Rachel from Musichel.com recently had the opportunity to interview Pierre Bouvier from Simple Plan about the band’s successful career and their recent and upcoming projects.

Check it out below:

Q: Simple Plan is a household name – everyone has heard of the band and its music. How do you feel about the widespread global popularity you guys have achieved?

Pierre: The fact that we are a successful band that has been able to stay relevant is our biggest achievement. We are so proud to be one of the few bands that are here to stay. When you have hit and have a successful album, it’s so difficult to try to follow up. It’s an amazing feeling to know that we have fans around the world that want to keep supporting us and that love us for more than just one song.

Q: It has been more than a decade since Simple Plan was formed. How have you & the rest of the band members changed both as a band and as individuals?

Pierre: I think we have all evolved and matured just like anyone out there does. When the band started, we were all in our very early 20s and were ready to conquer the world. We goofed around a bit more and were probably a little more immature. Today, we’re still those same guys, just a little older. So maybe we don’t party as hard and we think a little more before doing something stupid, but that’s just normal. It’s not to say that we don’t like to have fun and get crazy – we just don’t do it as often. I think we’re also conscious of what we have achieved and we don’t take it for granted. Back in our early days, our behaviours sometimes were detrimental to our performances, like drinking too much and not being on top of your game the next day. Now we focus on being the best we can be because we feel that we owe it to our fans that’ve been there for us for so long. I guess that’s a sign of maturity. Musically, we’ve always been perfectionists and have always taken that very seriously. We love making music and writing and producing albums that we are proud of. With the years, I think we’ve gotten better at doing that. Which is why I think our last album is our best. We always push ourselves to outdo the last one.

Q: You’ve been to Singapore quite a few times, most recently during the Get Your Heart On Tour in 2012. What is your favourite memory of Singapore?

Pierre: Singapore is such a beautiful place. I enjoy just walking around and taking it all in. Last time we were there, we ended up at the bar on top of that huge building that looks like a boat. It was pretty awesome.

Q: If you could perform anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Pierre: Somewhere we’ve never been. There are many.

Q: You worked with MTV EXIT to create a music video for “This Song Saved My Life” to raise awareness about human trafficking. How was it like working with MTV EXIT? Tell us more about your anti-human trafficking cause.

Pierre: It was an eye opener to say the least. We learned so much about human trafficking, something that we are hardly ever exposed to in North America. It’s so sad to think that people are still treated like slaves today. I was happy to learn about it and to help MTV EXIT in their fight.

Q: What is a typical day for you like when you’re on tour?

Pierre: Wake up, find a shower, find food, do some interviews, sound check, sound check fan club party, find food, chill out before the show, warm up for an hour, play the show, wind down after show, find a bed, sleep, repeat.

Q: Speaking of tours, you guys travel all over the world when you’re on tour. What do you usually do on long flights?

Pierre: Watch movies or TV shows on my computer or sleep. Sometimes I’ll read a book if I have a good one.

Q: What’s your opinion on auto tune?

Pierre: Auto tune is so much more than what people think it is. It’s more than just the effect you hear. I think there’s good and bad about it. I think it’s definitely over used but sometimes it can sound cool!

Q: Simple Plan is one of the rare bands that has had no line-up changes since its inception and you still make great music together even after 14 years together as a band, which is not the case for most other bands. What is your secret to this amazing feat?

Pierre: I have no idea. I guess we’re all level-headed guys. We love what we do and we don’t want to stop. It’s not like we don’t ever fight, I think we’re just good at communicating when a problem arises. Plus we get along great. We’re good friends. Sometimes the easy way out seems to be to replace somebody, but people forget that the next guy (or girl) will come with a whole new set of problems. Might as well work out the issue instead. Much easier.

Q: What is your favourite song you’ve ever recorded?

