Words With Sum 41

Heavy metal, a ‘mature’ sound, political lyrics and being stranded on the front line of a civil war; not what you might expect of pop-punksters Sum 41.  With a whirlwind 14 day MTV-sponsored world tour already in progress, and new album ‘Chuck’ out October 11th, bassist Jason ‘Cone’ McCaslin took a little time out for some Q&A with Gigwise…

Gigwise: You named your new album after ‘Chuck’ who rescued the band in the Congo; can you talk us through what happened…?

Jason McCaslin: We went over there with a charity group called War Child Canada to do a documentary on the after effects of the civil war.  Over three million people have died, all the soldiers were children and it’s the worst war in African history.  It was just weird, like a different world.

Four or five days in a gun fight between the Congalese army and a rebel group broke out on the same road as our hotel.  We were just holed up in a bathroom for a day and a half, caught in the crossfire; bombs were literally exploding around us, shaking the hotel.  Chuck was a former Canadian military soldier and when the fighting broke out he got back into military mode and called in the UN armoured tanks to evacuate us.  They were covering us as we ran down a dirt road and jumped into the back of a tank!

Gigwise: Last album ‘Does This Look Infected?’ heralded a definite shift toward more metallic ground, and the introduction of politicised lyrics.  What should fans expect from the new album?

JM: A heavy, fast album like the last two, only with better songs!  It’s weird because I love playing the new songs and have people sing along thinking that they know the words; and I’m playing and thinking “You don’t know the words, the albums not even out”!  But I think it’s good because some of new stuff is kinda slower; now we can break it up so that people have the chance to take a breath.

Gigwise: So have you intentionally moved toward a more mellow sound?

JM: It wasn’t a conscious thing.  We just wrote twenty songs, then sat down and asked ourselves “what are the best songs”, regardless of how fast or slow they were.  We just picked the 12 songs we thought were the best.

Gigwise: Was beer a major influence on writing this record?

JM: Beer!? Not really, more like hard liquor!

Gigwise: Can you explain the message behind the ‘We’re All To Blame’ single?

JM: That song’s a reflection of what’s on the news and going on in different parts of the world.  We saw a lot when we went to Africa; there’s a lot of war and fighting there over natural resources.  They’re sold to the western world and used in cell phones, computers, etc…so indirectly we’re all to blame for the fighting that’s going on.  No-one realises the consequences of what’s going on over there.

Gigwise: Do you find that the metal musical style allows you express political views more easily?

JM: I guess it goes hand in hand, but that’s not to say we couldn’t put a message in a ballad either.  On this album we weren’t trying to make one particular political statement, we were just viewing what was going on and saying “this is what we think is wrong”.

Gigwise: So you’ve no plans to join REM on their tour of US swing states?

JM: No, no, no, we’re not like little Bonos or anything!  There’s just a lot to talk about in the way of politics right now so that’s what we’re doing.

Gigwise: Are you rooting for John Kerry?

JM: My vote would be for Kerry if I lived in the states; just because I think George Bush’s policies are fucked up, and I think Kerry has his head more firmly on his shoulders.

Gigwise: So you feel directly involved in world politics?

JM: Yeah, that’s why we’re on the ‘Rock Against Bush’ volume one compilation [released by Fat Mike of NOFX on his FatWreck label].  People said “Why would you be on that: you’re Canadian!?” But what America does affects the rest of the world, and everyone has an opinion.  So you could put a Swedish band on that kind of compilation, so long as they felt strongly about it.

Gigwise: There seems to be a revival of old school rock at the moment; what do you think of the theory that one day Sum 41 will disappear and be replaced by your hair metal alter-egos ‘Pain For Pleasure’?

JM: [laughs] No I don’t think so.  If we’re gone, Pain for Pleasure’s gonna be gone long before that!  I think the joke is dying fast…The Darkness are even ripping it off now…nah just kidding!

Mercury record’s PR men want us to believe that Sum 41 are the Motley Crue it’s alright to like, but today they appear far too level headed and sober for such a label.  Despite being more confident than ever onstage, they seem unsure about whether to take the dangerous road of socio-political comment in earnest.  The new single suggests a more serious direction, but I suspect we haven’t seen their last goofy rock pose just yet.

Canada’s own will return to England between January and March as part of a world tour promoting ‘Chuck’; if they can just manage to honour their social conscience without getting shot.

Photos by James Kirsch