Spoilers ahead
I’m going to start with a disclaimer. I should not be reviewing this book. I am so far removed from the music scene, that I honestly have no business weighing in with my thoughts and opinions. I don’t have real passion for music, either creatively or even recreationally. Sure, I have bands that I dig, but sitting down with a new album isn’t something I ever really look forward to, nor am I ever really seeking out new bands to fill out my playlists. I don’t use music to calm down or get amped up. The best I can offer is that putting on video game lo-fi tunes can help me work or go to sleep, sometimes. I don’t go to concerts or shows, and I’m so far removed from the pop culture discourse that it might as well be a different language for me.
The great exception is Sum 41. I’ve adored Sum 41‘s music since I stole my sister’s CD of All Killer No Filler when I was just a 12-year-old kid. Growing up in an isolated community, the only music on the radio was old country, and the best tapes around town were our parent’s hits from the 1970s that they bought in gas stations on the way home from the city, 4 hours away. Sum 41‘s pop-punk album had such an energy that I just couldn’t help but listen to it on repeat, over and over. I can’t tell you how many times I walked to and from school blaring All Killer No Filler in my Sony Walkman. This eventually got replaced with Chuck, which I liked even more. Growing up and changing through-out the years, Sum 41
Enough about me. Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell is Sum 41’s frontman, Deryck Whibley’s memoir. Released in October 2024, half a year after their final (double) album, Heaven :x: Hell, and as they’re halfway through their goodbye tour, this book offers a unique insight to the band’s origins, group dynamics, and his own struggles.
Deryck begins at the beginning. His earliest memories, where he and his teenage mom moved from apartment to apartment 19 times before he turned 7. The small semblances of stability that showed up turn out to be fleeting, as the man he thought was his father moved out without a word. He talks about school bullies, being a punk in a prep/jock school, and meeting his bandmates, and how meeing Greig Nori propelled him and his band into the rock and roll party world.
Personally, I’m about as un-punk as someone can get. I’m a conformist, my high sense of duty doesn’t let me break rules, but I found myself relating to Deryck’s story. I also grew up with a single mother, bullied in school, and got into my own small number of fights. Our paths diverged when he picked up his guitar, and when he started taking drugs from Greig Nori. Sum 41’s first tour had a $0 budget for gas, they just filled up at stations and peeled away. There mere thought of doing so makes my skin crawl.
Deryck doesn’t express remorse for their chaotic punk lifestyle in their late teens and early 20’s. The trashed hotel rooms, the destruction they wrought, was their right. No words are spared for the souls who have to clean up after them, the people who have to clean up after their debauchery. Instead, a lot of the book reads as a factual retelling of the events of his life. “This happened, then this happened. So and So from such and such bands were there”. He doesn’t try to pass their actions off as anything other than, what they actually did. It doesn’t revel in the glamour, it’s just what happened.
For anyone who has been tangentially aware of Sum 41 over the last 20 years, you’d probably be aware of Their abruptly cancelled shows, Deryck’s back injuries, and his brush with death via kidney and liver failure in 2014. He talks about his herniated disk that he self-medicated with Advil and liquor for years, but doesn’t spend any time on digging into the roots of his addictions. We can all draw our on conclusions, such as a psychologically abusive manager, and being thrust into a gruelling tour lifestyle away from any semblance of supports at such a young age. He talks about his fling with Paris and how the band reacted, his marriage with Avril and how the band reacted, their divorce and how the band reacted, you may get the picture. Several of the people in the book get painted with a harsh brush, such as Deryck’s perspective of Stevo only caring about Deryck as long as the paycheques kept coming. And it’s important to remember that this is all Deryck’s perspective. He doesn’t dwell how his circumstances affected his bandmates, but plenty of ink is spent on how his bandmates reacted.
It’s fascinating how Deryck lays out the grooming and abusive behaviours of Greig Nori, but repeats several times throughout the book that he didn’t feel like a victim. He wanted to be a part of the rock and roll circus, that he wanted to be around Greig, but just as friends. How everyone who he divulged his story to blatantly told him, “What the fuck? That’s abuse!” and he replies with a “no, no. It’s more complicated than that.” My heart bleeds for the kid who snuck backstage to meet his idols, and was rewarded with a decade of pain.
As a book, the writing didn’t grab or engage me, but it does feel honest and raw. As I said above, the book reads like a list of facts, not much time spent embellishing his inner monologue beyond a “What the fuck!?”. The audiobook represents a dual edged problem. On one hand, Deryck is not a talented audiobook narrator, it sounds like he’s reading words, not telling a story. But there is power in his story being told in his words with his voice. And a few moments throughout the book we’re treated to piano renditions of some of his best lyrics, which were delightful treats and reminds you why you are a Sum 41 fan. I find myself very curious to find some of the other band members responses to Deryck’s book, as some of their protrayls come across as less than stellar. But I also hope that I never find them. I wish nothing but peace and happiness for Deryck as he enters the next chapter of life, I don’t want him to be dragged down by a myriad of interpersonal drama.
I loved reading Deryck’s story, but I don’t think it will be a terribly engaging read if you’re not a Sum 41 fan, or don’t recognize the deluge of names Deryck lists off. As a Sum 41 fan, I loved reading Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell. It feels honest and unfiltered. A behind the scenes recap of the whirlwind that produced so much amazing music. Since reading it, I’ve been playing my favourite albums on repeat (Chuck, Underclass Hero, Screaming Bloody Murder) and have even spent more time listening to the albums that I was originally not a very big fan of (Half hour of Power, Order in Decline, 13 Voices), and have started to really enjoy them as well. If you’re like me, a Canadian kid who grew up listening to these guys rocking out, Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell is a must-read.
