Deryck Q&A

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Heather
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Deryck Q&A

Post by Heather »

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Thanks to Deryck for taking the time to answer these questions!

FC: First off, how is your back doing and how do you feel about touring again?

D: It hasn’t been giving me much trouble lately

FC: It's been a year since the release of Screaming Bloody Murder. What experiences/techniques did you gain while writing and recording SBM that you may apply to future works?

D: This record was recorded very differently than any record we’ve done before. I like the freedom and challenges that come from recording in a house rather than a real studio. I also learned to live my life while recording and let the energy soak into it as well. Not take things too seriously. I still worked my ass off but I had a blast while doing this record. I’ve done the conventional style of recording where it’s very serious doing take after take to try and make it perfect. And to me that’s just boring. When I record that way it sounds lifeless to me. I like there to be a sense of recklessness to the music. Most of the songs and performances on this album were done very quickly and without a lot of thought put into them. I love life too much to be stuck sitting around in a studio treating it like it’s a job. My only job is to enjoy life.

FC: We've noticed that SBM has a much looser feel to it production wise, for instance you can hear piano pedals and talking. Was this planned from the beginning or did it come about during the recording/mixing process?

D: Nothing was planned on this record. Right down to me being the producer. I didn’t want to do it at all. It just had to happen that way because it seemed to work the best. As far as the way it sounds, I wanted it to sound like the listener was sitting in the room with us while we were playing. I didn’t clean up any of the tracks and take any of the mistakes or breaths or piano pedals out on purpose. Which is what most producers/engineers do when they’re recording. We played it live and I wanted it to sound like it.

FC: How did the title track "Screaming Bloody Murder" evolve into a collaboration with Tom? Could we expect more collaborations between you two in the future?

D: I don’t know what we can expect. I try to never have expectations this far away from making a new record. But I can say I would love to collaborate more with brown tom in the future. I’ve always been a big fan of his writing. That song was interesting. It’s actually the first time I’ve ever collaborated that much with someone on music. We didn’t even sit down and write it together in the same room. I called brown tom one day and asked if he had any riffs or songs lying around that we might be able to use. He sent me the track with no vocals and the second I heard it all the words and melody just started coming to me instantly. So I recorded a quick demo of it so I wouldn’t forget it and played it for brown tom and he said he liked it, and that was that. It was done in the matter of minutes and we were across the country from each other.

FC: In one interview, you called "Crash" your "artistic highpoint"(thestar.com July2010). In your opinion, what sets this song apart and what other songs would you consider highpoints?

D: Hmmm. I don’t remember saying that. Haha. I do like the song a lot though. Again, like most of these songs it came out very quickly. It probably took 15 min to write. It all came at once. Piano, melody and lyrics. I love when that happens. Makes my job easy. Haha. I like it because it’s a bit different than anything we’ve done before. And since the song is about a car accident I witnessed, it has a lot of meaning for me. I still remember the smell of the accident. It was a weird chemical smell. I thought the cars were going to explode at any minute. And it was so sad because the people in the accident were both so young. I realized that day how quickly you can just lose your life. I immediately wrote that song when I got home. It all just came to me.

FC: "Holy Image of Lies" seems to be the most unique Sum 41 song to date, with its unconventional song structure. How was the writing/recording process for it different?

D: That song was different to record because it was mostly recorded in separate parts. We used different sounds for each section. The percussion that you can hear through the beginning half is all played on random objects in a house. Things like staircase railings and cans etc. basically anything that we could find that sounded cool.

FC: In one studio update, we heard a sneak peak of the lyrics: "I don't believe in ignorance no more ourselves we deceive".Could we possibly hear this song and other SBM cuts on future releases?

D: Anything’s possible. That was a song I was trying to finish for the record that I just couldn’t seem to figure out. It was the only song that gave me any problems on this one. Hopefully I will finish someday because I really like where it’s going. It’s heading down the right path I just wish it would take me the rest of the way.

FC: Speaking of lyrics, you've written so many songs, what specific lines stand out to you the most?

D: That’s tough. I will say that I feel like my lyrics now are more focused. They speak more volumes to me. There’s a lot more honesty, fearless vulnerability and emotion that wasn’t there before. It feels more direct to the point to me. Although SBM is not a concept record, it still tells the story of my life over the past few years. Lots of pain, confusion, hopelessness which turns into courage, strength acceptance and happiness.

FC: "Reason to Believe"sounds amazing acoustic, what other songs from SBM would you consider recording or playing in acoustic?

D: Thank you. I’ve tried a few songs acoustic. I really like blood in my eyes acoustic I recorded a version recently and I think it turned out well. We’ll probably release it sometime soon hopefully.

FC: Lastly, What musical projects have you been working on this year?

