Simple Plan have appeared in the December issue of the Alternative Press magazine. There is a new photoshoot of the band by Jocelyn Michel and also an article with a very to-the-point title: “Last Ones Standing”. I definitely reccommend reading through the whole article, as you will learn more about Simple Plan’s position in the United States, mostly about the before-and-after of the self-titled album, which made Simple Plan stop touring in the US and how it all changed when the band decided to come back on last year’s Bamboozle Roadshow.

Here are a little excerpts from the article:

“We’ve got so much left to accomplish. We’re nowhere near being done. We’ve never had one line-up change. The spirit of the band is the five of us. The sum of the parts is greater than each of us individually. We’re better together… That sounds like a Spice Girls song.” – Chuck Comeau

“I feel a very genuine vibe from them. They’re just in it to have a good time. There are definitely bands that came up with them that took themselves too seriously. I think once you do that, you start making records that aren’t you. Simple Plan were never bitter about new bands coming up and trying to take what they had. Nothing ever threw them off.” – Alex Gaskarth (All Time Low) on Simple Plan

The scans from the magazine can be already found in the gallery (thanks to SPB.com):

As you all know, Simple Plan are about to host their annual Simple Plan Foundation event in just a couple of days: on September 20th they will be joined by the Montreal Symphonic Orchestra and perform together at an event that also serves as a place of announcements of next year’s donations of the band’s foundation.

It has already been almost 6 years since Simple Plan have started their foundation, so chances are some of you don’t even remember how that happened and what exactly led the band to start it in the first place. In a new article in Montreal Gazette, Simple Plan’s lead singer Pierre Bouvier writes about what started SPF and what a success it has become:

It only makes sense to give back by starting a charity
by Pierre Bouvier

Over the years, Simple Plan has received numerous letters from fans, both here at home in Montreal and abroad, telling us how difficult their lives have been.

These letters have made us aware of the challenges many young people face on a daily basis – from depression, drug abuse and suicide to family troubles, homophobia and heartbreaking accounts of young kids hit by severe illnesses such as cancer.

It didn’t take long for us to realize that the common thread in these stories was music, and the role that music can play in someone’s life.

These fans were telling us how our songs were helping them deal with the difficult times they were facing, and how big an impact our music was having on their lives. Music was their escape, their lifeline, the only thing that could take away the pain that they were feeling.

As a band and as songwriters, this was a remarkably eye-opening experience. It made us want to give back – and to get involved in our community on a personal level, both locally and globally. As a result, we created the Simple Plan Foundation in December 2005. We assembled a team of volunteers and came up with three main goals:

–To support organizations working with young people facing difficult, yet typically teenage, problems.

–To support health and social-service organizations dedicated to helping ill and handicapped children and youth.

–To encourage and promote the practice of music as a way to help young people find a passion in life, and to support music-therapy programs that help sick young kids.

Each of us in the band has had a cause that has personally touched our hearts.

For me, it’s the fight against cancer. Five years ago, my brother Jay went through a very tough battle against lymphatic cancer. When disaster strikes so close to home, it really changes your perspective on everything and makes you realize just how vulnerable we all are.

It had a profound effect on my family and me and made me want to help others going through the same kind of crisis.

Since 2005, the Simple Plan Foundation has donated more than $700,000 to various charitable groups in Quebec, across the rest of Canada and around the world. We have donated money to large organizations such as Leucan, the Montreal Children’s Hospital, Kids’ Help Phone, War Child and Red Cross Japan, and to such smaller ones as Le Phare, Musique X, Le garage du Dr Julien, Wakiponi Mobile (an initiative that helps young First Nations youth reconnect with their identities, and avoid the traps of drugs and alcohol) and, most recently, Kids Cancer Care.

Being involved with the foundation has been one of the most rewarding experiences of our lives. When we held a news conference last fall to announce our 2010 donations, we had a few representatives from the charities we have supported speak about how our donation money had been spent.

The stories we heard turned all the abstract donations and numbers into something tangible and real.

A spokesperson for GRIS (Groupe régional d’intervention sociale) Quebec told us how young gay kids who have suffered greatly from homophobia and had trouble accepting who they are were blown away that a band like ours cared about their situation and would stand up for them. A severely disabled kid came up to the podium and told us that music was the only thing that made him happy in life, and he thanked us for helping Le Phare, a place where sick children and their families can enjoy a welcome break from hospitals and take part in music-therapy programs.

As we listened to them, everyone in the band got choked up.

Source: MSN.com & SPF BR

Because the Christmas spirit is still here with us, Christmas stories are definitely something that’s up-to-date. Jeff and Seb from Simple Plan shared their best Xmas stories with MSN.com and you can check them out below:

Sebastien:

“I was 23 years old when, for the first time, I spent Christmas away from home. I thought it might be fun to go for a holiday in the sun, where it’s warm for a change. Big mistake! For the first time, I didn’t have to plow my car out of the snow on Christmas morning, but I hated it. For some reason, going to the beach and lying in the sun absolutely didn’t feel like Christmas to me. The snow, the cold and a fireplace have since become essential to a successful Christmas Eve and Day.”

Jeff:

“On Christmas, a few years ago, I opened a present that my mom had given me. It was a basket. Clearly my mom hadn’t looked too closely at the content. She was probably re-gifting because it was filled with hair products such as shampoos and conditioners. Obviously, I had no use for such a gift because I have been bald since the early days of Simple Plan. Let’s just say that I was really disappointed by my gift and made jokes about it all night long.”

