French magazine interview translated
Posted: Sat May 29, 2010 8:10 pm
Okay, here is the interview I translated. I've done it on the notepad, so I'm sorry if there are mistakes and if you can't understand everything. Basically, you won't learn anything new anyway... Hope you'll enjoy it !
Here are the scans, thanks to DW_60 : http://under.my.skin.free.fr/Sum41/Sum% ... ock%20one/
RO: Sum 41 is back on the road. Does that mean the new record is almost done ?
Deryck: It's barely complete ! I think there will be almost 3 weeks of work, and it'll be ok.
RO: How do you feel about taking a break during the recording to come playing in Europe ?
Deryck: I'm must confess It's hard to recover from the jetlag, but it's amazing !
RO: What can we expect from the new shows ? How did Sum 41 eveolve during the years ?
Deryck: We've simply become better. On that tour, we play all the old songs. We play them the best way we can, and with the most energy possible. It's always as fun. All I want the audience to remember is that they saw a good band on stage. For the rest, music gives us emotions. We let us be influenced by the sound, whatever the style of the song we play.
RO: Since last year, a lot of events took place on the pop-punk scene. There's been the successful return of Green Day, the Fall Out Boy breakup, the reunification of Blink-182... Where do you place Sum 41, with you new disc coming ?
Deryck: I don't really think of what happens around us to be honest. We do our thing, we do it because we like it, and as long as this band will satisfy us, we won't think about that kind of stuff. What we like is music, and being a good rock band. It's just all about that.
RO: Let's talk about this future album. Since Underclass Hero, you've taken a more important place as composer, but also producer. That made you see the music differently. How would you judge your evolution, and what did you learn from you and Sum 41 at that time ?
Deryck: I'd say that proceeding like that mostly taught me to open my mind, to be more receptive. Today, I'm less scared about the idea of exploring new territories, talk about new subjects in my lyrics, talk about some things that would've been impossible before. To be short, I've learned to be more confident in what I do.
RO: Your last album, in many aspects, has represented a real change in Sum 41's career. How were you feeling when you were about to compose a new one ?
Deryck: I don't really know... Let's say I don't think that way, I don't analyze the way I feel when I start to write. I let the music come to me, whatever comes, I take it for what it is. And that doesn't need that kind of reflection.
RO: You've let come without worrying about what the result would be. What's the result now ? How would you compare this composing experience with the previous ones ?
Deryck: I've started to write this record a year and a half ago, and a lot of things have changed in my life. Today, I'm feeling different from when I've started the composition, so there will be a lot of different feelings, and a lot of moods on this disc. I've never know that kind of process before, it never happened that way, at least for an entire album. Even if, to be honest, I don't really remember the details of the composition of the other records... For this one, all the ideas were coming in five minutes, it was really spontaneous. I didn't sit down with the aim of writing. I was thinking of something, I wrote it, and that was over. This is how it happened. I don't even know where my inspiration comes from. It comes, that's all. So I don't really feel like if I had written this album, but more like this album had come to me. It's a really new feeling for me, and I think it was my best writing experience. After that, some people are steadfastly waiting for that disc, some others aren't at all. I don't know what people will think about it, I just know what I think about it.
RO: After 2 years of playing in big concert halls all over the world, how does it feel to be alone at home with an album to write ?
Deryck: This time it's been easy, because, as I said before, I haven't tried to compose it. I've let the ideas come, and I didn't tell myself "Ok, now I'm starting to write for a new album". I've done what I had to do, I thought about my life, and then I had songs. It went out that way.
RO: Do you remember the first song that "came to you" for this album ?
Deryck: Yes, sure. For that matter, it'll be the first track on the disc. And even if I'm still working on the lyrics, I think that, musically speaking, It will reflect the whole album, because it goes through different styles and different movements. By listening to it, the listeners will understand what this album will be made of.
RO: You're telling me about the lyrics you are currently writing. You say you're free to choose any subject, but what's the first you've treated, what's the starting point of this record ?
Deryck: It's barely impossible for me to answer that question, simply because I don't do the same job as you ! Your job is to analyze what I say, and to write it. But I, I throw words as they come, without always think about their meanings. That's why it's really difficult for me to talk about this subject. I don't know ! And the work on this album isn't over !
RO: It's also the second time you produce a Sum 41 record. Was your recording approach different from Underclass Hero ?
Deryck: In fact, we entered the studio in january, and it's as spontaneous as the writing process. To be really precise, we don't really record this album in a studio, but in my house, in Hollywood hills. As a consequence, it's really different from the previous recording. I think that the best way to get the perfect sound for Sum 41 is to not spend too much time on it. Because whatever comes, we know the songs we've written are good, and that we're a good band. So we won'twaste our time tweaking some shitty thing for hours to finally get nothing. We play, we record, it sounds good. It doesn't go any further.
