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Sum 41
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Sum 41 - Heaven :x: Hell
Sum 41
Heaven :x: Hell
Sum 41 - Order in Decline
Sum 41
Order in Decline
Sum 41 - Underclass Hero
Sum 41
Underclass Hero
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William Beckett
William Beckett and Frank Zummo (Video Interview)
Jackie Cular talks with Frank Zummo and William Beckett at Emo Nite Baltimore.
Deryck Whibley of Sum 41
Jonathan Bautts interviews Deryck Whibley about his personal journey making '13 Voices.'
Sum 41
Deryck Whibley of Sum 41
AbsolutePunk talks with Deryck back in 2012.
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Review: Sum 41 – Heaven :x: Hell

Sum 41 - Heaven :x: Hell
Adam Grundy

There’s something to be said about going out on your own terms. Over time there have been plenty of athletes, actors, artists, and bands who have hung on too long to try and recapture that early spirit found in their careers, with mixed results. Sum 41 announced that Heaven :x: Hell, their eighth studio album, would be their final record in their career, and what a hell of a way to “call your own shot” by leaving behind a bulletproof discography. This double album plays out like a greatest hits compilation in the way that they touch on various stages of their career. The early songs, found on the Heaven side, lean closer to their pop-punk roots, while the back half (Hell) relies on heavy riffing and metal-tinged elements. By delivering what I consider to be their finest and most complete work of art to date, Sum 41 can look fondly back upon their legacy.

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New Interview with Dave Baksh

Sum 41
Jason Tate

Dave Baksh of Sum 41 talked with Rodeo Magazine:

“I always think of [All Killer No Filler] as a boot camp in songwriting, and how to play guitar,” Dave recalls. “We had a producer on that record named Jerry Finn. I think the biggest mistake we made in our career was not working with him on every single record. He had such a great vibe in the studio and was such a great teacher. He sat me down and told me I was a garbage guitar player and I needed to get better. He taught me the art of treating every section – whether it be four bars, twelve bars, whatever – as a composition in itself, and you deliver that performance in whatever pocket that is.”

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Sum 41 Talk With Kerrang

Sum 41
Jason Tate

Sum 41 sat down with Kerrang to talk abut their final album:

“It was the music that told me,” Deryck says of the tipping point. “I thought, ‘This is the moment. This is the best idea that Sum 41 has ever had for a record.’ It straddles that line between heavy music and pop-punk that I feel like only we have done over the years. I felt this was the record that I could walk away and hang my hat on. Musically, it’s our evolution, while the title, Heaven :x: Hell, represents our journey. If there’s one record that defines who we are, it’s this one.”

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Deryck Whibley Talks with GQ

Sum 41
Jason Tate

Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 talked with GQ in a wide ranging interview:

It’s partly the same reason that, last August, Whibley decided to sell the rights to Sum 41’s entire publishing-and-recorded-music catalog to an investment fund called Harbourview Equity Partners for an undisclosed sum. For a long time, despite several approaches, “I was so against selling it,” he says. “My songs are my babies, and I didn’t need the money.”

Then he started to question what he was so afraid of losing. He decided to conduct a thought experiment: “I told myself, Okay, I’m going to wake up tomorrow and act like I’ve sold it. What does that feel like? I woke up scared shitless. I had no songs. And I felt so excited and I picked up a guitar just naturally. Almost right away I wrote “Landmines”. And then I wrote another one, and then another one, and then I had another riff, and it was like, holy shit.” Letting go of his songs—much in the way he’s letting go of the band entirely now—unlocked a vital hunger inside of Whibley. “I felt the way I did when I first got signed. I felt the pressure and the need to create something.”

What he wound up creating was Heaven :x: Hell, a double album slated for early 2024 that should serve as the perfect capstone to the band’s two distinct eras: one side entirely All Killer–style pop-punk jams, the other full of the scorching metal headbangers they’ve favored lately. “I feel like there’s no other band in our genre that can just so easily pull this off,” Whibley says. “We have our own lane. It’s a great last record.”

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