Have you heard of the new band Sum41? They are a mix of punk rock and rap. They sound Maybe Maybe you don’t know who they are because you don’t remember their name. If I were to play their hit song for you, I bet you that you would say, “Oh, yeah. I heard this song before.” Well, they are not a struggling band at all. They have been number one on MTV’s Total Request Live! You may recognize them by the video’s wacky style. The song is called, “Fat Lip” and the video for this song has events such as them shaving a girl’s head and of course, following all the rules for a punk rock band, they jump around the stage. El Segundo High Sophomore Ariel Garcia says, “Yeah, they are a cool band.”

            Deryck Whibley is the lead singer. His nickname, given to him by Dave, is Bizzy Dee. The band says they picked this for him because he is always busy. He has blonde extra-spiked hair and is 21 years old. You may wonder how he keeps his hair so spiked. On a recent interview, he specifically stated that he trims his own hair with scissors every few months. What a rock star! Also, you’d think he buys the most expensive type of clothes out there. Well, that is not true. Deryck says, ”I only shop at thrift shops, like Goodwill and Salvation Army. That’s where you find the best clothes.” Deryck is 5’5” and his favorite food is cookie dough. In my opinion, he brings life to the group.

            Jay McCaslin is the young blonde one who sticks his tongue out while he is singing. His nickname is Cone. He is 20 years old and he plays the bass guitar for the band. His all time favorite band is The Police. He says, “ Sting and his old group have really influenced me to become what I am today.” He was born September 3, 1980. You may think he is the youngest one, seeing how he acts so much like a teenager. Actually, he is the second youngest. Deryck is the oldest.

            Dave Baksh is the one with the goatee. He was born in Ontario, Canada. His favorite animal is the penguin. He is 21 years old, the same age as Deryck. He is really crazy. His favorite movie is Dumb and Dumber. His nickname is Hot Chocolate.

 Steve Jocz’s nickname is Stevo32. He is 21 years of age also and like the other members of Sum41, and like every other rock band member, he is pure craziness. Steve plays the drums for Sum41. He says his musical influence is Keith Moon. He does the backup vocals as well. He sings the first line in Fat Lip. He was born in Hasbro, Ontario.

            Their second cd, All Killer, No Filler was released. It entered the Billboard Top 10 charts at number sixty-four. On TRL they reached number ten, then went from ten to eight, then seven, then six, then four. On July 16, 2001, they finally reached number one on TRL. All the members of Sum41 celebrated with pizza and soda.

They started their band in high school. They all lived in Toronto, Canada and they came together to form Sum41. You are probably wondering what their name means. Their name actually does stand for something. They all came up with it together. It means they started their band on the 41^st day of summer. Even then I understand, it’s a little weird, but it is very logical.

Their latest CD, All Killer, No Filler is an amazing CD. Their songs are all great and there are mixes as well. Their hit, Fat Lip is a rap/rock song with the chorus and verses sounding completely different.  Their next hit song, which isn’t very well known yet, called In Too Deep, is also a great song. I hope it gets as many good responses as their first song did. This one is a little calmer, so to speak. It definitely falls under the rock category. My favorite song on the CD is #12, Heart Attack. It is about how waking up is hard to do and how the singers don’t want to get up so early in the morning. I think this song is relative to high school students. Now, you all know that you hate getting up before 9 every morning. All of us, including myself, would love to sleep in until noon, then do whatever we want the rest day. Basically it sounds as if they know how much pain we go through. HAHA.

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