War Child Canada Had Sum 41 Lending A Hand
Touring in support of Chuck, Sum 41 played videos before their set which were deemed “unsuitable for children”. Much controversy arose over the videos. In one video, Basketball Butcher, which was also included in some versions of Chuck, Steve and Cone play basketball, and Cone beats Steve badly. Following the game, Steve murders Cone and later dismembers and cooks him. In another video, 1-800-Justice, Cone and Steve are drug dealing brothers, while Dave and Deryck play undercover police officers. Steve shoots Deryck, as Cone stabs Dave, and Steve and Cone make their getaway. Another video was “The Stache” Steve decides to grow out his moustache, but it turns out to be evil and makes him kill people while he’s sleeping. After killing two people, the police come to his apartment. He decides to end everything and kill himself by jumping out a 5-story window. Cone, playing a policeman looks down at his body, turns around, and has a moustache.
Sum 41’s most recent internet video endeavor is a “weekly” series entitled SUM 41 - Road to Ruin. The trailer was posted on January 8, 2007 on the Sum 41 web-page. The first episode debuted on January 21, following their exploits on their Singapore 2003 tour. Since then, their episodes have included footage of drunkenness in New Orleans, unintentionally setting off a fire alarm in a hotel, and a feature about their first ever tour manager, amongst other things. The “Road to Ruin” show can also be found on their MySpace, on YouTube, and on their official website. The “Road to Ruin” series is also available in an exclusive limited edition of the Singapore edition of ‘Underclass Hero’. They also did a series of cartoons based on superhero ‘stickman moss’ who saved the world from anti punk figures, as they put the world of punk rock in danger. “Stickman Moss” would battle these threats with his stick powers being made entirely of wood. “Stickman Moss” was played by actor Steven Mars. A famous quote from an early episode stated “Sticks don’t tan!”.
Not all fun and games, however, their involvement in the charity group War Child Canada had Sum 41 lending a hand in the making of a 2004 documentary covering the effects of war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Five days into filming, fighting and gunfire suddenly erupted around them, and they barely escaped unharmed — these events led to 2004’s slightly more mature and serious effort, Chuck, named for the UN aid worker, Chuck Pelletier, who was instrumental in getting them to safety. The DVD Rocked: Sum 41 in Congo was released at the end of 2005 and the live album Go Chuck Yourself appeared the following March. Guitarist Dave Baksh left the band during the spring of 2006 due to creative differences, going on to form the metal-punk outfit Brown Brigade. Sum 41 continued on as a trio, and their first album as such, Underclass Hero, appeared in July 2007.
Read more about Sum 41, click here:
