sum 41 (interview from 2001)
Meet the group: There's Deryck, the lead singer. Deryck,
when first introduced, seems somewhat reserved. As the group's songwriter,
he prefers not to write love songs and has sworn off younger girls. More
on that later. There's Cone, who plays bass. Cone is the group's poster child
for success, or so they've branded him. They, jokingly, swear that their
success is due in part to Cone's boy band, good looks. There's Dave, their
guitarist, who politely asked again and again, "Are you sure you don't want
anything? Soda? Water?" And who can forget about Steve, the group's drummer?
Steve is very much the Chris Kirkpatrick of punk. He's a real character.
Though, initially, he was quietly assembling a plastic Japanese toy that
fans had given to him, that didn't last for long. He soon started on a tirade
about the camera man having zoomed in too closely on his head.
Once they were finished with their program, we got down
to business... well, we tried to... Put Deryck, Cone, Dave, and Steve all
together and you've got Sum 41... and you can't get a straight answer from
any one of them!
Lindzi.com: For MTV's All Access Week,
you were asked to tape yourselves on tour for TRL. Carson Daly was unable
to air the majority of what was taped. What exactly was on
there?
Cone: They wouldn't air
it?
Deryck: What?
Steve: Did they show the mud
wrestling?
Lindzi.com: Yes.
Deryck: Then, what's the rest?
Lindzi.com: I don't
know.
Dave: I don't know either.
Lindzi.com: What was on those
tapes?
Deryck: Just us causing trouble. They won't
show that bad of stuff.
Steve: They sent us this disclaimer. You
can't show people under 18. It's hard finding people that are over 18 on
this tour, anyway. If you do, you still can't get them naked or anything
crazy like that. That's kind of a bummer.
Deryck: You can't show any
drinking.
Steve: I'm under age in this country. Here
you have to be 21. What number were we on TRL the other day?
Lindzi.com: I think number 3. Do you
guys like watching yourselves on TV?
Steve: We love it! Especially when they
show my enormous head.
Lindzi.com: Really? Some artists can't
stand it.
Dave: Well, we're not artists.
Cone: We're musicians.
Steve: We're in a rock band, baby. {in
a sarcastic tone} We just like to drink and get laid all the time.
Lindzi.com: Few rock groups have made
it to number one. Why do you think Sum 41 was able to accomplish
this?
Cone: Limp Bizkit, Blink 182,
POD...
Steve: I think they said we were the fifth
rock band to make it to number one and we're the twenty first group to make
it to number one. And the only Canadian band to make it to number one! I
think it's all Cone... look at that face! Take a picture of this face, please.
Who wouldn't fall in love with that?
Lindzi.com: Do you think rock is making
a comeback?
Deryck: It's always been there. It's getting
bigger.
Steve: Pop just got really popular. Rock's
always been popular. I think pop's on it's way back out.
Lindzi.com: How did you land your record
deal?
Dave: We're always filming stuff. We had
tons of footage that we put together as an EPK.
Deryck: We put our music over it and sent
it out to all the labels. It's different. We didn't send any CD's out. It
was funny. It spread and people were like, "Have you seen this
yet?"
Lindzi.com: How did those tapes compare
to the TRL tapes?
Deryck: Same sort of thing.
Cone: Except this time we had only one
day to do it. We weren't prepared to do it at all. We didn't know what to
do.
Steve: I don't know if it's one prank that
we do. I'll tell you the spark of the pranks.... boos. The pranks flow when
the boos are flowing. No one really knows what's happening. Except for when
we're doing our drive by water gun stuff, but we'd never drink and drive,
kids... very bad idea! Of all our pranks, that's the best one. We go up to
people and spray them.
Cone: They get so mad.
Steve: We've been in so many close calls
with car accidents with people chasing us. One guy got into an accident and
he blew out all his tires. He wanted to kick our asses. It was in Canada
so it wasn't that scary. He probably didn't even have a gun.
Lindzi.com: Trashed any hotels
lately?
Steve: The other day on my birthday, I
didn't trash the room... I broke something. It turned into this big thing,
but it wasn't barely anything.
Deryck: We don't really stay in hotels
any more.
Steve: We started trashing the bus, but
then we realized, "That's not cool."
Dave: It's like trashing your
room.
Lindzi.com: Okay... then, any fights
lately? I heard you got into one with SR-71.
Steve: We kicked their...
Deryck: We can't discuss it.
Steve: No, we don't fight with
bands!
Cone: Well, we're friends with every band
except them.
Steve: There haven't been any fights...
sorta.
