Sum 41

Members: Deryck Whibley, Dave Baksh, Jason McCaslin, Steve Jocz

Active: 1996 - present

EARLY YEARS 1996 - 2000

The members of Sum 41 started out in rival bands in high school. They joke that they met while attending a Hole concert 41 days into the summer (hence the name Sum 41) of 1996. However the current bassist, Cone, joined the band later in the year 1999, replacing Mark_Spicoluk.

The guys carried a video camera with them and filmed crazy Jackass-esque antics including, robbing a pizza place with water guns and performing a dance to "Makes No Difference" in front of an arena (both of which can be seen on both "Introduction to Destruction" and the bonus DVD from Does This Look Infected?).

The band submitted the video footage along with their demo tapes to several record labels. Island Records, seeking a new pop-punk band in the blink-182 vein, signed Sum 41 in early 2000.

Sum 41's first EP was released on June 27, 2000 and titled Half Hour of Power. The first single from the album was "Makes No Difference", which was featured in the movies "Bring It On", "Van Wilder" and "Out Cold" and the video game Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2. The song "What I Believe" is featured in the movie "Dude, Where's my Car?".

MAINSTREAM SUCCESS 2000 - 2003

Sum 41's second CD and first full length album was released on May 8, 2001. The first single released was "Fat Lip" which became a huge hit during the summer. Performances on the Warped Tour during the year further increase the popularity of the band.

Two other hit singles were released, "In Too Deep", which had a video of them in a diving competition, and "Motivation", a simplistic video of the band playing in classic garage band theme. The band toured for much of the year before returning to the studio to record another CD. Both "Fat Lip" and "In Too Deep" were used in the movie "American Pie 2". "In Too Deep" has also been featured on "Malcolm in the Middle", commercials for the 2005 remake of "Guess Who?" and the 2003 remake of Cheaper by the Dozen.

On November 26, 2002, Sum 41 released their second full length album "Does This Look Infected?" Sum 41 altered their style slightly - bringing in a heavier style, while keeping the smooth harmonies they were known for. The first single released was "Still Waiting" which had them mocking "new-garage" retro-rock under the name of "The Sums" and parodying one of The Strokes' video.

The band followed up the release of "Still Waiting", with "The Hell Song" which had the band using dolls with their pictures on them and others such as Ozzy Osbourne and Jesus Christ. Their next single, "Over My Head (Better off Dead)", had a video released exclusively in Canada and on their website in the United States, featuring live shots of the band.

CHUCK, OTHER APPEARANCES AND HIATUS 2003 - 2006

In early 2003, the band contributed to the first Rock Against Bush album by recording the song "Moron" which was also a bonus track in the Japanese import of Chuck.

They also did a song called "Little Know it All" with Iggy Pop on Iggy's new album Skull Ring.

In June of 2004, Sum 41 was in Congo filming the half-hour MTV documentary called ROCKED: Sum 41 in Congo, which was aired on September 21 on MTV. The documentary, about the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, describes the band?s ten-day trip to the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo with War Child, a Canadian charity that provides humanitarian assistance to children affected by war. The documentary also tracks the band?s much-publicized evacuation from Congo, assisted by Canadian peacekeeper Chuck Pelletier, a United Nations peacekeeper who saved the lives of the band and 40 other civilians while the band was recording the documentary. Sum 41 later named their latest album Chuck in honour of Chuck Pelletier for saving their lives. War Child released the video on November 29, 2005 in the United States and Canada.

Sum 41's album Chuck was released on October 12, 2004 and the first single from the album (as well as the only song written after the Congo incident) was "We're All To Blame" followed by "Pieces" and "Some Say". "No Reason" was also supposed to be a single, but "Some Say" didn't do well enough on the radio for that to happen.

"We're All To Blame" appears in the movie "Godzilla: Final Wars", played during a battle between the Japanese Godzilla and his Hollywood counterpart in Sydney, Australia. "Noots" (a bonus track on Chuck special edition) appears in the movie (and the album soundtrack) Fantastic Four (2005).

Sum 41 was also featured in a commercial for Motorola's iTunes-enabled phone.

Sum 41 recently announced that they were releasing a new live CD, called "Happy Live Surprise". The CD contains 22 songs, all recorded live from London, Ontario. There is also believed to be a bonus DVD circulating that contains live footage. "Happy Live Surprise" was released on December 21, 2005 in Japan. The band released the same CD under the name "Go Chuck Yourself" on March 7, 2006 in Canada.

On the band's official forum, Cone stated that the band will not be touring for a while and is currently on hiatus without disbanding. He also announced that Chuck will have no more singles.

Lead singer Deryck Whibley dated hotel heiress Paris Hilton in 2002-2003 and is currently engaged to fellow small town Ontarian Avril Lavigne. Drummer Stevo Jocz was once linked to Paris Hilton's ex-sidekick Nicole Ritchie and guitarist Dave Baksh married his high school sweetheart in December 2003.

FUTURE PLANS

Cone has recently denied a greatest hits album coming out this year on the "Goon Platoon" Website.

Sum 41 will also contribute in covering a John Lennon song for an album honouring the former Beatles singer. Other confirmed artists participating are Avril Lavigne, Black Eyed Peas, Deftones and Duran Duran. Proceeds from the album will go to Amnesty International.

Sum 41's plans on releasing the fifth album have been stated by Deryck and Cone, although they seem to contradict one another. Cone maintains that they plan on recording their 5th album at various points in 2006 for an early 2007 release. Deryck seems to say that the new album will be recorded mid 2006 for a late 2006 release.

STUDIO ALBUMS:

2000 - Half Hour Of Power

2001 - All Killer No Filler

2002 - Does This Look Infected?

2004 - Chuck

LIVE ALBUMS:

2005 - Happy Live Surprise

2006 - Go Chuck Yourself

VHS/DVD'S:

2001 - Introduction To Destruction

2002 - Does This Look Infected Too? (DVD with a mini-album released in Japan )

2002 - Cross Your T's and Gouge Your I's

2004 - Sake Bombs And Happy Endings

2005 - Rocked: Sum 41 in Congo

2005 - Happy Live Surprise