Post by Heather on May 10, 2011 20:04:36 GMT -5
May 10, 2011 Nick Karp Interviews Deryck from Sum41
A few weeks ago, we sat down with Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 and conducted an interview. We talked about the music industry, his last album, what seems to be his distastefulness of Island Records and more! Click ‘more’ to check out the interview!
RTS Nick: Could you tell us who you are?
Sum 41: I’m Deryck from Sum 41.
You’ve just released the a new album called ‘Screaming Bloody Murder.’ You had a different approach to this album where you didn’t write songs for a specific album. Care to elaborate for us?
Sum 41: It came because I just started writing songs, but they were not for anything. I wrote songs because I felt like it. We were going to use it some day, but we didn’t know what it was necessarily for. We never said we were making a record. We had 5 songs that I really liked on the method we recorded it and the record was creating itself. If it took 10 years, I wouldn’t have given a shit. The record came naturally.
RTS Nick: Did you guys say, “Oh, This could blend really well!”?
Sum 41: Yeah. I was just waiting for when it was good, or when it was just done. It took us about 3 and a half years, but yeah, it felt right. We basically said, “We have a record now.”
How was the writing style different from writing ‘Underclass Heroes’?
Sum 41: I think the biggest difference was how I was just letting it happen and letting it fall into place. Every record we have ever done except for this record always had a start date and a end date. We always had a deadline. We would go on tour afterwards. That just seemed like more work. In this record, I didn’t loose my life. I wrote songs just to write songs, not for any specific record.
RTS Nick: Since you didn’t have a set-time, was Island [Records] pissed off about that?
Sum 41: Yeah, Definitely. They were always on my ass about when this record was going to be done and how much money it was going to cost. To them, they thought it was going to go on forever, but I knew it was getting closer and closer to getting done. We just had to wait to when the record was there. They were really a pain in the fucking ass.
RTS Nick: Didn’t you have to spend your own money on the record?
Sum 41: Yup. They cut us off at one point. We had two songs to go and they said it was never ending. I basically told them, “Fuck You. I’ll pay for it then.”
Are you still signed onto Island?
Sum 41: Yeah. We have no fucking choice!
RTS Nick: Do you want to get off then?
Sum 41: It’s not that I want to get off, I just want everything to work well.
RTS Nick: How many more records do you have on your contract?
Sum 41: I have no idea. I’m not good with any of that stuff.
RTS Nick: It sounds like you’re not re-signings.
Sum 41: No. It depends. Labels change over night and you never know whose going to be there or whats going to happen. People come and go and they could be a completely different label in a year.
The First song you released off the album was “SkumFuk” via Theresnosolution.com [Sum 41 Fansite.] Why did you choose to release that song first and why with them?
Sum 41: It was going to come out regardless because Island was going to release it on the Warped Tour Sampler. We did Warped Tour last year. It was going to come out regardless and we said, “Fuck it. We’ll put it out first then.”
RTS Nick: You really don’t like them [Island Records], do you?
Sum 41: *laughs* No. I get along with them, but the music business is just so fucked in general. We just take a lot of shit into our own hands.
RTS Nick: How grateful are you for websites like Theresnosolution?
Sum 41: I love them. I think Theresnosolution is doing great! I like it better than our own website. I don’t have a computer and I don’t even go on the internet, but I have seen TNS and I know what it is about.
You had pneumonia in Japan. Wanna tell us the story on that?
Sum 41: I got really sick! *laughs* I’m usually one of the last people to get sick. I don’t worry about getting sick because of it. I knew this time that I was so sick and I needed to go to the hospital. There is something wrong with me. I feel like dying. The doctor said that I had pneumonia and that I had to stay at the hospital. I chilled out at the hospital for about a week.
RTS Nick: Did you make up the tour dates?
Sum 41: No, but we are going to in Mid-May.
You helped write Avril [Lavigne]‘s new album….
Sum 41: Well I didn’t write it. I helped produce the album.
RTS Nick: Were you working with her after the break-up?
