"The Whole
Idea Was To Have No Idea"
Sum41 Are Enjoying Stardom As It Comes
 |
>>Steve
& Deryck on the bus.>> |
Isn't it nearly every
kid's dream? Who hasn't cranked up the stereo and played air guitar in their
underwear before a sold-out bedroom and wished they had tons of groupies?
For the foursome that is Sum 41, cranking it up and jumping around in their underwear with lots of groupies waiting in the wings isn't a fantasy. It's just the job they do. Four crazy dudes from the metropolis that is Ajax, Ontario, Deryck (vocals, guitar), Steve (drums), Cone (bass) and Dave (lead guitar) are working hard and enjoying life in the spotlight while they can.
Where many bands attempt to pursue the holier-than-thou 'artist' angle, where suffering and being misunderstood is a way of life, Sum 41 are taking the blink 182 route: they've been given the keys to the candy store, and they might as well sample everything, before someone changes the locks.
In our latest go around with the band, they hadn't changed much from the first time we had met them. The van had been traded for a proper bus and the venue was bigger, but the attitudes were the same and the genuine appreciation for their fans was as strong as ever. As we talked about the difference between now and the days when we could chat with them out in front of the Glasshouse in Pomona, CA and no one would give them a second glance, they still recalled proudly that Pomona was the place they had their first fan base - they hadn't forgotten. In fact, they were happy to note that their first major video, the heavily played "Fat Lip," was shot in Pomona and those fans that had supported them got to be in the video. Their egos haven't exploded like their popularity.
In those days, they were opening for face to face and the set was half an hour, and no more. Now, they're the headliners and thousands of kids show up where ever they go to share in the fun. We thought you would like to read what they had to say. If you want to see this interview, check out VOX video3!
VOX: Is the live show more than a half-hour o' power now?
Deryck: Both our records are a half an hour each so we have to sing
every song we know just to fill an hour.
VOX: We were going to interview you guys at the blink-182
show, but then 9/11 happened. That screwed things up…
Deryck: Ah, yeah, we had to cancel. We wanted to keep going but
at the same time, no one knew what was going to happen. We’re from Canada and
the borders had already been blocked so as soon as they opened up we said we should
probably get out because if something happens in the next two days we’re going to be
stuck. Like we want to be home if something is happening. So we didn’t
want to be stuck in another country with no money and nowhere to go. I don’t
know…
VOX: Is a hit song all you need for success?
Deryck: That’s how it is. You could be the funniest band, or
the not funniest band, the best looking, the ugliest band, it always comes down to music
no matter what. I mean look at Nickelback. Good song but I mean, they’re
not a funny band. They’re like the biggest band right now.
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>>Steve, Deryck and a mystery beverage.>> |
VOX: That's what gets you on the radio. You
can't have crappy music.
Deryck: Cause why would anyone listen to it? You’d be just
losing ratings.
Steve: Cause that’s what it’s all about kids.
Deryck: Ratings! Ratings equal money!
Steve: Ratings equal money and money means you’re better than
people.
Deryck: [Laughing]
VOX: Have the big royalty checks kicked in?
Steve: Nope!
Deryck: They take about a year, they seriously do.
VOX: You guys have a reputation as being pranksters.
Deryck: I guess so…
VOX: What kind of shit do you like to do? Give me some
stories
Deryck: Hmm…
Steve: One day we threw a mattress into a swimming pool…
Deryck: One day we threw… [Burps] Sorry, we threw all of our
furniture, including our bed, table, chair, everything out of our hotel room. We
carried everything to the elevator, it took us a couple of trips! We took it all the
way to the pool on the roof, and dumped our whole entire room onto the pool, onto the
water.
VOX: Why?
Steve: Why not?
Deryck: Why not, exactly!
Steve: It seemed like a good idea at the time. I had my own room,
and there were two beds, I really didn’t need the other one!
VOX: Who pays for the damage?
Deryck: We do.
