The Australian version of the singing competition show The Voice has a very impressive variety of coaches, which include Seal, Delta Goodrem (who you may remember from one of the versions of the music video for “Save You”), Keith Urban and Joel Madden from Good Charlotte. Their job is to mentor the contestants who get into their teams throughout the whole journey of the show.

One of Seal’s protégés is 26-years-old Sam Ludeman, who performed a cover version of a Simple Plan song in the last night’s episode of the song. And what other song than “Summer Paradise” it could be, when this song has already become Australia’s summer anthem, and has managed to stay at the tops of local music charts for weeks.

After Chuck from Simple Plan had heard about one of their songs being played on The Voice, he contacted Sam himself via Twitter, congratulated him on his performance and invited him and the coaches from The Voice for their upcoming concert in Sydney, Australia.

Below you can noww check out Sam Ludeman’s version of “Summer Paradise” that he performed with at The Voice yesterday (thanks to SPB.com for the link):

Simple Plan’s arrival to Europe (where they will be heading right after the Australian tour) in about a month, sure seems be a little bit hectic if you will. Let’s see:

The first public appearance that the guys have planned is in the morning of June 20th, when they are scheduled to appear in the studio of a private German TV station called SAT 1, that resides in Berlin (thanks to Anika for the info). However, the same day, they will still have to drive to the approximately 180 miles distant city of Kiel, where they are supposed to play a 45-minute show for the local radio station N-Joy later that day.

The next day, Simple Plan will be in Hamburg for a couple of interviews and will kick off the festival season in Europe the day after that with the Under18 festival in Spain.

The latest issue of the British Kerrang magazing has dedicated two pages to Simple Plan. On one of them you can read an interview with Pierre, in which you will find out for example that the Sean Paul version of Summer Paradise has been recorded via Skype, and the second page then has Pierre answering “This or That?” questions – and I think you can already guess what one of them is about, judging by the name of this article. :)

The scans of these two pages can be found in the gallery thanks to Hayley:

An online lifestyle magazine Urban Expressions recently interviewed Simple Plan’s lead guitarist, Jeff Stinco, about his relationship with the city of Montreal.

You can check it out here:

Where were you born?
I’m originally from Pierrefonds, but as a teenager, I escaped the boredom of the suburbs by taking three buses to the city as often as I could. I moved to the Plateau when I was 18.

Which neighbourhood is your favourite?
I live in Old Montreal, but I feel closest to Mile End where I lived the longest, though Griffintown is really coming into its own right now. Between the Drinkerie, The Burgundy Lion and Liverpool House -the healthy mix of Anglos/Francos and the good music, it rocks.

What’s your favourite street in Montreal and why?
The most iconic and colourful street in Montreal is St-Laurent. We don’t call it ‘The Main’ for nothing. That being said, St-Viateur is probably my favourite street: bagels, cute little shops, great coffee, and the best chocolate in town … it’s all there.

Where do you go to dance?
I don’t really ‘dance’, but on Friday and Saturday nights there’s a little neighbourhood bar called Philemon in Old Montreal that turns into a pumping party place. I love how eclectic the crowd is: gay, straight, moustaches, bald … and no “Jersey Shore” approved t-shirts allowed!

Where do you like to eat out in Montreal?
For upscale, I think the best restaurant in Montreal is Le Club Chasse et Pêche. I have had killer ‘surf and turf’ there! For casual, I love Pizzeria Magpie, and for brunch Le Cartet in Old Montreal does a heavy Québécois breakfast AND a west coast-ish healthy plate really well. I try to make a pit stop there every time I return home.

Who is your favourite Montreal personality?
Leonard Cohen on the Anglo side, and Danny Laferriere on the Franco side – his books are evocative little gems!

Which Montreal event/festival do you look forward to all year?
I’ve never been around for Osheaga, but I’d love to check it out, the line-ups are always spectacular. And of course the jazz festival is a must.

Where do you go to relax in Montreal?
I often go for a run on the mountain. It’s not super busy on weekday mornings and I feel like I’m in the country, yet I’m only five minutes away from downtown!

What is your most cherished Montreal memory?
My first Bell Center show with Simple Plan was quite memorable. Our bassist, David, lived right by the Bell Center when we started out, and we often spoke about playing that place for years. It was a magical moment for all of us when we actually did.

One of the usual effects that comes after the broadcast of the Juno Awards, is the increase of album and digital single sales of those artists, who either win or perform at the event – this effect is commonly known as the “Juno effect”.

Simple Plan were lucky to be in both of the forementioned categories, as not only they performed their latest single from their album Get Your Heart On! – “Summer Paradise” with K’Naan as the last act at the Juno Awards, but they were also the recipients of the Allan Waters’ Humanitarian Award for their hard work with the Simple Plan Foundation.

Thanks to all that, according to CTV’s statistics Simple Plan have become the most successful artists that attended/won the Juno Awards when it comes to the increase of the sales of their single Summer Paradise, which increased by 182%.

Below you can check out the statistics of all the artists who were affected by the Juno effect:

Album sales:

City and Colour – up 57%
Feist – up 100%
Lights – up 60%
Dan Mangan – up 52%

Digital track sales:

Blue Rodeo – “Lost Together” – up 79%
City and Colour – “The Grand Optimist” – up 104%
deadmau5 – “Raise Your Weapon” – up 65%
Feist – “The Bad In Each Other” – up 97%
Hedley – “One Life” – up 23%
Nickelback – “This Means War” – up 45%
Simple Plan – “Summer Paradise” – up 182%

Simple Plan have stopped by a couple of radio stations during their time in Italy – from the last article on SP.cz you alrady know about the pictures from a radio station Milan, Italy and now you can (thanks to Angela for the info) look at the photos from the RDS radio station in Rome, Italy that Pierre, David, Jeff and Seb visited on March 29th:

The radio’s website also offers videos of Simple Plan’s visit, so you can check out the interview with the band for RDS, then an acoustic version of Welcome To My Life and finally probably the most interesting for us (since the guys haven’t played it much yet) an acoustic version of Summer Paradise