🎶 2022-03-23 17:00:45 – Paris/France.
Deryck Whibley directed Sum 41's next album, heaven and hellalmost by chance.
It was during the height of the pandemic, and Whibley didn't really feel inspired. And, for the first time, he was “just trying to relax”, he says Rolling stone. Most of the time, he focused on his other gig outside of his band: being a dad for the first time.
With a firm lockdown in place, the only way for Whibley and his wife Ari to get out of the house was to put their newborn baby in a car seat and drive around Los Angeles for hours. For many of these rides, Whibley curated special playlists to keep their baby entertained. One of those playlists was filled with "all the punk-rock stuff I used to listen to when I was in high school that I hadn't listened to in years," he says. “[Listening to this music] got me back into writing.
It was also around this time that Universal contacted Whibley to ask if he had any vault tracks to feature on a possible 20th anniversary reissue of the band's iconic 2001 LP. All killer, no filler. He did not do it. Instead, he offered to write a few tracks in the same style that spawned classics like "Fat Lip" and "In Too Deep."
"Once I had about four or five songs, I was like, 'You know what? I like it all. I don't give them to anyone,” he said. Combine baby car rides recorded by bands like NOFX, Pennywise and Good Riddance with the All killer, no filler anniversary, and Whibley was in full early '2000s pop-punk mood. "I wasn't really trying to start a record," he admits.
What came out of this creative renaissance was Heaven and hell. The first part of the two-part LP, known as “Heaven,” taps into the current nostalgia surrounding pop-punk – a style Whibley began writing in. before it became a thing again: "When it happened, I was like, 'What kind of luck is that? " he says. The album's heavier second side ("Hell") features metallic tracks closer to the band's more recent sound. "As I was listening to almost all of this, it came to mind," he recalls. “Did I just do a double disc by accident? » «
Whibley's lyrics on the album come from personal experience. The hell side works through the anxieties and confusion he has faced in his life, especially during the pandemic. “Some of the metal stuff comes with a lot of anger for people who have robbed me and hurt me in the past,” Whibley says, referring to past relationships and former business partners. Some of the lyrics are even directed at a former manager who stole “lots of money” and was “mentally abusive” towards Whibley and Sum 41. “He was a dark person to be around, so I find that even though it was years ago, it still creeps into my music now,” he says. "I can handle the stress and problems that come up in life, probably because I write about it and get it all out. »
As for the heavenly side, expect to hear about the happiness that comes with becoming a dad, as well as a whole lot more “positive energy.” He explains that during the pandemic, "a lot of other people were retreating to things that made them feel good in the past," and that he did the same by bringing back Sum 41's original pop-punk sound." There's a weird nostalgia that's set in because of the pandemic,” he says. “For me, the reason why pop-punk is coming back: it's good music. There's something happy about it. Something young, innocent and free.
The band are also set to take part in the Blame Canada tour alongside Simple Plan this summer. And Whibley is more than ready. “Making records is like the necessary evil to get back on the road. That's how we've always looked at it,” he laughs. "It's been two years and I think we're going to fall back into it. I'm just really excited.
SOURCE: Reviews News
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