RO: You seem confident...
Deryck: We've always been confident about what we did. It's just that now, we've reached a level we've never reached before ! We have this spontaneity in our way of doing, which reminds me of our debuts, with in addition this confidence acquired thanks to our experience. All of that makes me say that we know what we do, and that makes the whole thing easier.
RO: Easy to write, but not to tell...
Deryck: If I was thinking more about the music I write, I could tell you more, naturally. But we are just a band that writes, records, and goes on tour, again and again...
RO: Do you already have an idea on how these new songs will sound on stage ?
Deryck: I can already tell you that we won't play any until the record is out, that means not before this summer. But the way I imagine them, they'll be amazing. The record is very aggressive and fast, the sound will be big. It will be great.
RO: Like a "back to the roots" ?
Deryck: No, because we never lost our roots ! We're not going back to anything ! It'll be something new, but always very energetic, like we always do.
RO: You'llgo on tour this summer for the Warped Tour, one of the most famous punk shows in the world, the one that made you famous. But it's also a hard experience for some...
Deryck: Oh, you know, we've already toured in such conditions before, so it doesn't scary us. And after all, a Sum 41 show is always funny. We're the funniest band in the world on tour. Simply because we have fun, and people see it.
RO: How do you feed yourself with travels, as an artist ?
Deryck: I must confess that except concert halls, hotels and airports, we don't really see the towns where we go. The best we can do is going to a little restaurant, or in a pub... But we try to make the whole thing the most cool possible. We are 20 people to go on tour, and everyone get along together, so it's always funny.
RO: During the Underclass Hero era, you made only one show in Paris, for the Solidays festival...
Deryck: Yes, I remember very well, I really liked that date, the public was really crazy, and I'd really like to play there again. It was a festival for people suffering of aids. And even if I don't think the role of the artist is to necessarily sensitize the population with this disease, I think that it's the human being that must do it if he has the will, and if he feels capable of it. Ne need to be an artist, everyone can do it. That's something we've always done, because we've always wanted. Then, the only reason we haven't been able to make other shows in Paris during the last 2 years is that that's not me who takes care of the locations where we'll play. I would have loved to come, we even wanted to record our album in Paris... Besides, I'd like to apologize to all our fans that haven't been able to see us for a long time, because we love to play there. We'll do a show soon after the record's out. You'll see, it will be cool, it will be fun, it will be a good show !
Here are the scans, thanks to DW_60 : http://under.my.skin.free.fr/Sum41/Sum% ... ock%20one/
RO: Sum 41 is back on the road. Does that mean the new record is almost done ?
Deryck: It's barely complete ! I think there will be almost 3 weeks of work, and it'll be ok.
RO: How do you feel about taking a break during the recording to come playing in Europe ?
Deryck: I'm must confess It's hard to recover from the jetlag, but it's amazing !
RO: What can we expect from the new shows ? How did Sum 41 eveolve during the years ?
Deryck: We've simply become better. On that tour, we play all the old songs. We play them the best way we can, and with the most energy possible. It's always as fun. All I want the audience to remember is that they saw a good band on stage. For the rest, music gives us emotions. We let us be influenced by the sound, whatever the style of the song we play.
RO: Since last year, a lot of events took place on the pop-punk scene. There's been the successful return of Green Day, the Fall Out Boy breakup, the reunification of Blink-182... Where do you place Sum 41, with you new disc coming ?
Deryck: I don't really think of what happens around us to be honest. We do our thing, we do it because we like it, and as long as this band will satisfy us, we won't think about that kind of stuff. What we like is music, and being a good rock band. It's just all about that.
RO: Let's talk about this future album. Since Underclass Hero, you've taken a more important place as composer, but also producer. That made you see the music differently. How would you judge your evolution, and what did you learn from you and Sum 41 at that time ?
Deryck: I'd say that proceeding like that mostly taught me to open my mind, to be more receptive. Today, I'm less scared about the idea of exploring new territories, talk about new subjects in my lyrics, talk about some things that would've been impossible before. To be short, I've learned to be more confident in what I do.
RO: Your last album, in many aspects, has represented a real change in Sum 41's career. How were you feeling when you were about to compose a new one ?
Deryck: I don't really know... Let's say I don't think that way, I don't analyze the way I feel when I start to write. I let the music come to me, whatever comes, I take it for what it is. And that doesn't need that kind of reflection.
RO: You've let come without worrying about what the result would be. What's the result now ? How would you compare this composing experience with the previous ones ?