D: Nothing this year really. I’ve been just focusing on getting my health back to normal and focusing on sum 41. That takes up all my damn time!
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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by Resident Skumfuk »

Thank you. I’ve tried a few songs acoustic. I really like blood in my eyes acoustic I recorded a version recently and I think it turned out well. We’ll probably release it sometime soon hopefully.
ಠ_ಠ

That song was different to record because it was mostly recorded in separate parts. We used different sounds for each section. The percussion that you can hear through the beginning half is all played on random objects in a house. Things like staircase railings and cans etc. basically anything that we could find that sounded cool.
thats pretty cool to know, i've always thought the percussion sounded a bit different but I absolutely never would've guessed that


Awesome interview!
Last edited by Resident Skumfuk on Thu Jul 05, 2012 11:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by Noreason757 »

cool interview, i wish you would have asked if they are finally gona release a music video, i like the idea of a blood in my eyes acoustic as well, but seeing as it "might" be released "SOON" i wouldnt count on ever hearing it.
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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by Jeremy Kill »

Sweet, Blood In My Eyes acoustic? I would love to hear that!
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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by Resident Skumfuk »

I liked this quote.


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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by fergal41 »

Deryck seemed to put a lot more effort and energy into his answers here than he normally does. That's cool. Hope he's in a better place than he was this time last year.

"We’ll probably release it sometime soon hopefully." - characteristically vague!!
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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by Mr.Amsterdam »

maybe they'll release the BIME music video and BIME acoustic version together to kick off their European Tour ....
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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by Sum41Ant27 »

When were these questions asked? Did we have a chance to send questions to him? It was a good read, but I wanted to know a few more things...
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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by withchappedlips »

After spending enough time on this website, I've realized that when Sum 41 talks about releasing anything, they're kind of just fucking with you.

Great work on the interview, though. I've never listened to SBM nearly as closely as a good amount of the people in this forum have, so I had no idea that there was so much stuff in the background of songs. I'll have to listen to it with my headphones on or something and focus a bit more. I love these questions a lot more than the questions like "what's your favorite place to play", "what's your favorite song to play", etc. I like that it was very focused for the most part on SBM, making Deryck speak more in-depth about it, and I think some of these questions would have been better asked a year ago when the album was released than the questions they answered in that timeframe.
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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by Mitchell »

Big Sean wrote:After spending enough time on this website, I've realized that when Sum 41 talks about releasing anything, they're kind of just fucking with you.

Great work on the interview, though. I've never listened to SBM nearly as closely as a good amount of the people in this forum have, so I had no idea that there was so much stuff in the background of songs. I'll have to listen to it with my headphones on or something and focus a bit more. I love these questions a lot more than the questions like "what's your favorite place to play", "what's your favorite song to play", etc. I like that it was very focused for the most part on SBM, making Deryck speak more in-depth about it, and I think some of these questions would have been better asked a year ago when the album was released than the questions they answered in that timeframe.
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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by lisaNL »

Great interview! Now I'm really curious for that acoustic version of blood in my eyes.
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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by SickofEveryone »

Awesome interview! Enjoyed every sentence of it.
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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by SumGeek »

Once again, another great interview. Well thought out questions and well detailed answers. I love hearing from Deryck. I love hearing about SBM. Interesting to hear about the recording process of Holy Image of Lies with percussions. I love this album more and more as we get to hear new details about it. The thing I love the most is the record as a whole. He didn't clean up any of the tracks, As Deryck said, he wanted the listeners to get the feel as if they were sitting in a room with them playing it, and you certainly get that feeling as you play the album from begiinning to end.

Thanks Heather for the aweSUM interview and for sharing. :)
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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by Ardi41 »

awesome interview !!!!! :D
but why the hell does it take 4 years if you can write a song in 15 minutes -.-
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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by Jeremy Kill »

Ardi41 wrote:awesome interview !!!!! :D
but why the hell does it take 4 years if you can write a song in 15 minutes -.-
Haha, not to mention the recording process probably wouldn't have taken as long because the songs didn't get cleaned up as much. It'll be forever a mystery!
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Post by Mitchell »

Ardi41 wrote:awesome interview !!!!! :D
but why the hell does it take 4 years if you can write a song in 15 minutes -.-
He never sat down to write anything.. those songs all came to him in 15 minutes over the span of a couple of years.
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Post by HugoDisasters »

Holy mother of god!
Deryck has actually made direct contact with us, about time!

Great interview, and great questions!

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Post by Heather »

Glad y'all enjoyed it. I've actually been trying to get him to answer this multiple times over the course of a year. Relieved to finally post it..lol
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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by withchappedlips »

Someone else commented on this topic, but I'm going to comment too. It really was well thought out questions, AND well thought out answers. It's really awesome when a guy in a band actually takes the time to answer questions in as much detail as he can think to do so. There's nothing worse than to read/hear/watch an interview where it's just the interviewer making comments, and the guy in the band kind of nodding his head and just agreeing or disagreeing. I want to hear detail of what you have to say. I don't want to hear that the Blood In My Eyes video isn't going to be released yet, but I would be interested in the reasoning behind it. I want to know why BIME isn't going to be seen by the public. Yaknow? Just a Sum 41 related example of the differences.

Glad you could finally post it. Keep being awesome!
And I know I said I needed space,

but I know I can't be comfortable in my own skin.

So when I say I'm scared to be alone, you know I mean it,

I'm just not ready to leave my room.

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Re: Deryck Q&A

Post by Tyler. »

Pretty cool interview. I can't imagine BIME acoustic being very good but I'd still like to hear it haha, could surprise me. I hate it when people edit all the breathing out in songs, it just sounds stupid. By all means fade it in a bit so the breathing isn't so obvious but it sounds stupid when some engineers take a lot of the breaths out completely...really unnatural. I like Deryck's production style!
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