Lindzi.com: {laughs} Okay... between
the fights and drinking, do you feel you have to live up to the whole rock
star facade?
Steve: We don't have to live up to it...
we don't have to own up to it! {laughs} Next question!
Lindzi.com: What's the craziest thing
you've done together?
Steve: San Fran Porno Van
{{much laughter}}
Lindzi.com: What's the San Fran Porno
Van, guys?
Cone: Nah, that's for another
day.
Steve: When we strip together that's always
crazy. The stuff we do isn't that crazy. That's not crazy -- that's just
kind of bizarre. We did it for our album release party. The original idea
was that we'd have strippers and it turned into us being the strippers. To
practice the routine, we did it in the basement -- stripping down to these
thongs. We did it for my mom. She was probably having the thrill ride of
her life watching my three young friends.
Dave: They're happy.
Steve: I'm sure it's a little weird. I'd
think it was weird if my mom was on TV all the time.
Deryck: They search around for magazines
that we're in.
Cone: They're collectors! They have
personalized license plates.
Lindzi.com: How's the tour
going?
Deryck: It's like going to summer camp
and seeing all your friends that you saw last year at summer camp.
Steve: There's a barbeque every
night.
Dave: The Gimme Gimme's set up a bar between
the two main stages.
Cone: We're going to start to have a daily
mud wrestling event.
Lindzi.com: Where do you get inspiration
from when writing?
Deryck: The back lounge. It's just one
of those things that comes out. You don't know where it comes from. It pops
in your head. Having so much fun is inspiration.
Steve: 'Cause we looove having a good
time!
Lindzi.com: I've noticed their aren't
too many songs about love on the album.
Deryck: We write songs about every day
life. Girls don't like us.
Dave: Maybe if he could find a girlfriend,
he'd write about one.
Steve: What's so funny is that a lot of
bands write songs about girls breaking their hearts, but all these guys are
out mac-ing girls every night. Please, "you don't have a girlfriend." You've
got a girl in every town!
Cone: Deryck's a hopeless romantic. Nah,
not really.
Lindzi.com: You guys always say that
girls don't like you! That can't be true if you're hitting number one on
TRL!
Steve: We have Cone!
Cone: Maybe they just like the song and
the video! Maybe they don't think we're good looking.
Steve: Maybe it's not just a sex
thing!
Dave: Maybe Cone's not a sex
symbol!
Cone: People think you're on TRL because
of your looks like the Backstreet Boys.
Steve: Come on, let's talk about the Backstreet
Boys looks for a second...
{{much laughter}}
Dave: We were all dorks. Nothing's
changed.
Cone: I don't like you anymore. I did like
you.
Deryck: These are my only
friends.
Lindzi.com: Why did you decide to put
"Pain for Pleasure" at the end of "Fat Lip?"
Deryck: We put it in the video because
it has every style of music that we do. We put it at the end to be
different.
Steve: It's also because it's really
funny.
Dave: We had all these metal clothes. We
thought it'd be fun to dress up.
Lindzi.com: What's the next
single?
Deryck: "In Too Deep."
Lindzi.com: Have you already made a
video for it? What's it like?
Deryck: Can't tell you.
Cone: It's different than the last
one.
Deryck: It's by water.
Dave: It involves the element of
water.
Cone: People getting wet.
An acquaintance of the group, Yogi, chimes
in: I saw it the first time and I couldn't stop laughing. It's awesome. The
song's good. They guys put out good videos.
Steve: I never knew I farted in my sleep
until I met these guys.
Cone: This is a question I've never had
before. I've learned to say, "Next question in interviews."
Steve: You can't this time.
Cone: You get away with farting in your
sleep?
Dave: I've learned that if I'm not careful
and I tan too much, I'll turn into a piece of charcol.
Deryck: I don't know. What's something
you guys have learned about me?
Steve: I learned that he is a bit of an
egomaniac... just kidding. {in a teasing tone} I've learned he won't drink
any more because it hurts his throat!
Cone: I've learned that he will only go
after twenty year olds and over.
Deryck: Yes, I've learned that I'm through
with young girls. Younger girls are just annoying.
Cone: I'm sure Deryck would go for a younger
girl if they were more mature.
Steve: He means if their boobs are really
big.
Lindzi.com: What drives you
insane?
Cone: I'll be sleeping and Deryck will
come into my bunk and pull me out.
Steve: What drives me insane is looking
at Cone's face day after day... always on the bus! Never changing! I'm only
kidding. That's the only thing that keeps me together. I love Cone. I love
every body... there's no favorites in this group.
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