Led by guitarist/vocalist Deryck Whibley, the band also included guitarist/vocalist Dave Baksh, bassist Cone McCaslin, and drummer Steve Jocz. Wooed by the boys' goofy antics and incendiary live show (and excited about the prospect of promoting their very own blink-182), Island put Sum 41 on the payroll in 1999. The Half Hour of Power EP followed, and Warped Tour dates got the word out. They returned in 2000 with the fun-filled full-length All Killer No Filler, and the singles "In Too Deep" and "Fat Lip" became staples of both modern rock radio and Total Request Live.

An extensive tour followed, and Sum 41 enjoyed their success the way all near-teenage boys would, with plenty of towel-snapping, groupie-loving, and self-deprecating, low-ball humor. In 2002, they returned to wax with Does This Look Infected? While the album was a bit harder-edged, it found the band just as jazzed as ever to mix punk-pop business with sophomoric pleasure: the video for "Hell Song" featured the fellas acting out a sort of rock star debauchery cage match with the aid of a few celebrity action figures. Metallica, Jesus Christ, and the Osbournes all made appearances in the hilarious clip.

It was not all fun and games, however, as their involvement in the charity group War Child Canada had Sum 41 lending a hand in the making of a 2004 documentary covering the effects of war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Five days into filming, fighting and gunfire suddenly erupted around them, and they barely escaped unharmed -- these events led to 2004's slightly more mature and serious effort, Chuck, named for the UN aid worker, Chuck Pelletier, who was instrumental in getting them to safety. The DVD Rocked: Sum 41 in Congo was released at the end of 2005 and the live album Go Chuck Yourself appeared the following March.

Guitarist Dave Baksh left the band during the spring of 2006 due to creative differences, going on to form the metal-punk outfit Brown Brigade. Sum 41 continued on as a trio, and their first album as such, Underclass Hero, appeared in July 2007. The band eventually returned to being a quartet, replacing Baksh with guitarist Tom Thacker, and began to work on a new album. That new album, entitled Screaming Bloody Murder, appeared in March of 2011. "Blood in My Eyes," a single from the album, was nominated for a Grammy that year. However, due to a series of back injuries for Whibley, Sum 41 would not return with new material for half a decade, despite their critical success.

During the break, Jocz left the band and was replaced by Street Drum Corps' Frank Zummo. Baksh also returned to the fold, just in time for Sum 41's comeback in 2016. The group signed with Hopeless Records and embarked on an international tour that included stops in China and a stint on that summer's Warped Tour. Their sixth LP, 13 Voices, featured the lead single "Fake My Own Death." While promoting the album, Whibley revealed that he was in an alcohol-related induced coma in 2014. While recovery included learning to walk and play guitar again, Whibley contributed a large part of his healing to the writing process of 13 Voices. To coincide with the album release, the band embarked on an international tour dubbed "Don't Call It a Sum-Back." ~ Johnny Loftus