Sum 41
Sum 41 | |
|---|---|
| File:Sum41-2006.png | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Ajax, Ontario, Canada |
| Years active | 1996 - present |
| Members | Deryck Whibley Jason McCaslin Steve Jocz |
| Past members | Mark Spicoluk (1996–1999) Marc Costanzo (1997–1998) Dave Baksh (1996–2006) |
| Website | http://www.sum41.com |
Sum 41 is a Canadian Juno Award winning band from Ajax, Ontario. The band was formed from members of several local high school bands, 41 days into the summer of 1996. The band consists of Deryck Whibley (a.k.a. Bizzy D) (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard/piano), Jason McCaslin (a.k.a. Cone) (bass and backing vocals), and Steve Jocz (a.k.a. Stevo32) (drums and backing vocals).
The band is officialy labeled as Sum 41, although in the singles from the Chuck album they were rendered as sum41, also another band's name labeling coming mainly from their common association with blink-182 is written as sum-41. Other renders include SUM41 and SUM*41.
Since signing a record deal with Island Records in 1999, the band has released four full length albums one sometimes considered EP, two live CDs, over ten singles and sold millions of copies worldwide. They have topped the charts on Japan, Canada, USA, Singapore, Brazil, France and the UK.
The band won the 2003 Juno Awards in category "Group Of The Year", they have been three times nominees of the "Best Rock Album" category, winning two times with All Killer No Filler and Chuck in 2001 and 2005 respectively, the 2000 they won the Canadian Radio Award for "Best New Group". Sum 41 have also won the 2002 people's choice award in the MuchMusic Video Awards in category "Favorite Group" with their hit single In Too Deep and the 2001 MuchMusic Video Award for "Best Rock Video" with Fat Lip. Other awards of the band include Rolling Stone's Year End Reader's Poll for "Best Band", "Best Album", "Best Single", "Best Video", "Best Tour". Also they have Spin Magazine's gold medals for "Best Band", "Best New Artist", "Best Song", "Best Video".
As of 2006 the band performed more than 600 times and have become famous for their world tours that are usually more than year-long.
History
Early years and Half Hour of Power (1996-2000)
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 - hence the name, Sum 41 - of 1996. However, the current bassist, Cone, joined the band in 1999, after the band went through several other bassists.(YouTube video, 6 minutes in)
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 blink-182, signed Sum 41 in early 2000.
Sum 41 released their 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 clips sent to the record labels and the second showed the band performing at a house party.
Mainstream success: All Killer No Filler and Does This Look Infected? (2000-2003)
Sum 41's second CD and 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.
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.
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 Jesus Christ. 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.
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.
Chuck and Go Chuck Yourself (2004-2006)
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.[1] Days after arriving, fighting broke out near the hotel the band was staying at in Bukavu.[2] The band waited for the firing to die down, but it never did. A U.N. peacekeeper, 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 honour 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 had a much more serious mood, 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", which reached the top of the charts in Canada, and "Some Say", released as a single only on Canada and Japan. The last single of the record was "No Reason", released at the same time of "Some Say", but with no video and only on USA and Europe, which reached #16 on Billboard Modern Rock.
While touring in support of Chuck, Sum 41 played videos before their set which were deemed "unsuitable for children". Much controversy arose over the videos.[3] 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. Following the Go Chuck Yourself tour, Sum 41 co-headlined a tour in USA along with Good Charlotte with support from Goldfinger and Jimmy Eat World, then Sum 41 opened for Mötley Crüe on their Carnival of Sins tour.
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 former label for the band in Canada, because the band had an issue with the 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 4 Life".
Next album, side projects and departure of Dave Baksh (2006-present)
Sum 41 covered a John Lennon song for an album honouring the former Beatles singer. Other artists who participated were Avril Lavigne, Black Eyed Peas, Deftones and Duran Duran. [4] Proceeds from the album will go to Amnesty International. On the Sum 41 Q&A, Deryck Whibley said that the band had recorded this cover a while ago but didn't know if it would ever be released.
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. Deryck said that they have no plans of replacing Dave, and will hire someone to tour with them and play on live shows, although that person won't be in videos, photo shoots, albums, or have any decision making power in the band.
Cone has said in the band's Q&A section, "You can probably expect a new single next spring and the album next summer. That's the plan, and hopefully that happens."
Answering another question, Cone stated, "Actually, the next album will be more along the lines of All Killer and Infected." Deryck, when asked why the band altered their style in "Chuck", responded, "It was just a natural change. I think our new album will be more punk rock though."
During the band's touring hiatus, Cone started a side project with Todd Morse of H2O and Juliette and the Licks. The two-person band is called The Operation, and they have already begun recording demos which can be found on their MySpace site. Cone lends his vocal talents as well as playing bass and keyboards to the band.[7]
On July 15, 2006, Deryck married singer Avril Lavigne, and he will be involved in writing and producing some of the more rock/punk-rock oriented songs in Avril Lavigne's next album.
Deryck announced on the band's official MySpace page that recording for the album would begin on Monday, November 6th and that he would be doing most of the producing himself. Deryck has also confirmed that twelve to fourteen songs will appear on the new record, While the other few songs he has written will become B-sides, movie soundtracks or bonus tracks.
As of November 6th, 2006, Sum 41 has stated that the recording of the new album has begun.
In the Questions & Answers section of their official website, Stevo said that the new album is going to have more of a "Police State" vibe (though it is equally as likely that he was joking, given Stevo's personality). He also said that the album will be more classic Sum 41 punk and will be produced by Deryck.
In Stevo's journal he stated that he finished drums on the 16th November and on the 20th that he had been brought back to do "speciality sounds". He also stated that Deryck had done three or four songs on guitar and Cone had done one or two on bass.