Source: Alternative Press

The official website of the Alternative Press magayine released an article on the most anticipated releases of 2011 and surprise, surprise, next to Patrick Stump, Yellowcard and Gym Class Heroes zou can find also Simple Plan, along with a photo from a photoshoot we’ve only seen a scan of so far. From the article below you will also learn that the secret song Rivers Cuomo from Weezer collaborated on is actually one of the songs, which title has already been officially released – “Can’t Keep My Hands Off You”.

“This is probably the hardest we’ve ever worked on an album,” admits Simple Plan drummer Chuck Comeau from Vancouver, Canada, where the band have been holed up on and off since June with producer Brian Howes (Hinder, Boys Like Girls). That’s not to say the Canadian quintet’s previous three releases were uninspired, but the band penned nearly 70 songs for their fourth album, and Comeau says the high output ultimately yielded better results. Among the contenders for the still-untitled disc are “Astronaut,” “You Suck At Love” (which the band road-tested on this past summer’s Bamboozle Roadshow) and “Can’t Keep My Hands Off You,” a collaboration with Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo. “I think people are really going to love these songs,” the drummer gushes. “Fans of our first two records will be really happy.”

Source: Sorstu.ca & FocusMag.ca

I really hope you are not getting bored of all these news from the Simple Plan Foundation benefit event yet, as at least in this post you are gonna learn some more. Thanks to Janie for sending us her article and photos from yesterday. I have picked the most interesting parts out of the article and translated them for you – so here are some quotes from the Simple Plan members from the press conference:

“The foundation was created to help young people. You probably know that there are many young people, who come to our shows and then meet us – we see them after the shows a lot, they talk and we read their letters. They talk about their problems, whether at home or with their addictions. Problems, that sometimes quite serious. We were asking ourselves when we started, how we should react, how we could do something for them. Just talking to them for 30 seconds after the show is not enough. So we thought that we had go beyond that and so the foundation has been a bit of an answer to these stories. We wanted to help organizations that operated on the ground and that made a difference in the lives of these young people with issues.” (Jeff Stinco)

“In recent years, there are also many of our relatives who have been affected, affected by certain diseases and obviously it brings us closer to all these causes. Sometimes, there are people who think we are invincible, but there are people who are invincible because of diseases like that, so we decided to make donations to the Canadian society of multiple sclerosis, the Lighthouse Child & Family. [...] There is a lot of young people who have been stricken by cancer. I myself had the chance to meet a girl named Alison. We have all met her also on one of our concerts and I accompanied her to her death bed at her home in Trois-Rivieres, and I even performed a song with my acoustic guitar to help her with what she was going through. It opened my eyes to see a little 16 year old girl, who was losing her life. It touched me greatly. And that brings us, we are all affected by it, no matter what we do in life, regardless of the job.” (David Desrosiers)

Let’s get to a bit of more positive news now. Make sure to look into our gallery, where you can find awesome shots from Janie from the SPF benefit event and also from We Day from a couple days ago:

Source: Canoe.ca

Even though words cannot describe music like the music does by itself, if you want to check out what the new album is going to be like, make sure to read the article below, which recaps everything that went on on the Simple Plan Foundation benefit event, but also reviews the sample of the new album, that’s been played for the fans in its studio version:

The fourth album by Simple Plan will be released in March or April. During the press conference, where they talked about the foundation that bears their name, the band made the following announcement. “We came back from Vancouver a few days ago, where we finished recording the album,” said the singer Pierre Bouvier. “It’s been long enough, but the work is worth it. We are very happy.”

On the album, Simple Plan talk about “girls, partying, fans, life!”. “Our concept is to put songs on an album. The pieces are quite varied. Even if we say every time the new album is the best, this time, it is thought to be true!” says Jeff Stinco.

“We spent only one year writing,” says Pierre. “We wrote almost 65 songs, to keep only 12.” The quintet worked with producer Brian Howes (Puddle of Mudd, Hedley) on this new album. “He is very meticulous, like us. We spent a lot of time on the songs. ”

Among the new pieces, there is one called This Song Saved My Life, which includes the participation of fans. “We decided to write this song because of all the stories we received from fans,” said Pierre. “They were asked to write to us on Twitter to tell us how our band had changed their lives. And it was inspiring to write lyrics based on the messages.” Twenty-five of these same fans have traveled to Vancouver to record with the group. “We thought it was cheaper than the real singers!” says Chuck Comeau, laughing.

On Sunday at Club Sportif MAA downtown Montreal, fans of the band had the opportunity to hear a preview of this new album. By paying $100 for their entry, guests were entitled to a meal, could participate in an auction, preview the new album and watch an acoustic performance by Simple Plan. All in favor of Simple Plan Foundation.

The event, led by Eric Salvail, Simple Plan raised $125 000 for their foundation. The auction included all sorts of interesting items/experience, including a dinner with the band ($ 2,500), a music session with Simple Plan ($ 2,000) and a round of golf with Chuck Comeau ($ 2,100).

Before the premiere of five new songs from the upcoming album (“Even my mother has not heard them yet,” said Jeff), Pierre Bouvier asked the audience not to record these songs and not to put them on the Internet. “Can we trust you? Keep your cameras down!”

Even if the mix of the songs was not completed, one could realize by the first listen that the band had not lost his talent for designing catchy melodies. Young fans in the attendance even sung some choruses in choirs, which is always a good sign. To close the day, Simple Plan played seven of their songs acoustically, including Shut Up, I’d Do Anything, Welcome to My Life, Love Is a Lie, Take My Hand, Crazy and When I’m Gone.