Interview by Carlo Gironi | carlo@staff.truepunk.com | with Sebastien LefebvreChristian
Super pop-punk rawkers are back with the follow up to their multi-platinum debut “No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls.” The new disc is called “Still Not Getting Any…” and was produced by Bob Rock (Metallica, Aerosmith, Motley Crue). The band was in NYC and we interviewed them before they release the new album and before their national headline tour beginning Oct. 30th.
Can you introduce yourself and the members of Simple Plan? What’s the story of how you got together? I know some of you played in punk band Reset before starting Simple Plan
(note from Jonathan Gill: No Worries is a great album, you should check it out with “I’m A Man” being my personal favorite from the album)
This is the story behind the band. We all went to the same high school and have known each other for more than 10 years now – except David, we met him later through the scene. Pierre and Chuck had a band together called Reset and made a record. This is when they were 14-17 years old. Chuck then left the band to go to school, but kept on playing music. Later he got together with Jeff to start a project. They needed another guitar player so I (Sebastien) came into the band. I think they picked me because I lived close! Then we needed a signer… Pierre wasn’t too happy with Reset anymore and we heard he was gonna quit, so we told him about this band. He came with us. That’s when David replaced him in Reset. David ended up quitting Reset and joining us as well. That’s about it!
Which part of Canada are you from exactly? I always thought Canada has an amazing underground music scene, there are a lot of bands, record labels, producers…lots of people involved in promoting music. How do you judge Canada from this point of view and do you have any particular friends (bands, labels…) in Canada?
Canada rocks. We are from Montréal, which is in the east part of the country. The music scene keeps doing better and better. There’s a lot of bands in Canada. Not By Choice, Billy Talent… we are friends with pretty much all of them now! And we’re big fans too!
You sold about 2 million copies of your previous album “No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls”. Then you went touring everywhere on the planet. What do you expect from the new album and what do fans have to expect ?
Well, I hope we did a better job than with the first one! We are very proud of this record. I think it sounds better, the songs are better… we worked really hard and we all want to go around the world one more time. So, we will do what we do best – go on tour and play shows and hang out with the people we meet.
For the new album you worked with Bob Rock. He got his hands on stuff like Metallica’s The Black Album and Motley Crue’s Doctor Feelgood. Why did you choose him and how was to work with him? How did he help you?
We had a list of dream producers and he was one of them. Funny enough, he knew who we were and wanted to do our record! We were honored to do the record with him and we all think he did an amazing job. We are a great team together and I hope that we will get to work together again.
What are you furure plans to promote the album? Will you be touring: where and with whom? I heard you’ll bring Avril Lavigne with you.
Yeah, we will be touring. It’s more like Avril is bringing in Europe though, she’s a little bigger than we are. Who could say no to sold out arenas somewhere where we haven’t gone that much before? We love to tour and play shows so we will do that until no one wants to hear us anymore. We will go everywhere and everywhere we haven’t gone before.
What is you opinion on downloading music from the internet?
I think that it’s a good way to discover new bands but people have to understand that if they don’t buy the record, the band won’t be able to make more music that you like. People really have to get that. Buy records if you like what you hear!
What is the best thing you remind of your previous tour? Is there a best place you played in or a best crowd?
We always love going to Japan. There’s something rad about going all the way across the world, where people don’t speak English, and have the whole crowd sing your songs.
Any final message to your fans?
We are coming for a show near you! So come out and have fun with us. Our record comes out October 26th and we can’t wait for everyone to hear it. You guys kick ass!!
