Post by Heather on Jul 20, 2010 8:42:04 GMT -5
Dying Scene talks new album, tours and more with Sum 41
Man, has it really been 9 years since I heard Fat Lip for the first time? Since then a lot of great music been released by a lot of great punk bands, and without Fat Lip, I’d never know any of them. For me, Sum 41 was the bridge between radio and the underground, and lets face it, without bands like theirs a lot of you wouldn’t be reading this website in the first place.
Shockingly, nearly a decade since my first exposure to Sum 41, the band is still regularly pushing out new songs. Their latest ditty, Scumfuck, was unintentionally leaked, which is proof enough that people are still chomping at the bit to hear new music from this Canadian threesome. The punk rock elitists out there may scoff at the band’s mention but the rest will agree that this band has put out more than a few great punk tunes which is why I was stoked to get the chance to talk to Steve-O (drummer) and Cone (Bassist) about the upcoming album, touring, and more.
Check out the interview here.
So how’s warped tour going so far?
Steve O: Great, you know, we’ve been having fun. It’s just been great.
Cone: We had our hometown show yesterday
Steve O: Which is always a bit of a fucking mess, you know, we got friends and family, and shit.
Cone: I love Toronto, but it’s just a bit of a hectic time. There’s the family and the fans, and everyone’s got their demands. Just…
Steve O: And we’re a bit hungover.
Are you doing all of warped tour?
Steve O: All of it with the exception of four dates, cause we’re going to Japan. We’re going over there to play with Stevie Wonder. I don’t know how the fuck that happened, but we’re doing it.
How’s the response to Scumfuck been?
Steve O: Oh, its been great! Yeah, I don’t know how the hell that got out.
Cone: That was just some random album track that just somehow got leaked, so we just gave it to our fansite and people started downloading it. It’s not a single or anything, its just a random album track.
Steve O: It’s like a deep cut off the record (laughs). On our website in about a week, um, we’re releasing like a 12 minute section for download.
Is there anything else you’ll be releasing?
Steve O: Well eventually we’ll get around to do a single.
Cone: Well with the 12 minute section and Scumfuck, that’ll already be like a quarter of the album that we’re giving away for free.
What can we expect from the release?
Steve O: Um, well, I think it’s the best record we’ve done so far. Its pretty dark in some parts, it’s got some light parts as well, but there’s some pretty intense sort of metal things in there, and there’s some rock in it too.
Cone: Its heavy, it’s on the heavier side
Steve O: I’d say its on the heavier side, just not hardcore.
So your last album, the theme of it was frustration towards modern times, is there a theme to this album?
Steve O: Um, each of the songs have their own thing, it’s just whatever we’ve been going through. There’s no real set concept.
You’ve been together 14 years, what exactly has changed?
Steve O: Ohhhhh, that’s hard, I’m hairier than when we started. But um, not much has changed to be honest. That’s the thing about being in a band, you just sort of stay a teenager, you don’t really have to mature in the same way if you had a real job at an insurance office or something like that. We’re still the same morons we were when we were 18.
Writing/recording is still the same?
Cone: Yeah, its still basically the same process, Derrick comes up with the ideas and brings them to us
Steve O: This time was different cause we rented this house in Hollywood hills, this big modern mansion, um, that they lived at for a while. (looks at cone) You were supposed to live there for a while, see I live in LA so I just went home.
Cone: Yeah, we lived in this house, and the guesthouse was transformed into a studio, so we’d just wake up and play a chord, go back to the house.
Steve O: Throw some shit in the swimming pool (laughs)
After Warped Tour is there any big headlining tour?
Steve O: Probably not until the new year. We are doing a headlining tour, but we’re doing it in Europe.
The reasoning behind that?
Steve O: Its kind of a festival tour we got offered to headline, so we just took it.
Cone: We are headlining a show in Quebec
Steve O: Which is crazy cause we’re flying from Kansas City to Quebec, from Quebec to LA, from LA to Toyko from Toyko to home.
How do you deal with the gear?
Steve O: We ship it
Cone: Or we rent
Steve O: Japan is just crazy. Every one of our tech guy’s has a shadow Japanese guy who takes notes, and the doppleganger Japanese guy just takes care of it for the rest of the time, and when they’re not working they stand like this (imitates a robot).
Cone: It’s crazy.
Steve O: They run a tight ship there.
Anything you’d like to say to your fans?
Steve O: Thanks for sticking around for so long!
