Sum 41 is a Canadian 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). Since signing a record deal with Island Records in 1999, the band has released 4 full length albums, 1 EP, and over 10 singles. The band's sound is a combination of classic Pop-Punk (like Green Day, The Offspring or Blink-182), Metal (like Crossover-Trash bands), Hard Rock and Post-Gunge (sounds like Lit).

History

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, replacing Mark Spicoluk, who later played bass for Avril Lavigne, Deryck's wife.

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 capitlaize on the pop-punk fad popularized by blink-182, signed Sum 41 in early 2000.

Albums

Sum 41 released their EP "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 was put together using the video clips sent into the record labels and the second had the band performing at a house party.

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 classic garage band theme. The band toured for much of the year, playing 300 shows in 2001, 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 parodying 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.

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

In late May of 2004, the band traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo along with War Child, a Canadian 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 armored 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 saving their lives. The documentary was made into a half-hour film called ROCKED: Sum 41 in Congo, which aired on MTV on September 21, 2005. 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 and 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"

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 under cover police officers. Steve shoots Deryck as Cone stabs Dave and they make their get away. Following the Go Chuck Yourself tour, Sum 41 opened for Motley Crue 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. The same CD was released March 7, 2006 in Canada under the name "Go Chuck Yourself". The Japanese version contained a DVD with 5 songs from the live performance.

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".

The next album that we wait...

Sum 41 covered a John Lennon song for an album honoring 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 recorded this cover a while ago but don't know if it will 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 be due to artistic differences, and his goal to play music with more of a 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, except for live shows and that the guitarist won't be in videos, photo shoots, 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 he was asked why the band altered their sound in "Chuck", responded, "it was just a natural change. I think our new album will be more punk rock though."

During the bands touring hiatus, Cone started a side project with Todd Morse of H2O and Juliette and the Licks. The band is called The Operation and they have already begun recording demos, which can be found on their MySpace website. Cone lends his vocal talents as well as playing bass and keyboards for the band.[7]

On, July 15, 2006 Deryck married singer Avril Lavigne.

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, almost out of random, 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
• All of the band members(and their producer, Greig Nori) have a 41 tattooed on the back of their 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.
• "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.

SUM-41 in movies...

Resources ; wikipedia, sum-41 official sites,

Regards

Verd_hatherley

Sum 41 is a Canadian 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). Since signing a record deal with Island Records in 1999, the band has released 4 full length albums, 1 EP, and over 10 singles. The band's sound is a combination of classic Pop-Punk (like Green Day, The Offspring or Blink-182), Metal (like Crossover-Trash bands), Hard Rock and Post-Gunge (sounds like Lit).

History

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, replacing Mark Spicoluk, who later played bass for Avril Lavigne, Deryck's wife.

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 capitlaize on the pop-punk fad popularized by blink-182, signed Sum 41 in early 2000.

Albums

Sum 41 released their EP "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 was put together using the video clips sent into the record labels and the second had the band performing at a house party.

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 classic garage band theme. The band toured for much of the year, playing 300 shows in 2001, 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 parodying 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.

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

In late May of 2004, the band traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo along with War Child, a Canadian 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 armored 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 saving their lives. The documentary was made into a half-hour film called ROCKED: Sum 41 in Congo, which aired on MTV on September 21, 2005. 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 and 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"

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 under cover police officers. Steve shoots Deryck as Cone stabs Dave and they make their get away. Following the Go Chuck Yourself tour, Sum 41 opened for Motley Crue 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. The same CD was released March 7, 2006 in Canada under the name "Go Chuck Yourself". The Japanese version contained a DVD with 5 songs from the live performance.

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".

The next album that we wait...

Sum 41 covered a John Lennon song for an album honoring 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 recorded this cover a while ago but don't know if it will 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 be due to artistic differences, and his goal to play music with more of a 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, except for live shows and that the guitarist won't be in videos, photo shoots, 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 he was asked why the band altered their sound in "Chuck", responded, "it was just a natural change. I think our new album will be more punk rock though."

During the bands touring hiatus, Cone started a side project with Todd Morse of H2O and Juliette and the Licks. The band is called The Operation and they have already begun recording demos, which can be found on their MySpace website. Cone lends his vocal talents as well as playing bass and keyboards for the band.[7]

On, July 15, 2006 Deryck married singer Avril Lavigne.

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, almost out of random, 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
• All of the band members(and their producer, Greig Nori) have a 41 tattooed on the back of their 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.
• "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.

SUM-41 in movies...

Resources ; wikipedia, sum-41 official sites,

Regards

Verd_hatherley