Simple Plan’s presence on online social media has always been one of the reason why this band has managed to keep such a great and close relationship with their fans. But sometimes, for some fans it can be rather complicated to tell if a profile on a certain social network is really the guys from Simple Plan or if it’s just another fake account.

Because of how many times I’ve seen fans actually interacting with various accounts who pretended to be someone else, I decided to try to put together a little guide that could help you out the next time you’re in a situation like that – wondering if said account really is Pierre/Chuck/Jeff/Seb/David or not.

Most artists nowadays have at least one primary official presence on the internet – their official website. So before you even start following or interacting with someone from the band on any social networks, check back on the official website – usually the websites offer a set of other official links to the band’s YouTube channel, Facebook profile, Twitter account etc.

With Simple Plan it’s quite easy – even though their official website doesn’t directly link to each of the band members’ profiles on Twitter, it does link to Simple Plan’s official Twitter – @simpleplan – which retweets each and every post that Simple Plan make on their personal profiles on Twitter, so it’s very easy to find them this way. Their Twitter handles are quite easy to remember – they always consist of the person’s name and surname – e.g. @seblefebvre.

Speaking of Twitter – the easiest way how to recognize an official profile of a well-known person is to look for the verified button [little blue dot with a white check mark in the middle] that is placed next to their names on their profile. The verification process that Twitter uses to determine real and official profiles is very complicated and can be pretty long – for example Pierre was the last of Simple Plan members to receive his (earlier this year). As of right now, all the members of Simple Plan are verified on Twitter.

example of Sebastien’s official Twitter profile accompanied with the verified button

However even the verified buttons tend to get faked by some people – by placing the image of the button onto their header, making it look like they are verified. Seems smart, but who are we kidding – if you’re still unsure about a verified button, there’s a simple way how to know it’s the real deal – just place your mouse over the button – if it’s real, a “verified account” notification will pop up.

Unfortunately not all other media have such an easy way how to recognize a fake as Twitter does. So with Facebook, Instagram or other networks, you have to be even more cautious.

One thing is clear – other than Simple Plan’s official Facebook account, an account for Seb’s music and Man Of The Hour, there are (nor will probably ever be) any other Facebook profiles of the guys that would be open for the fans. So if you have a “Pierre Bouvier” among your friends, chances are it’s not him. The guys like to keep their personal lives private.

With that being said, fake profiles on Facebook and Instagram can also be pretty easy to spot, if you look carefully at what and how they post – if the tone of their updates matches the way they usually interact. I’m sure you’ve already managed to get a grip of how the guys act and how they don’t, so you can tell right-away that for instance when someone starts posting in a very “fangirly” way – it will probably not be the real Jeff.

Same thing applies to photos. With official profiles it’s a given that they should give away stuff that you can’t find anywhere else – such as photos or videos. In fact they should be the first ones to post it [although there are exceptions]. So if you see very generic photos on a account of one of the guys that claims to be official, make sure to double check it.

Let’s take the (as of right now) fake “SimplePlan” account on Instagram as an example – thousands of people have been convinced in the past few months that this was indeed the real Simple Plan Instagram account. Why? Probably because they managed to grab the name while it was still available and kept on “impersonating” the band when replying to people. But just because a name of the account sounds like a real deal, it doesn’t mean the profile is actually real. With this particular Instagram profile, there’s a couple of its attributes that give its fakeness away:

example of the use of bad grammar at the fake “SimplePlan” Instagram account

• never posts new photos of the band – pictures on this profile are either from old photoshoots or they have been posted on the guys’ personal Instagrams earlier
• tags own photos
• pictures are either edited – not just in the typically “vintage” way we all know from Instagram, but by using Microsoft Paint [and trust me, if Simple Plan would put out edited pictures - e.g. with text on it, it would be well-made] – or “borrowed” from Tumblr
• uses bad grammar
• deletes some of the comments that suggest it’s a fake
• and finally: no official Simple Plan account/website ever links to it

On that note – Simple Plan are actually currently trying to contact the owner of this account (“SimplePlan” on Instagram) to try to get the name back and actually use it for the band’s purposes. So if you are the one in charge of it, please get in touch with their management – Coalition Entertainment.

