SUM 41's DERYCK WHIBLEY On Band's Last-Ever Tour: 'It's Finally Hitting Me That It's Coming To An End'

In a new interview with iHeartRadio Canada's Jesse Modz and JD Lewis, SUM 41's Deryck Whibley spoke about the band's final tour, which will conclude with a show in SUM 41's original hometown of Toronto at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday, January 30, 2025. Asked if it is "starting to feel a bit more real" that SUM 41 will play some of these cities for the final time, now that he and his bandmates are less than a month away from the launch of the Canadian leg of the "Tour Of The Setting Sum", Deryck said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, the weird thing for me is I don't ever really look at particular shows or single dates. For the first time, this is actually hitting me that the Canadian run is gonna be the last run. So I look at it as a whole rather than just certain dates. And everything up until this tour has felt like, 'Well, we've got so many more tours still ahead, so many more legs of the tour to do, so many more shows to [play],' whereas now there's only four more weeks left, and this is the final run. So it's finally hitting me that it's coming to an end."

Asked if "a lot of nostalgia" and looking at the "rearview mirror" comes with preparing to play the final SUM 41 shows, Deryck said: "Well, I think that comes down to the individual, and I'm not necessarily a super-nostalgic person. I do think of the past fondly and I remember it well, but I don't spend much time in memory lane. I mean, yes, everywhere I go, everything I do, every tour that I do, every city that I go to constantly reminds me of some wild story or some bad story or something, or even just something boring, some great restaurant I've been to or whatever it is. I can't go anywhere in the world without having, like, 10 different stories to tell. Like if I'm with my wife, who wasn't there in the early days, I've got so many stories to tell. But I don't really just sit there and think and get too nostalgic about stuff, unless it just kind of hits me in the moment."

Deryck also talked about what it is like for him to tour sober compared to the early years of SUM 41 when he led a crazy lifestyle with booze and all the extracurriculars that were going around. He said: "The funny thing about drinking for me is that it didn't really seem to affect my memory too much. Obviously there are certain parts of the night that get very blurry and hazy, but that's usually the morning, if I'm still up. But I've been sober now almost about 11 years and I toured for about 10 or 12 years drinking. So it's almost been equal amounts. And I would say I had equal amount of fun, but it's just very different. I prefer being sober now. The things that you enjoy, you actually feel more, whereas when you were drinking, yeah, there are a lot of wild stories and there's a lot of crazy nights, but there were so many nights that we were just drinking for no reason, too. There were so many boring nights that you just spent drinking a bottle of Jack or whatever that we all stayed up till six in the morning, just driving on the bus, talking about dumb stuff that is just kind of pointless. But they're just different lifestyles. I don't regret any of those years, but I'm glad I don't do it anymore."

Earlier this month, SUM 41 canceled its co-headlining appearance at Australia's Good Things festival due to Whibley's battle with pneumonia. The band also scrapped the remaining sideshows on its Australian tour.

SUM 41's Australian dates, including Good Things, were set to be the band's final shows Down Under.

SUM 41 was scheduled to perform at Adelaide's AEC Theatre (December 10),at Melbourne's Margaret Court Arena (December 12) and at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion (December 14).

In September 2023, Whibley was discharged from a hospital after being treated for pneumonia.

Back in 2014, Deryck collapsed in his kitchen and was rushed to the hospital, before doctors revealed his liver and kidneys had failed. He was placed in a coma for a week to help his body detox from alcohol and went on to get sober and lead a healthier lifestyle.

Earlier this year, the Grammy-nominated band announced their breakup after 27 years of making music together. They released their final album "Heaven :x: Hell" in March which received rave reviews from the likes of Kerrang!, Dork, NME and more. The band's hit singles off the record "Dopamine" and "Landmines" have made waves in radio airplay over the last several weeks, reaching No. 1 on Mediabase Alternative charts.

Looking back at the band's storied 28-year career, SUM 41 has firmly cemented their place in history with over 15 million records sold worldwide, multiple Billboard-charting releases and No. 1 hits, a Grammy nomination, two Juno Awards (seven nominations),a Kerrang! Award in 2002, multiple Alternative Press Music Awards, sold-out tours and packed venues everywhere, and countless other accolades. The Canadian leg of their farewell tour begins in January. They will play their final show in Toronto, Ontario on January 30, followed by an encore performance live at the Juno Awards broadcast in Vancouver, British Columbia on March 30.