Sum 41 Are History. Deryck Whibley Speaks About Life After the Final Concert

Frontman of Canadian pop-punk icons Sum 41, Deryck Whibley, opened up in a new interview about life after the band's definitive end. Sum 41 played their final concert in January 2025 in Toronto, and Whibley now says that closing this chapter came naturally — though not without a long internal struggle.

"It's strange how quickly it all feels distant," Deryck admits. "On one hand, it feels like yesterday; on the other, like it was ages ago. But I don't live in the past — I focus mainly on what's ahead of me." After twenty-five years on the road, with the band sometimes touring for as many as ten months a year, the exhaustion became impossible to ignore. Constant travel, minimal sleep, time away from family, and unrelenting pressure — those are things he says he definitely doesn't miss today.

What he does miss, however, is performing itself. "I will always love being on stage," he says. "Those songs are a part of me." Still, he felt that returning after a break would have been the easy way out — and he refused to take it. "If you want to conquer an island, you have to burn the boats. No turning back, no safety net," he explains about his decision to end Sum 41 for good.

Whibley describes nearly three decades in one band as a school of life. He learned how to work with emotions, personalities, and conflicts — and with a smile adds that it actually prepared him for parenthood as well. "The music business is full of big kids," he laughs. "And as the leader of a band, you have to handle it all."

What's next? No new musical project has been officially announced yet, but he's far from idle. He has launched his own fashion brand, Walking Disaster — a name fans will instantly recognize — and sees it as a challenge to step into an entirely unfamiliar world. "I only want to do things that make sense and give something to people," he says. Just like music, he believes fashion has the power to shape identity and boost confidence.

Sum 41 thus remain a closed chapter — but not a forgotten one. Their final album, Heaven :X: Hell, along with their farewell tour, served as a worthy goodbye from a band that defined an era of modern punk rock. And Deryck Whibley? He is clearly preparing to write the next chapter — this time off stage, but with the same passion.