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Interview with EastCoastRopmer.com with Steve We're going to be professional, every time we go professional, we never end up that way!
(Steve) Are you saying all my interviews aren't professional?
No, they are always good
(Steve) You don't like my interviews (shouting), that's what you want to say!
(laughing) No
(Steve) (whispering) Just get off the bus
(laughing) No
(Steve) I'm just kidding, but that hurts, yes, yes
(laughing) OK, my first question is, I saw you guys with Rob Halford and Tommy Lee jamming on MTV (20th anniversary party) and Halford said you guys were going to be the next big thing, so how did that feel?
(Cone) The next big heavy metal band
Yeah
(Steve) It felt great, we all love the Rob Halford, we think that's a nice thing to say especially in front of nice people.
(Dave) I think it's better than being knighted, to tell you the truth
(Steve) Yeah, we've been knighted by the king of metal
So, how did that all come about?
(Steve) Well, we were asked just to play FAT LIP, we said for twenty years we wanted to do an armish to metal over the years or whatever, then we found out the Rob Halford and Tommy Lee were going to be there and we asked them if they wanted to play and they're yeah sure. Then we practiced with them the day before and then we did it.
Very cool! IN TOO DEEP and FAT LIP were on TRL, you guys have been on TRL?
(Steve) We're going on TRL tomorrow
You are? To see Carson again?
(band) Yep
Have you guys bonded with him yet?
(Steve) Yeah, we have. We said hi and hung out, we haven't really bonded in the sense that we've been out with him but we certainly have met him. He's nice.
I heard he's a big drinker!
(Steve) Really? We're big drinkers so we must get along
So did you like being on TRL? Have people said you've been on TRL, you sold out?
(Steve) Oh, those fuckin people. That stuff doesn't even bother us anymore, I couldn't care less.
(Dave) Fair weather fagots! Assholes, sorry!
Have you guys gone overseas yet?
(Steve) Yep, we've been to Europe twice. We're going to Australia and Japan in February.
How was the whole experience over there?
(Dave) It's great. I don't like it better or worse. It's a whole different thing. It's exciting to go, I never thought we'd make it to the States never mind going that far. It's exciting to start over again, like do the whole thing over again.
(Steve) Yeah, because they don't even know who we are, they're sorta starting
They're where the States were a year ago in some countries like in Germany, London is the same, the word is big over there but places like Germany and Yugoslavia we're not known.
So you can walk around?
(Steve) We can walk around here
(laughing) No, I mean, you can walk around out in the open without anybody jumping you?
(Steve) Yeah, we bring the disguises
Oh, you have disguises? With the hat and the coat?
(Steve) and the woman's clothing (laughing)
(laughing) Hey, talking about that, do you know what's on?
(Steve) Kids In The Hall?
No, tonight they have like transvestite's night here.
(Steve) That's just going to be a curious and weird confusing evening if I get too drunk so let's just leave that.
What's with all these fuckin hot chics?
(Dave) Are we talking about a baseball game or are we talking about the Avalon?
(laughing) We're talking about the Avalon.
(Steve) Yeah, it's drag queen night at the baseball game, the Boston Red Sox are all dressed to the
Wade Bogs is going to put on a dress and clogs
(Dave) Does Wade Bogs still play for the Red Sox?
(Steve) I don't even know who Wade Bogs is, I just like his name G O B O G G S (laughing)
(laughing)
(Steve) Oh, sorry coach .....Bogs, you are a damn fool..... But, I didn't know that it was transvestite night so that's jamming cause eventually I'm gonna have too much to drink and yell (talking like he's drunk) "hey hot chics, wanna come on the bus?" Sure thing baby (said in a husky voice). I'll be in the back lounge and all of a sudden I'll be you got a bigger dick than I do (laughing)
It would be fuckin embarrassing
(laughing) Well, at least I let you know, so if you are drunk you can take precautions but they're all pretty nice.
