origins in the band Kaspir

Sum 41 has its origins in the band Kaspir, which was formed by Deryck Whibley and Grant McVittie in 1994, inspired by Weezer and Nirvana . As time went on, the band’s drummer was replaced by Steve Jocz and the music became increasingly inspired by NOFX , particularly their 1991 album Ribbed . Seeing this change as too sonically dissimilar to their original sound, they decided to form a new band and to change their sound because they sounded “like the early nineties rock music we used to listen to, and don’t anymore”. The band chose the name “Sum 41” after looking at the calendar and counting how many days it had been from the start of their summer break to the day the Warped Tour was on and seeing that it was forty-one days. The band debuted its new name during Supernova’s Battle of the Bands on September 28, 1996. The first lineup to use this name included Whibley, Jocz, McVittie and Jon Marshall. Another early member was bassist Richard Roy who shortly replaced McVittie.