Sum 41 walked away from their trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo with a fuller understanding of the country's six-year civil war, a sense of what it feels like to be caught in a battle zone, and a name for their next album.
The Canadian pop-punk quartet has dubbed its third full-length album Chuck in honor of United Nations peacekeeper Chuck Pelletier, who escorted Sum 41 safely to a U.N. compound when gunfire erupted outside their hotel during their humanitarian visit in late May (see ).
"We started joking around about it while we were in the U.N. compound," singer Deryck Whibley said. " 'If we make it out of here alive, we're going to name the album after Chuck.' Then a week later we said, 'Should we still name it after Chuck?' and we all thought it was still a good idea."
Sum 41 had visited the war-torn African nation in association with the charity War Child Canada to shoot a documentary called "From the Front Lines," which examines human-rights violations, the role of child soldiers, the condition of refugee camps, and the demand for coltan, a mineral used in the electronic components of cell phones and the foundation of much of the country's land disputes.
Just days after the band arrived, fighting broke out between government soldiers and renegade troops in the street outside their hotel. As bullets flew through window and bombs exploded in the street, Pelletier, who was also staying at the hotel, orchestrated a 40-person evacuation into armored personnel carriers that transported the group to a nearby U.N. compound.
Because Pelletier is still in the Congo, Sum 41 aren't sure if the new album's namesake is aware of their tribute. "We haven't been able to tell Chuck," Whibley said. "We don't have direct contact with him. ... We're gonna try and send him an e-mail or something."
Though it was without a title, the follow-up to 2002's Does This Look Infected? was nearly finished before the band left for the Congo. One tune, however, continued to rattle around in Whibley's head after touching down in central Africa (see "Sum 41 Touch Down In Congo, Visit 'Witches' And U.N. Officials").
Just as he was about to put the ideas on paper, the fighting started and he was forced to temporarily abandon the endeavor. When safely back in Toronto a few days later, Whibley was able to completely recall the work-in-progress, despite the lack of any recording device, a mental phenomenon he equated to fate.
"I had no way to record it while in Africa; there was no electricity," he explained. "I couldn't even use a cell phone to record it into my answering machine or anything. So when I got home and remembered it perfectly, I took it as a good sign.
"I made a little demo of it and showed our manager and a few people at our record label," he continued, "and everyone who heard it was just like, 'That's the best song on the record.' So we went back in the studio and recorded it, and now 'We're All to Blame' is going to be our first single."
Despite its origin, "We're All to Blame" doesn't solely place fault on the cell-phone-happy Western world's demand for coltan as the reason for the Congo's turmoil. Rather, the song looks at the bigger picture of how the modern world's unquenchable thirst for power, money and natural resources has put the entire planet in hot water.
"It's about the state of the world, and how it's come to be like this," Whibley said. "Directly or indirectly, everyone is somehow to blame one way or another. Whether you have direct involvement or you just choose to be ignorant, we all have some kind of involvement."
