sum 41
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Sum 41
Sum 41 (from left to right) – Steve Jocz, Deryck Whibley, and Cone McCaslin
Sum 41 (from left to right) – Steve Jocz, Deryck Whibley, and Cone McCaslin
Background information
Origin Flag of Canada Ajax, Ontario, Canada
Genre(s) Pop punk
Alternative rock
Years active 1996–present
Label(s) US: Island Records
Canada: Aquarius Records
Worldwide: Universal Records
Associated
acts The Operation M.D.
Avril Lavigne
Treble Charger
Gob
Website Sum 41's Official Website
Members
Deryck Whibley
Jason McCaslin
Steve Jocz
Former members
Mark Spicoluk (1996–1999)
Marc Costanzo (1997–1998)
Dave Baksh (1996–2006)

Sum 41 is a Juno Award-Winning Canadian pop punk band from Ajax, Ontario. The current members are Deryck Whibley (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard/piano), Cone McCaslin (bass/vocals), and Steve Jocz (drums/vocals).

The band was formed on the 41st day of summer (hence the name Sum 41).

Since signing a record deal with Island Records in 1999, the band has released four studio albums, two live CDs, two live DVDs, over ten singles and sold millions of copies worldwide. As of 2006 the band performed more than 600 times and have become famous for their world tours that are usually more than a year-long.[1]
Contents

* 1 History
o 1.1 Beginnings and Half Hour of Power (1996-2000)
o 1.2 All Killer No Filler and Does This Look Infected? (2000-2004)
o 1.3 Chuck and the Congo (2004-2006)
o 1.4 Side Projects, Dave's Departure, and Underclass Hero (2006 - Present)
* 2 Musical style and influences
* 3 Internet Videos
* 4 Band Lineup
o 4.1 Former Members
+ 4.1.1 Touring Members
* 5 Discography
* 6 References
* 7 See also
* 8 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Beginnings and Half Hour of Power (1996-2000)
Sum 41 robbing Kelly's pizza in Pickering Village using waterguns
Sum 41 robbing Kelly's pizza in Pickering Village using waterguns

The members of Sum 41 started out in rival bands in high school. They joke that they met while attending a Hole concert 41 days into the summer of 1996. According to the website Supernova, the band was originally named Kaspir, and changed their name to Sum 41 for a Supernova show on September 28, 1996. The website also states that they were scouted by Greig Nori of Treble Charger at a Supernova show at the Opera House in Toronto on February 24, 1996.[2] However, the current bassist, Cone, joined the band in 1999, after the band went through several other bassists. They spent many years playing together hoping to make it big one day.

The band carried a video camera with them to film their crazy antics including robbing a pizza place with water guns and performing a dance to "Makes No Difference" in front of a theater (both of which can be seen on both Introduction to Destruction and on some versions of the bonus DVD from Does This Look Infected?).

The band submitted the video footage along with their demo tapes to several record labels. Island Records, wanting to capitalize on the pop-punk fad popularized by Green Day and blink-182, signed Sum 41 in early 2000.

Sum 41 released the album Half Hour of Power on June 27, 2000. The first single released by the band was "Makes No Difference", which had 2 different videos. The first video was put together using the video clip sent to the record label and the second showed the band performing at a house party.

[edit] All Killer No Filler and Does This Look Infected? (2000-2004)

Sum 41's first full length album, All Killer No Filler, was released on May 8, 2001. The first single released was "Fat Lip" which became a huge hit during the summer, becoming the number 1 rock song in the US for a week. Performances on the Warped Tour during the year further increased the popularity of the band.
Deryck's doll in "The Hell Song" video
Deryck's doll in "The Hell Song" video

Two other singles were released, "In Too Deep", which had a comedy video of them in a diving competition, and "Motivation", a simplistic video of the band playing in a classic garage band theme. The band toured for much of the year, playing 300 shows in 2001, including a co-headlined tour with blink-182 before returning to the studio to record another CD.

On November 26, 2002, Sum 41 released their second full length album Does This Look Infected? Sum 41 altered their style slightly - bringing in a heavier style, while keeping the smooth harmonies they had become known for. The first single released was "Still Waiting" which had them mocking "new-garage" retro-rock under the name of "The Sums" and was a parody of one of The Strokes' videos. Still Waiting was much heavier than what most fans expected.