(Steve) Oh, I'm sure they are pretty nice, they're probably pretty too, but
(Dave) To tell you the truth, some of them are pretty hot
(Steve) Yeah, some are, that's why I'm scared to think that and then find out the fuckin babe looks like a chic but she's a dude (laughing)
(laughing) Oh my goodness!
(Steve) I'm still going through puberty, I still get so confused, I'm (in a high voice) so up in the air about this, chic/dude thing.
When you guys were overseas, did you headline or did you open up?
(steve) We headlined two shows, one of them was in London. It was awesome, it was sold out, and we had never been there before, there were a ton of people. Then we also did a show in Germany, that was an awesome show too but there were only about one hundred kids there
(Dave) That was sold out, it was sold out to a hundred kids
(Steve) No, it might have been sold out but it wasn't packed. But the London show, the place was packed in and they went nuts. In Germany they were like..Yo German, You ready to rock Rock! (trying to have a German accent) Why yes we're ready (making a face as he speaks like a German)
(laughing)
(Steve) But I guess they didn't think our set was long enough so they were, you guys ripped us off (in the German accent).
So did you play with any overseas bands over there?
(Steve) We played with some bands over there that I can't, I'm sorry but I can't remember
(Dave) In Germany, there was NPNX and in England there was Kids In The Water. They were pretty good bands, NPNX was my favorite though.
Now you guys also went to the MTV Music Awards where you didn't win, which was very upsetting!
(Steve) Thanks for bringing that up, you know where the door is, that's two strikes! (joke) We were up against Alicia Keys and we knew before, the label said you got nominated but your gonna lose and we're ah oh great! Didn't know who Alicia Keyes was but then we all saw he when she played, she was great.
(Dave) She's got more talent in each finger than we do
But you showed up in a Gremlin?
(Steve) Yeah Everyone would stop, you had to go through these check points and every time they stopped us the cops would be (NY accent) "Yo yo, where the fuck ya going" cause there were all these limos, "where the fuck you think your going" and we're like no we're in a band, look at the passes, they were "where did you get that pass" (laughing) we're in the Gremlin, it's supposed to be funny, ya know. We're the band SUM 41 fuck you, OK, all right and what year is that? We're like 1974. We go to the next stop, whoa, whoa (laughing) What the fuck, so we had to deal with all that
So, whose idea was that?
(Steve) It was Deryk's.
Oh, so did you guys all agree on it?
(Steve) I just showed up and I looked out and I said oh, there's a Gremlin here, I popped in and it was fine.
How was the after party, did you go to the after party?
(Steve) The after party wasn't as good as the pre-party, the night before we were at the Def/Jam party and everyone was there. Everyone that's like anybody was there, it was cool, but the party afterwards, we had to play the next day so we had to leave early.
All right, now your label on the website, it says that you guys want music from the fans, is this just now or are you getting your own label?
(Steve) We have this thing called writers block.
(Dave) Yeah, we like, well kids give us CD's all the time, so we just want them to be able to send then to us over the Internet. Maybe something will happen.
So, have you found anything that you like?
(Dave) We got a tape that wasn't that bad
Now, how about a clothing line, I heard you guys were talking about that?
(Steve) That was sort of like an idea that is coming but hasn't materialized yet because we're L A Z Y ! Not creative! All our fans send us your clothing ideas (laughing)
(laughing)
(Cone) We came up with a name for it, but it was taken
(Steve) Then we had a shoe thing, was it Edny's or Nike's. Yeah they stole our Nike's, those bastards, and Nike turned into a million dollar business.
(Cone) We got screwed
(Steve) But (laughing) to be serious for two seconds, we just had to think of a name and then we're going to start..OK, let's be serious now, OK now let's be silly
Are you guys actually drawing up clothing styles?
