Deryck Whibley has been through the serious, almost fatal ups and downs of well, any troubled frontman you can think of. His honesty and belief in Sum 41 is palpable, and that needs to be said because it's all too easy to write the Canadian pop-punk band off as an beacon of nostalgia and nothing else. After talking to him, the depth of his enthusiasm and love for songwriting and playing live was revealed above all.
Sum 41 are successful, whichever way you look at it, and they don’t take it for granted. Deryck is riding the success that he’s gotten with Sum 41 and trying not to think about how fragile that can be – who could blame him.
“I felt like our relevance or following might’ve faded on every tour we did, and I never, ever thought we’d do shows that could sell out,” says Whibley. “There’s never been a tour that’s been disappointing. I think our expectation is that it could go away at any moment. We’ve always felt that, so it’s always pleasantly surprising”, he continues.
Sum 41 have upgraded to five members, which, according to Deryck, means that they can play “everything live now.” He continues, “unlike before, there were a couple of things lost on our tours because we couldn’t physically play it all… in the studio we’re always able to put in an extra guitar or instrument or vocals.”
The extra member is good for everybody, but Dave Baksh (guitars/backing vocals) created some sort of a void – on a personal basis at least. Deryck maintains that Dave’s leaving was done in good spirits. “After a while, Dave and I started becoming friends again and it was obvious that we would start playing together again – it sorta happened naturally so it kinda started to make sense to start playing together if we were hanging out together again.”, he said.
After 20 years, he says that he’s inspired by a bunch of different media. “Movies influence me a lot. The way I wrote this whole record was that I had a screen in my studio that I’d just watch Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino movies with no sound,” explains Deryck. “The new album is like a film score, and that was the driving influence behind it… It was this cool, darker imagery. I was almost writing a score to them in a way,” he continues.
We’re a far cry away from ‘All Killer, No Filler’, and of course there are many reasons behind that, but Deryck maintains: “It’s going to be different no matter what happens. Nothing’s ever changed with Sum 41. Everybody gets older, and that’s the only thing that’s changed since we’ve been 19 or 20. Sum 41’s remained the same throughout”.
“There are some songs I just think are horrible, like ‘Crazy Amanda Bunkface’ which never should have been on the record! There’s moments I’m proud of on records and some moments which I cringe thinking about,” he says, reflecting on the older material.
All the probing and prodding Whibley has to deal with would make you think that he’s fallen out of love with being in a band and dealing with nosy writers, but his voice never even hinted at exasperation. He’s adamant that Sum 41 hasn’t suffered a loss of identity throughout all the turbulence. Not only that, he genuinely seems humble and grateful. You get a sense that he can’t imagine a life without his close friends, the fans that Sum 41 has brought him, and the hectic touring schedule. Drawing the interview to a close, we ask him what he’d do if he wasn’t in Sum 41: “I’d probably be in the NBA.”
Sum 41 have sold out all their upcoming UK gigs this February, and they have a new album coming out later this year.