‘Disbanding,’ you say? Sum 41 rockers say they’re splitting after new album and tour
No more “heavy metal and mullets†for the Canadian punk rockers of Sum 41 — the band is calling it quits. But not before releasing a new album and embarking on one last world tour.
“Sum 41 will be disbanding,†the “Fat Lip†and “In Too Deep†singers said Monday in a statement posted on their website and social media accounts. “We will still be finishing all of our current upcoming tour dates this year, and we’re looking forward to releasing our final album ‘Heaven :x: Hell,’ along with a final worldwide headline tour to celebrate.â€
Details will be announced as soon as they have them, the group said.
“For now, we look forward to seeing all of you skumfuks on the road and are excited for what the future will bring for each of us. thank you for the last 27 years of Sum 41,†they said.
Reared on flamboyant arena-rock, the pop-punk band got its start in Ontario, Canada, in 1996 and consists of five members, including Deryck Whibley, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Dave Brownsound (a.k.a. Dave Baksh), co-lead guitarist/backing vocalist Tom Thacker, bassist/backing vocalist Jason “Cone†McCaslin and drummer Frank Zummo. The rockers began their career as a NOFX cover band and hit the scene during the inescapable pop-punk deluge of the early aughts, along with Green Day, Blink-182, Simple Plan, All-American Rejects and Good Charlotte. Founding members Richard Roy, Jon Marshal and Steve Jocz have since left the group, leaving Whibley as the only remaining original member of the band.
With the radio hit “Fat Lip†and tongue-in-cheek hair-band anthem “Pain for Pleasure,†the band was once described by The Times as sounding “like Blink-182’s bratty little brothers†but with “old-school influences [that] give them some extra charisma.†They released seven full-length studio albums and three live albums during their run.
Audacious solos and inebriated, sexually charged stage antics are associated more with ‘80s metal concerts than modern punk or pop shows, but don’t tell that to Sum 41.
In 2012, they received their first and only Grammy Award nomination for the hard rock/metal song “Blood in My Eyes.†(The Foo Fighters’ “White Limo†won the prize.)
The group cut their No Personal Space Tour short in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and reemerged in April 2022 for the Blame Canada Tour that ran through last August and also launched the Does This Look All Killer No Filler Tour — a nod to their breakthrough 2001 album — in Europe and Australia with Simple Plan and the Offspring. In March, Sum 41 announced that they would be hitting the road again this summer for the Let the Bad Times Roll U.S. tour, which set 24 shows August and September across the country.
“Being in Sum 41 since 1996 brought us some of the best moments of our lives. We are forever grateful for our fans both old and new, who have supported us in every way,†the band said Monday. “It is hard to articulate the love and respect we have for all of you and we wanted you to hear this [disbanding] news from us first.â€
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