Music In Your Hand: Sum41 biography

Sum 41 is a Canadian rock band from Ajax, Ontario, active since 1996. The current members are Deryck Whibley (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Jason McCaslin (bass guitar, backing vocals), Steve Jocz (drums, backing vocals), and Tom Thacker (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboard).

In 1999, the band signed an international record deal with Island Records. The band released their debut album, All Killer No Filler in 2001. The band achieved mainstream success with their first single from the album, "Fat Lip", which reached number-one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and remains the band's most successful single to date. All Killer No Filler was certified platinum in the United States, Canada and in the UK. The band has since released three more studio albums: Does This Look Infected? (2002), Chuck (2004) and Underclass Hero (2007). All three albums were certified platinum in Canada.

The band often performs more than 300 times each year and holds long global tours, most of which last more than a year. They have been nominated for seven Juno Awards and have won twice (Group of the Year in 2002 and Rock Album of the Year for Chuck in 2005).

Music style and influences

The genre of Sum 41's music has been disputed by fans because of the complex combination of different musical styles and the more mature, serious, and heavy sound in later albums.Fans and critics agree that Half Hour of Power and All Killer No Filler were mainly pop punk, punk rock and rapcore, but Does This Look Infected? and Chuck started moving toward heavier styles, such as alternative rock and alternative metal. Critics have described Underclass Hero as a revival of the band's old pop punk style. The genre argument is centralized around the punk streak of the band, and they have been labeled as pop punk, punk rock and alternative rock. Some of the band's songs contain political-social commentary; "The Jester" is an "anti-Bush screed", "Underclass Hero" is a song about class struggle, and "Dear Father" is about Deryck's absent father.

Awards and nominations

Sum 41 has been nominated for seven Juno Awards; they won twice. In 2001, they were nominated for "Best New Group" at the Juno awards, but lost to Nickelback. They were nominated for "Best Group" in the Juno Awards of 2002 but again lost to Nickelback. Also in 2002, The album All Killer No Filler was nominated for "Best Album; however, it lost to The Look of Love by Diana Krall. In 2003, Sum 41 won a Juno Award for "Group Of The Year". In 2004, they were nominated again, this time with Does This Look Infected? for "Rock Album of the Year", but they lost to Sam Roberts's We Were Born in a Flame. In 2005, the album Chuck won "Rock Album of the Year"; they were also nominated for "Group of The Year", but lost to Billy Talent. In 2008, their album Underclass Hero was nominated for the Juno Award "Rock Album of the Year"; however, the album lost to Finger Eleven's Them vs. You vs. Me. They also have been nominated for three different Canadian Independent Music Awards. In 2004, they won a Woodie Award for "The Good Woodie (Greatest Social Impact)". They were also nominated for a Kerrang! Award in 2003 for "Best Live Act".