Sum 41 gearing up to hit the stage at Bluesfest
Posted Jul 12, 2022 09:00:00 PM.
Acclaimed Canadian punk band Sum 41 is gearing up for their return to the nation's capital at RBC Bluesfest on Wednesday, July 13.
Lead singer Deryck Whibley feels it's great to be heading back to the capital for the first full in-person edition of the festival since 2019, adding it is always a pleasure to be able to play shows in Canada.
“I think everyone is just anxious to get back to normal life and if we can be part of it for one night, then that's great,” Whibley told CityNews Ottawa.
He adds Sum 41 will also be performing a diverse selection of songs from across the band's two decade spanning catalogue.
“Lots of records are just kind of different from one to the next, but they're also fast and short songs so we have to play a lot of songs anyway, so we kind of end up playing a mixture of everything all the time,” Whibley explains. “Now, if we wanted to we could probably put a setlist together that is a little more pop-punk and we could put a setlist together that's heavy — we can sort of lean into whatever we feel like, but we sort of just play a mixture of everything from our whole career.”
The band, which formed in Ajax, Ontario, will also be sharing the bill with fellow Canadians Alexisonfire, along with Swedish punk band Millencolin.
“Millencolin was a band that we grew listening to in high school too, so it's always exciting to play with bands that you grew up listening to,” Whibley says.
Sum 41 is also in the process of finishing a double album titled Heaven and Hell, which features both of the bands distinct styles — pop-punk and heavy metal.
Whibley feels this album also came together “accidentally.”
“I was being asked to write for some other artists, I was being asked if I could put together some songs for an All Killer No Filler twentieth anniversary deluxe, so I found myself just kind of writing not necessarily for a record,” he states. “Once I had all these songs, at least the sort of pop-punk songs, I realized I actually kind of like them, I didn't really want to give them away to anyone.”
Sum 41 is slated to perform on the RBC Stage at Bluesfest at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8.
Listen to the full interview with Sum 41's Deryck Whibley below:
