Good boys don't strip

>> Sum 41 keep their pants on

by GENEVIEVE PAIEMENT

Ah, the joys of being an adolescent boy today. When life is like a McCain's Pizza Pocket commercial, a gnarly blur of Supersoaker hijinx, the pursuit of baby-T-wearing adolescent girls and playing guitar. This is exactly what Sum 41, Toronto's barely post-pubescent answer to Blink 182, encapsulates to a tee. In T.O. they've been hyped as being way into strip clubs and drinking antics, but after speaking to guitarist and singer Deryck Whibley on the phone from Saskatoon, Sum 41 seem like Slush-slurping perma-teens more interested in stealing donuts from the 7-11 than slobbering over strippers.

Mirror: So, anything crazy happen on your tour so far?

Deryck Whibley: Nothing much, I mean, the tour just started a few days ago, so...

M: Nothing at all?

DW: Well, once, on our last tour, when we were in L.A., we came back to our hotel at about 4 a.m. and we'd been drinking so we called on these cute girls who were in the room across from us and one of them was like, "My boyfriend's in a band, he's trying to sleep." And we were like, "What band?" And she's like, "Weezer." So we went back to our room and continued to party really loud. The guy from Weezer came knocking and he was like, "Hey, I'm trying to sleep," all mad. When he left we were like, "What a dick, let's go fuck him up somehow." So we wrote "Weezer sucks" all over his door and the next day we forgot all about it. Two days later we were asking where our next shows were and our tour manager was like, "Well, you guys had all these shows with Weezer but, for some reason, you were kicked off of them."

M: Bummer. How old are you guys? Is it true that you're obsessed with strippers? Are you even old enough to get into strip bars?

DW: We're 20 and 19. It's not like strip bars are totally our thing. I mean, we've gone to some. We go to them sometimes, when we have time, um, quite often... but it's not a big thing.

M: Did you take everything off when you played at a strip bar?

DW: No. And that was the only time that we ever did that.

M: Are you gonna do it again?

DW: No, I don't think so.

M: Okay, so how do you feel about everybody comparing you to Blink 182, musically and name-wise [monosyllabic word followed by number]? You guys have a lot of similarities.

DW: I think it's normal. Every band gets compared to other bands. They're in the spotlight right now, and I think that they sound like a lot of other bands. Like, that whole pop punk thing, with elements of a lot of other stuff.

M: So what can we expect from your show--no stripping, that's for sure.

DW: No stripping, just a Half Hour of Power [the name of their album]! Well, 20 minutes of power.

M: So, a condensed version of your full power?

DW: Yeah, the full half-hour is too lethal.

At Summersault with Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters and more at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Saturday, Aug.12, noon, $33