I was a pretty big Sum 41 fan way back when and I’ve been following them since they exploded onto the Canadian music scene. I’ve talked about it before, but I was particularly interested in the unique relationship between them and Treble Charger – it turns out it was a bit different than I expected.
A few months ago I pre-ordered Deryck Whibley’s memoir, Walking Disaster. It’s one of the few ones I’ve ever pre-ordered because I was genuinely curious to hear his side of things, especially wth how open he’s been on social media in recent years. Between the general story of getting Sum 41 from Ajax to arena-tours and whatever led to his near-death brush at the hands of severe alcohol addiction, Deryck undoubtedly has a lot to say that’s never made it to media.
I was mostly expecting his book to be full of wild “rockstar” stories given the bands history as hotel-wrecking, pizza-stealing shit disturbers, but shortly after getting my e-mail notification that my copy of the book was on its way, I also happened upon the LA Times headline that really stopped me in my tracks.
Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley alleges sexual abuse by former manager in new memoir ‘Walking Disaster’
Oh, fuck.
I sunk.
I may be a big Sum 41 fan, but I have always been a huge Treble Charger fan and their former manager, Greig Nori, has been a massive influence on my life.
And I know this type of shit happens all over the entertainment industry, but of everyone I’ve ever followed in some capacity, Greig Nori is like, the last person I’d ever expect this type of allegation about. I recognize that is naive, but it’s true for me.
Admittedly, though, I have wondered previously if something like this would ever surface. When Hedley’s Jacob Hoggard made headlines for sexually assaulting women and put on trial for those allegations, I felt like Greig Nori had also sort of… disappeared more than usual. Now, I didn’t and don’t think he had anything to do with those, but my immediate inclination was that because he’d spent a fair amount of time with Jacob working on Hedley’s music, surely at bare minimum he was aware of what Jacob was doing or capable of doing and that old adage “you are the company you keep” has been one I keep top of mind.
Maybe that’s an unfair assumption to make of people, but rarely do I find that when 1 person in a group of people is outed like this type of predator do the others who surround them not know about it. I’ve called out the members of Simple Plan and All Time Low for similar reasons when they, too, had members of their bands put under fire for the same.
By the time Deryck’s book arrived to my door, I was still sort of in a weird dazed state of mind. Without reading more than the LA Times headline, I knew I was now grappling with the reality that someone I admired so deeply and was one of the first people I reached out to when I was beginning to create music, like Deryck did, was very well a predator and some kind of terrible monster.
I didn’t even open the book until late that evening, telling myself that maybe Deryck wouldn’t get to that part of the story until a bit later on and I’d ease into it.
No, he drops that bombshell in the first couple chapters it turns out.
Alright, there’s no avoiding it.
I read on.
By now I’m assuming you’ve either read it yourself or you’ve caught enough of the media that’s covered it in the last week to know the gist of it all, so I don’t really need to get into it too deeply myself. I recommend you read Deryck’s book to hear it from him personally, but for the purpose of this blog, Deryck explains to us that after inviting Greig to an early Sum 41 show (the part of the story we all have heard before) and striking up a friendship, Greig later introduces him and the band to ecstasy and from there, over some period of time, coerces him into a sexual relationship and pressures it to continue even after Deryck tries to end it multiple times.
Sex, drugs, rock n’ roll.
As someone who has also lived through sexual assault and understands the mental mindfuckery that happens at the hands of your abuser, I feel so, so sorry for Deryck having held this largely to himself for so long and I’m also so proud of him for having the courage to come forward with it now.
Especially when you’re naming someone with such prominence and influence. Especially when part of the story is that this person did also really help catapult your dream career. That’s a lot to deal with and wrap your head around and I can imagine how hard that’s been for Deryck to separate from what happened.
Greig Nori has since come forward to say that Deryck’s lying about all of this and that the relationship was purely consensual and initiated by Deryck, but really what did you expect him to say? Accountability doesn’t really happen in this space and that’s not surprising given how few victims ever come forward with their stories and how infrequently people are convicted of these heinous acts.
The entire thing makes me sick and serves as a stark reminder to not to put a single living person on any sort of pedestal.
I believe Deryck and for whatever it’s worth support him wholly through this, wherever it goes from here if anywhere at all.
Sexual assault doesn’t ever really leave you and I know it has a terrible way of rearing it’s ugly head back at your long after you feel you’ve healed from it, but hopefully in getting this part of the story out into the world it makes that process a little lighter for Deryck and anyone else who may be struggling to come to terms with their own experiences.
On my own end of things, I want to just quickly address that I cannot in any capacity continue to promote or support Treble Charger or Greig Nori as a result of this all coming to light, so I’ve gone ahead and removed the Treble Charged cover project from distribution services and it’s pages from this website. If you come across any traces of it for some reason, feel free to let me know so that I can ensure it’s removed. Treble Charger may have been a big part of my own musical history but they won’t be coming with me beyond this point.
Crooked Forest 
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