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REPORT: Simple Plan at Rock For People

Tens of thousands of music fans have gathered last week in the airport area of Hradec Králové in the central part of the Czech Republic to attend the annual Rock For People festival, which traditionally offers four days full of tons of multi-genre performances. This festival was the reason for Simple Plan to return to the Czech Republic yet again not even one year since their last appearance.

A big question mark was however hovering over how Simple Plan would deal with being put on the first festival day, which besides SP included a line-up of rather hardcore and metal acts such as I Prevail, The Architects or Slipknot. Our worries have completely disappeared once we’ve seen the wave of people heading over to the YouTube Music Stage right before the Simple Plan show. On one hand, it might have been rather surprising for some to see more than three quarters of the audience raise their hands when Pierre asked who is seeing Simple Plan for the very first time. The reasoning is simple: it’s very likely that the imbalance of the music genres on the first day of the festival has caused many Simple Plan fans not to attend – because it simply didn’t offer anybody else for them to see. On the other hand it was the perfect opportunity to introduce Simple Plan’s live show to other music fans, who have so far only known this band from the radio. From our point of view, we have to say that the atmosphere that the fans and “not fans” managed to create during this show was marvellous and overall very pleasant. You could tell that for many of the attendees, Simple Plan songs are tied to their teenage years and you just can’t forget those lyrics! No wonder that Pierre actually confided in us later that day that this was one of the best times he’s had on stage in years. And that’s always so nice to hear!

Overall, we could sum up that Simple Plan definitely made their mark at Rock For People and won over the hearts of not only the festival attendees but also of most of the reviewers from the media that reported about the festival later on. Let’s have a look at those!

IReport rated SP’s performance as “great” in its photo report. A positive review also came from the music website Fakker, which stated that “it’s impressive how this group still has so much to say to the world of pop and punk even after nearly two and half decades.” IRozhlas agreed that Simple Plan have truly presented themselves in “the best light”. It also pointed out how much of an interest of the crowd Simple Plan created with their performance at Rock For People and how Pierre Bouvier won the crowd over with his “broken Czech” (note from SimplePlan.cz: Pierre actually consulted us on his Czech backstage right before the show and surprised us by how many phrases he still actually remembers). A no-less positive review came from the news website iDnes.cz, which highlighted the work of Simple Plan’s sound engineer Frank Joly and rated the entire SP performance as an “honest, likeable and most importantly very well-performed and exciting pop-rock show.” Another great summary of the whole concert came from MusicServer. In their post, the authors even mentioned SimplePlan.cz with a short thank you, for which we wholeheartedly thank them right back! 
 
“And a special thank you definitely goes to Dominika from the fantastic fanclub SimplePlan.cz, which alongside other websites about Yellowcard and Foo Fighters belongs to the best Czech fansites ever. And because the band from Montreal has become to know Dominika very well over the years, they often like to thank her at their Czech shows. And we too have to send her a word of thanks because it is thanks to her that the concerts of these pop-punk veterans are so much more heartwarming here than anywhere else.”
– MusicServer.cz [article] –

And it was precisely this thank you from Pierre to SimplePlan.cz right before he kicked off the last song off their set, which has become the highlight of the day for us. Once again big thank you, Pierre! In case you haven’t seen it on our social media yet, we are including it on a video below (big thanks to Hanka for sending in the video!)


It was clear that Simple Plan are very aware of the rock atmosphere of Rock For People, which is why they chose to give their setlist a little bit of a rock spin. The setlist, which consisted of 18 songs, brought us some special tracks we haven’t heard live in a while including “Me Against The World” or “You Suck At Love”. During SP’s performance, the band also invited two female singers to sing with them on stage: Taylor Acorn was featured on Jet Lag and LØLØ helped Simple Plan out with I’m Just A Kid. Check out the full Rock For People setlist below:

  1. I’d Do Anything 
  2. Shut Up!
  3. Jump 
  4. Jet Lag (feat. Taylor Acorn) 
  5. Your Love Is a Lie 
  6. Addicted 
  7. You Suck at Love
  8. Welcome to My Life
  9. Me Against the World 
  10. Iconic
  11. Summer Paradise
  12. Wake Me Up (When This Nightmare’s Over)
  13. Party Medley (All Star / Sk8er Boi / Mr. Brightside)
  14. What’s New Scooby Doo? 
  15. Million Pictures of You
  16. Where I Belong
  17. I’m Just a Kid (with LØLØ)
  18. Perfect

Have you also attended SP’s show at Rock For People? What did you think about it? Let us know in the comments under the post or on our social media!

