CITAZIONE
For the record, could you state your name and role in Simple Plan?
Sebastien: For the record, I am Sebastien, I play guitar.
Pierre: I’m Pierre. I play the microphone.
You guys hopped on the Roadshow about a week ago. How has your time been so far?
Sebastien: It’s been good actually. It’s the bands that make it good. There’s a lot of people that we knew and toured with before and a lot of people that we didn’t know and that we got to know and meet.
Pierre: Yeah, that bands are great and the crews great. Everyone’s fun.
Sebastian: The fans are really great too. They’ve been coming up to us saying that they haven’t seen us in a while and it’s really nice of them.
Is it good to be doing a tour like this again, in a similar sense to Warped Tour?
Pierre: Yeah, it’s good. We haven’t toured in the US in a long time, so it’s a good little warm up for our upcoming record. We’re gonna be touring a lot more in the states so its good to have a little warm up.
Is it at all weird to be touring with the younger bands on this tour? Third Eye Blind and Good Charlotte have been around for a long time like you guys, but there are a lot of younger, newer bands.
Pierre: I think it’s fun. I think it reminds of what it was like for us the first time when things were going well. It’s inspiring to watch them. Everyone’s really cool, so I don’t think it’s weird. I like it. We’re sort of like the veterans.
Sebastian: Yeah, they come to us for advice.
Pierre: They don’t…
You guys have been playing a new song, “You Suck At Love”, on the tour. How has the crowd been reacting to it?
Pierre: (In reference to the USA vs Ghana match) Ohhh, did you see that?
Sebastien: He stepped on his nuts! Actually it’s been really good. When you play a new song kids tend to try to listen to it more than to get into it. But these past few shows they’ve been getting into it as well as singing some of the words. It’s a pretty in your face song and everybody really seems to like it. We’re having a good time playing it.
Is that the sound that the new records going to take?
Pierre: They’re all going to sound exactly like that [Laughs]. No, our records are pretty diverse. We always have all kinds of different sounds. I wouldn’t say that the whole record sounds like that, but the fact that we’re bringing it back to upbeat fun definitely is a part of it.
Was the band happy with the reception the self-titled album got?
Pierre: I think everywhere around the world did really good for us. In the states for some reason it didn’t work super well and we didn’t tour a lot in the states. So we kind of were around the world a lot more. So for sure it would have been nice to get some more of all our US fan base on tour, but I mean it did better for us in a lot of other places. So it’s kind of mixed feelings, you know? But definitely disappointing in the states, but we’re back.
Sebastien: Now the challenge is going to be, bam, we’re a new band now, bam, in your face.
POZ: Was it fun getting all around the world though?
Pierre: Absolutely. We’ve always toured a lot internationally and it’s been really good for us and we’ve enjoyed going to different places, new places. It’s been a big part of who we are.
The sound was a little different for the album, but would you say that isolated fans here in the states?
Pierre: I think in the states it’s such a…This is more of a music business question, but I think it really is so single influenced. If your single has been on the radio then it opens up the door. I think if people got the chance to listen to that record…I think it was a great record and I think it was a record that we needed to make. I think that the songs on it are amazing. It’s a little bit more mid-tempoish a little bit more introspective, but I think it’s an amazing record. But I think because the singles didn’t do amazing on radio people didn’t listen to it. But the places where they did do well, where mainly radios a little bit more attention spanned…I feel that the US market they’re playing 10 or 15 songs over and over and over again and if you’re not in that bunch you’re not making it.
POZ: Same songs on repeat on every station.
Sebastien + Pierre: Exactly.
Sebastien: But the places where it did play, you know, we got to tour and it did very well.
What exactly is the status on the new record?
Pierre: We’re hitting the studio next week. We’ve been writing for like 8 months and we’ve actually written more than we’ve ever written before. We have like almost 60 songs. So we’re picking out 12 and it’s going to be an amazing record. We’re all super stoked about it. We’re very siked.
Would you say that this is the best you guys have put together at this point?
Pierre: I think it’s definitely the hardest we’ve ever pushed ourselves. I think it’s our best record, but I always kind of feel that way before we do a record.
Sebastien: Well you have to or else there’s no point in going into the studio if you don’t think it’s going to be your best record.
Pierre: People who have heard it definitely feel like it could be our strongest record.
When do you guys hope to finish up in the studio?
Pierre: We should be done by October and then probably have a single released probably before Christmas.
Sebastien: And then next record release.
Pierre: Next record release?
Sebastien: Next record release, next year. Next year release, next record [Laughs].
Who’s going to be producing?
Should be…Are we official on that? Probably. Brian Howes. He produced a lot of the Boys Like Girls record and did a bunch of other stuff. He’s a Canadian guy from Vancuver. Super nice guy and we get along very well. It’s a match.
The band is playing a couple dates back in Canada and couple in Europe, are those just festival dates in Europe or are you doing to add anymore?
Sebastien: Technically we were supposed to be finished with the album by now. But we’ve pushed ourselves even more in the writing process and we ended up going like three months over into extra time. So we were just putting in shows throughout the summer, but now we kind of have to record, record, and head out for a couple of shows because we already booked them.
Pierre: It’s just going to be those shows and then once we’re done in October we’ll start really getting back into the groove.
So you guys will be touring here [In the US] a lot more?
Pierre: Yes.
Sebastien: Definitely.
Pierre: I fell that, like I said before, because the last record didn’t pick up great on radio, then we were going to other places where it was going well…And it was kind of like, we realized, “Okay, hey maybe we should’ve been here [In the US] a little bit more.” So we’re going to definitely tour a lot more in the states.
POZ: And that could definitely get a much more positive feedback after having such a long gap.
Pierre: Absolutely. I think it’s kind of cool. We’ve been away and it kind of feels like when we’re back here there’s something really fresh about coming back.
What was it like playing at the closing ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics? I’d say that has to be a dream come true, but I don’t think many people even would dream of dreaming that.
Pierre: [Laughs] It was pretty insane. It was definitely a huge event and to know that there were millions or billions of people, I don’t know how many, watching.
Sebastien: Billion. There were a billion they said.
Pierre: Yeah, so it was definitely a huge thing for us. It was a lot f stress and nervousness before we got on the stage, but it turned out really well.
POZ: How did that come together?
Pierre: Because it was in Canada they were looking for important, popular named bands and fortunately for us, we were on that list.
Sebastien: Yes, we were and we had a great time doing it.
So after the albums recorded you guys will be on tour from Novemberish to whenever?
Pierre: Forever.
Sebastien: For a couple years, yeah.
Pierre: We’re going to have a lot of touring. We’ve already established ourselves ins o many countries that we have to go back to all those places. So like, Austrlia, Italy, Asia. All over Europe, South America, Mexico, you know, US, Canada. So it’s going to be…
Sebastien: There’s a lot of places to go, so. We’ll be touring
So this time next year: New albums, new singles, and just more touring?
Pierre: Yeah, huge.
Sebastien: Hopefully you’ll be sick of us because you’ll be hearing about us too much. That is the plan.
POZ: Gotta get on the radio! Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Pierre: Exactly. Gotta get on that list of 10 songs that get played.
Thanks so much for your time, is there anything you’d like to add?
Sebastien: Yeah, just keep on checking SimplePlan.com for all the updates. We’ll be in the studio pretty soon so there will be videos and blogs and pictures and all that up there.
Pierre: We’re up on twitter if people want to follow us on there. Now that we’re getting into the album and all that stuff there’s going to be a lot of online content. We’ve got videos up almost every day and different things, so if people want to follow it we’re there.
Sebastien: Keep in touch.
