Content warning: reference to sexual abuse and grooming, substance abuse, military conflict, STDs and PTSD 

Deryck Whibley has led a storied life. Being the frontman of rock band Sum 41 since he was a teenager, he has been used to living a life in the public eye. His new autobiography Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell, is an incredibly revealing and moving account of his life thus far, delving deeper into him and the band than ever before. 

There are stories of wild Los Angeles parties with rockstars and celebrities, with genuinely heartwarming stories like the early days of Whibley’s marriage with fellow Canadian artist Avril Lavigne. It is fascinating to see Whibley’s creative process, as well as how his life influenced the songs he was writing. It was particularly interesting to see how the first singles from the first three Sum 41 albums, “Fat Lip”, “Still Waiting” and “We’re All to Blame”, were the last songs written for their respective records. Another single from Does This Look Infected?, “The Hell Song” was written about Whibley’s childhood friend contracting HIV, and his fears about being infected himself. 

But while the highs are highs, the lows are incredibly low. The story of the ‘Tokyo drug trip’ is hard to sit through, and Whibley’s near-death experiences with alcoholism are incredibly difficult to experience vicariously. 

The biggest revelation of the book is undoubtedly the allegations of sexual abuse and grooming that Whibley levels at Greig Nori, the band’s former manager. These allegations, that Nori was inappropriately involved with Whibley since he was sixteen, cast a dark shadow over the darker parts of his life. It adds a much sadder backdrop to the band’s issues throughout the years, as they were (allegedly) being turned against each other by Nori. They were barely adults. 

What I have found most fascinating as a fan of the band is how the book adds so much context to their changing sound. 

Chuck is a dark album, and arguably the band’s ‘magnum opus’. During the making of the album, the band traveled to the active warzone of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to film a documentary with War Child Canada – Rocked: Sum 41 in Congo. During the filming of this documentary, a firefight broke out around the hotel that the band were staying at, and they had to be evacuated by UN peacekeeper Chuck Pelletier, who the album was later named after. Whibley was certain that this would be his grave. 

He writes about the post-traumatic stress disorder that the band experienced as a result of escaping from the DRC. In a particularly harrowing episode, he talks about experiencing severe physical symptoms of his PTSD whilst boarding a plane in the following weeks. It makes the Chuck single “We’re All to Blame”, which was written after the trip, so hard hitting. It is both an album and a song that they risked their lives to make. 

Despite their changing sound, one thing that has always remained the same is the level of emotion they put into all their music. And this comes across in the autobiography – Whibley talks incredibly candidly about his life, the breakdown of his relationships, everything. 

The sun may have set on Sum 41 at their highest. The band is all they have ever known since they were fifteen, so it only makes sense that they want to start the next chapter of their lives. For many of them this is fatherhood. But for all of them, especially Whibley, the story is not over. 

Image Credit: Jeremy Allouche on Unsplash