Simple Plan & Sum 41 discuss finally burying the hatchet between them

You may recall our article from 2010 which gathered quite a lot of attention back in the day and even got a response from a Sum 41 member back then. The article was called ‘Sum 41 against Simple Plan…once again’ and in it we dived into the issue of then known rivalry between these two Canadian bands and featured a compilation of some of the instances where the two pop-punk acts went head to head and each made fun of each other in various interviews. The most memorable one being the quote “I would probably rather eat a goat ball than watch “I’m Just A Kid” by Simple Plan” by Sum 41’s former drummer Stevo Jocz.

Today’s article about the two bands will be quite the opposite however. As we’ve seen from the release of Simple Plan’s latest single ‘Ruin My Life’ featuring Sum 41’s lead singer Deryck Whibley, the two bands have finally grown up and definitely buried the hatchet between them. In a very interesting brand new interview for Exclaim with Pierre, Chuck and Deryck, the three musicians discussed the rivalry from their point of view from the very beginning all the way to when they finally hugged it out. Like Canadians do.

In the interview, Chuck confessed that the rivalry probably started back when Simple Plan just started off as a band and besides being a drummer, he also did some contributed to music magazines with some album reviews and in 2000 he actually reviewed Sum 41’s album ‘Half Hour of Power’, giving it only 2,5 stars out of 5 [this review is actually still online – in you speak French, you can read it here]. And it looks like Sum 41 didn’t exactly rise above this review, especially it coming from a fellow Canadian band member and this is probably where the tension between the two bands officially began.

“I felt so bad, truthfully. I was really heartbroken, because at the time, Sum 41 came out maybe a year before us, and they were already doing well and they [were] just a tiny bit ahead of us in some ways, you know, like in their timeline, like their record came out maybe a year before ours, like their first EP. So I was really like, ‘Oh, my God, what did I just do? Like I can’t believe this. This is snowballing and becoming so big.’ And I felt guilty and bad for the rest of my bandmates, I was like, ‘Guys, I cannot believe this. This little thing, this side job I’m doing, has somehow caused all this.’ I just felt really really bummed about the whole situation.”

– Chuck Comeau [Exclaim interview] –

For many years after that, many not so nice words have been said from each band, usually poking fun at each other at shows and in interviews. This however finally ended in 2008 when the two Canadian acts met at the Much Music Video Awards, where they had dressing rooms right next to each other. And surprisingly it was the fore-mentioned former drummer Steve Jocz, who decided to make the first move and hug it out.

“Stevo walked by me in the hallway and I was like, ‘Oh shit, here we go,’ and he was like, ‘Hey, dude, I’m sorry for all the shit we’ve been talking for the last few years. It’s so fuckin’ dumb,’ And I was like, ‘Sweet, that’s how I feel!’ And we kinda hugged it out, and from there, we did a couple of shows together. We went out with Deryck and the boys and had some good times. We hung out backstage, and we buried the hatchet and all realized that it was an immature young little beef that really had no substance to it.”

– Pierre Bouvier [Exclaim interview] –

After years of childish rivalry, Sum 41 and Simple Plan are finally on the same page. According to Chuck, growing older and realizing that both bands have been around for so long, both going through struggles of the music industry but both still being relevant in their genres. It was just time to finally put the differences aside and as Chuck put it “do something cool together”. And that is how Ruin My Life came in the picture.

And how did Deryck Whibley feel about the collaboration?

“For me, it always comes down to the music. Pierre sent me the song and I thought it was great right off the bat. We talked a little bit about how our vocal ranges were a little different from each other on this song and that could be kind of a cool thing. I like the way it turned out.”

– Deryck Whibley [Exclaim interview] –

Chuck and Pierre discuss the most essential pop punk tracks of all time

In one of their most recent articles, Nylon.com asked the members of multiple well-established pop punk bands including All Time Low, The All-American Rejects, Motion City Soundtrack, Simple Plan etc. about their own opinions regarding the most influential pop punk songs. Check out what Chuck and Pierre from Simple Plan had to say and lean about which songs they wish they had written themselves:

What pop-punk song do you think is most influential and why?

Pierre: “It’s a toss-up between “Basket Case” by Green Day and “What’s My Age Again?” by blink-182. Both songs paved the way for all the pop-punk bands, like us, that followed in the early 2000s. “Basket Case” in 1994 was a huge hit and exposed the world to that angsty punk attitude combined with catchy melodies and hooky lyrics. Then in 1999, “What’s My Age Again?” pushed the pop side even further and was all over mainstream and pop radio around the world. You couldn’t turn the dial without hearing it.”