Pierre: That changes all the time. I’m proud of all of them. Some standout tracks would probably be: “Perfect”, “Welcome To My Life”, “Crazy”, “Your Love is A Lie”, “This Song Saved My Life”, “Summer Paradise” and “Astronaut”.

Q: What usually runs through your mind on the day of a gig?

Pierre: Same as any other day. Playing shows has become second nature, there’s no over thinking it. It’s just pure fun.

Q: Any big plans for 2013?

Pierre: Yes. Writing our next album, playing a few more shows and hopefully release some new unreleased songs and a DVD we’re working on. Stay tuned!

Back in April, the news got out that Pierre and Chuck have been co-writing some songs with Malcolm Kelley and Tony Oller from the newly formed band MKTO.

MKTO has recently gained a lot of recognition because of their lead single “Thank You” (not to mention that both of the members of the band are also actors – most notably Malcolm who played Walt on LOST).

On May 15th Pierre and Chuck reported that they were currently on a beach somewhere in California, filming a “little something something”. Well, turns out that the little something something is a new music video for MKTO which the boys from Simple Plan should be a part of. That also means that at least Pierre might be singing on the song (and who knows, Chuck did some pretty dope rapping on Holding On – and since MKTO rap on their songs too, there’s always a chance of that happening – although probably just a very little one).

The boys from MKTO posted the following picture from the videoshoot where you can see some familiar faces including Pierre, Tony, Malcolm and even Mark Staubach, who directed some of Simple Plan’s latest music videos:

Yesterday afternoon, Pierre and Chuck got together on a beach in California to film a “litle something something” that would include Pierre on a Vespa. What do you think this video could be about? I don’t know about you but Pierre has passed his 200K followers on Twitter a long time ago – so perhaps we’ll get a sequel to “Pierre’s Day Off”? Let’s wait and see!

And in the meantime, you can check out this new picture of Pierre from yesterday’s filming:

You may remember that almost 6 months ago Simple Plan recorded a little send-off video for Commander Chris Hadfield, who was about to be launched into space – to the International Space Station as the first Canadian Commander of the ISS.

While in space, Chris Hadfield has been updating Twitter many time every day, informing his fellow earthlings about what it’s like to be in space 24/7 by posting incredible pictures of Earth and even videos – for example he showed the whole planet what would happen if astronauts cried in space. Since yesterday, Mr. Hadfield is finally safely back on Earth, but when he was still up on the ISS, he decided to record a little video for the guys in Simple Plan, in which he played their song “Astronaut” on his acoustic guitar, making it Simple Plan’s wish to send off their own Astronaut into space finally come true. Chris’ video is followed by Pierre’s welcome message to Chris Hadfield, in which he finishes the first part of Astronaut after Chris’ intro.

You can check out this very meaningful video below:

Yesterday evening, the lead singer of Simple Plan, Pierre Bouvier, appeared on Twitter after a long time to thank his fans for the number of birthday wishes he has received that day, congratulation him on his 34th birthday (May 9th). In his tweets Pierre apologized for not tweeting much, as he wanted to focus on his private life for some time, and teased the fans by saying that “[Simple Plan are] getting ready to release new stuff soon.”

And even though we already know that the guys like to say soon quite often, this time around, soon might be even sooner than per usual – according to the interview that I conducted with Chuck a couple months ago, Simple Plan have already started working on some new music and would like to release a couple of songs (5-6) on an EP by the end of 2013. This EP should then serve as a bridge between Get Your Heart On! and the upcoming Simple Plan record that the guys should hopefully start working on next year. And since that’s getting closer and closer every day and SP still have a lot to work on when it comes to the EP, we might soon be expecting some updates on the recording session, name of the EP, perhaps even the tracklist.

Simple Plan’s lead singer, Pierre Bouvier, is celebrating his 34th birthday today. Therefore, on behalf of SimplePlan.cz I’d like to wish him all the best, lots of luck, health, love, time spent with his family and success for years to come.

Happy birthday, Pierre!