Sum 41's Deryck Whibley looks back on 'Does This Look Infected?' in advance of anniversary tour

Deryck Whibley had no plans to celebrate the 15th anniversary of "Does This Look Infected?"

"In all honesty," he says, "I didn’t even know it was the anniversary. I don’t really pay attention to that kind of stuff. And it just sort of feels like it wasn’t that long ago."

He and the other four members of Sum 41 were more focused on getting new music together for their first release since "13 Voices" hit the streets in late 2016 when the fans started asking about the prospects of an anniversary tour, he says.

"So we thought, 'All right, let’s go out and do a short run.'”

"Does This Look Infected?" was their second album, following the platinum breakthrough they'd enjoyed with “All Killer No Filler," which did not, as it turns out, rate an anniversary tour.

"But who knows?," Whibley says. "Maybe one day. I do know the anniversary of that record is also the 25th anniversary of Sum 41, so that’s possible. That’s in a few years."

The singer, guitarist and primary songwriter shares his thoughts on "Does This Look Infected?," the state of the world, new music and more.

Question: What makes this album rise to the level of going out and celebrating it like this?

Answer: I don’t know, to be honest. Like I said, it’s something that the fans asked us to do. If it was the “Chuck” anniversary and they asked for that one, we would’ve done that one.

Q: Well, they might be asking for that soon enough.

A: I know. But it worked out that we’ve been off the road now for about six months and it was like “Why not?”

"All Killer No Filler"

Q: What do you recall of the writing and recording of that album?

A: It was really fast. We put out four records in four years.

We were touring on “All Killer.” Our whole goal was just to be out on the road. And we were getting pressured by the record company and management, all the people around us, that we needed to put out new music to stay on tour.

Which I realize, looking back at it, we didn’t really need to. We could’ve gone around the world a second time on that same album. But I didn’t know that at the time. We just felt that pressure of “Can you go into the studio?” and I said, “Sure, why not?”

So we got off the road. I wrote songs for about six weeks. We went into the studio for six weeks and then that was it. It was done. We were out on the road. We were actually finishing it up while we were on the road because we already had the tour.

We went over to England, did Reading and Leeds, then we were back in the studio in the U.K. for a week and finished it off.

Q: You talked about the label pressuring you to get new music out. Did you also feel pressure to match the success of “All Killer No Filler?”

A: No, not really. It wasn’t your typical kind of pressure. They were pressuring us to put something out. But it could’ve been anything. They always let us do what we wanted to do creatively and they always stood behind everything that we wanted to do.

When I started writing songs for “Does This Look Infected?,” they were drastically different than “All Killer,” even though it was only a year apart. I mean, the first single, “Still Waiting,” compared to the single, “In Too Deep?” They were two different bands.

But they didn’t say anything about that. They said, “Great, let’s put it out.” And it did really well for us. So it didn’t matter. But there were all these people saying, “When can you get back in the studio?” And that happened again on the next album, “Chuck.”

We came off the road, I started writing and we put out an album the next year.

Is this the same band?

Q: You talked about it being like two completely different bands. What inspired you to take it in such a different direction so quickly.

A: I have no idea. That’s just what sort of came out. I wouldn’t say the whole record is like a different band. But if you look at “In Too Deep” and “Still Waiting,” THOSE are two different bands. They couldn’t be more extreme polar opposites, really.

Obviously, the one thing that ties it together, which will always make it sound like Sum 41, is my voice, because I can’t change that necessarily.

I mean, my voice is a lot different than it was in those early days, but back then we were only eight or nine months apart.

9/11, George W. Bush and Iraq

Q: It’s also lyrically a heavier album than the first one. Obviously, 9/11 had happened between those two records. Did that play a factor in where your head was?

A: Absolutely. I had been around the world, 9/11 happened. Even though it was only a year later, I felt like I’d been through so much that year that I had more to say.

“Still Waiting” was all about George W. Bush and going into Iraq and what a disaster it was gonna be. It was an anti-war, anti-Bush song.

But I didn’t have the best messaging. I felt like I was being so obvious. That’s that young sort of naïve thing and probably subconscious insecurity, feeling “Oh, this is so obvious.” I was almost embarrassed, thinking “Everybody’s gonna know what I’m talking about.”

But of course, no one really did. And I didn’t explain it. I didn’t talk about it in interviews. I don’t think I really talked much in interviews.

In those days, there was so much focus on our humor and our drummer at that time was basically the band spokesperson, not necessarily by choice but just by sheer volume. And he basically never had anything serious to say. He was always the joking guy.

So that became the focus of our interviews. We never really spoke about the music. And a lot of those themes I was trying to talk about, they never really came across.

Keep it on the not-so-serious side

Q: Even the album title and the album cover suggest a less serious record than the themes you address on the record.

A: They do. But we are who we are, and if you hang out with us, there’s a lot of humor.

The difference is the music and the lyrics were always my department and they still are. So I can only do what I do. I don’t write funny songs. I’m not the funny guy in interviews. But my thing is the lyrics.

Then, when we get into the band situations of making videos and doing artwork, everybody’s got their influence and there is humor there.

“Am I still waiting for this world to stop hating?”

Q: You mentioned George W. Bush and Iraq with regard to “Still Waiting.” Does it feel like the chorus – “Am I still waiting for this world to stop hating?” – may be just as relevant today as it was at the time?

A: Absolutely. I’ve even said that when we start that song. It feels like it’s more relevant than ever.

Q: Did you have to relearn any songs for this tour?

I haven’t even done it yet. We start rehearsing a week before the tour. But the thing is, we play some of these songs already. There’s only a handful of songs that we’ve got to learn as a band. But I mean, they’re not that difficult of songs.

The only thing I have to remember is a couple lyrics. I have to go back and say, “What was I singing in that song?” As far as chords go, I can probably pick out any Sum 41 song and get my way through it without having to go back and listen to it.

Hate the way this album sounds: Remix?

Q: How do you think it’s held up as an album?

A: I’ve always, always hated the way this album sounds. I hated it in the studio and it still bothers me. The demo I made myself at home sounded better than the final mix.

And it’s not anybody’s fault necessarily. I don’t think I knew enough of how to explain what I wanted to the mixer.

Maybe I’ll remix it one day. The tracks themselves don’t sound bad. They’re recorded well. It’s just that myself and our manager-producer didn’t know how to explain to the mixer what to do. And he didn’t totally get it.

Q: You can do a 20th anniversary mix.

A: I would love to. I probably will one day. I wouldn’t redo anything. It’s all there. It just needs to be mixed right.

Sum 41 new music

Q: Did you say you were working on new music?

A: Yeah, this whole year we’re supposed to be making a record. We’re at the beginning to middle of making a new album now, still in the writing phase.

Q: How’s that going?

A: So far, great. It still has a long way to go but I can definitely say I’m not worried about it.

Q: How does it feel to step away from the creative process to go out and tour a 15-year-old record?

A: I think it’s gonna be good. I don’t normally do that. But on the last record, I was forced to do that for a weekend. I came back after that and I felt so much better. I’m actually kind of looking forward to getting away from the studio.

Q: Which part of being in a band do you prefer, playing live or making records?

A: Playing live by far.

Sum 41concert

When: 8 p.m. Sunday, April 29.

Where: The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix.

Admission: $27-$196.

Details: 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.

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