<p><i>In <a href="http://ift.tt/2dDyh4V Your Records</a>, we talk to artists who have amassed substantial discographies over the years and ask them to rate their releases in order of personal preference.</i></p><p>Formed in 1996 under the name Kaspir, Sum 41 has released five studio albums and an EP, and has been nominated for many awards but still somehow lost not once, but twice, to fellow Canucks Nickelback. Two decades later, it's impossible to attend any kind of karaoke event and not hear their hit single "Fat Lip," the standout from 2001's <i>All Killer, No Filler</i>. The song propelled the pop punks out of the shadows and into the spotlight but only reached 66 on the BIllboard charts, despite the fact that these days you'd be hard pressed to find a former teen (we call them "bloggers" now) who doesn't know at least the first verse by heart.<br></p><p>Sum 41's forthcoming album, <i>13 Voices</i>, is their first since frontman Deryck<i> </i>Whibley <a href="http://ift.tt/2e8cwNA hospitalised in 2014 for health complications due to alcoholism</a>, and the one he admits to liking the best of his output. The title comes from Whibley's experience with <a href="http://ift.tt/2dvqCqT; target="_blank">recovery</a> while simultaneously working on the music for this album. In advance of <i>13 Voices</i>, we asked Whibley to look back at his band's catalog (for which he didn't seem to have much love) and put his releases in order, from least favourite to most. </p><h2>6. <i>Half Hour of Power</i> (2000) </h2><b><div class="article__embed article__embed--youtube"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GH7cCdqgGII?list=PLjK2W6TkofG_g-LmZ0dYMAg9V7FA1OVET" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></b><b><br></b><p><b>Noisey: What would be your least favorite that you guys have put out?<br></b><b>Deryck Whibley: </b>Least favorite... I guess I would have to start out by saying I don't really have a favorite, because I actually don't feel like I like any record all the way through. I do like a lot of songs on every record, but I guess if I had to say number six, it would probably be <i>Half Hour of Power</i>. That probably has the least amount of songs that I like on it.</p><p><b>How so?<br></b>I feel that it was a pretty confused first EP from a band. I liked the fact that it has a lot of different styles of music on it. For a pop punk band, on their first EP, to start out with a blazing guitar Iron Maiden metal song is pretty cool. It shows that we have some other influences, we also did a rap song on it… it shows, a lot of what we're into. The thing about that record I don't like is the songs just aren't that great.</p><p><b>You guys had just started out, so there's a little leeway there.<br></b>Right, all those songs came from when we were in high school, so I thought it was a pretty good first look at, basically, a high school band. But in the long run, it's not our best.</p><hr><h2>5. <i>Underclass Hero </i>(2005) </h2><b><div class="article__embed article__embed--youtube"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rd1RlKevG4U?list=PLjK2W6TkofG-O5qBtnYxSkxP7f35maR0H" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></b><b><br></b><p><b>Number five?<br></b>I guess I would say<i> Underclass Hero</i> and, I would say again, I like a few songs on that record a lot. Like, as a whole, there's probably more songs I don't like on that record, which is probably why I would say it's so low. Making that record was sort of a weird time because there were a lot of changes in my life at that point. I had just moved to Los Angeles, so I'd left Canada. We fired our manager, our guitar player had quit, and life was just completely different, and living in California where every day was really beautiful and summery and fun... it just felt like I really wanted to make a record that reflected my positivity at the time, and I felt really light and it felt weird to do something that was on the heavier side, even though we had already kind of been going heavier with <i>Chuck,</i> and most people thought we were going to put out a heavier record and go even heavier. But I just wasn't in that place at the time. Looking back on it now, I don't regret it, but there are some songs on there that I don't really like that came out of that period of my life.</p><p><b>Which ones?<br></b>Which songs? I don't know. I feel like it's easier to say which songs I do like.</p><p><b>Alright, which songs do you like?<br></b>I like the song "Underclass Hero." I like the song "Walking Disaster." I like the song "With Me" and then "Count Your Last Blessings," and that's pretty much it. Everything else I don't really love on that record.