Rise Up With Frank Zummo Short Film Releases As Sum 41 Wrap Final Tour

The now iconic band Sum 41 has been on tour for the past year and a half as they complete several loops around the world before disbanding. The final shows loop through the North America and Europe before the tour ends in Poland on November 9^th. Ostensibly, this is the end of Sum 41, although historically bands which have achieved the success of Sum 41 seem to reunite after a break. The latest and most visible such reunion is Oasis which is currently selling out stadiums having reunited the Gallagher brothers after 15 years of separation.

Rise Up With Frank Zummo is a film which was made in collaboration with 805 Beer and looked back over Zummo’s career including his work as the drummer for Sum 41. Filming the documentary took Zummo back to his Guitar Center days. The filmmakers put Zummo into the control room of Dave Grohl’s studio where Zummo discussed his life on and off the road. This is a short film, running approximately eight minutes, but it is an art piece.

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There is nothing gentle about the craft of drumming. It’s a violent act beating time with sticks while powering through a full on stage performance. The job requires both precision and endurance. You could draw the wrong inference about a drummer from watching the physical effort of holding a band in synch through a full set in performance. Sometimes behind the physically demonstrative effort of performance there lies a gentle soul.

I had an intimate conversation with Frank Zummo. He is in fact a thoughtful man who takes tremendous pride in his band and the work they did together. Zummo is thoughtful about the arc of Sum 41’s career and keenly aware this portion of his life is going on hiatus. The looming transition is bittersweet for Zummo. These days, each time he walks off stage there’s that little emotional jolt as that’s one more place Sum 41 won’t play again. Sum 41 has been the center of his life for a substantial period. So, putting that enormous piece of your identity into the past is a process.

As Forbes detailed in a prior article, Zummo is very active in quietly working with at-risk youth. He works with staff and students at School Of Rock locations around his touring schedule. There, he meets with the students, shows them some of what he does, and somehow slowly works the conversation away from generic conversations about rock and roll stardom and into the tougher issues of wellness, mental health and suicidal ideation.

This is the truly important work of breaking through the false bravado and showing that life has its challenges, but everything is survivable. Zummo comes in as a near mythical creature and becomes humanized as the barrier of his fame recedes and his humanity emerges. His stature with these students is high because of his musical success. This allows Zummo to be forthright with them about the challenges ahead. Almost no one has a straight path to success. Life is a game of Frogger, where you’re always dodging inbound obstacles on the path to your goal. Zummo’s conversations with the students sets out that his path was equally messy, even now as his band is closing up shop.

Working with one group at a time is effective but it doesn’t scale. Zummo told me that he is planning to write a book version of what he discusses with students at these meetings so that his ideas can be more widely shared rather than one room at a time. That’s a solid idea. Musicians are trusted by the at risk youth. Anything that provides options or alternatives to otherwise troubled or isolated teens and young adults is a meaningful undertaking.

Frank Zummo has nothing left to prove. He has succeeded in the brutally competitive world of Rock and Roll with Sum 41 and other work. He is making progress with at risk youth by helping students and families wherever they gather. A book is in progress, and Zummo’s calendar has freed up to take on a variety of other artistic opportunities. Sum 41 may be finishing for the moment, but for Frank Zummo there is much more to do.