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The End Of The Road With DAVE BAKSH From SUM 41 · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:19
  Be mistaken. As you said, I was gone because I've been waiting for
• 0:24
  this. I'm Dave brownsound from some forty one, uh, and we are
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  just releasing our new record, Heaven and Hell. I hope you get it,
• 0:31
  stream it anywhere, pick it up where you want. Yeah, brother,
• 0:35
  thanks for joining us today. Thank you. It's good to be here.
• 0:40
  Right. So some forty one released the double album Heaven x Heaven Hell
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  Back on March of twenty ninth. Mate, So, I know it's only
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  to be in a couple of weeks, but how's the early reception made.
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  It's wild, It is absolutely wild. I'm seeing comments. I don't know
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  if my algorithm is getting rid of the bad comments, but most of the
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  comments have been really really nice and gracious, and it's after putting so much
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  like blood, sweat and tears into this record, it's really really nice and
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  vindicating. Now, this is going to be a final album, but sure
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  we'll get into later on a bit more detail. But with that in mind,
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  like, was what was your your focus I guess, and what sorts
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  of things were discussed in the early stages of this album. Well, I
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  mean, the odd thing was in the early stages of the record. It
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  wasn't even going to be a double album, let alone our last album.
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  Every we just all kind of mentioned, every single one of us on a
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  phone call with Derek that maybe we should just take all the songs we have
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  put them out because there was nothing that we heard from the demos that we
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  wanted to cut. So I think thanks to that too, we were able
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  to lean into the heaviest stuff we've ever done and lean into that classic sound
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  with the updates appearance. That's how that the Heavenside got all right, And
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  it's a great idea and it's a poignant farewell give to your fans, showcasing
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  both sides of pop pump pop punk influences as well as the heavier side.
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  As you say of it, what was it a challenging album to write?
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  I guess, like Kevin, to write to two distinct styles. I I
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  don't think I have ever seen Derek work harder in the writing room than he
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  did on this record. Like I mean, it's it's the opus right,
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  so as the main songwriter, especially with his personality and his attention to detail
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  and his need for everything to be right and done well, Uh, it
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  was just it's a mega amount of work, especially since he decided to produce,
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  engineer and mix it. So yeah, I'm hoping that once everything is
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  said and done, once we wekind of like turn our amps off on January
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  thirty first, that he's got somewhere hot where he can actually relax if he's
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  capable of doing that. A true How about for the band as a whole?
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  Was it an emotional experience? So was it a joyful experience? Was
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  it a relieved I mean I thought I thought I was getting fired when I
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  found out this was going to be our last record, because the the email
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  just kind of came in. But it was it was beautiful reasoning, and
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  you know, for for reasons that that he can he can say himself I
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  mentioned one, it's just the workload has been relentless, But it was it
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  just I think we always put the same amount of effort into our records,
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  but for some reason, once we found out this was our last, there
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  was a lot of pressure that was taken off. Not not to mention I
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  could just literally wake up for self, a cup of coffee and come down
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  and start working on this record every single day. It was just like,
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  so there's a there's a term it's like how much did that solo cost per
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  minute? That just wasn't a factor because I just worked out of my own
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  house and just had a blast. Just yeah, it like a little kid
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  like, you know, like a happy version of John Hughes and the Aviator.
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  Yeah, I've just got a mental image of that. Thanks for that,
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  exactly right. I'm noticed for the singles that you release, it three
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  of them came from Heaven and only one came from Hell. So was that
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  because you thought the songs from Heaven were a better overall sonic representation of your
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  career or was it more a radio decision or was it coincidence. Definitely a
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  radio radio decision. I mean those were the ones that that overall to the
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  to the team at Rise and BMG, were like, yeah, yeah,
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  this is this. These are ones that are aren't no brainers. And you
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  know, we leave the radio stuff in their hands. We give as much
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  guidance as we can as as far as what we want. But I really
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  do tend to agree with with what they said, and we haven't had the
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  type of push radio wise that that Rise and BMG handed us. So I
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  mean we were just really really happy to be back in that conversation again.
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  To be honest, now this is going to put you on the spot a
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  little bit made. But which in it? Which in the two is your
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  personal favorite? So? Did your favorite the pop punk style album or the
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  heavy side? Oh? Okay, you know what, So as a guitar
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  player, I'll answer this, the most natural way for me to play is
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  the pop punk stuff because there's a there's a certain swing in my my my
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  wrist and and my delivery that just lent itself to that style of music really
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  really well. I grew up as a guitar player as a heavy metal player.
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  So if you're talking to if you're talking to a guitar player that just
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  loves getting lost in the moment the pop punk stuff to be able to champion
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  those riffs every single night. I mean, I'm seeing some people on the
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  heavy magazine covers right now that I'm looking at that are just like they can
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  do that kind of stuff with their eyes closed. But for guys like me,
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  you know, medum medium talented guitar players, it takes a little more
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  effort. So yeah, so yeah, the ability to play those nobs will
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  feel good, right good. Now, when you guys decided to end up
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  the band, I guess, and make this your last album. Why did
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  you decide to go out with a double album instead of a world tour or
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  have you got that plan and you just haven't told us yet? Oh yeah,
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  yeah, I mean the world tours and the works. Everything is still
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  kind of being ironed out because we're trying the biggest places that we've ever play
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  as a headliner. But the idea to record a double record was actually before
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  we decided to call this our last record. So this was just going to
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  be oh that was when they released a double record in their career. But
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  no, I mean it just ended up being kind of a moment where it
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  was like, Okay, well, we're about to do all this work on
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  this record that could be our best music that we've had in a while.