If you’re already went through all the previous advice and still are skeptical about the profile, you can always try to find out if the profile’s real or fake from other fans or even better – from some already confirmed profile.

When it comes to Simple Plan, the guys reply to fans on Twitter a lot, in fact it’s the only social network where they do, so you can always ask the guys directly. Although sometimes getting such reply can take a long time because the guys get thousands of them every day, so when it comes to dealing with fake profiles, you can always count on their management – Coalition Entertainment – and ask Jocelyn who’s in charge of all things online. You can find her at @CoalitionMUS.

But just to help you out, on SimplePlan.cz you can already find an up-to-date list of all the current official profiles of Simple Plan that they frequently use online. You can see it here (or anytime right under the Internet section).

I hope the above stated advice were at least a bit useful to you and that hopefully you won’t get fooled by another account anytime soon. Just remember: double check everyone that you talk to online. Don’t wanna sound like your parents, but you never know who the person on the other side could be… it can always be a dog.

Simple Plan Space, the very well-done fan-made online magazine about Simple Plan, has recently interviewed me regarding SimplePlan.cz and how it all came about. If you’re interested in checking out this very in depth interview about this website, you can read it now in the newly released May issue of Simple Plan Space:

Due to the recent growth of news including quotes from other fellow musicians and other famous people about the guys from Simple Plan, I decided to create a special section in which you can now find all of these quotes. I’m pretty sure there are more quotes mostly from other bands out there, so if you know of any interviews or tweets in which famous personalities mention Simple Plan – positively or negatively – please let me know (through Facebook, Twitter or e-mail) and I will put them up as well!

In the meantime, enjoy these quotes that I managed to gather up so far:

As you know, Fred Jérôme (a.k.a. Barnik) is Simple Plan’s graphic designer, who has been working with the band ever since their very first album and who has contributed to all of their albums so far and also to their merch designs, website and the band’s new biography book: “Simple Plan: The Official Story”.

Fred was very kind to answer some of my questions via email and you can now check out some very interesting stuff about his earliest collaborations with Simple Plan’s band members and how Fred approaches graphic design and work with Simple Plan in general.

Check out the new interview with Fred below:

After reading the book, I found out that not only you have been working with SP for a very long time but you are also said to be “Reset’s long-time collaborator”. What was this collaboration with Reset about and how did you get to know them?

When I was young, I played bass in a band called My Big Wheel. Same vein as Reset, maybe a little bit more “pop rock” like Blink-182, MxPx… We were playing and touring a lot with Reset. Since then, I kept contact with Chuck and Pierre. Pierre also participated on our album. He made the back vocals in one of our songs called “Loaded”.

You are the creator of Simple Plan’s very first three symbols that marked the “No Pads” era – the broken heart, the sad face and the thunderstorm, as well as of the subsequent “Still Not Getting Any” symbols – the house, the medical symbol and the coat of arms. What is the exact meaning behid these symbols? Does the band’s music inspire you when you’re creating any sort of graphic design for them?

The three icons on the SNGA album represent the three period of the album photoshoot. The house stands for the suburban lifestyle earned at your forties. The coat of arms (with golf clubs) represents the retirement and finally the medical symbol represents the old age. Maybe not our best concept… I guess it was too complicated.

When I create an album cover, I get to listen to the songs so it inspires me. Then, I create a cover that reflects the energy carried by the music.

What sort of design do you enjoy creating the most – album covers, apparel designs or websites? What has been your favourite design that you have ever created for SP?

Very hard question… When I design stuff for SP, I always need to be creative but it is so easy to work with this band that I enjoy every part of it. I don’t have a favourite kind of artwork. In fact, I have so much fun that I would almost do it for free… But don’t tell them! ;)

How much of an input do the SP guys have on your designs? Who comes up with the ideas?

For the albums’ covers and the website, I brainstorm with the band (Chuck is very creative, maybe even more than as a drummer, hehe). After that I try some stuff and we choose together. For the merch, most of the time, I design a bunch of concepts and then we pick as many designs as we need.