Steve: Well, if they catch us. I mean the room now was missing a
bed but what we thought was we could blame it on these kids next door.
Deryck: They were having like this party…
Steve: Some school or something, like this soccer competition, these
dudes were from these schools. So anything we’d do we’d figure they’d
blame on them. I guess they narrowed it down.
VOX: All Killer, No Filler has been out for nearly a year
now…
Deryck: Almost 8 months.
VOX: Did you expect this much from the record?
Deryck: No, not at all. We were expecting something like Half
Hour Of Power [their debut EP], maybe sell a little bit more, do a little bigger show,
kinda the next step. But then it just jumped the whole flight. I don’t
know…it’s been great.
VOX: You’re big time celebrities now…
Steve: Are we?
VOX: You haven’t realized it cause your egos wouldn’t
fit in the bus.
Steve: Hmm, I’m thinking about getting a couple more busses…
VOX: How's the chick situation? It must be pretty
good.
Steve: Yeah, chicks…
Deryck: Yeah, we normally don’t get to think about it,
there’s so much to get done. It seems normal.
VOX: There are a ton of kids are waiting for you out there.
That's got to feel good.
Deryck: It’s really cool. It reassurance that everything is
really happening. We have been working for it, our whole team, record co, management
is doing a great job.
VOX: It’s got to be better than college.
Deryck: Definitely. I hate college. Never went.
VOX: That’s not a bad thing
Deryck: Yeah…
Steve: I hit things. [Makes drum noises] dooosh, dooosh,
dooosh…
VOX: It's a pretty bold album title, but you've backed it
up.
Deryck: Thanks! We kinda were doing it as a
joke…there’s not that much attitude in rock anymore, used to be about attitude,
‘my band is better than your band’ kinda stuff. We kinda wanted to bring
that back. It’s more of a joke, [but] in our opinion it’s all killer.
VOX: Any bizarre stories from the blink tour?
Deryck: No!
VOX: Why?
Steve: It wasn’t a very big party tour.
Deryck: It was a fun tour and blink was totally supportive of our
record, they were really cool and fun to get a long with and they’re funny in person.
I think we thought it was going to be crazy but it was mellow, pretty laid back, a
lot of wives!
VOX: Do you guys see blink as an influence?
Deryck: Sort of…we’ve always respected blink but I don’t
think we grew up listening to them like other bands. They were a little later.
We think they’re great musicians and they write great songs.
VOX: Have you toured with anyone that you look at as major
influences?
Deryck: Yeah, when we were on the Warped Tour we toured with Pennywise
and The Vandals, and Me First and The Gimme Gimmies, with Joey from Lagwagon…Mike
from NOFX. It was kinda cool.
VOX: NOFX had an effect on your sound…
Deryck: NOFX was the first punk band that we started really getting
into, that So-Cal punk.
Deryck: The song is about the lack of motivation. Just kinda
sitting around in the suburbs and not having anything to do on a Sunday afternoon and just
being really bored.
VOX: Tell me about the "Motivation" video.
Deryck: The "Motivation" video, we just wanted to do
something different than the "Fat Lip" or "In Too Deep," big kinda,
tons of people in it kind of video. We just wanted to do something where it’s
just the four of us in one room instead of all these different locations. It's
basically a performance video.
VOX: "Fat Lip" and "In Too Deep" are in
heavy rotation, you're touring like crazy, the new album is a big hit…could life get
any better?
Deryck: Life could always be better! I think we’ve made a
good start. We are at the beginning of something good. I don’t think we
could sit back and say, "Ok we’ve done it. Ok it’s over."
There’s still so much we want to do, a lot of work to be done. Keep growing,
growing our fan base, play bigger shows and hopefully it will last for a long time.
VOX: "Fat Lip" was the big one that really broke
things. What's the story with the video?
Steve: Shot it in Pomona.
