QUESTIONNAIRE | Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley
SUM 41 BROKE OUT OF AJAX, ON IN 2001, BRINGING THEIR BELLIGERENT, BOYISH POP PUNK TO THE MASSES with hits like “Fat Lip” and “In Too Deep” off their debut LP All Killer, No Filler. Over the course of the next decade and four subsequent studio albums that heard the band veering toward darker, heavier sounds and implementing multiple lineup changes, frontman Deryck Whibley recalls that he was ready to pack it in after 2011’s Screaming Bloody Murder.
Fast-forward to 2014: Whibley revealed that he had been hospitalized for health issues related to excessive drinking. After a recovery period that found him fighting to relearn basic motor functions (not to mention playing music), the newly sober singer/guitarist reclaimed his passion for rock’n’roll, patched things up with the band and recorded Sum 41’s sixth studio album, 13 Voices, at his home in Los Angeles. “It’s the first record I’ve ever written completely sober,” he says. And while he credits it with saving his life, fans don’t have to worry about it being a preachy album of feel-good pop songs. “It’s a rock record.”
NAME SOMETHING YOU CONSIDER A MINDALTERING WORK OF ART:
I would say Tim Burton to me is very visually stimulating. Edward Scissorhands — I remember seeing it for the first time, I was pretty blown away.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST MEMORABLE OR INSPIRATIONAL GIG AND WHY?
One that I attended that really sticks out in my mind was Beck on the Odelay! tour in 1997. That was pretty phenomenal. It was the first time I realized that a concert could be a show. I’d never seen anything like that, I was used to seeing punk rock shows and club shows with jumping around on stage and mosh pits. This was like a whole show; there was choreographed dancing, it obviously wasn’t as crazy as James Brown, but for me at that point, it was the craziest thing I’d seen.
WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR CAREER HIGHS AND LOWS?
One really high moment was on the last record when we were nominated for a Grammy for the first time. So that was pretty new and exciting. And the low point would be losing to the Foo Fighters.
No, the low point would be coming off the last record where it felt like, at least in my opinion, I didn’t think I ever wanted to do another record again, and I don’t think I ever felt that before. At that time, after three years of touring for the Screaming Bloody Murder album, I thought it was all over. I think we just burnt ourselves out so much that the last thing I could ever see myself wanting to do was another Sum 41 show or sing another Sum 41 song or see another Sum 41 member.
WHAT ADVICE SHOULD YOU HAVE TAKEN, BUT DID NOT?
Whenever I think of advice, I think of when I met Ice T. He came to me and said, “Yo, the only thing harder than being the Mack is staying the Mack.” And I thought, “Thanks, Ice T. I’ll remember that.” That was in 2003, I think. And I try to live up to that, I try to always stay the Mack.
WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU KICK SOMEONE OUT OF YOUR BAND AND/OR BED, AND HAVE YOU?
I’ve never kicked anybody out. I mean, maybe when I was younger, like in the early, early days and you’re a teenager you kick somebody out of the band just for fun. I remember Steve-o [Jocz, former Sum 41 drummer] and I were just bored and we kicked a bass player of ours, like one of the early Sum 41 bass players, out. We took all of his gear, his bass and his amp and everything he had and shoved it out on the curb and told him to pick it up. We did it just so we could watch him come pick it up. We were like 14 or 15.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU THINK OF CANADA?
Tim Hortons. Not the actual guy — the donuts!
WHAT WAS THE FIRST LP/CASSETTE/CD/ EIGHT TRACK YOU EVER BOUGHT WITH YOUR OWN MONEY?
Appetite for Destruction cassette tape. I was living in Peterborough at the time, with my grandparents, and I was about 9 or 10. It was around the time when I just started getting into my own music. Guns N’Roses were huge at the time and it was the first rock band that I got into. Before that I was listening to rap music. That was right at the time when you start discovering music on your own.
WHAT WAS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE DAY JOB?
My first real job was a clown. I had to stand out on the street holding a sign that said: “Roses $9.99” You know those guys that have to advertise a store on the side of a busy street? Well, I did that. I don’t know why I was a clown. It was a flower shop in Ajax. The weirdest thing about it was that the job was famous on that street because people would always egg the clown or throw stuff at the clown or honk at the clown — and then I ended up becoming the clown. I was the guy that used to throw stuff at the clown before that. And then I got eggs thrown at me. I never got hit, but I was also like 13, so I didn’t care either. I thought I was getting rich. It was five bucks an hour, it was a five-hour day and I thought it was pretty awesome.
IF I WASN’T PLAYING MUSIC I WOULD BE…
In the NBA. Point guard. I think I’m pretty good.
WHAT DO YOU FEAR MOST?
Spiders. I’ve always had serious arachnophobia.
WHO WOULD BE YOUR IDEAL DINNER GUEST, LIVING OR DEAD, AND WHAT WOULD YOU SERVE THEM?
If I was cooking dinner, it would probably just be cereal.
WHAT SONG WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE PLAYED AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life.” There’s a lot of things I like about that song. I like the lyrics and I like his vocal performance; he actually kind of sounds a little drunk in it. I’m a huge Sinatra fan, so kind of an allaround win.