(Steve) I tried but they came out as stick men (laughing) As far as my art goes, it's all monkeys and mailboxes and whatever they're adventures get them into
(Dave) And notice that he says art, not drawings
(Steve) Yeah, art, it's the way of the artist. I'm in my red face, I'm very anti-blue right now (laughing)
(laughing)
(Steve) I mean, who like B L U E anyway! I think it's over rated as far as colors go
I think you should make your clothing pink, pink leather (laughing)
(Steve) What you say, whatever! (in a valley girl voice)
(laughing)
(Steve) As far as pink goes, I wanted to get a pink SG but then I remembered I don't play guitar so that wouldn't been useless and ugly. And he wanted pink in his bed
(Dave) The girl, the singer
Of course, Lady Marmalade
(Dave) She's the biggest one, she looks like she could hurt ya
(Steve) I know, she'd beat the fuck out of me
Have you guys worked on anything new?
(Steve) As far as songs go, we've worked on, we are always working. Deryk's written three and so when we go home in December, we're home for a month and we're gonna work on the next album. Not record it but prepare songs and that's pretty much what we're doing.
So, you guys aren't playing any new stuff?
(Steve) No, we're actually having trouble playing some of the old stuff, so (laughing)
(laughing) all right
(Steve) Actually to be honest, I don't actually play drums, I just kinda sit there and I do this (air drumming) while he (points to roadie) behind the curtain, turning the gears while the smoke comes out. Kinda like the Wizard of Oz
Willie Wonka
(Steve) Ya, don't look at the man behind the curtain
(laughing) See, ya try to do something serious
(Steve) (yelling) I know
It never happens
(Steve) Ya know, I was home yesterday. We did the interview about the ducks!
The first interview?
(Steve) Yeah, but I was home, there's more, there's more bears this time now
There's no more ducks?
(Steve) The ducks are there, the ducks are working the bath room but bears are just everywhere hanging out.
Didn't you say you had roosters in the kitchen?
(Steve) No, you've been talking to other guys (said sadly and surprised)
(laughing)
(Steve) Are you doing other bands besides us?
(Dave) Holy shit, is that a muscle? (pointing to Steve's biceps!!)
(Steve) That's not a muscle, it's flab
(Dave) That's a muscle, look
It's all that drumming (laughing) Are you guys going to be on the road for Halloween too?
(Dave) We're playing in St. Louis on the 31st Halloween, what costumes are we going to wear?
Yes?
(Steve) Maybe we'll come out as pink players, I don't know.
(Dave) Maybe I'll be a clown
(Steve) I think I'll just be a ninja
You could be the Power Puff girl!
(Steve) There's four of us in the band! We could be the Mojo jo jo (husky voice) (laughing) We'll kick some arse, it's my younger sister, she watches all these cartoons ....Is that fiesta red? (pointing in a book that Cone is looking through) I'm into red
Pretty color....All right, this is serious. You have to be serious
(Steve) Ah, I don't want to answer this
You don't even know what I'm going to ask!!
(Steve) Oh, OK, what is it, what is it?
After everything that's happened since September 11th, where do you see America a month from now? Do you see everything panning out with all this Anthrax stuff?
(Steve) This is what I think that America is always going to be like this from now on. Everybody is gonna have to realize this is what Israel is like, this is what some parts of the UK is like and this is what America is going to be like.
(Dave) I think if Anthrax wants to send a message to the entire world that they should release a new single
(Steve) It'll be called SORRY ABOUT THE NAME
All right, there's a second question to this, do you have any advise you would give to the President of the United States?
(Dave) Stop listening to your Dad
(Steve) , fuckin grab an intern, I don't know. That's the only thing that's gonna be good for a little while (laughing)
This problem is not going to go away Bush, you might as well take advantage of the position. And get into position
(laughing) Take advantage of A position
Cone, do you have anything you would like to add to that?
(cone) No, I think that was great
(Steve) But, no, seriously, it's all bad but it's something, ya know, they should have seen it coming.
Were you guys in the States when all this happened?
