Interviews: Sum 41

I recently spoke with drummer Steve Jocz about the new album from his band, Sum 41. The record is titled Underclass Hero and it dropped in late July.

We talked about the departure of longtime guitarist Dave Baksh, being on MTV and their political lyrics and the ensuing controversy.

You can click Read More for the interview.

How’s
everything been going as far as Dave not being in the band anymore?

I mean
within the band we kinda knew he’d wanted to leave for a while, which is fine
since we’re not the type of band to fight over something like that. So when he
called to quit he called me and I was like "Alright cool" and I was fine, it
was very amicable. And I was sort of relieved in a way because I knew he was
unhappy and he was relieved because I think he was expecting the worst, even
though in my opinion there was no reason to be mad, but I guess you sort of
think those things before you do something like that.

So we were
all very supportive and it was fine, so it hasn’t been that difficult or weird.
I mean we still hang out with him and still talk to him, and he came to the
show in Toronto. The only real difference I think, as far as music goes, was
that he would always want to be a bit more metal, which we’ve liked but we also
wanted to have more variations where we can have some songs that were like that
but also have songs that were softer or slower or more melodic. So I think now
that he’s gone it’s easier for the three of us to agree on everything and do
what we like, while Dave is off in his band, which is a full on heavy metal
band.

It’s not like God is going to stop his busy work
building a galaxy, or whatever the hell he’s doing to give us a hit album.

Is that
why the new record is a lot less metal then what you had going in the last few?

I think
we’ve just sort of done it and now our pace has changed. I don’t even listen to
that stuff anymore and when I did it wasn’t in the way Dave listened to it it
was always your standard Judas Priest and other metal bands. But we knew it was time and we wanted
to explore other stuff with more melodies. No double kick drum on this record.
Haha

You
have definitely gotten more serious in the last couple of records, I mean
obviously the last record had a more serious idea behind it. But it seems that
the band is getting more in depth on political issues. Can you tell me more
about that?

I mean some
people think we’re jumping on the bandwagon with the political issues, but
really I mean you sort of have to beat people over the head with these things.
I mean "Still Waiting" was directly influenced by going to war, I mean you
listen to the lyrics and that’s exactly what it’s about. We were stating, "This
is a bad idea, this shouldn’t be happening, although we can’t make it stop." So
when we were putting the video together making fun of the whole Strokes thing,
I don’t think people put two and two together.

But we’ve
always had political songs, but I think everyone’s done them, I mean you can’t
avoid it. Everywhere you go, every time you turn on the TV, every time you open
a newspaper, it’s just this one element of this world we live in, it’s what’s
going on everyday. It’s kind of why there’s songs like that and people are just
fed up and we are too.

You were
involved with punk voter right?

We did punk
voter and it was funny cause people were like "We’ll you’re Canadian, you have
no right to say anything," which I think is ridiculous when really we all live
in this world, so we can have an opinion.

I know
you mentioned that you were taking a more melodic route with this record and
some people are even mentioning that it sounds like you’ve been listening to
Green Day. Is there anything that’s unorthodox that went into this album?

This time
we wanted to do a record that didn’t sound thrown together, but having each
song played out and make sense. I would say the style was more inspired by like
the Beatles then I would say Green Day. Whenever you listen to any of the
Beatles records, they all sound like they just fit, like one thing, all the
songs just fit together and make this one album whichever one it is.

And that’s
what we wanted to do because we’ve never really thought of anything like it
before. And it’s all about playing and thinking about what you want to do
before you even go into the studio.

I know
you are involved with other projects like how you just finished the video for
Operation MD and working on other videos. Is that what you want to do in the
long run, do you want to keep doing videos or do you enjoy playing more?

It’s a fun
thing to do, I mean playing drums job is kind of like a paying job but it’s not
really job. I enjoy it, as far as the music thing goes, I like the drums, I
like playing drums, but I also like other aspects of the music and have always
been involved in our music videos. So maybe when this is all over, I’ll try
more of that aspect, but for now I don’t really have a lot of time to do it, it
takes a big chunk of time.

Over the
years you’ve definitely have become the face of the band for a lot of people,
because of your extensive involvement in the band like posting on the website,
even more so then the other guys, is that something you just like to do?

I think we
all do our equal parts, the way it’s always been is Derek handles the deeper
questions about the album and what it’s about, you know the "real questions"

and I’ll sort of say something stupid that will get a reaction and that’s
always how it’s worked.

So are
you going to say something to get a reaction now?

Nah,
hahahha,

How many
more albums do you think you'll do?

I don’t
know, we’ll continue doing albums till it’s not fun. As long as we can keep it going and can continue enjoy doing
them, then I’m down. I mean here’s the thing, this touring cycle has been a
nightmare,

it’s still
enjoyable but we sort of go one at a time, we’re all sort of falling a part
whether it be tendonitis, fuckin’ carpal tunnel, we’ll soon not be able to
handle it anymore. So hopefully we have a couple more albums in us.

You
have been in the news a lot, whether it be with the gossip entertainment
dealing Derek and his relationships or just being on MTV a lot, do you enjoy
having the spotlight? Going from Ajax, Ontario to MTV is kind of a big shift.

We don’t
take it that seriously, it’s not like we think, "Yeah we made it on MTV!" And
if we ever win an award it’s not like we’re going to be thanking God for
allowing us to do what we do. It’s not like God is going to stop his busy work
building a galaxy, or whatever the hell he’s doing to give us a hit album. My
point is that it’s all really just silly.