Making of the Simple Plan book must have been very challenging: what was the hardest part for you, as a graphic designer?

The hardest part of the book were the deadline and the page restrictions… We had so many pictures and archives that we were able to make 600 pages. It was very hard to choose between all of these pictures because we had to leave some on the side. We could keep those pictures for a second book! ;)

Do you enjoy listening to Simple Plan? What’s your favourite song?

Yes, of course I listen to SP. I listen to some bands that are a little bit more old school punk rock, but I love catchy music, and SP know how to write very catchy songs. I picked one song from each of the albums: I’d Do Anything, Thank You, Time To Say Goodbye and Can’t Keep My Hands Off You.

Ever since the Prague City Festival, where I was supposed to interview Simple Plan for the third time, got canceled (June 2012), I’ve been trying to get an interview with them at least in another way. It took a couple of months, but yesterday I finally had the opportunity to talk to Chuck for about half an hour via Skype and ask him about a couple of things that have been in my mind for a while.

In the video below, you will be able to hear more about the upcoming European tour, the future of Role Model Clothing, the upcoming EP, some more details regarding the new book “Simple Plan: The Official Story” and you’ll also find out when we can expect the music video for “This Song Saved My Life” to come out and how the guys struggled to fit in as many fans’ submissions as they could.

I’d like to thank Chuck again for taking the time to do this.

Please, excuse the quality of both the video and audio, but I did the best I could.

Enjoy!

In the past couple of months there have been countless reports, reviews and interviews about Simple Plan’s newly released biography “Simple Plan: The Official Story”. But let’s face it: 99% of the reporters probably aren’t regular Simple Plan fans, therefore are not the target audience and would never be able to properly tell what exactly is the book like for a fan. That’s why I decided to do a little review of the book from a fan’s (mine) point of view. Usually I feel like reviews are a very subjective matter and writing one about a Simple Plan CD would be very biased – but this is a book. Not a normal book, but a very special one. It incorporates everything I work with on this website every day – information and pictures. And I think it might be interesting for anyone who’s still wondering whether it is worth it to get this book to know how it’s been perceived by another fan.

I’ve been hearing about the “photo book” almost ever since I started being a Simple Plan fan in 2005. Even then I knew that once it’s out, I’d have to get it. But years went on and the band remained silent about this matter. That’s why I asked Chuck and Seb during the SimplePlan.cz interview in Prague in September 2011 if the book was still on and Chuck said it was a pet project of his and that he’d strive for it to be done one day. And almost one year later, it was out! Now let’s move over the 2 excruciating months of having troubles receiving the book while the Internet has started to be filled up with countless of images of the pictures and content that I had to stay away from in order to one day be able to enjoy the book like it was meant to be enjoyed. Finally on January 7th, it was here and I spent about 8 hours of that day and of the following one reading through the complete story of my favourite band.

First thing you need to know: the book is heavy. Like really heavy. About 1,5 kg. So walking around the city reading it is not really an option here. This book is made for crawling into bed with or laying it down on a coffee table and reading it from there.

I was just 2 pages in (after reading the introductory “Simple Plan warmly thanks” and Patrick’s prologue) and I thought: “This book should have come with a “Better get some tissues” warning,” because I could already feel tears falling down my face just after reading those first few pages. Having Patrick write the prologue was a perfect choice. Who else should have written it than the guy who has been there from the beginning. The guy who will never seize to be the “sixth member of Simple Plan”.

If you look at the Contents page, you’ll realize the book is divided into five main chapters: the first one (entitled “Back to the beginning”) capturing the long period from Chuck’s and Pierre’s first meeting of each other, through the Reset times all the way to the early beginnings of Simple Plan. After that the remaining four chapters all deal with each of the band’s albums, their recording process and the following tours. In between these chapters, the book includes a 2-page profile on each of the band members. All the chapters are filled with hundreds of pictures taken from day one till 2012 (that were chosen from about 40 000 pictures that the band and their photographers took throughout their whole career). The final pages of the book then feature a little tribute to the Simple Plan fans (including a couple of fans’ tattoos, that were submitted by SimplePlan.cz) and also a summary of everything Simple Plan have ever achieved and a list of every place they’ve ever been to (it’s just a little shame that the info next to Prague is slightly inaccurate, since the band did not visit it three times as the “3rd show” – Prague City Festival – has been canceled by the promoter of the event two weeks in advance).

