Sunrise, sunset. Just as one late ’90s/early 2000s punk band is getting back together (blink-182), another is deciding to call it a career. Sum 41 — Deryck Whibley, Dave Baksh, Jason McCaslin, Tom Thacker, and Frank Zummo – announced on Monday (May 8) that, after nearly three decades as a band, they’re going to wrap it up following the release of their final album. “Being in Sum 41 since 1996 brought us some of the best moments of our lives,” the band wrote in a statement. “We are forever grateful to our fans, both old and new, who have supported us in every way. It is hard to articulate the love and respect we have for all of you, and we wanted you to hear this from us first.”
“Sum 41 will be disbanding,” the message continued. “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 headlining tour to celebrate. Details will be announced as soon as we have them. 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.”
Sum 41 experienced a rush of success with releasing their debut studio album, All Killer, No Filler in 2001. The album contained singles “Fat Lip” (No. 66 on the Billboard Hot 100) and “In Too Deep,” radio hits that helped propel the album to Platinum status in the U.S. In the band’s native Canada, the debut went triple-platinum. The following three albums – 2002’s Does This Look Infected?, 2004’s Chuck, and 2007’s Underclass Hero – were commercially successful but had diminishing returns. With the changing years, tastes shifted, and pop-punk fell out of fashion. Despite no longer being in the mainstream, the band continued to record and perform for their loyal fans.
In March 2022, Deryck Whibley spoke with Rolling Stone about Heaven :x: Hell, a double album that covers the band’s punk and metal sound. The record came when Whibley wrote some bonus tracks for the 20th-anniversary reissue of All Killer, No Filler. When he began to write in that sound, the floodgates of creativity opened. “As I listened to almost all of it, it just kind of dawned on me,” he told RS. “‘Did I just make a double record by accident?'”
“Some of the metal stuff comes with a lot of anger for people who have stolen from me and hurt me in the past,” he says, referring to past relationships and a bad business experience with a former manager. The happier stuff leans into the “positive energy” that comes with pop-punk. “There’s some weird nostalgia that kicked in because of the pandemic,” he told RS. “It all made sense to me why pop-punk is coming back: it’s feel-good music. There’s something that’s happy about it. Something young and innocent and free.”
The band has remained solid, save for the 2013 exit of drummer Steve Jocz. “We don’t speak anymore,” Whibley told Rolling Stone in 2016. “I have nothing bad to say about him, but I never miss people who bail. It’s just something in me since people have been leaving me since before I was born, like my dad. If you’re not here, you don’t exist to me.”
Deryck has been able to find happiness in both his personal and professional life. He was once notably married to Avril Lavigne (2006-10), but since 2015, he’s been married to model Ariana Cooper. They share two children, the second of which was born in March 2023.