Sum 41: We did a little work after the break-up, but most of it while we were still together.
RTS Nick: If you don’t mind me asking, how awkward was it?
Sum 41: We have a good relationship. I had lunch with her not to long ago. I find it hard to work with people that you are close with regardless. That’s whether its a friend, a girlfriend, a wife or just anyone that is close with you. I like working with people that I don’t really know. There is a better level of professionalism when you work with people you do not really know. When people are to close, I feel that it doesn’t work that well.
Understandably. Well, just to back for a second, how do you think we can save the music industry? Album sales are at an all time low and I don’t understand how new bands can make a profit.
Sum 41: Well its hard for any band to make a profit. It’s hard for Sum 41 to make a profit. It’s a different business right now and unfortunately for me, business has never been my strong point. I’ve always just made music and played shows. As far as saving the music industry, I have no fucking idea. I’m not a business man.
RTS Nick: You are a worker in this industry. As much as I think music is an art form, music is also a business. People need to get paid.
Sum 41: The problem isn’t necessarily how the industry got fucked, but the CD’s aren’t selling. The main problem is that music has been music has been devalued. You could have placed a value at one point. Music is the most important form of entertainment for most people, but there isn’t value for it. There are so many new bands that will never see the light of day because there is no way for them to become popular. Most people want music for free, so they will download music for free. Most people don’t realize how free will cost them in the end. Bands can’t last. Bands can’t get paid and they will break-up. They will get a job at K-Mart or something.
RTS Nick: Bands have to go through the hard times to make some sort of profit.
Sum 41: I got into music thinking that I will be a “cool musician.” I would do it for free. I would live in a van if I had to. Success was an accident.
RTS Nick:Do you look back thinking about how lucky Sum 41 was for getting “Big” during the era when you got big?
Sum 41: Yeah. I don’t think Sum 41 could have happened now with the way the music business is. The way things worked out was that there was so much influence from the record company with their strategy and money. We couldn’t have done what we did now. It would not have happened.
Do you have any last words?
Sum 41: Nope. Thanks for doing the interview with me.
RTS Nick: Thanks for letting me do it!
A few weeks ago, we sat down with Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 and conducted an interview. We talked about the music industry, his last album, what seems to be his distastefulness of Island Records and more! Click ‘more’ to check out the interview!
RTS Nick: Could you tell us who you are?
Sum 41: I’m Deryck from Sum 41.
You’ve just released the a new album called ‘Screaming Bloody Murder.’ You had a different approach to this album where you didn’t write songs for a specific album. Care to elaborate for us?
Sum 41: It came because I just started writing songs, but they were not for anything. I wrote songs because I felt like it. We were going to use it some day, but we didn’t know what it was necessarily for. We never said we were making a record. We had 5 songs that I really liked on the method we recorded it and the record was creating itself. If it took 10 years, I wouldn’t have given a shit. The record came naturally.
RTS Nick: Did you guys say, “Oh, This could blend really well!”?
Sum 41: Yeah. I was just waiting for when it was good, or when it was just done. It took us about 3 and a half years, but yeah, it felt right. We basically said, “We have a record now.”
How was the writing style different from writing ‘Underclass Heroes’?
Sum 41: I think the biggest difference was how I was just letting it happen and letting it fall into place. Every record we have ever done except for this record always had a start date and a end date. We always had a deadline. We would go on tour afterwards. That just seemed like more work. In this record, I didn’t loose my life. I wrote songs just to write songs, not for any specific record.
RTS Nick: Since you didn’t have a set-time, was Island [Records] pissed off about that?
Sum 41: Yeah, Definitely. They were always on my ass about when this record was going to be done and how much money it was going to cost. To them, they thought it was going to go on forever, but I knew it was getting closer and closer to getting done. We just had to wait to when the record was there. They were really a pain in the fucking ass.
RTS Nick: Didn’t you have to spend your own money on the record?
Sum 41: Yup. They cut us off at one point. We had two songs to go and they said it was never ending. I basically told them, “Fuck You. I’ll pay for it then.”
