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Canadian rock band Sum 41 will be in the Hat Monday to perform alongside The Offspring and Dinosaur Pile-Up at the Canalta Centre. The band released a new album this year and will be playing a mix of songs, old and new.
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One of Sum 41’s first big tours as a band was with The Offspring.
Nearly 20 years later – the bands are back on the road and more than halfway through a tour with stops across the country. Monday at 7 p.m. the bands are playing the Canalta Centre with Dinosaur Pile-Up. Sum 41 guitarist Dave Baksh says it has been a fun ride so far.
“Honestly, it’s been great,” he said. “The lineup on this tour is incredible. Dinosaur Pile-Up is going first. We’re up second and then we get to head off the stage and watch The Offspring every night.
“Way back in the early 2000s, Dexter (Holland of The Offspring) was hosting a barbecue and we took a box of maybe 60 of our CDS and just hid them all over his place – in the toilet tanks, cereal boxes, in the toaster – eventually we landed a tour opening for them.”
Sum 41 released “Order in Decline,” its seventh studio album, earlier this year – a heavy record with thought-provoking lyrics.
“Like a lot of records and art, this is a reaction to what we see going on,” he said. “When we’re touring, the news is always on. Our band has this amazing opportunity to see the world and everything that is going on and we’re not going to be blind to it.
“Politics around the world is at the point where people everywhere are realizing that something is fundamentally wrong. We need to figure it out and find out answers on how to fix it.
“Writing a record about one specific person would be a fault – this is just a view of the world.”
Sum 41 broke on to the music scene around 2000 and are a huge part of the rock scene for Millennials. Baksh says the band is enjoying their setlist of old and new.
“It’s been working awesome,” he said. “The song we play off the top actually kicks off the new record then we launch right into “The Hell Song” and other classics.
“I think it’s a healthy mix of old and new – we’re extremely lucky and thankful to see people singing along to our new stuff.”
One big part of the setlist is a cover of a classic rock tune everyone has heard. Baksh says he hopes the crowd can have fun with it.
“We’ve been doing (the cover) for a little bit now,” he said. “I honestly think covers are fun. We grew up with bands covering things – we grew up covering things.”
Baksh says the band, originally from Ajax, Ont. has been blown away by the support during the first two thirds of the tour.
“Playing in front of sold-out crowds is always fun,” he said. “Our show in Laval was in front of 10,000 people – that has to be one of the most amazing experiences we’ve had as a band playing live.”
While the band did just release new music, Baksh says the band is always thinking about what’s next.
“Even before the current record goes into mixing and mastering, the next record has been kind of started,” he said. “We’re taking our time and there might be some stuff kicking around.
“As of right now we’re just focused on touring until whenever the album cycle is done.”
Tickets are available at ticketmaster.ca, by phone at 1-855-985-5000 or in person at the Canalta Centre box office.