Chuck: “I absolutely agree with Pierre that it’s a tie between “Basket Case” and “What’s My Age Again?” for the two most influential pop-punk songs of all time. These two bands and songs changed everything for the pop-punk community and have defined the sound of the last 20 to 25 years of the scene. But to make it more fun, I’m gonna ignore these two and offer two alternatives: “Self-Esteem” by The Offspring, released in 1994 just like Dookie by Green Day, and “American Jesus” by Bad Religion, that came out in 1993. Smash, The Offspring’s album, sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and catapulted punk indie label Epitaph on top of the world, allowed them to sign and bring to mainstream success bands like Rancid and NOFX, fueling the rise of pop-punk and setting up the second explosion in 1999 when blink-182 released Enema of the State. And Bad Religion influenced all these bands years before: Recipe for Hate, their 1993 album, was their first release on Atlantic after leaving Epitaph, giving pop-punk bands the permission to sign to major labels and aim for mainstream success.”

Which pop-punk song do you wish you had written and why?

Pierre: “The Descendents’ “I’m The One.” This one is a little more punk than pop, but I remember being blown away when I heard it for the first time in 1997. I love Milo [Aukerman’s] growly vocals and the ripping guitars throughout the song. It’s catchy, but badass and makes you want to jump around in the mosh pit with your fists in the air.”

Chuck “There’s so many amazing pop-punk songs I wish I had written, and this is such a difficult question to answer. I hesitated between “Linoleum” or “Lori Meyer” from NOFX’s classic Punk In Drublic album, “Move Along” by The All-American Rejects (I got shivers down my spine when I first heard that chorus… so powerful and emotional) or even The Ataris’ iconic “San Dimas High School Football Rules,” but at the end of the day, the one song I always go back to as my favorite is “Going Away To College” by blink-182. It’s my favorite off Enema of the State, an album that completely changed my life. I remember coming home with an advanced copy of the record that Mark Hoppus gave to me a few months before it was released, and I knew after one listen that it would change the whole game. That song was so poignant and powerful to me. I never understood why they didn’t release it as a single. I think it would have been an incredible fourth single and would have made the band even bigger — if that’s even possible.”

– Nylon [original article] –

Simple Plan score with 2 albums on Rock Sound’s “100 Best Pop-punk Albums” list!

For the past few days, the British magazine Rock Sound has been slowly revealing the results of their recently featured online poll, which asked music fans to vote for the best pop-punk album. Over 26 000 people voted in and decided the final positions on the list, which has now revealed to us that the public voted not just one, but two Simple Plan albums amongst the 100 Best Pop-Punk Albums!

The best-standing of their albums on this list is their debut album ‘No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls’, which ranks at no. 31, surpassing other classics like Jimmy Eat World’s ‘Bleed American’, The All-American Rejects’ ‘Move Along’ or The Offspring’s ‘Americana’!

The second Simple Plan album featured on this list is their subsequent record ‘Still Not Getting Any..’ which ranked a little lower – at no. 67!

What a great result! It definitely serves as a reassurance that Simple Plan’s music is still very much deep-seated into the minds of music fans and has clearly made an impact on the industry.

Previously, Simple Plan’s No Pads album was featured on a list published by Kerrang back in 2015, where it placed as the 26th “Greatest Pop-Punk Album Ever”. Similarly in 2017, Rolling Stone called this album 33rd “Greatest Pop-Punk Album Of All Time”.

Lead singers of Tonight Alive and State Champs name SP amongst their favorite Warped memories in new Billboard article

To commemorate Warped Tour coming to its close (with today actually being the very last Warped Tour day), Billboard released a new article entitled “Goodbye, Warped Tour: 21 Bands Relive Their Favorite Festival Memories in Their Own Words”.

From our point of view, it’s certainly very interesting to see how much of a footprint Simple Plan have left not only in the hearts of Warped attendees, but also in the bands that took part in the final cross-country tour. For example, the lead singers of both Tonight Alive/b> and State Champs mentioned Simple Plan as one of the people who’ve made their Warped memories even greater. Check out what Jenna McDougall from Tonight Alive and Derek DiScanio from State Champs said about Simple Plan below:

‘Whoever we met and toured with on Warped Tour that summer, we would often go out with the next fall or the next spring. This year Simple Plan is on the tour, and it’s not the first time that we’ve toured together. They’re really beautiful people, and it’s just this really amazing experience to ride the same wavelength as the people who’ve influenced your musical career. We used to watch Simple Plan DVDs when we had band practice when I was 15 years old. These bands seeped into our bloodstreams, and now we are out here touring with them. We’re still on completely different levels, but it is cool to be on the same lineup, eat together, and sit out on the back of the trailers every night.’

– Jenna McDougall (Tonight Alive) –

‘The small bands look up to larger bands, but those larger bands will do everything they can to help the smaller ones. Everyone is here for the right reasons. Simple Plan, who I have loved forever, on the first day of the tour [this year] came right up to us saying, “Hey, we love your band, will you guys come on stage and sing with us tomorrow?” So now I’m singing “I’m Just A Kid” with Simple Plan during shows, and I’m like a kid in a candy store up there. There is no room for egos on this tour, and that’s why it’s going to be sad to see it go. ‘

– Derek DiScanio (State Champs) –