BY JON FERGUSON

Staff Writer

Deryck Whibley believes injury sabotaged Sum 41's last album.

The Canadian pop-punk band was adjusting to life as a threesome when it released "Underclass Hero" in 2007. Guitarist Dave Baksh had left the band the previous year and the remaining members of Sum 41, which has sold millions of albums worldwide, were hoping the change wouldn't affect their commercial fortunes.

Whibley, the band's singer, songwriter and guitarist, thought all was well as they headed out on a tour with the band Finger 11.

"(The album) came out," he says during a telephone interview from a Los Angeles restaurant. "It started out so great, with the highest chart position we ever had. Everything was going great; the tour was going great. We went on an arena tour that was selling out.

"And four weeks into the record being out I hurt my back and had to go home for four months. So we couldn't do anything to support it."

The band never recaptured that early momentum and the album quickly fell out of the charts.

Whibley, 29, and his band mates, bassist Cone McCaslin and drummer Steve Jocz, are hoping to re-establish themselves as a band to be reckoned with when they start recording a new album this year.

The band, which will perform Wednesday night at the Chameleon Club, is currently touring in support of a compilation, "All the Good Sh**." The album contains all of the band's hits, including "In Too Deep," "Still Waiting," "Fat Lip" and "We're All to Blame."

Whibley, however, is much more excited about the songs he's writing for the new album, which "will be done when it's ready to be done."

Whibley, who is married to fellow Canadian rocker Avril Lavigne and helped produce her last album, "The Best Damn Thing," says the songs are about halfway finished. He says he'll help produce the album but it's likely the band will also hire somebody to give him a hand.

Sum 41's early songs were all punkish attitude laced with sophomoric humor. Whibley's songwriting has matured over the years and he has tackled difficult subjects, including an extremely personal song addressing his estrangement from his father.

"We're not really angry guys," he says. "We really enjoy what we do and have a great time. We can do serious music that's not depressing and is still really fun. I think the new stuff is kind of turning out to be a lot darker than anything we've ever done. It's probably more aggressive, I think, more intense.

"It's something we've never done before and I've never heard before."

Now if he can only stay healthy.

Sum 41

All ages show with Inward Eye and American Taxi

Wed. 6 p.m. $15

Chameleon Club, 223 N. Water St.

393-7133. www.chameleonclub.net