Sum 41 enjoys a little old-fashioned, hotel-trashing fun
By KELLY WILSON
Get Out

How does a band know when they've made it?

When their tunes are blaring at a strip club, says Sum 41 drummer Steve Jocz.

“We hear our music all the time when we're at (the clubs), which seems to be an indication that we've finally made it,” he says of his punk rock band, which released its debut album, “All Killer No Filler,” in 2001. “I just find it awkward and weird.”

Jocz's group — which is also composed of singer Deryck Whibley (who once dated Paris Hilton and Avril Lavigne), guitarist Dave Baksh and bassist Jason “Cone” McCaslin — is known for its penchant for strip joints.

“I just got thrown out of one the other day,” Jocz says. “I swear it was for absolutely nothing. Apparently, there was like an incident with one of the strippers and (a friend). They tossed me and my group of friends out. They turned the lights on and they stopped the music and then were like, ‘Get out!’ So we all had to leave. It was very rude.”

Jocz says the boys have frequented a few interesting strip clubs through the years.

“There's one in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and there's a dropped door that goes up and the girls walk through the door,’’ he explains. “On the door, there's a giant face of a woman painted on there, and they painted her with a lazy eye. I thought that was the funniest thing. Why would they paint an ugly woman on the wall? I was scared to see who was going to walk up.”

The Canadian quartet also enjoys trashing a hotel room or two when cruising into a city.

“I've participated, but it's more of a Deryck/Cone thing,” Jocz says, laughing. “They really enjoy it. I enjoy it, too, but they enjoy it with so much zest and real enthusiasm. Deryck will do it alone. I went to go get him at his hotel room the other day and parts of the room were destroyed and I was like, ‘I just dropped you off the other day!’ He was like, ‘I don't know what happened!’”

The drummer says the group, which released its fourth album, “Chuck,” last year, once had to pay $6,000 in damages.

“We've also ruined a couple of tour buses, which are more expensive, and that's especially stupid because you have to live on them,” he says.

“We actually just destroyed one the other day and then the guy left, and we got a worse bus ... I tried to stop it, but those kids just don't listen to me.”