Sum 41 on the resurgence of pop-punk: “It’s a wild and surreal thing to go through”
Sum 41 have spoken to NME about the recent resurgence of pop-punk, and discussed how it was a “wild and surreal” thing for them to experience as a band.
- READ MORE: Sum 41 tell us about “aggressive” final album ‘Heaven :x: Hell’: “It’s the perfect way to go out”
The topic arose when the band spoke to NME ahead of their massive set at Mad Cool Festival 2024 in Madrid. It took place following the release of ‘Heaven :x: Hell’ – which marks Sum 41’s final-ever album – and ahead of their farewell tour dates across Europe and the UK later this year.
During the interview, the band were asked about the huge rise in popularity of pop-punk music seen over the past couple of years, and told us about how it felt to embark on these huge tour dates as the genre reaches new heights.
“Being lucky enough to have any sort of relevance that allows you to see the rise and fall and the rise again of whatever genre you’ve been placed into… it’s a pretty crazy compliment and a really wild and surreal thing to go through,” guitarist Dave Baksh said.
“Especially because I think we don’t take ourselves too seriously, so as far as watching all this and seeing younger bands saying like: ‘I grew up on your music’, it’s a wild experience. To put it into words is really hard.”
Bassist Jason “Cone” McCaslin, continued, recalling how them sharing their final album during this time was purely coincidental as the bands had no say in the new surge in interest.
“It’s funny because I don’t think it’s from anything the bands have done to bring the genre back,” he said. “The bands have always been there – we didn’t really go anywhere, Blink [182] has never gone anywhere, Green Day has never gone anywhere.
“So it’s based on whatever people are into! We just keep doing what we’re doing and for whatever reason it was big, then it [dipped], and now it seems to be popular again…”
Elsewhere in the interview, Sum 41 looked back on the huge response they’ve had to ‘Heaven :x: Hell’, and reflected on what it has been like to hit the road again after overcoming some personal battles.
“It’s kind of crazy because we had started with a kind of inner-rebuild phase with the current line-up,” Baksh told NME.
“We took about two years off for Deryck to figure out his health problems and then when we got back together with Dave it just seemed [right] because he was a part of the whole coming up with Sum 41,” Cone continued.
“So when everything got back together it felt really good. It’s been a rollercoaster for our whole career so it feels good to be playing these big festivals and higher up on the bill now.”
You can watch the video interview in full below.
The huge increase in pop-punk’s popularity hasn’t just been felt by Sum 41 either. Earlier this summer, other acts from the genre pulled massive crowds across the globe, including Fall Out Boy, who headlined Download 2024, and Paramore, who recently joined Taylor Swift on her record-breaking ‘Eras Tour’.
Similarly, at the end of last year, it was also confirmed that When We Were Young Festival would be running for an extra day in 2024, with the same bands all set to play again on Sunday October 20.
The Las Vegas emo bash will be headlined by My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and Jimmy Eat World, and after tickets sold out it was announced that the extension would be added due to “overwhelming demand”.
As for Sum 41’s latest and final record, the LP was shared as a double album, with the ‘Heaven’ side featuring 10 tracks of pop-punk-inspired music (influenced by 2001’s ‘All Killer, No Filler’ and 2002’s ‘Does This Look Infected?’) while ‘Hell’ showcased the heavier style that has defined recent Sum 41 releases like 2019’s ‘Order In Decline’.
At the end of 2023, Whibley spoke to NME about the record, saying: “There’s more to the album than nostalgia. Even if I tried to write ‘All Killer, No Filler’ again, I wouldn’t be able to. It just doesn’t come out the same. The songs sound like they could be from those eras though.”
In a three-star review, NME wrote: “Truly a melting pot of soundscapes cherry-picked from their career, ‘Heaven :x: Hell’ is a fitting last hurrah for a band who sealed their place in history long ago.”
Later this year, the band will head on the road again for their farewell headline shows across the UK and Europe; including a stop in London on Halloween 2024. Visit here for any remaining tickets.
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
