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Simple Plan
- WHEN rambunctious rockers Simple Plan
released their 2002 Lava Records debut,
"NO PADS, NO HELMETS... JUST BALLS," the
band more than just hit the ground
running. Just inside of a year, Simple
Plan crossed five continents and played
over 300 shows. Along the way, the band
picked up a few hundred thousand fans,
topped the Alternative New Artist Chart,
kicked it on MTV TRL, scored a Gold album
in home country Canada as well as Japan,
and sold out their first ever tour of
Japan. Sprinkle in a few trips to the
hospital, a dozen nights spent sleeping on
airport floors, one tour bus in a ditch
and one broken-down in the desert and the
method to madness becomes clear... this
band is absolutely pummeling the pavement.
And that's the edited version.
This zest for life is what went into
making "NO PADS" sheer punk pop fun. The
album, produced by Arnold Lanni (Our Lady
Peace, Finger Eleven), features 12
irresistible anti- anthems of adolescent
alienation, such as the effervescent, "I'm
Just A Kid," the hearty shout-it-out-loud
"I'd Do Anything," and the extremely
addictive "Addicted."
Rewind for a minute to the mid-90s, when
singer Pierre Bouvier and drummer Chuck
Comeau were 13-year-old bandmates in
Reset, a loud and fast punk outfit who
released a much-praised debut album in
1997 and toured Canada with the likes of
MXPX, Ten foot Pole, and Face To Face.
Soon, both had left Reset, first Chuck,
then Pierre, to initially go back to
school. Not so fast there. First Chuck was
drawn back to music and hooked up with
high school friends and guitarists Jeff
Stinco and Sebastien Lefebvre. Add in
singer and old band buddy Pierre and
another former Reset member, David
Desrosiers on bass, and Simple Plan was
born.
Simple Plan's expertly crafted tunes are
predominantly penned by Chuck and Pierre,
then brought to life by the entire band.
"Jeff will come up with lots of rad guitar
leads and textures," notes Pierre. "Seb is
great at helping out with the
arrangements, and David always has good
ideas with harmonies."
Despite the manic pop thrills of tracks
like the Ferris Bueller worthy sing-along
"Worst Day Ever" and the powerful "God
Must Hate Me," Simple Plan's songs are
marked by a strikingly dark lyrical core.
"After writing most of the record, we
realized that we had a bunch of catchy
songs with really emotional lyrics," Chuck
says. "We thought it was such a rad
contrast. There's lots of people out there
who are not really satisfied with what's
going on in their lives, and it's the same
thing for us. It's so hard to grow up and
fit in."
"We know what kids go through, because
we've been through that, and we're still going
through it, so we know how hard it is." Pierre
agrees. "We want kids to feel like we're
talking about them and for them. It's such a
good feeling to receive a letter or an e-mail
from someone who relates to our songs |
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