(Steve) We were in LA, so we were just kinda freaked out, cause we were in the next biggest city in America, we didn't know what was going to happen. We didn't know if the borders would close, so we said let's get the fuck out of this country and we went home.
So, you went back to your families so they didn't worry?
(cone) They were all worried.
(Steve) Mom's get worried over that stuff. Especially in this freaking world
All right, you guys have any last comments anything you would like to add? Are we gonna see fun tonight?
(Steve) Tonight is going to be filled with fun
With the gong
(Steve) Yes I have a new gong from the Savior (laughing) PunkBands.com Interview PB: Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker and why?
S41: (Brown Sound): Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker and why....... Well, ya know it seemed like a good idea at the time. Sure a lot of people laughed at George Lucas, but look who's laughing now.
(SteveO 32): I think that Luke is a bit of a fag. I was a Han Solo fan. He's got a cool best friend and hung out with dirty damn gangster type guys, so I kind of like him. Out of the two it would probably be Darth Vader. He's got a cool outfit, he's got the power of the force, the shit, and he's not all fuckin whiney like "But I was supposed to go get the power converters." "Luke you have to get your chores done."
PB: What do you think Cone?
S41: (Cone): I don't know, I don't even know them very well.
(Bizzy D): Cone can't even comprehend Star Wars.
(Cone): Whoever has the green sword!
PB: Would you consider Sum 41 punk or pop and why?
S41: (Brown Sound): Rock! We listen to a lot of punk bands, and we listen to a lot of rock bands.
(SteveO 32): I was going through Dave's cd's and I found this punk cd with James Brown and shit.
(Brown Sound): James Brown was quite the punk rocker!
(At this point in the interview girls begin climbing on the side of the tour bus)
PB: It was interesting reading how you guys were in rival bands in high school then came together to form Sum 41. What was the cause of you guys putting your rivalries aside, and how did Island/Def-Jam get a hold of you guys?
(SteveO 32): We got a hold of them. We sort of made this little video tape of us causing shit all around our home town, and put our music over it. So it was a video tape that we just sent out. The only music was behind all of this stuff, like us driving by squirting people with water guns, breaking shit, and all kinds of stuff. They came down to see us play with a bunch of other labels. We had labels coming for like a month. We picked Island because we liked them the best. Yea, we were all in rival bands until these two decided our band was better.
PB: Tell me the funniest groupy story you guys have?
S41: (SteveO 32): Groupy story?
(Bizzy D): We don't really get with stupid groupy girls. We invited strippers tonight.
(SteveO 32): Show him the dollar bill from Score's it's behind the computer. We did TRL yesterday, and we were like Carsten do you want to go to the strip club after, and he called Marl McGrath from Sugar Ray. Him and his drummer came, so we all went to Score's. Mark McGrath spent like $3,000 worth of these. We were driving in the city playing the Beatles, having a sing-a-long and yelling at people. Ahhhh it was fun!
PB: How about fans that have gone out of their way to do crazy things?
S41: (Brown Sound): Back when you had to get with groupies or else saving up your pipes for months on end, these girls would just like get attached and travel from show to show thinking that they have a new boyfriend.
(Bizzy D): We like older women!
(SteveO 32): This girl that was with Deryk for one night, she flew from Texas to Detroit to see us then she wouldn't go away. Then, when we go to bed the next day...... I've been up for hours partying and had one hour of sleep, Deryk takes the one bench in the van and just lies on it. Everyone gets to lay down except for me. I look at the end of my bench, and I get this fuckin lump of shit at the end of my bench. At the end of the bench is some fuckin girl, some chick. I wanted to smash his face in, but I love him and I forgive him.
PB: One EP and a full-length later, you guys are huge to put it mildy. Do you think all the videos on MTV may be leading you in the wrong direction, and have you ever been worried about moving too quickly and becoming the next "few hit wonder"?