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  This is kind of a good place to go out, you know. And
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  you know, instead of the comments being like yeah, yeah, yeah,
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  man, the band sucks, we're glad you're leaving, there's a sadness around
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  it that we share with the public as Plus, this is probably the last
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  chance we're goin to get to speak with you, mate. I'm going to
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  dive back a little bit in history of the band if you don't mind forbid,
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  So, yeah, of course it was nineteen ninety six. What wasn't
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  musical climate like that gave birth to some forty one and where did you fit
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  in? Initially we were so I didn't understand that I could play a heavier
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  version of punk rock until about ninety five ninety four, when somebody had introduced
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  me to suburban teenage wasteland blues by strung Out, which led me to Propagandhi,
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  which led me to doa and just that rabbit hole of punk rock thanks
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  to a friend of mine named Mike bill Cox. He used to play in
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  a band called Not by Choice in camp skateboarding punk rock and a place where
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  I thought the metal bands around me were accepting of me. But an elitist
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  attitude started creeping into the scene there, and people that were just doing their
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  best and trying their best were being shipped on by people I was playing in
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  bands with, and I hated it. I don't like the suppression of creativity.
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  I think there's better ways to tell people that they can do a better
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  job at what they're doing. So that seemed to be more along the lines
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  of how punk rock was being discussed and approached in our town at that time.
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  And that's really what led me in was a sense for a couple of
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  years already that were inviting me into their band. Wow. Very cool.
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  And back then the merging of the pop punk sort of and the heavy metal
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  wasn't as prevalent as it is today. Mate, So did you initially have
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  trouble finding people who connected with the music and they got into it? Oh?
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  Yeah, it was. It was impossible. It was impossible. So
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  we the three of us, all had a massive love for Iron Maiden,
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  But I mean the metal guys I knew they were just like, yeah,
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  we like the Misfits because James Hedfield wears a Misfits shirt. And I was
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  just like, there's there's just so much more out there to listen to.
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  And I'm not saying this about every single metal head in the world. These
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  are just the ones that I grew up around, and that's it. So
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  the metal heads and Ajax, you know, I'd get teased and I'd have
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  to hide my punk rock records from my older heavy metal friends so that they
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  wouldn't kick the shit out of me. But the uh, yeah, it
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  just the three of us at that time. Me Stephen Derek. We just
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  had a connection musically where we really really liked pretty much the exact same things,
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  and we just had the same kind of outlook, like let's have fun
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  and see how far we can take this thing. So well, no,
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  it was probably a little bit too early yet, mate, But when you
• 10:52
  do so January thirty first, I think you said you were going to call
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  it a day officially. So when you sit back and reflect on your career,
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  like, what do you hope to leave some forty one is musical legacy?
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  Oh? I mean the legacy. Honestly, it's up to like to
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  people like you, it's up to the people that listen to the to the
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  the music. We we don't really get to choose what legacy we leave behind.
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  It's just we work on things as hard as we can. We put
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  so much effort into what we do, and so much care and time has
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  been sacrificed, you know, by you know us where we could be with
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  our loved ones. But we need to tend to this. And I'm not
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  trying to say that for for anybody's sympathy or pity, but just if I
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  could choose a legacy, it's the fact that we love doing this and I
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  hope that that shines through in what people hear. Yeah, beautiful minor.
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  We'll wind up with this one, brother. So what's next for you personally,
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  mate life? Are you going to stay involved with music on any level
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  or are you looking forward to just stepping back for a while. I always
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  have music. I'd love to expand in the arts a little bit more.
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  Try my hand at I'm already doing voiceover with a company called Innovative Artists,
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  and you know, I love to try my hand. It's a little bit
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  of like background acting and just just have fun, enjoy life, try attempt
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  these things that completely take me out of my comfort zone. And yeah,
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  I'm looking forward to an awkward fifties. Well on that night, brother,
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  Thanks very much for join It's have been absolute pleasure speaking with you. That
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  double album, Heaven Hell is out now, and from what I gathered from
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  that conversation, they'll be sure announcement coming soon, so keep an eye out
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  for it. Oh. I appreciate you taking the time. Thank you,
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  Chris. You'll be mistaken if you thought I was gone, because I've been
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  waiting for this moment too long to see to worry you. Ayes I bet
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  you're not the dis all in a way, and you never cross your mind
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  to derry. You say, well I returned. You're looking to your Yeah,
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  so let me go, she said, just make my gad. You're
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  happy to just leave me for all the Dad, We'll take this past Mary,
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  what's the less and tell the last just to leave you see and wrestle.
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  You say you've gotten me by your friend. You need to say again
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  again because I know you never thought this might be out and myself to you.
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  So I don't believe that you have got any soul. You're just afraid
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  of your old I know what you did out of your road to Coline say,
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  not a sacred anymore. It's a good past. It's falling further raven
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  more claps place and running. I know, clas proma. She said,
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  I'm not going one. You say, quill, just say it good name.
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  Let you touch your day. I don't even gills. Just take a
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  look because it's me by So you say you just got mad by me.
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  Read you say again, because I know always never thought this lot be w
• 15:01
  I told you. I don't wanna close my mouth. I can never get
• 15:30
  enough like the sun is time. Dadra so you say you got me my
• 15:41
  friend again, because I know you never thought this might be about that I
• 15:56
  sold you. I can't you pick this up.