SUM 41

TEENAGE SUPERSTARDOM, NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES AND A LEGACY THAT’LL LIVE FOREVER. SUM 41 FRONTMAN DERYCK WHIBLEY TALKS THROUGH THE ESSENTIAL STORY OF THE NEW INDUCTEES TO THE ROCK SOUND HALL OF FAME.

- Rob Sayce

You’ve won the Hall Of Fame Award at the Rock Sound Awards! How does it feel?

“It feels pretty cool! It was definitely not something that we were expecting, so when we found out this was happening, it was awesome. It’s awesome to be thought of, you know?”

Going right back to the beginning of it all, then, what do you remember of your first experiences with music - the influences that shaped you as a musician and a person?

“It goes back as long as I can remember. I remember being around five or six years old, and being really obsessed with music, things like The Beatles and The Monkees, because of their TV show. Around that time, if you filled up a certain amount of gas, say $30 worth, they would give you a compilation of ‘solid gold hits’, ’50s and ’60s revival hits, so my parents would give them to me and I was obsessed with them - it was the hits of the ’50s and ’60s, all great music like Buddy Holly, Elvis, everything from that era. So that’s what got me listening to music. But I think after that I knew that I wanted to play music too.”

How did that aspect evolve?

“When I was around 11, I started writing some songs, just lyrically, and at that time it was all what would now be considered old school rap. I was writing these old school rap songs, and my cousin and I had this little fake rap group, so we’d perform our songs for our families and stuff like that! Then when I was a little bit older, I started playing guitar, and turned that into writing music as well.”

When did Sum 41 come into the picture? Because you guys started at a super early age as well, right?