S41: (Brown Sound): No.... we're just taking it as it comes. You know what I mean?
(Bizzy D): We set out to do all of this. It's not like it's a suprise. It's not like we expected this to happen. We made a video and sent it to MTV so they would play it.
(SteveO 32): Most of the reason we are playing shows, and the reason this whole tour is sold out is because of our video. That's what drives bands in America.
PB: In an interview I did with Julie from The Real World I asked "Who's better New Found Glory or Sum 41?" She replied, "I love Sum 41. I think they're great. Sum 41 and New Found Glory came out at the same time so Sum 41 is definately better. New Found Glory is like we're running around like Blink 182, and Sum 41 is a bunch of kids rocking out." Please respond......
S41: (SteveO 32): I like Laurie. I like Laurie! Thank you! Do you know Laurie? I wanna bone Laurie. Hook me up with Laurie. That was very nice of you, but maybe a little harsh on your buddies. I'm glad someone is not comparing us to Blink 182. It's just a thing that happens because people are like they are sort of the same genre of music and are funny or whatever. To be honest we don't really get it anymore. Now people realise we're not that much like them. Everyone says I look like Joey Fatone, ya know the hot one!
PB: Gonorrhea or crabs and why?
S41: (SteveO 32): Crabs! Crabs are just itchy and I like a good scratch. Gonorrhea is "burny". Yea so gonorrhea NO crabs YES! That's like a science project or something. "Look at these little guys, they're living off of ME!"
PB: I heard you guys dislike the name Sum 41. If you have to rename it what would it be and why?
S41: (SteveO 32): If we had a name we would have used it. We still haven't figured it out yet. We may do one of those symbol things but we still haven't figured it out yet.
(Brown Sound): Maybe Sum 4 diddy 1! (The bus breaks down in laughter).
PB: What was it like to play at The Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. When you weren't playing did you have a chance to sneak around?
S41: (SteveO 32): There's a whole John Lennon thing going on. It felt like we were playing in a mall but it was fun. We went around and looked at the "punk" exibit. It seems almost cheezy that there is a "punk" exibit. There's some stuff that shouldn't be there in my opinion. There's an outfit that Britney Spears wore that I think should be in a Hard Rock Cafe.
PB: What would you consider a bigger accomplishment..... getting your diploma or reaching #1 on TRL? Do you plan on playing music from the rest of your lives?
S41: (SteveO 32): I've already earned my diploma and a #1 spot on TRL. No, I'm only kidding.
(Brown Sound): I learned more in my year out of school than I did during the entire time in school. I'm not saying that you should leave school..............
(SteveO 32): See my goal would be two chicks at once! No holds barred anything goes. Anything goes! Hopefully, my ideal would be two sisters at once. Air tight!
PB: How does the band feel about sites such as Buddyhead starting rumors like that you guys are "scientologists" or "have crazy coke habits"? Do you take these rumors in stride, and are they rumors?
S41: (SteveO32): Well, for examble we aren't scientologists but I do dabble in dynetics a little bit. We do like to dabble in a little fuckin "white lady" though. We're not scientologists and that's all we're saying. hahhahahaha
PB: What are your thoughts on the events of September 11th. Is it weird being a foreign band touring in the United States right now?
S41: (Bizzy D): It's just going to become a part of life now.
(SteveO 32): I heard Lenny Kravitz isn't flying to MTV tommorow because he's scared of anthrax. He can because he's fucking Lenny Kravitz and his career is where it is and he can do what he wants. We can't be like "I'm not fuckin flying to MTV, there's anthrax in New York!" Unfortunately, now in making it ......... this is just another obstacle.
(Brown Sound): I just can't wait until "Anthrax in New York" is a concert again.
PB: Lastly, thanks so much for taking the time to do the interview before your show. In the song "Fat Lip" you guys sing "I don't want to waste my time and become a casualty of society, I'll never fall in line, became a victim of your conformity." Don't you think you guys are becoming victims of conformity by being on MTV, and conforming to the way society wants bands to conform?