The band followed up the release of "Still Waiting" with "The Hell Song" which had the band using dolls with their pictures on them and others such as Ozzy Osbourne and Pamela Anderson. Their next single,"Over My Head (Better Off Dead)", had a video released exclusively in Canada and on their website, featuring live shots of the band. The video was also on their live DVD, Sake Bombs And Happy Endings (2004), as a bonus feature. It has also received limited airing on various music television stations in the USA and UK.

After extensive touring in support of the album, Iggy Pop recruited Sum 41 for his new album, Skull Ring. They co-wrote the first single from the album "Little Know It All" and joined Iggy on The Late Show with David Letterman to promote the song. Iggy said he chose Sum 41 "because they have balls."

[edit] Chuck and the Congo (2004-2006)
Sum 41 with Chuck Pelletier
Sum 41 with Chuck Pelletier

In early 2004, the band contributed to the first Rock Against Bush album by recording the song "Moron", which was also a bonus track in the Japanese import of Chuck.
“ One bomb came too close, hit the hotel and the hotel just started shaking. Everyone dove and was lying on the ground. Things were falling off the walls, mirrors were breaking. That's when we all kind of realized that this was really going bad and we're probably not going to make it out. ”

—Deryck Whibley

In late May of 2004, the band traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo along with War Child Canada, a branch of the British charity organization, to document the civil war occurring in the country.[3] Days after arriving, fighting broke out near the hotel the band was staying at in Bukavu.[4] The band waited for the firing to die down, but it never did. A U.N. peacekeeper, Charles "Chuck" Pelletier (also Canadian), called for armoured carriers to take the hotel's occupants out of the hot zone. After 5-6 hours the carriers arrived and the band and the 40 other civilians were taken to safety. The band named their next album Chuck in honor of Chuck Pelletier for taking them to safety. The documentary was made into a film called ROCKED: Sum 41 in Congo, and was later aired on MTV. War Child released it on DVD on November 29, 2005 in the United States and Canada.

Sum 41's album Chuck was released on October 12, 2004. It was a heavy album that had a much more serious tone, without the humor of the band's previous releases. The first single from the album (as well as the only song written after the Congo incident) was "We're All to Blame". The song switching from a fast pace to a slow one represented the band's trip in the Congo, how one minute it was peaceful and the next there were gunshots being fired. The band followed up with "Pieces", a relatively soft song which reached the top of the charts in Canada, and "Some Say", released as a single only in Canada and Japan. The last single off the record was "No Reason", released at the same time as "Some Say", but with no video and only in USA and Europe, which reached #16 on Billboard Modern Rock.

Sum 41 released a live CD, Happy Live Surprise in Japan on December 21, 2005. The CD contains a full concert recorded live from London, Ontario and was produced by Deryck. The same CD was released March 7, 2006 in Canada under the name Go Chuck Yourself. This version was released under Aquarius Records instead of EMI, the band's former label in Canada. The band had an issue with their producer and their management company, Greig Nori and Bunk Rock Music. Since their management company had a contract with EMI, after the band left the company and dropped the producer, the contract was broken. The Japanese version contained a CD with 5 songs from their live performance. It was originally to be a DVD, but the band was unhappy with the way the filming turned out and decided to put out a live CD instead. The footage is being incorporated into a project along with the rest of the film from the tour.

Following their September 11, 2005 show in Quebec City, Quebec, the band went on a touring hiatus, although on April 17, 2006, Sum 41 played at a tribute to Iggy Pop, joining Iggy on stage for "Little Know It All" and "Lust For Life".

[edit] Side Projects, Dave's Departure, and Underclass Hero (2006 - Present)
Deryck and Cone during the recording of Underclass Hero
Deryck and Cone during the recording of Underclass Hero

On, May 11, 2006, Dave Baksh (a.k.a. Dave Brownsound) announced in a statement through his management company that he was leaving Sum 41 to work with his new band, Brown Brigade. Baksh's departure from the band was said to have been due to artistic differences, and his desire to play music with a more classical metal sound.[5][6]

On May 12th, Deryck made the first official comment on the subject on the official message board post addressing Dave's departure.[7] Deryck confirmed Dave's departure and announced that the band would only be replacing Dave with a touring guitarist, who wouldn't be in videos, photo shoots, albums, or have any decision-making power in the band.

