MUSIC
From Issue #18
Exclusive CoverStory/Photoshoot:
Simple Plan
The World Gone Crazy!
by Alicia Cox
SIMPLE PLAN’S TAKE ON THE
IMPACT OF A CRAZY WORLD –
ON THEIR FANS AND THEMSELVES.
Simple Plan couldn’t have thought
of a better name for their band.
Their “simple plan” — being friends,
playing music they love, writing lyrics
that speak directly to their fans’ lives—
has been a resounding success. These
five awesome guys from Montreal sold
over two million albums, headlined the
Vans Warped Tour twice, toured the
world, been nominated for four MTV
Video Music Awards and played
alongside Rancid and Aerosmith, all
before releasing their second album,
Still Not Getting Any.
When Simple Plan released their debut
album, No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls,
in the spring of 2002, it was an instant
hit. Singles like “I’m Just a Kid,” “I’d Do
Anything” and “Addicted” showcased a
talent for writing catchy tunes with
sing-along lyrics that won them legions
of fans they have created a strong bond
with — fans they write songs for.
If anything, Simple Plan’s greatest
achievement is this connection.
Still Not Getting Any speaks to the issues
and challenges all young people,
themselves included, facing a world
they deem “screwed up.”
“Most people we meet are not happy.
You walk around at shows and meet
kids, and most people don’t seem to be
happy with where they are no matter
how great a family they have, or how
great they’re doing in school, or how
much money their family has,” says
drummer Chuck Comeau. “We have a
society full of people that want
something more, and they just don’t
know what it is.” The band believes one
of the causes of this overwhelming
unhappiness is the pressure young
people feel from an image-driven
society.
Everywhere you look and every
time you turn on the TV or flip through
a magazine, you see celebrities looking
meticulously perfect. These images
unfortunately become the ideal for
young people, especially girls. “(Young
people) are bombarded. Some people
think there’s a way they should look
because of what they see on TV,” says
bass player David Desrosiers. The band
members relate stories of meeting
young female fans after shows who want
to take pictures with them, but won’t be
in the pictures because they’re insecure.
“They’re like, ‘Nah, I hate how I look,’”
says Chuck. “It was amazing to see how
much the perceptions of people’s own
images are so messed up. We don’t try
to say we’re better or we have a
solution, it’s just stating facts and
questioning it.”
Self-image is an important issue with
Simple Plan, and they have a lot of
opinions and advice for their fans.
Their main message: Be yourself.
“Girls in magazines don’t even look like
that anyway,” says lead vocalist Pierre
Bouvier. “Yeah, maybe it does look good,
but it’s not reality. And if you’re trying to
achieve that, it’s impossible — you’re just
going to starve yourself, be really
unhealthy and really unhappy,” adds
Chuck, “They’re not achievable
standards, and it makes people feel
so insecure.”
While overwhelming insecurity is one
side effect of the desire to be
unrealistically perfect, overcompensating
by dressing too sexy, too soon is another.
“There’s no need to grow up that fast,
and (13-year-old girls) aren’t ready to
grow up that fast anyway, so why go
there?” says Pierre. “Stay young as long
as you can. You’ve got your whole life to
be grown up.”
So, if the world is going “Crazy” (the
title of a song on the new album),
what’s happening? Is it just that society
is obsessed with looking and acting a
certain way? Not according to Simple
Plan, who wrote the song as a reaction
to the world. “We were looking around
and going, ‘What the hell is going on,
where is this coming from?’” says
Chuck. “It made us think on a larger
scale how much parents seem to sort of
really give up on their kids, and have
their own priorities, and don’t really
care. It seems a lot of kids suffer
tremendously from that.” Simple Plan’s
bond with their fans allows the band to
really listen to what the fans are saying
and respond with songs that try to offer
some understanding. “We’re really close
to our fans, and we hear a lot of
messed-up stuff,” says David.
Pierre believes the shifting of priorities
away from family is for all the wrong
reasons. “You can’t focus your energy
on, ‘I wanna be successful in my career,
so I’m gonna be gone six days a week,
and my kids will be raised by a nanny
and TV, and my marriage is going to
break up,’” he says. “If you focus your
priorities on money, you’re not going to
be happy.”
Don’t get the wrong message. All this
talk of unhappiness and a crazy, messedup
world may have you thinking Simple
Plan doesn’t know how to have fun
anymore. Well, you couldn’t be more
wrong. This album marks their next step
in becoming the band they want to be.
You didn’t think they’d tell you to be
yourselves without doing it too, did you?
Still Not Getting Any is Simple Plan’s
chance to get closer to finding their own
voice as a band. “Our main goal is to be
Simple Plan, to be a band like Weezer or
No Doubt where they put out records,
and people don’t question the genre,”
says Pierre. And lead guitarist Jeff Stinco
adds, “We like catchy music, we like fun
stuff, we like deeper songs. We like the
whole spectrum. This album is about
that. It’s a very diverse record.” Guitarist
Sebastien Lefebvre sums it up nicely,
“This is us, and this is how we wanna be.”
Simple Plan has had tons of success,
both at home, here in Canada and
internationally, but they haven’t lost sight
of what’s important to them. “Having
people that you love around you, your
family,” says David. Adds Chuck, “Yes, we
get to write songs for a living, but we get
to talk to kids and hopefully make them
feel something and help. That’s a pretty
solid way to spend your life. We’re lucky
we get to do what we do.”
