23 February 2011
When Sum 41 burst onto the brat-punk scene almost a decade ago with their debut All Killer, No Filler, some thought the Canadian group would fall off the radar. A fair perspective when considering the rise and fall of angst-pop bands at the time who, like them, relied heavily on scatological humour.
But just weeks before the release of their fifth album, Screaming Bloody Murder on March 29, drummer Steve ‘Stevo’ Jocz says even after an almost four-year hiatus, it’s like they never left.
“We’ve been on tour for six months now, we just played a sold-out show in Paris for 8,000 people and the album’s not even out yet,” beams the 30-year-old.
During the breather their label of the two decades, Platinum Island Records, kept fans amused with a greatest hits collection. According to Jocz, All The Good Shit was “label marketing bullshit that’s trying to sell everything again”. “The label owns the rights to every song we’ve ever released so they can do whatever they want with them,” he laughs. “If they wanna put out some greatest hits album they can, that’s how it works.”
While fervent fans were poring over tracks they already owned, Sum 41 were in wedded bliss and crisis. During their first break in eight years, Jocz and new member and lead guitarist Tom Thacker both got married, while frontman Deryck Whibley divorced bubblegum-punk princess Avril Lavigne. “We had a lot of stuff to do!” Jocz says.
The break also cemented Thacker’s replacement of Dave Baksh who cited ‘creative differences’ for leaving the band in 2006. Thacker went from touring guitarist with the band to a contributing member who helped write the new album’s title track and first single.
“Tom wrote the riff in the new single so he’s definitely becoming more and more a part of the band…We knew that Dave wasn’t really into being in the band for a long time so when it was time for him to go it was like when your friend tells you that you’re gay, and you know that you’re gay, but you’re like ‘nooo!’” Jocz says animatedly. “We knew for a while that he wanted to leave, and then he left.”
Jocz may speak comically about the departure of Baksh, but the band hadn’t planned to record another album without him after Underclass Hero. In fact, Screaming Bloody Murder was intended only as an EP but the tracks “were really good,” says Jocz, so they decided to write a full-length and ended up with more songs than they could fit onto the record.
“In every album we’ve ever had we’ve been like ‘lets do 12 songs’ and then we’ll be like ‘alright that’s the 12.’ Whereas this was the first time we’d ever written 20 songs and picked the ones we wanted.”
According to Jocz, Screaming Bloody Murder stays true to good ol’ punk rock, it doesn’t genre surf and it certainly doesn’t have a concept.
“I don’t think we’re really concepty, albumy dudes, not yet…There’s no overall storyline like The Wall or whatever,” he laughs. “For people who like pop music, or those who like disco and techno and R&B and all this weird stuff that’s fusing together with rock music; they’re not gonna find it on ours. This is a straight rock record, it’s ballsy, there’s none of that Cookie Monster shit on there. People are sick of the disco, electronic thing that’s creeping in on everybody’s records. It’s just gonna blow over.”
But just weeks before the release of their fifth album, Screaming Bloody Murder on March 29, drummer Steve ‘Stevo’ Jocz says even after an almost four-year hiatus, it’s like they never left.
“We’ve been on tour for six months now, we just played a sold-out show in Paris for 8,000 people and the album’s not even out yet,” beams the 30-year-old.
During the breather their label of the two decades, Platinum Island Records, kept fans amused with a greatest hits collection. According to Jocz, All The Good Shit was “label marketing bullshit that’s trying to sell everything again”. “The label owns the rights to every song we’ve ever released so they can do whatever they want with them,” he laughs. “If they wanna put out some greatest hits album they can, that’s how it works.”
While fervent fans were poring over tracks they already owned, Sum 41 were in wedded bliss and crisis. During their first break in eight years, Jocz and new member and lead guitarist Tom Thacker both got married, while frontman Deryck Whibley divorced bubblegum-punk princess Avril Lavigne. “We had a lot of stuff to do!” Jocz says.
The break also cemented Thacker’s replacement of Dave Baksh who cited ‘creative differences’ for leaving the band in 2006. Thacker went from touring guitarist with the band to a contributing member who helped write the new album’s title track and first single.
“Tom wrote the riff in the new single so he’s definitely becoming more and more a part of the band…We knew that Dave wasn’t really into being in the band for a long time so when it was time for him to go it was like when your friend tells you that you’re gay, and you know that you’re gay, but you’re like ‘nooo!’” Jocz says animatedly. “We knew for a while that he wanted to leave, and then he left.”
Jocz may speak comically about the departure of Baksh, but the band hadn’t planned to record another album without him after Underclass Hero. In fact, Screaming Bloody Murder was intended only as an EP but the tracks “were really good,” says Jocz, so they decided to write a full-length and ended up with more songs than they could fit onto the record.
“In every album we’ve ever had we’ve been like ‘lets do 12 songs’ and then we’ll be like ‘alright that’s the 12.’ Whereas this was the first time we’d ever written 20 songs and picked the ones we wanted.”
According to Jocz, Screaming Bloody Murder stays true to good ol’ punk rock, it doesn’t genre surf and it certainly doesn’t have a concept.
“I don’t think we’re really concepty, albumy dudes, not yet…There’s no overall storyline like The Wall or whatever,” he laughs. “For people who like pop music, or those who like disco and techno and R&B and all this weird stuff that’s fusing together with rock music; they’re not gonna find it on ours. This is a straight rock record, it’s ballsy, there’s none of that Cookie Monster shit on there. People are sick of the disco, electronic thing that’s creeping in on everybody’s records. It’s just gonna blow over.”
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