Artist of the Week: Sum 41

Here's the deal, one of the first times I ever heard this band, was in a video game called Dave Mirra's Freestyle BMX 2. It was one of my favorite songs in the game. To this day, when ever I hear the song, I think of the game. If you had told me then, that this band was gonna be as big as they are today, I prolly would've believed, cause they are pretty good. Either way, they're my artist for the week, so lets get to know them.
The band was formed in 1996 in Ajax, Ontario Canada. There they started out as a NoFX cover band named Kaspir, before they changed it to what it is now. They choose that name cause it was 41 days into the summer when they started the band. Deryck Whibley (Vocals, Guitar), Dave Baksh (Lead Guitar), Cone McCaslin (Bass) and Steve Jocz (Drums) did what most bands do, played some shows, sent out demo tapes, but it wasn't until 1999 that the band signed with Island Records. The following year, they released an EP titled Half Hour of Power. Although the album had little success, it was able to get the band some exposure thanks to it's single "Makes No Difference" which was also able to make it into a certain video game. By the time the EP was released, the band was already working on their debut album. Then in May of 2001, the band released All Killer No Filler. The album was a huge success selling a million copies in just a few months. Since then the album has sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide thanks to it's three singles "Fat Lip", "In Too Deep" and "Motivation." They spent most of 2001 on the road playing almost 300 shows, some of which they opened for Blink-182. By the end of the year, the band started working on their follow up album. Less then a year later, in November of 2002, the band released Does This Look Infected. Although not as popular as their first, the album did enjoy some moderate success thanks to it's singles "Still Waiting", "The Hell Song" and "Over My Head (Better Off Dead)". Even though the album cover was shot months before the release, the album was almost delayed because the band didn't have a name for it. Deryck suggest Does This Look Infected. After the band had a good laugh, they stuck with the name. In May of 2004, the band traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo with charity organization War Child Canada. They were there to document the civil war in the country, and unfortunately fighting broke out near their hotel room. They couldn't do anything but lie on the floor and pray. The band waited for the firing to die down, but with no end in sight, a U.N. peacekeeper, Charles "Chuck" Pelletier, called for armored carriers to take the hotel's occupants out of the hot zone. After almost six hours, the carriers arrived, and the band and the forty other civilians were taken to safety. In honor of Pelletier, the band decided to name their next album after him. So in October of 2004, the band released their third album simply named Chuck. The album would spawn four singles in "We're All to Blame", "Pieces", "Some Say" and "No Reason". In May of 2006, Dave Baksh announced that he was leaving the band to work on his side project. Even though he was not replaced, the band does have and extra guitarist for when they're on tour. Later that year the band began work on their fourth album. Knowing that the album wouldn't be ready til the summer, the band released "March of the Dogs" via iTunes in April of 2007, even though it wasn't a single. Then in July of that year, they released Underclass Hero. The album would spawn three singles with "Underclass Hero", "Walking Disaster" and "With Me". After touring to promote the album, the band decided to take some time off, just to get some rest. In the meantime, the band released a greatest hits album in Japan. By popular demand, they decided to release it in the states as well. Which they did this Tuesday (3/17). The album is titled All That Good Shit


and includes songs from all five albums. Currently, the band had been working on an EP, but because of all the great music they were turning out, they decided to make it a full LP. I for one can't wait to hear it. That being said, this week's artist is Sum 41 with their video Fat Lip, enjoy.