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>> Fancy cars and fine dining aside, skate-punk success story Sum 41 still like getting wasted

CHOPPING MAUL: Sum 41

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Ten years ago, almost to the day, was the first time I saw Ajax, Ontario’s Sum 41. It was at Petit Campus, and they bristled with an energy that only teens in their first band can project. Barely out of their short pants, Sum 41 were visibly nervous as they barrelled through a skate-punk set that could be best described as, uh, cute.

I would see them again by accident at the Halifax Pop Explosion months later, at an awkward in-store performance, but soon after that, these young punks would turn into touring veterans and become the young guns on the radio dial.

“I guess the only difference between us then and us now,” quips drummer Steve “Stevo” Jocz, “is that we drive nicer cars. Actually, I drive a shitty car, but I could drive a fancy car if I wanted to.”

With five records tucked under their spiked belts—totalling over 10 million copies sold—and with their new record Underclass Hero becoming their strongest debut yet, hitting the Billboard charts at #7 on the first week of release, there is little doubt that Sum 41 have managed to forge a career over their decade of existence. Not to say they didn’t have a hard road—their childhood friend and guitarist, Dave Baksh, split just prior to the recording of Underclass Hero to concentrate on his classic metal band Brown Brigade.

“We always knew Dave was going to quit, so it didn’t really come as a big surprise when he finally did. We knew he wasn’t really happy. He didn’t really like touring and he just wanted to play more heavy metal. I guess we were really burned out after the Chuck record, so when he left, it really kind of re-energized the band a lot.”

The cuteness factor may have worn off a little, and gone is the joke fodder that informed the lyrics of Sum 41’s early records. “I think Deryck [Whibley, guitarist/singer] has turned into more of a songwriter,” says Jocz, “and just didn’t want to write something that was one-dimensional anymore. I guess the songs are a lot more mature, but we still like to get wasted and have fun. I think that kind of behaviour is like a survival mechanism when you’re on tour.”

With a proven track record that continues to propel the band, Sum 41 have been rewarded with what few bands on major labels can boast, the freedom to call their own shots. Jocz has directed several of their videos, which has translated into shooting videos for other bands, while Whibley is a producer and songwriting partner for his wife, Avril Lavigne, never to mention Iggy Pop and others.

“The label would want us to ride the wave and have us out on the road constantly, where we would just come home to record again. Now we go out for two months and then take a week off, and if we need time off, we take it. Back then, it was always fun to be on the road. That’s not to say it’s not fun now, it’s just different. Instead of eating at Burger King every night, we try and find a really good restaurant and sit down to a nice meal…

“Fuck, maybe we are getting old.”

With Die Mannequin, Social
Code and Sound and Fury at
Metropolis on Wednesday,
March 12, 8 p.m., $29.50, all ages