Post by Heather on Mar 30, 2011 20:09:35 GMT -5
Sum 41's Whibley says new CD came from dark period, but happy times as well
TORONTO - It's been four years since Sum 41 last released an album, and the intervening years saw frontman Deryck Whibley endure a divorce from Avril Lavigne as well as a string of health concerns.
But he says the dark tone of the material on the band's new record, "Screaming Bloody Murder," can't necessarily be traced to his personal life — in fact, he says he can't really trace the origin of any of the words on his latest disc.
"It's really hard to explain what anything's about, because I don't even know what it's about," Whibley said quietly behind a pair of sunglasses during a recent interview in Toronto.
"I was just writing words that were just in my head and it was over such a long period of time that I don't have a lot of recollection of writing a lot of these things — they're just there."
And yet, these pitch-black lyrics — sample line from the wrenching ballad "What am I to Say?": "How could you be the better part of me?/ When we're only half of what we used to be today/ Could you see this isn't what we need/ And I'm leaving all the pieces how they fell/ So goodbye, farewell" — seem to have originated from an especially tough period in Whibley's life.
"Some of it was, for sure, yeah," he replied. "It was over four years. So there's dark periods, happy periods. That's why I think it was so eclectic, because there's so many different moods.
"For me, it's really hard to write in a dark period, but it's easier to write about a dark period. So once you've had those emotions, you've had those feelings, you can describe them in a way that's real and makes sense, but in that period, for me, I can't do it."
Lyrics about broken relationships, searing regrets and difficult departures dominate the release. Behind Whibley, the band kicks up its sludgiest racket since 2004's "Chuck."
"I think it's heavy but it's also heavy in its own way," says drummer Steve Jocz. "We're not a Scandinavian death metal band or something ... (but) there's a heavy, dark sort of vibe about it."
"There's ups and downs. There's soft songs and there's fun rock songs. But it's overall a darker album."
The record moves Sum 41 farther from the band's supposed pop-punk roots ("We never called ourselves that — media has to label you as something," pointed out bassist Jason McCaslin.)
Of course, that transition was well in hand with the release of the Ajax, Ont., band's last album, "Underclass Hero," which dropped in 2007.
The band members acknowledge that their label fretted as time continued to lapse with no new finished record in sight.
"Yeah, people were trying to tell us: 'OK, the record's over. You're done. We're not giving you any more money,'" Whibley said.
"So we paid for the last two songs," Jocz added. "They wouldn't give us any more money. We said, 'These have to go on.' They said no. And we just did it."
"They still haven't thanked us yet," lamented Whibley, who suffered a slipped disc in his back after being attacked at a Japanese bar and more recently had to cancel tour dates due to pneumonia, but says he's doing fine now.
Increasingly, Sum 41 seems like an impenetrably tight-knit group. They tried to work with Pixies producer Gil Norton, but parted ways after finding they had different ideas for what the record should sound like, and Whibley wound up producing the album himself.
The principal group members have been friends since high school, 15-plus years. As the band whisks through a day of press interviews, Whibley's mother even hangs out and chats with reporters — a friendly woman clad in a leather jacket, she points out that it's difficult for her to find time with her son otherwise, given his packed touring schedule.
Like most everyone else in today's splintering music industry, Sum 41 has found diminishing sales returns lately. The gold-selling "Underclass Hero" was the band's first album that failed to go platinum in Canada, but Whibley says he doesn't miss the halcyon days when big sales were a given.
"In a way, the fact that we can't really sell any records anymore makes it a little bit easier," Whibley said. "There's no: 'OK, we need to hit 5 million albums.' It doesn't even exist anymore."
"Because back in those days also, even if you sold that many records, that doesn't mean anything to us," Jocz interjected.
"We never made money off records, ever," Whibley agrees. "It makes it easier, not even throwing that into the equation.
"You know, it doesn't matter anymore. We'd only ever make the record company money, or other people that we don't even know anymore."
TORONTO - It's been four years since Sum 41 last released an album, and the intervening years saw frontman Deryck Whibley endure a divorce from Avril Lavigne as well as a string of health concerns.
But he says the dark tone of the material on the band's new record, "Screaming Bloody Murder," can't necessarily be traced to his personal life — in fact, he says he can't really trace the origin of any of the words on his latest disc.
"It's really hard to explain what anything's about, because I don't even know what it's about," Whibley said quietly behind a pair of sunglasses during a recent interview in Toronto.
"I was just writing words that were just in my head and it was over such a long period of time that I don't have a lot of recollection of writing a lot of these things — they're just there."
And yet, these pitch-black lyrics — sample line from the wrenching ballad "What am I to Say?": "How could you be the better part of me?/ When we're only half of what we used to be today/ Could you see this isn't what we need/ And I'm leaving all the pieces how they fell/ So goodbye, farewell" — seem to have originated from an especially tough period in Whibley's life.
"Some of it was, for sure, yeah," he replied. "It was over four years. So there's dark periods, happy periods. That's why I think it was so eclectic, because there's so many different moods.
"For me, it's really hard to write in a dark period, but it's easier to write about a dark period. So once you've had those emotions, you've had those feelings, you can describe them in a way that's real and makes sense, but in that period, for me, I can't do it."
Lyrics about broken relationships, searing regrets and difficult departures dominate the release. Behind Whibley, the band kicks up its sludgiest racket since 2004's "Chuck."
"I think it's heavy but it's also heavy in its own way," says drummer Steve Jocz. "We're not a Scandinavian death metal band or something ... (but) there's a heavy, dark sort of vibe about it."
"There's ups and downs. There's soft songs and there's fun rock songs. But it's overall a darker album."
The record moves Sum 41 farther from the band's supposed pop-punk roots ("We never called ourselves that — media has to label you as something," pointed out bassist Jason McCaslin.)
Of course, that transition was well in hand with the release of the Ajax, Ont., band's last album, "Underclass Hero," which dropped in 2007.
The band members acknowledge that their label fretted as time continued to lapse with no new finished record in sight.
"Yeah, people were trying to tell us: 'OK, the record's over. You're done. We're not giving you any more money,'" Whibley said.
"So we paid for the last two songs," Jocz added. "They wouldn't give us any more money. We said, 'These have to go on.' They said no. And we just did it."
"They still haven't thanked us yet," lamented Whibley, who suffered a slipped disc in his back after being attacked at a Japanese bar and more recently had to cancel tour dates due to pneumonia, but says he's doing fine now.
Increasingly, Sum 41 seems like an impenetrably tight-knit group. They tried to work with Pixies producer Gil Norton, but parted ways after finding they had different ideas for what the record should sound like, and Whibley wound up producing the album himself.
The principal group members have been friends since high school, 15-plus years. As the band whisks through a day of press interviews, Whibley's mother even hangs out and chats with reporters — a friendly woman clad in a leather jacket, she points out that it's difficult for her to find time with her son otherwise, given his packed touring schedule.
Like most everyone else in today's splintering music industry, Sum 41 has found diminishing sales returns lately. The gold-selling "Underclass Hero" was the band's first album that failed to go platinum in Canada, but Whibley says he doesn't miss the halcyon days when big sales were a given.
"In a way, the fact that we can't really sell any records anymore makes it a little bit easier," Whibley said. "There's no: 'OK, we need to hit 5 million albums.' It doesn't even exist anymore."
"Because back in those days also, even if you sold that many records, that doesn't mean anything to us," Jocz interjected.
"We never made money off records, ever," Whibley agrees. "It makes it easier, not even throwing that into the equation.
"You know, it doesn't matter anymore. We'd only ever make the record company money, or other people that we don't even know anymore."