</p><p><b>Do you think it was because there was so much going on in your life at that point that when the record came out maybe you weren't focused as much?<br></b>If there was one word I had to pick out to describe my life at that point, musically, it was just sort of <i>confused</i>. I just didn't quite know what I wanted to do musically and I felt like me in this sort of summery… this city that just felt like it was constant summer. I just wanted to make this sort of upbeat summery kind of record but I just don't know really if that was where I should've of gone, I don't know. It's hard to explain when I look back at it. I don't love it and I look for reasons why. At the time, I loved it and it felt like it was what I wanted to do, but looking back it's not my favorite.</p><hr><h2>4. <i>All Killer, No Filler</i> (2001)</h2><div class="article__embed article__embed--youtube"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2mo3q7uA1v8?list=PLjK2W6TkofG-lPwZ-geyo-PcytLXJhY-1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><br><p>It's kind of hard because they all sort of rank the same to me to be honest, but I guess I would pick<i> All Killer, No Filler</i> here and the reason why I would pick that as fourth is because I do like a lot of songs, but I don't think as a band we were able to sort of execute the way I heard it in my mind. I feel like what I wanted to get out didn't quite get out. I think the songs are pretty cool for the most part, but I feel like a song like "Fat Lip" off that record—which turned out perfectly—that turned out the way I heard it in my head. But the rest of it—part of it didn't turn out the way I could hear it—we weren't a band long enough to know what we were capable of doing or how to get what we wanted.</p><p><b>That's really interesting because that's probably one of the most popular records that you guys have put out.<br></b>Yeah, but mostly because of the song "Fat Lip," and if every song came out as well as "Fat Lip" did, it might be a bigger record. That song really nailed it, but I feel like the rest didn't live up to it in my opinion.</p><hr><h2>3. <i>Chuck</i> (2004) </h2><b><div class="article__embed article__embed--youtube"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jlI-bzgFQyE?list=PLjK2W6TkofG9eIbNc9f9VO7ojzfCdlH63" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></b><b><br></b><p><b>Third?<br></b>I would say <i>Chuck</i>. <i>Chuck</i> was kind of getting closer to sounding like what I heard in my head, and I thought there were some good songs on there. I felt like there were a few songs on there that were a little strange—well maybe just one or two—but I really liked that record. It was starting to get to a point where what I was hearing in my head was starting to come out, and it has one of my favorite songs that I've ever written on there which was called "Pieces," so that sort of puts that album up a little higher than some of the others for me.</p><p><b>What was going on with you guys during the time you were writing and recording that album?<br></b>We were sort of in the midst of where we were just constantly either on tour or in the studio. I think it was our fourth record, and it was the first one in four years, so the second I got home from touring was the day I started writing from the album. I remember it was the last time I lived in Canada and it was in the winter and it was just sort of really dark and cold. I think that helped make that album feel a bit heavier and darker for me, but it was also the first time we took a little more time on making a record than we did in the past, and it still wasn't even that long but it was probably, like, six months. [That was] longer than any other record previous, so it felt like it was taking forever, and I felt like I had a little more time to get out what I wanted it to sound like, which is what I had a problem with records previously. I think I got a little bit closer to what I heard in my head. There's just a couple of songs on there that I think could've been left off or a bit better.</p><p><b>Like which ones?<br></b>I think a song called "The Bitter End" and the song called "Slipping Away" sort of didn't really need to be on there or it could've been a bit better.</p><p><b>What's the reason you think they should've been left off the album?<br></b>"Slipping Away" was right in the middle of the album and it was supposed to be sort of an interlude, because the record was sort of on the heavier side, and this really soft sort of lullaby-ish kind of song in the middle. But in theory, at the time, it made sense to me—well I'll break up the album with a little softer interlude—but now when I hear it back, it kind of comes out of nowhere. It sounds a little ridiculous compared to everything else.