Sum 41 say farewell with official release of Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Sleep Now In The Fire’ cover

Sum 41 have released an official cover of Rage Against The Machine‘s ‘Sleep Now In The Fire’, marking their farewell.

• Read More: Sum 41 tell us about “aggressive” final album ‘Heaven :x: Hell’: “It’s the perfect way to go out”

The Canadian pop-punk band announced in late 2023 that they would be breaking up after the release of one final album and a farewell world tour, dubbed ‘Tour Of The Setting Sum’. Those shows culminated earlier this year, with a run of 13 shows in their home country. Watch some fan-captured footage and see the full setlist from their final show here.

Now, as part of the Spotify singles series, they dropped a cover version of Rage Against The Machine and a fresh version of ‘Landmines’, taken from their 2024 album ‘Heaven :x: Hell’.

“Recording these Spotify Singles has been an incredible way to celebrate with our fans around the world,” they said. “We’re so grateful for their support and excited to share this special session with everyone.”

Last summer, guitarist Dave Baksh and bassist Jason “Cone” McCaslin touched upon how the band had become “stronger” in recent years, following health issues faced by Whibley.

“We took about two years off for Deryck to figure out his health problems and then when we got back together with Dave it just seemed [right]” Cone said during the NME interview. “When everything got back together it felt really good. It’s been a rollercoaster for our whole career so it feels good to be playing these big festivals and higher up on the bill now.”

Speaking to NME about why their latest album ‘Heaven :x: Hell’ felt like the right pick for their last LP and why now felt like  the right time to call it quits, Whibley shared: “I feel really good about this album, which is why I felt it should be the last one. We didn’t know we’d be splitting up when we were making it, but I’ve been making records and touring with this band since I was 15,” he said

He continued: “I’ve had this feeling for a long time now that I want to do something different and it just feels like the right time. This album feels like the perfect way to go out. Over the past few years, the touring has constantly been getting bigger and the band is at our best. My fear is that if I start to lose the excitement, we’ll just fade away. I care too much about the fans and what we’ve built as a band to let that happen, just because it’s a good paycheque.”

This isn’t the first time the band have covered the track, as last year they offered their tribute to Rage Against The Machine with spirited a cover of ‘Sleep Now In The Fire’, recorded at Hellfest 2023.

Sum 41 took to X to respond to Rage Against The Machine’s recent announcement of their retirement from live performances. Posting a cover of the ‘Battle of Los Angeles’ highlight, which they performed during their set at Hellfest in June 2023, the band expressed their love for “one of [their] all time favourite bands”.

“In the light of the news of [Rage Against The Machine] never performing again, we wanted to salute one of our all time favourite bands,” shared the band in the post’s caption.

Earlier this year, Whibley and the band’s former manager Greig Nori took legal action against each other, with the singer claiming Nori had sexually and verbally abused him for years. Nori denied the allegations, and counter-sued for breach of confidence, intrusion and wrongful disclosure of private facts.

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