As a fan who’s been tracking this band’s career for the past 7 years, it was obvious to me that I would mostly be interested in the first half of the book – the era I knew only a little about. This book made me realize I really missed out on a lot and some of the missing connections between the pieces of information that I had, have finally been revealed to me. For example I was very happy to read about the beginnings of Chuck’s and Pierre’s friendship as the strength of this friendship has always been somewhat examplary to me despite some of the “downs” they’ve had in the past. It was very enrichening to learn more not only about Roach, but also a little bit about Stone Garden as one of the predecessors of Reset and Jeff’s and Fred’s “involvement” within this band. I was quite surprised to read about the break-up between Pierre and Chuck in detail. Of course it doesn’t include everything as we know the guys still feel very uncomfortable talking about it, but the fact that some of the stories made into the book made the story for me even more real and true to it’s name.

Not only did I learn more about the “Reset times” but the early “Simple Plan times” were just as interesting! Seeing the actual names of other people who tried out for Simple Plan makes me think: “Wow, wouldn’t it be weird if there was a Luke in Simple Plan?”

I think that for the first time in my life, after reading the early Simple Plan beginnings part, I realized how different the attitude towards labels and music has been between Reset and Simple Plan. While the guys were in Reset, they mostly paid attention to learning how to play and to playing actual shows. But after Chuck, Jeff, Sebastien, and later with Pierre and also David started working on Simple Plan, almost from the day one they wanted this to be their actual job and to get signed to a major record label. It’s like as if Reset served as a “training field” for Simple Plan.

All the rejection letters from record labels show how much devotion Chuck put into making his and his friends’ dreams come true, to make them get as far as they could – and even further, which is a quality he possesses to this day. The details to which Kathleen Lavoie, along with everyone who participated in creating it (most notably Chuck Comeau), dived into, are quite astounding: for instance the story of Patrick’s role in Simple Plan getting signed, Mark Hoppus’ letter to Chuck or Mark McGrath’s words about Simple Plan – they all moved me quite a lot.

While I wrote earlier that I was mostly interested in the stories from the part of SP’s career that I “missed”, I was also wondering about the post 2005 era – what did I miss in that part of their story even if I was around? What are the things that fans cannot tell from the band members’ blogs on MySpace or later tweets? It was quite eye-opening to see that despite the feeling of being so in-the-loop with the news around SP, there are things that the guys just don’t share. That’s why I was very interested in the stories about the writer’s block the guys had before the self-titled album or about how this album flopped in the U.S. market.

There are many other things I’d like to say about this book but I don’t want to be too specific about the details as I believe you should read about those on your own if you decide to purchase it. The book offers so much more: so many incredible pictures that you will stare at for hours because you won’t believe how good they are. All that mostly thanks to the three marvellous photographers: Patrick, Chady and Sim. When you go through one page after another, you’ll also be amazed by the graphic design: the pages are colorful and well balanced with text and pictures that are put together in a form of a scrapbook: a work by no-one other but Simple Plan’s royal graphic designer Fred Jerome, who’s done a fantastic job on this project. So has Kathleen Lavoie by putting together all the information found in Chuck’s parents’ archives and combining it with in-depth interviews with the band members and other personalities important to Simple Plan’s story. The language is very likable and draws you in the story in a heartbeat.

All in all, this book is everything. Everything you ever wanted to know about the band – and even more. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been around for a while or just got to know them. This book will put you in perspective of what the guys are really like – their ups and also downs, what their goals are and how exactly they have made it to where they are today – a multi-platinum band with fans all across the world, while still staying together – not breaking up, being down-to-earth and doing everything they can for their fans.

And if you still need a little bit more persuading – 10% of the proceeds of the Simple Plan book go to the Simple Plan Foundation.

In case you need to know info about how to order the book, visit this section on SimplePlan.cz.