Music
Sum 41 ask fans to help them make a new album
by Jeremy Mersereau
July 13, 2015
Your money could also get you Skype calls and disposable cameras with photos from the band.
SKUMF^KS UNITE/SHARE! proclaims Ajax’s favourite sons Sum41 on the PledgeMusic page for their as-yet-untitled new album. Charming! Well, come to think of it, I guess I’d rather be a “skumf^k” than a maggot, given the choice. Cone and Co. are the latest group to jump on the direct-to-fan service bandwagon, joining such other notable acts as Macy Gray, Weezer, and Canadian goth rockers The Birthday Massacre, who have all successfully funded new projects through the service.
Similar to Kickstarter, the PledgeMusic model includes reward tiers, in that the more dough you’re willing to part with, the more trinkets and exclusive bonuses you’ll get, mainly in the form of awkward video calls. In the case of Sum41, a paltry $13 will get you a digital download of the new album and some behind-the-scenes content, but loyal fans don’t want to stop there:
– For $192, you get a disposable camera full of pictures taken by Deryck and the band! Sorry skum41 nation, this one’s been taken!
– $253 will get you a 15 minute Skype call with Cone to talk bass technique. 4 of these babies are left as of this writing, so jump on it! It’s not every day you can talk shop with a master of funk like Cone.
– For $316, you can talk to Deryck Whibley on Skype for 15 minutes! Is Deryck’s time worth a whole $63 more than Cone’s? Maybe you guys can eat up a few minutes discussing that.
Sum 41’s last album, 2011’s Screaming Bloody Murder, was the last album to be released with original drummer Steve “Stevo32” Jocz, who left the band in 2013 for unknown reasons. But we all know the heart and soul of Sum41 forever resided in Dave “Brownsound” Baksh, whose metal chops and real-dudeness were an important part of the ’41 experience. May 11, 2006: the day the music died for us real skumfuks.