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 in 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 the 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. Although they have said that Green Day was an influence since the band's first record this is more noticeable in their latest music from the Alternative rock album Chuck. In this album, some Nu metal music can be found, with some similarities to the band Linkin Park. Chuck features a series of songs that can be compared with Thrash metal, and they have called Metallica one of their main influences on their metal music.
The band's early musical style is often compared to the blink-182 pop-punk songs because their catchy melodies and their toilet humor. Nowadays the musical genre of the band is in dispute 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 Hardcore punk. Their lyrics contains some hardcore influence and the band's later albums are known for their often politically-driven music.
Some recent pop-punk revival bands and post-grunge artists, including SR-71, Simple Plan, New Found Glory, Lit, Steriogram, and Autopilot Off (their producer was the Sum 41 former manager), have cited Sum 41 as one of their influences.
Band Lineup
- Deryck Whibley/Bizzy D (Lead Vocals, Guitar)
- Jason McCaslin/Cone (Bass, Vocals)
- Steve Jocz/Stevo 32/Stevo (Drums, Vocals)
Former Members
- Dave Baksh aka Brownsound (Guitar, Vocals) (1996-2006) now in Brown Brigade
- Mark Spicoluk (Bass, Vocals) (1997-1999) from Closet Monster and Avril Lavigne band
- Marc Costanzo (Guitar) (1998) from Len
Discography
| Album Cover | Date of Release | Title | Label | Billboard Top 200 | UK Peak | Canada Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
June 27, 2000 | Half Hour of Power | Island Records | #176 | Not Charted | Not Charted |
|
May 8, 2001 | All Killer No Filler | Island Records | #13 | #7 | #1 |
|
November 26, 2002 | Does This Look Infected? | Island Records | #32 | #34 | #1 |
|
October 12, 2004 | Chuck | Island Records | #10 | #59 | #1 |
| File:Sumgcy.JPG | 2005 (Japan), 2006 (Canada) | Go Chuck Yourself / Happy Live Surprise | Aquarius / Universal | - | - | - |
|
TBA, 2007 | TBA | Island Records | TBD | TBD | TBD |
Trivia
- The band planned on having "Summer" on all of their albums as a joke, before scrapping the idea after putting it on their first two albums.
- The cover for "Does This Look Infected?" was chosen months before the title was. The album was almost delayed by the label because they didn't have a name for it yet. Then Deryck suddenly thought of the name "Does This Look Infected?", the whole band laughed at the idea and chose it as their album title.
- "The Hell Song" is about a friend of the band who contracted HIV.
- "88" is named for the tempo of the song which is 88 bpm.
- The name "Angels with Dirty Faces" came from a newspaper article about Sum 41 with the same title. The song is about people who let drugs control their lives.
- All of the band members (and their ex-producer, Greig Nori) have a 41 tattooed on the back of their upper right arm.
- The original title for "Fat Lip" was "Punk Hop", due to the song being a combination of hip-hop and punk
- On an episode of MTV Cribs featuring Steve's house, Deryck said that the majority of the songs for All Killer No Filler were written in Steve's basement.
- The dive Stevo does at the end of the "In Too Deep" video is very similar to the dive, The Triple Lindy, done by Rodney Dangerfield's character, Thorton Melon, in the movie Back to School.
- The song "In Too Deep" is used in a Philippine TV Ad for the 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer MX.
- "A.N.I.C" from "Does This Look Infected?" is about Anna Nicole Smith. It stands for Anna Nicole is a cunt. In live performances Deryck says it's called Anna Nicole Smith is a fucking stupid cunt.
- The song "Right Now" by SR-71 has been erroneously attributed to Sum 41 over the internet as "Kick Me When I'm High".
- The members of the band consider "What We're All About" their worst song.
- The band has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman three times (performing "Still Waiting", "Little Know It All" with Iggy Pop and Pieces), Jimmy Kimmel once ("The Hell Song"), Late Night with Conan O'brien twice ("The Hell Song", "We're All To Blame"), MADtv once ("Still Waiting") and performed "In Too Deep", "Fat Lip" and "Get Back (Rock Remix)" with Ludacris on Saturday Night Live.
- Sum 41 has been featured on a Motorola ROKR E1 commercial, a iTunes+iPod commercial and a MTV commercial.
- The band were guest stars on an episode of King of the Hill
- "Still Waiting" is the main song for Obscure, a survival horror game from Hydravision published by MC2-Microïds for PC and console platforms in 2004.
- "Summer" is featured on the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 soundtrack
- The band have stated on their Q&A that they hate how "In Too Deep" sounds live.
- Cone has stated on their Q&A and Dave has stated in the making of the video that on the music video for "In Too Deep" that the part where Dave come out of the water into a guitar solo was copied from the Guns N' Roses music video "Estranged"
- Their song "No Reason" was on the game NFL Street 2, during one of their performances you can see shots of NFL Street 2 Unleashed in the back.
- Their song "Fat Lip" is featured on the first "Guitar Hero" game for PS2.
- Their song "Makes no Difference" is featured as one of the playable tracks for the Popular Nintendo DS Game Elite Beat Agents
- Their song "We're All to Blame" is featured in the film Godzilla: Final Wars, where Godzilla destroys Zilla in Sydney.
- Their songs "Fat Lip" and "Makes no Difference" are featured in MX 2002 featuring Ricky Carmichael
See also
External links
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| Studio albums | |
| Live albums | |
| EPs | |
| Compilation albums | |
| Video albums | |
| Singles |
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| Other songs | |
| Tours | |
| Related | |