Are you still signed onto Island?
Sum 41: Yeah. We have no fucking choice!
RTS Nick: Do you want to get off then?
Sum 41: It’s not that I want to get off, I just want everything to work well.
RTS Nick: How many more records do you have on your contract?
Sum 41: I have no idea. I’m not good with any of that stuff.
RTS Nick: It sounds like you’re not re-signings.
Sum 41: No. It depends. Labels change over night and you never know whose going to be there or whats going to happen. People come and go and they could be a completely different label in a year.
The First song you released off the album was “SkumFuk” via Theresnosolution.com [Sum 41 Fansite.] Why did you choose to release that song first and why with them?
Sum 41: It was going to come out regardless because Island was going to release it on the Warped Tour Sampler. We did Warped Tour last year. It was going to come out regardless and we said, “Fuck it. We’ll put it out first then.”
RTS Nick: You really don’t like them [Island Records], do you?
Sum 41: *laughs* No. I get along with them, but the music business is just so fucked in general. We just take a lot of shit into our own hands.
RTS Nick: How grateful are you for websites like Theresnosolution?
Sum 41: I love them. I think Theresnosolution is doing great! I like it better than our own website. I don’t have a computer and I don’t even go on the internet, but I have seen TNS and I know what it is about.
You had pneumonia in Japan. Wanna tell us the story on that?
Sum 41: I got really sick! *laughs* I’m usually one of the last people to get sick. I don’t worry about getting sick because of it. I knew this time that I was so sick and I needed to go to the hospital. There is something wrong with me. I feel like dying. The doctor said that I had pneumonia and that I had to stay at the hospital. I chilled out at the hospital for about a week.
RTS Nick: Did you make up the tour dates?
Sum 41: No, but we are going to in Mid-May.
You helped write Avril [Lavigne]‘s new album….
Sum 41: Well I didn’t write it. I helped produce the album.
RTS Nick: Were you working with her after the break-up?
Sum 41: We did a little work after the break-up, but most of it while we were still together.
RTS Nick: If you don’t mind me asking, how awkward was it?
Sum 41: We have a good relationship. I had lunch with her not to long ago. I find it hard to work with people that you are close with regardless. That’s whether its a friend, a girlfriend, a wife or just anyone that is close with you. I like working with people that I don’t really know. There is a better level of professionalism when you work with people you do not really know. When people are to close, I feel that it doesn’t work that well.
Understandably. Well, just to back for a second, how do you think we can save the music industry? Album sales are at an all time low and I don’t understand how new bands can make a profit.
Sum 41: Well its hard for any band to make a profit. It’s hard for Sum 41 to make a profit. It’s a different business right now and unfortunately for me, business has never been my strong point. I’ve always just made music and played shows. As far as saving the music industry, I have no fucking idea. I’m not a business man.
RTS Nick: You are a worker in this industry. As much as I think music is an art form, music is also a business. People need to get paid.
Sum 41: The problem isn’t necessarily how the industry got fucked, but the CD’s aren’t selling. The main problem is that music has been music has been devalued. You could have placed a value at one point. Music is the most important form of entertainment for most people, but there isn’t value for it. There are so many new bands that will never see the light of day because there is no way for them to become popular. Most people want music for free, so they will download music for free. Most people don’t realize how free will cost them in the end. Bands can’t last. Bands can’t get paid and they will break-up. They will get a job at K-Mart or something.
RTS Nick: Bands have to go through the hard times to make some sort of profit.
Sum 41: I got into music thinking that I will be a “cool musician.” I would do it for free. I would live in a van if I had to. Success was an accident.
RTS Nick:Do you look back thinking about how lucky Sum 41 was for getting “Big” during the era when you got big?
Sum 41: Yeah. I don’t think Sum 41 could have happened now with the way the music business is. The way things worked out was that there was so much influence from the record company with their strategy and money. We couldn’t have done what we did now. It would not have happened.
Do you have any last words?
Sum 41: Nope. Thanks for doing the interview with me.
RTS Nick: Thanks for letting me do it!