Sum 41 is going out on a high note.
30 years into their career, the band has released what they say is their final album. Heaven :x Hell is out now, boasting 20 tracks from the Canadian band to use as their goodbye. Following an extensive farewell tour, the group is disbanding.
While their fans are disappointed that the group will no longer be together, singer Deryck Whibley says that he is surprised they made it this far. However, he knew that this album is where things should end.
"The music basically told me, this is the last record," he tells BBC. "This is a good one to go out on."
Whibley formed Sum 41 when he was 16-years-old. Their music continues to inspire the next generation of artists, with Blik frontman Sol Abrahams saying that the band had a huge impact on his career, along with groups like Green Day, Nirvana, and Blink-182. Abrahams says that being inspired by these bands "keeps new music moving forward."
Whibley says he still finds it hard to believe that the band continues to inspire other artists, after Abrahams says that he likes to "take it into [his] music a lot."
"Sometimes I don't really quite believe it but I think it's interesting," he says. "I love that there are a lot of punk rock bands, or pop punk bands, or just music, in that kind of world right now."
The group is playing their final performance at Download, a U.K. music festival in June. While the setlist has not been finalized just yet, they promise that the show will be "all killer, no filler," to quote their debut album.
"The only thing I don't like to play is songs that nobody knows because that's boring for us and the audience," Whibley, who also serves as a music producer and manager, says. Longtime fans should prepare to hear their greatest hits.
"We've been a part of it [Download] from the very, very early days," Deryck continues to say ."It's always a great audience. We're excited to be a part of it once again."
As Whibley looks back on their storied career, he ponders on how much the music industry has evolved, citing MTV as a big difference in promotion during the current and former states of the industry.
"We used to have MTV, that was so big and videos used to be so big," he reminisces. "That was one of the biggest drivers of getting your music out there and that disappeared a long time ago."
The band hopes that the legacy they have left for their fellow musicians continues to keep them relevant after they have disbanded.
"We've always just done what we do because we love it," he comments. "It's not that we don't love it anymore, it's just I'm ready to do something different."
The Leicestershire-set Download music festival will also include performances from Fallout Boy, Avenged Sevenfold and Queens of the Stone Age. Prior to that, the group has tour dates left in Brooklyn, Nashville, Seattle, San Francisco, and more listed throughout the rest of the spring.
"Good music always rises. So either we've written some good songs that will stand the test of time, or they won't."