During the band's touring hiatus, Deryck focused in his producer career, writing and producing two songs for Avril Lavigne's album, The Best Damn Thing. Stevo recorded his first video as director for a Canadian band called The Midway State and Cone started a side project with Todd Morse of H2O and Juliette and the Licks. The two-person band, named The Operation M.D., released their debut album, "We Have an Emergency" in early 2007, Cone was backing vocals as well as leading vocals on three songs, besides playing bass and keyboards in the band.[8]. The Operation album was co-produced and mixed by Deryck Whibley. Their first single video, "Sayonara", was directed by Stevo.

Recording of the band's fifth studio album, Underclass Hero, began on November 8, 2006 and was finished on March 14, 2007. The album, backed by the first single and title track "Underclass Hero", will be released on July 24, 2007.

On April 17, 2007, the band released a song on iTunes called "March of the Dogs". Although not a single, the band released it early because "the record won't be out until the summer."

[edit] Musical style and influences

Sum 41 said that their early music (Half Hour of Power) was heavily influenced by NOFX. Another influence on their music was Beastie Boys, especially in their All Killer No Filler hip-hop persona and their Rapcore music found in the "Fat Lip" and "What We're All About" singles. Their later music on the album Does This Look Infected? had heavy influence from The Offspring, as the band itself commented. Also, some metal influence coming from bands like Iron Maiden is noted. In the song "Fat Lip", the quote "Maiden and Priest were the gods that we praised" refers to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Their album Chuck features a series of songs that can be compared with Thrash metal, and they have named Metallica as one of the main influences on their metal music. Sum 41 has said that Green Day has been an influence from the beginning but it is more seen in the alternative style of Chuck.

More recently the musical genre of Sum 41 has been disputed among fans because of the complex combination of different musical styles. The argument is centralized around the punk streak of the band, and they have been labeled as pop-punk, punk rock and even alternative punk. Their lyrics contain some influence and the band's later albums are known for their often politically-driven music.

With Underclass Hero, the band stated a return to their prior music mainly from Does This Look Infected? and All Killer No Filler. This album is "more edgier and faster" than any previous album according to bassist Cone McCaslin, but "Is more punk rock and less metal" as frontman Deryck Whibley stated during the production of the album.

[edit] Internet Videos

Sum 41 become infamous for its self-made, often grotesque, internet videos which have sparked a bit of controversy over the years.

Touring in support of Chuck, Sum 41 played videos before their set which were deemed "unsuitable for children". Much controversy arose over the videos.[9] In one video, Basketball Butcher, which was also included in some versions of Chuck, Steve and Cone play basketball and Cone beats Steve badly. Following the game Steve murders Cone and later dismembers and cooks him. In another video, 1-800-Justice, Cone and Steve are drug dealing brothers, while Dave and Deryck play undercover police officers. Steve shoots Deryck as Cone stabs Dave and they make their getaway.

Sum 41's most recent internet video endeavor is a "weekly" series entitled SUM 41 - Road to Ruin. The trailer was posted on 8th of January 2007 on the Sum 41 webpage. The first episode debuted on January 21, following their exploits on their Japan 2005 tour. Since then, their episodes have included footage of drunkeness in New Orleans, unintentionally setting off a fire alarm in a hotel, and a feature about their first ever tour manager, amongst other things. The Road to Ruin show can also be found on their MySpace, on YouTube, and on their official website.

[edit] Band Lineup

* Deryck Whibley/Bizzy D (Lead Vocals, Guitar)
* Jason "Cone" McCaslin (Bass, Vocals)
* Steve Jocz/Stevo 32/Stevo (Drums, Vocals)

[edit] Former Members

* Dave Baksh/Brownsound/Hot Chocolate (Guitar, Vocals) (1996-2006) now in Brown Brigade
* Mark "London" Spicoluk (Bass, Vocals) (1997-1999) later played with Closet Monster and Avril Lavigne
* Marc Costanzo (guitar, vocals)(1998) now in Len

[edit] Touring Members

* Thomas "Brown Tom" Thacker (Guitar, Backing Vocals)