Deryck: Yeah, Pomona, CA, we’ll be there tomorrow. It was
the first place where we actually had fans. The whole idea was to have no idea, we
had no treatment. The director just said show up and we’ll film a bunch of
stuff. It turned out to be a documentary.
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>>More fun on the tour bus.>> |
VOX: What about "In Too Deep?" Same
idea?
Deryck: That had way more. That was in LA.
Steve: The video is a takeoff of 'Back to School.' The same
location was used. Where we play we used a place called the Pink Hotel in the
Valley. Which is used for…
Deryck: Porn!
Steve: Good rates.
Deryck: Cheap.
VOX: There have been so many great Canadian bands that are
starting to get some attention here, like Gob, The Tea Party, Matthew Good…
Deryck: We don’t like Matthew Good.
VOX: Why?
Deryck: We like good music. I don’t know, we aren’t
into that kind of music.
VOX: Have you met him?
Deryck: No. We heard he was a dick.
Steve: Actually, we played a show with him…
Deryck: Oh, yeah.
Steve: He wasn’t the nicest guy when we met him so…
VOX: Did you read his manifestos?
Deryck: What’s that?
VOX: His writings that he's printed on-line. Some of it's
really twisted…
Deryck: Oh yeah! He’s a fuckin' weirdo. I don’t
know about that guy.
Steve: Anyone who has a band and calls it "The Matthew Good
Band…
Deryck: And really, your name is Matthew Good…
Steve: It’s like, ‘Hey guys, I have a great name of a band,
ok, and if you don’t like it, fuck it there’s a million guitar players out there
and I can find another one. We’re going to name it the m-a-t-t-h-e-w-g-o-o-d
band, alright, there you go?’
Steve: Deryck, I just had a brainstorm, it’s now Stevo32, not
Sum41. What do you think?
VOX: Well my point was you have all these great Canadian
bands…
Steve: Ohh, back to your point! Can I have a drink of your beer?
VOX: What’s the secret?
Steve: The secret is that there is no secret; it just happens.
You have to try your hardest.
Deryck: Every band is different. You can’t have two bands go down
the same path and have the same outcome. If they come up with the same thing, if
they make an EP with a bunch of squirt guns it’s not going to work. It just happens.
VOX: That EP sure worked for you guys.
Steve: The album has a half an hour of good songs. And the EP has
a about half an hour of good songs.
Deryck: The EP has a lot of instrumental stuff, which couldn’t be hit songs,
they’re little ditties…
Steve: Ditties?
Deryck: I call them ditties, metal ditties, hip hop ditties…
Steve: P-ditties…
VOX: So what are you drinking?
Deryck: Jack Daniel's and some weird kind of white stuff…Gatorade,
white Gatorade. I didn’t even look what it said!
VOX: Somehow it makes it good.
Deryck: Oh no, it’s not good but it’s booze.
VOX: How has the live show changed?
Steve: More fun.
Deryck: I guess we’re better than the last time you guys saw us.
It’s a high energy – the kids are great. The show's just fun.
We try to have crowd involvement…[to Steve] Are you going to finish my whole
drink? Are you going to save me a sip?
Steve: There’s a bottle up front dude, there’s a bottle up
front! Sorry.
VOX: Most bands try to hide all their vices on camera and keep
up appearances. You guys are the same on camera as you are off.
Deryck: Oh yeah! That’s cause there’s no one as rock
'n' roll as I am!
Steve: Yeaaah!
VOX: Is it that bands want to hide it from the press?
Deryck: Fuck that.
Steve: I’ve got a drinking problem - I’m only 20,
I’m not even legal in this country to drink. I’m already on a fucking bad,
rocky road. Sorry mom.
Deryck: We’re fighting over the last sip of whiskey.
Steve: I’m about to deck him.
Deryck: There’s a bottle up front, more than a bottle!
VOX: Are we gonna see you snort coke off of a hooker's tits
now?
Steve: Ok, come out now Candy!
Deryck: We have her hidden.