</p><p>"The Bitter End"... I just felt could've been more clever. I think it was a bit generic. I think I could've pushed it a little bit to be more interesting and original, and I think it just kind of came out bland and sort of uninspired, I guess. </p><hr><h2>2. <i>Does This Look Infected?</i> (2002)</h2><div class="article__embed article__embed--youtube"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7pE8ReA5cn4?list=PLjK2W6TkofG_6I0cMWufz7V3094FOSxzM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><br><p>I would say<i> Does This Look Infected? </i>would be number two. I like that record because I feel like it's pretty straightforward, and I like all the songs on there. Again, I don't feel like it came out anywhere near what I heard in my head because it was still the early days and I don't think the sound of it is very good, but I feel like the songs were pretty good. If I had to pick one thing that bothered me about that record, it's that the demos that I made on my own sounded better and had more energy than the actual album version.</p><p><b>Really?<br></b>So, I know the songs were there and I liked them, I just don't like the way it sounded. But I do like most of that whole thing, and I guess I would say what I'm more proud of with that record is that it was done so quickly. I wrote the entire album in six weeks and then we recorded it in six weeks, so that was a really quick record, which was, in a way, maybe not the best idea because it was a follow up to <i>All Killer, No Filler</i> which was a big album. We really just kind of rushed that out really quickly in between tours but it came out okay. But like I said, I just wish it sounded a lot better. It would have been a much better record if it sounded the way it was supposed to if it matched what the demos were sounding like. It could've been a better record.</p><p><b>When you say the demos sound better, what does that sound like to you?<br></b>It just has more energy, feels like the band is really tight and rocking together a little bit better. Whereas this record, the sound of a it felt a little safe and bland and not very exciting to me.</p><p><b>So you guys didn't really push the envelope with this one you think because of the success of "Fat Lip"?<br></b>No, I don't think it was our fault at all. It was the production and the mixing that sucked. I think when I did the demos on my own, with just the band, we sounded like Sum 41 rocking out and it was awesome. And then when other people got involved, they ruined it.</p><p><b>Do you feel that way pretty much about all the albums?<br></b>No, not really. It was mostly that one which is why I started taking over as producing soon after that, because no one could seem to really capture the way we were supposed to be sounding.</p><hr><h2>1. <i>Screaming Bloody Murder</i> (2011) </h2><b><div class="article__embed article__embed--youtube"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HNsBGF0aw98?list=PLjK2W6TkofG9W0RgxLhe1QWP6OxvgnIgt" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></b><b><br></b><p><b>And number one?<br></b><i>Screaming Bloody Murder, </i>which is to me the best sounding one for that reason, where it really does sound like the band, like you're right there. That's exactly how we sound if you're just listening to us in the room, and that's probably why it's my number one. I can listen to it all the way through and I like everything about it. It was a really fun record to make. I had nothing negative to say about that entire process.</p><p><b>What is it about that album that made it finally all come together for you guys?<br></b>I think because I took as long as I wanted to take to make that record, and I really focused on the songwriting for two and a half years. I wrote songs and then we didn't make the record for another year, so it was kind of the longest process, but I just really wanted to capture the band being the band at its best. I just think it worked, it came out, but at the same time I had to give it time to do that. To just rush it out, it wouldn't have come out like that. I'm glad I took the time and fought for it, because we were getting a lot of pressure from the label. They even cut off our budget at one point and then I decided I would just pay for it myself. After that, I knew exactly what I wanted on that record, and I was able to get it and I'm really proud of that one. In the end of it all, it even got nominated for a Grammy so that was cool—the validation that it was worth all the bullshit that came along with trying to make it.</p><p><i>Annalise Domenighini is on Twitter. Ask her to rank Canadian musicians - <a href="http://twitter.com/bananalise" target="_blank">@bananalise</a></i></p>
from noisey http://ift.tt/2dDx5Pf
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