A big thank you to Bethany at MCO for making this possible, and the band for taking the time out to talk.
Man, has it really been 9 years since I heard Fat Lip for the first time? Since then a lot of great music been released by a lot of great punk bands, and without Fat Lip, I’d never know any of them. For me, Sum 41 was the bridge between radio and the underground, and lets face it, without bands like theirs a lot of you wouldn’t be reading this website in the first place.
Shockingly, nearly a decade since my first exposure to Sum 41, the band is still regularly pushing out new songs. Their latest ditty, Scumfuck, was unintentionally leaked, which is proof enough that people are still chomping at the bit to hear new music from this Canadian threesome. The punk rock elitists out there may scoff at the band’s mention but the rest will agree that this band has put out more than a few great punk tunes which is why I was stoked to get the chance to talk to Steve-O (drummer) and Cone (Bassist) about the upcoming album, touring, and more.
Check out the interview here.
So how’s warped tour going so far?
Steve O: Great, you know, we’ve been having fun. It’s just been great.
Cone: We had our hometown show yesterday
Steve O: Which is always a bit of a fucking mess, you know, we got friends and family, and shit.
Cone: I love Toronto, but it’s just a bit of a hectic time. There’s the family and the fans, and everyone’s got their demands. Just…
Steve O: And we’re a bit hungover.
Are you doing all of warped tour?
Steve O: All of it with the exception of four dates, cause we’re going to Japan. We’re going over there to play with Stevie Wonder. I don’t know how the fuck that happened, but we’re doing it.
How’s the response to Scumfuck been?
Steve O: Oh, its been great! Yeah, I don’t know how the hell that got out.
Cone: That was just some random album track that just somehow got leaked, so we just gave it to our fansite and people started downloading it. It’s not a single or anything, its just a random album track.
Steve O: It’s like a deep cut off the record (laughs). On our website in about a week, um, we’re releasing like a 12 minute section for download.
Is there anything else you’ll be releasing?
Steve O: Well eventually we’ll get around to do a single.
Cone: Well with the 12 minute section and Scumfuck, that’ll already be like a quarter of the album that we’re giving away for free.
What can we expect from the release?
Steve O: Um, well, I think it’s the best record we’ve done so far. Its pretty dark in some parts, it’s got some light parts as well, but there’s some pretty intense sort of metal things in there, and there’s some rock in it too.
Cone: Its heavy, it’s on the heavier side
Steve O: I’d say its on the heavier side, just not hardcore.
So your last album, the theme of it was frustration towards modern times, is there a theme to this album?
Steve O: Um, each of the songs have their own thing, it’s just whatever we’ve been going through. There’s no real set concept.
You’ve been together 14 years, what exactly has changed?
Steve O: Ohhhhh, that’s hard, I’m hairier than when we started. But um, not much has changed to be honest. That’s the thing about being in a band, you just sort of stay a teenager, you don’t really have to mature in the same way if you had a real job at an insurance office or something like that. We’re still the same morons we were when we were 18.
Writing/recording is still the same?
Cone: Yeah, its still basically the same process, Derrick comes up with the ideas and brings them to us
Steve O: This time was different cause we rented this house in Hollywood hills, this big modern mansion, um, that they lived at for a while. (looks at cone) You were supposed to live there for a while, see I live in LA so I just went home.
Cone: Yeah, we lived in this house, and the guesthouse was transformed into a studio, so we’d just wake up and play a chord, go back to the house.
Steve O: Throw some shit in the swimming pool (laughs)
After Warped Tour is there any big headlining tour?
Steve O: Probably not until the new year. We are doing a headlining tour, but we’re doing it in Europe.
The reasoning behind that?
Steve O: Its kind of a festival tour we got offered to headline, so we just took it.
Cone: We are headlining a show in Quebec
Steve O: Which is crazy cause we’re flying from Kansas City to Quebec, from Quebec to LA, from LA to Toyko from Toyko to home.
How do you deal with the gear?
Steve O: We ship it
Cone: Or we rent
Steve O: Japan is just crazy. Every one of our tech guy’s has a shadow Japanese guy who takes notes, and the doppleganger Japanese guy just takes care of it for the rest of the time, and when they’re not working they stand like this (imitates a robot).
Cone: It’s crazy.
Steve O: They run a tight ship there.
Anything you’d like to say to your fans?
Steve O: Thanks for sticking around for so long!
A big thank you to Bethany at MCO for making this possible, and the band for taking the time out to talk.