(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Deryck Whibley says writing Sum 41s new album made him realise he is at the highest point that [he] didn't know existed.

The 30-year-old musician is guitarist and lead vocalist of Canadian rock group, along with Jason McCaslin on bass guitar, Steve Jocz on drums and Tom Thacker on lead guitar.

The bands fifth studio album Screaming Bloody Murder will be released in March, and Deryck says writing songs for the record made him realise how happy he now is.

The singer has experienced a rather difficult past few years; his marriage to Avril Lavigne ended in 2009, and he was hospitalised after being attacked in a bar fight last summer. Despite these setbacks, Deryck believes he has now come out on top.

"I wrote a lot of these songs in a dark period, because, going through the divorce period was a very hard, dark time. And what I realised, I guess, is, when you're going through something whether it's a death in the family, a divorce, something that's very unexpected and painful you go super, super low, and then when you can come out of it, what you thought was your highest point becomes even higher," he told MTV. "And that's where I'm at now, and that's where I was at making the record. When I was writing it, it was in the low period, and now I'm at a highest point that I didn't know existed."

The star also explained he has a carefree approach to the record. For Deryck and his Sum 41 bandmates, the record is a personal expression, and they have no intention of pleasing critics with it. It is far more important to the rockers that their fans enjoy their music.

"Something like three or four years ago, I just started writing songs. We never intended to make a record; it was more like collecting music in a way," he explained.

"We didn't really care about any kind of deadline or whatever, because we'd been touring in the midst of all the writing, and any time we'd put on a tour, it would sell out. And I started to realise, 'You know what? I don't care if radio plays this, I don't care if the video gets played, I don't care if the critics like it, f**k everybody, because we have our fans, and it's about us, our music and our fans. (C) Cover Media