As a kid whose musical tastes were largely shaped by late 90’s and early 2000’s pop-punk, rock and emo bands it is hard to overstate the impact Sum41 has had on my life.
I was introduced to the band after listening to Simple Plan’s ‘No pads, no helmets,… just balls’, eager to relate to the quintessentially adolescent line ‘GC, Sum and blink and MxPx rockin’ my room’, followed by studying the accompanying booklet where the band thanked bands that inspired them or that they’ve worked with in the past. Obviously I needed to investigate and found out I had heard ‘Fat Lip’ before on the radio and MTV of course. With this new found curiosity for guitar-based music, I roamed through the CD aisles in electronic stores and got a hold of ‘All Killer, No Filler’, fascinated by the weirdness and the absurdity of the album cover and the slightly more daring, rebellious, ‘eff-you’-attitude displayed by these fellow Canadians and also broadening my pop-punk horizons to heavier riffs and shredder guitar solos.
Well, I could go on about the details, the hilarious and outrageous pranks only available on DVD, parental advisory stickers, the spiky hair and studded bracelets – the point is, the band fulfilled perfectly my desire for a deeper dive into fresh, heavy and boldly political North American rock music. I played ‘Does This Look Infected’ obsessively and it spoke to a part of me I was only just discovering through their music. In 2004, ‘Chuck’ flipped my world upside down yet again when ‘Pieces’ came out, showing a slower, more reflective, and more melancholic side to the band and establishing a more polished sound that very much appealed to me. The way the intro launches into ‘No reason’ like an explosion is executed so perfectly it makes me shiver every time. And of course these records were part of the soundtrack to a time in my life where my world (and the neurons in my brain) got irreversibly flipped upside down in the best way possible. So when ‘Underclass Hero’ came out, guitarist Dave Baksh having left the band, I was already a die-hard fan and got to see the band live for the first time in 2007, which was only my second or third time seeing a rock band of my choosing in the flesh. ‘The Jester’ and ‘With Me’ became my most quoted lyrics as I scribbled them on notepads in class and moved me to tears.
‘Screaming Bloody Murder’ was the incredible album that lured Dave back into the band, fans self-identifying as ‘Skumf*ks’ (if that isn’t a compliment!) followed by ’13 Voices’ and ‘Order In Decline’. At this point, the band’s career spans 20 years including their very first release ‘Half Hour Of Power’. Now, with countless album sales and streams, successful tours, massive festival appearances across the globe, a pop-punk, punk-rock and metal legacy to show for, and the triumphant double album ‘Heaven :x: Hell’, singer Deryck Whibley initiated the end of the band.
It’s difficult to put into words the feeling of saying goodbye to a band you’ve spent more than half of your life with. I am grateful to have seen the band play multiple times (although I am kicking myself for not having been in the country for their tour with Simple Plan! What a bill…) and yet it seems it could never be enough times. It’s surreal to imagine never seeing Sum41 on a festival line-up again or do a tour again, or for that social media post to say ‘Sum41 – ‘1996-2025”. Therefore I am even more grateful for having had the chance to talk to Dave via Zoom a couple of days before their huge live show at Barclays Arena in Hamburg. He took the time on his day off – and despite having caught a bit of a cold – to talk with me about their massive Halloween show at London’s iconic Wembley Arena, whether Pain (or T’ain’t) For Pleasure would do a last appearance and what he has learned from spending the majority of his adult life traveling to foreign countries and being exposed to different cultures. Also, see me lose my sh*t when he reveals what song he wished had gotten a bit more exposure (which happens to be one of my all-time favorite Sum41 songs), what Dave appreciates about his band members even beyond being bandmates, and struggling to find the words to say goodbye to a band that has meant a lot to me. On top of everything, and to add salt to the wound, it turns out that Dave is an absolute legend and truly one of the kindest souls I have met through interviewing musicians over the years. Two days after this interview, he recognized my face in the photo pit at the show and recalled my name, and went out of his way to give me his last guitar pick after the show. In any case, I will secretly hope for a reunion in 2045. You can’t stop me. Sum41 for f***ing ever.
