Sum 41

Sum 41 is a Canadian alternative rock band. They named themselves for the fact that the two founding members met 41 days into their high school summer vacation in 1996, at a Hole concert.http://www.chumfm.com/Music/Artist/ArtistProfile.aspx?ID=18437 The group was founded by lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Deryck Whibley and drummer Steve Joscz after Whibley persuaded Joscz to leave his current band and create a new duo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd4zA1P_C1E Later, they added Jason McCaslin on bass guitar and Dave Baksh as lead guitarist, though he left Sum 41 in 2006. The current band roster is Whibley, McCaslin, Jocz, and Tom Thacker, who is the current lead guitarist and keyboardist. Other former members include Marc Costanzo, Mark Spicoluk, and Richard Roy.

Two of their tours have been cut short by terrorist attacks; in London, in 2005 and in the US in 2001, after the September 11 attacks in New York. http://www.billboard.com/#/news/terrorist-attacks-force-london-concert-cancellations-1000975333.story They found themselves personally under attack in the Congo in 2004, where they were filming a documentary for the charity War Child Canada. Their album that year, Chuck, was named for the UN aid worker, Chuck Pelletier, who got them to safety through fighting and gunfire.http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/sum_41/artist.jhtml

Frontman Whilby was married to fellow Canadian artist Avril Lavigne in 2006 after a romance that began when they were teenagers. They separated legally on November 16, 2010 in Los Angeles. http://music.aol.co.uk/2010/11/19/avril-lavigne-marriage-over-sum-41/ Both Lavigne and Sum 41 have new albums due out in 2011.

For their demo record, the band took home video footage of themselves involved in various pranks in their home town, including drive by “shootings” with super soaker water pistols and pretending to rob a pizza restaurant. They overlaid their music to this footage, creating a recording titled Rock Out with your C*ck Out. This resulted in a bidding war, with Island Records signing them to their first contract. http://www.chumfm.com/Music/Artist/ArtistProfile.aspx?ID=18437

Sum 41’s first EP, Half Hour of Power, went Gold in Canada after its release in 2000. It was followed by their album All Killer No Filler, featuring the single Fat Lip, which became a number one single around the world. They have toured extensively after the release of each of their albums, throughout their native Canada, the US, and Europe. They have garnered a reputation for having remarkably long tours, often lasting more than a year. http://www.chumfm.com/Music/Artist/ArtistProfile.aspx?ID=18437 Their work has been featured in numerous movies, including American Pie 2, American Wedding, Fantastic Four, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, Cheaper by the Dozen, Dude, Where’s my Car, Spiderman, and the television shows Gossip Girl, The Eight, One Tree Hill, and Smallville, among others. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1482420/<ref>

• 2000: Half Hour of Power

• 2001: All Killer, No Filler

• 2002: Does This Look Infected?

• 2004: Chuck

• 2007: Underclass Hero

• 2009: All The Good Sh**: 14 Solid Gold Hits

• 2011: Screaming Bloody Murder