S41: (SteveO 32): Not really, because the whole song is about us not conforming to what our parents and people like that want. They had to get a shit job with a shit family. Not to say that I'm in a shit family, I love ya dad! They settle for this life that wasn't exactly what they hoped for. We wanted to be in a band and that's what we're doing. We're not "conforming" to your average blue collar, house in the suburbs, lame, don't go out, boring life. We fuckin wanna rock! We want to be on TV we're a fuckin rock band. Why would we not?
7 Questions From MTV
MTV: When did you know this band was going to turn into something serious?
Stevo32: When we sent out the first EPK (electronic press kit) and then all the sudden, a week later ... all these American record labels (came around) every week for things.
Cone: Taking us to strip clubs and open bars.
Stevo32: The dinners (with record labels) were fun. That's when we knew things were happening. When the credit card is out of the wallet and they're dropping it into your hand.
Cone: There was this one label that took us out to dinner when we had already signed with a different label. But they didn't know and we got a free dinner anyway. MTV: How did you get DMX to be in the video for "Makes No Difference"?
Bizzy D: He was doing a movie ("Exit Wounds") with Steven Seagal in Toronto. We were doing our video and someone said, "Would you like him to be in the video?"
Stevo32: He's awesome, he's really funny. We were all scared. It's DMX! He's a big dude. He was telling jokes and then we were taking pictures with him. We were all laughing at him because he was so funny. And he was like, "No laughing, no smiling," and we were like, "OK."
Cone: It was so funny because when you walk into his trailer, five or six hot girls walked out before him. This guy means business.
Stevo32: See, those are the guys that have all the fun now. The metal bands, they're not having fun, the new Mtley Cre of today is Jay-Z, DMX, all those guys. All you see in their videos is the strippers and wine.
MTV: Talk about the fickleness of music and style and why you think you guys are beyond that kind of thing.
Stevo32: I don't think too many things go out of style. They just start to suck, like bands. Everyone gets a punk-pop band, and they're not that good. Half of them suck. So punk-pop starts to suck, and then it goes away for five years and then it comes back with another band and then it's good again. It just goes away when things get washed out. We don't take anything too seriously. It's gotten us into a lot of trouble.
MTV: "Fat Lip" is a kind of a declaration that you guys aren't just into one kind of music. Talk about the kinds of music you're into.
Stevo32: We listen to a lot of classic metal and a lot of classic hip-hop. Dave was the big death metal guy.
Dave: Yeah, I was a total metalhead when I was a kid. I was in a death metal band called Embodiment. Not gouging enemies' eyes out or anything like that, just the total fake death metal scene where I thought I was mad but then I realized one day I'm not that mad. What am I mad about?
MTV: If you could talk to the kids out there, what would you say you guys are about? How do you want to affect people?
Stevo32: I see all these kids. They listen to the rap-rock bands and they're all into this music that is really miserable when they're all pretty happy. Come on, have fun with us! We're there to have fun. We're happy and we're having fun. You want to join the party. You're invited.
MTV: I noticed about you guys have a slight English accent thing going.
Bizzy D: I didn't even know that.
Stevo32: Well, we're Canadians, so maybe...
Bizzy D: Everybody in my family is from England.
Stevo32: My dad was born in England. Sometimes American people think Canadians sound British anyway, and we don't. I don't think we do.
MTV: Did you guys always know you'd be in a band?
All: We've always been in bands.
Bizzy D: We probably thought we'd go to school, go to college.
Stevo32: None of us have ever been in college. I was working in a grocery store when we got signed. It was awesome.
Dave: I was working for my uncle selling jewels.
Stevo 32: Before we even got any interest at all, this [label] guy called. He just wanted to talk to us. So I called my boss and I was like, "I'm quitting." He was like, "OK." They were going to fire me anyway, because I'm a terrible employee.
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