Deryck: I've started to write this record a year and a half ago, and a lot of things have changed in my life. Today, I'm feeling different from when I've started the composition, so there will be a lot of different feelings, and a lot of moods on this disc. I've never know that kind of process before, it never happened that way, at least for an entire album. Even if, to be honest, I don't really remember the details of the composition of the other records... For this one, all the ideas were coming in five minutes, it was really spontaneous. I didn't sit down with the aim of writing. I was thinking of something, I wrote it, and that was over. This is how it happened. I don't even know where my inspiration comes from. It comes, that's all. So I don't really feel like if I had written this album, but more like this album had come to me. It's a really new feeling for me, and I think it was my best writing experience. After that, some people are steadfastly waiting for that disc, some others aren't at all. I don't know what people will think about it, I just know what I think about it.
RO: After 2 years of playing in big concert halls all over the world, how does it feel to be alone at home with an album to write ?
Deryck: This time it's been easy, because, as I said before, I haven't tried to compose it. I've let the ideas come, and I didn't tell myself "Ok, now I'm starting to write for a new album". I've done what I had to do, I thought about my life, and then I had songs. It went out that way.
RO: Do you remember the first song that "came to you" for this album ?
Deryck: Yes, sure. For that matter, it'll be the first track on the disc. And even if I'm still working on the lyrics, I think that, musically speaking, It will reflect the whole album, because it goes through different styles and different movements. By listening to it, the listeners will understand what this album will be made of.
RO: You're telling me about the lyrics you are currently writing. You say you're free to choose any subject, but what's the first you've treated, what's the starting point of this record ?
Deryck: It's barely impossible for me to answer that question, simply because I don't do the same job as you ! Your job is to analyze what I say, and to write it. But I, I throw words as they come, without always think about their meanings. That's why it's really difficult for me to talk about this subject. I don't know ! And the work on this album isn't over !
RO: It's also the second time you produce a Sum 41 record. Was your recording approach different from Underclass Hero ?
Deryck: In fact, we entered the studio in january, and it's as spontaneous as the writing process. To be really precise, we don't really record this album in a studio, but in my house, in Hollywood hills. As a consequence, it's really different from the previous recording. I think that the best way to get the perfect sound for Sum 41 is to not spend too much time on it. Because whatever comes, we know the songs we've written are good, and that we're a good band. So we won'twaste our time tweaking some shitty thing for hours to finally get nothing. We play, we record, it sounds good. It doesn't go any further.
RO: You seem confident...
Deryck: We've always been confident about what we did. It's just that now, we've reached a level we've never reached before ! We have this spontaneity in our way of doing, which reminds me of our debuts, with in addition this confidence acquired thanks to our experience. All of that makes me say that we know what we do, and that makes the whole thing easier.
RO: Easy to write, but not to tell...
Deryck: If I was thinking more about the music I write, I could tell you more, naturally. But we are just a band that writes, records, and goes on tour, again and again...
RO: Do you already have an idea on how these new songs will sound on stage ?
Deryck: I can already tell you that we won't play any until the record is out, that means not before this summer. But the way I imagine them, they'll be amazing. The record is very aggressive and fast, the sound will be big. It will be great.
RO: Like a "back to the roots" ?
Deryck: No, because we never lost our roots ! We're not going back to anything ! It'll be something new, but always very energetic, like we always do.
RO: You'llgo on tour this summer for the Warped Tour, one of the most famous punk shows in the world, the one that made you famous. But it's also a hard experience for some...
Deryck: Oh, you know, we've already toured in such conditions before, so it doesn't scary us. And after all, a Sum 41 show is always funny. We're the funniest band in the world on tour. Simply because we have fun, and people see it.
RO: How do you feed yourself with travels, as an artist ?
Deryck: I must confess that except concert halls, hotels and airports, we don't really see the towns where we go. The best we can do is going to a little restaurant, or in a pub... But we try to make the whole thing the most cool possible. We are 20 people to go on tour, and everyone get along together, so it's always funny.
RO: During the Underclass Hero era, you made only one show in Paris, for the Solidays festival...
Deryck: Yes, I remember very well, I really liked that date, the public was really crazy, and I'd really like to play there again. It was a festival for people suffering of aids. And even if I don't think the role of the artist is to necessarily sensitize the population with this disease, I think that it's the human being that must do it if he has the will, and if he feels capable of it. Ne need to be an artist, everyone can do it. That's something we've always done, because we've always wanted. Then, the only reason we haven't been able to make other shows in Paris during the last 2 years is that that's not me who takes care of the locations where we'll play. I would have loved to come, we even wanted to record our album in Paris... Besides, I'd like to apologize to all our fans that haven't been able to see us for a long time, because we love to play there. We'll do a show soon after the record's out. You'll see, it will be cool, it will be fun, it will be a good show !
