La Presse+ recently published a brand new article featuring Simple Plan’s Chuck Comeau, which took a bit of a different spin to regular interviews with this drummer. Instead of music, Chuck was asked about a car that marked his childhood, the very first car he owned, his worst car and also his dream car – which happens to be the car he currently owns, as he’s an owner of his dream Tesla.
If you’d like to know more about Chuck and cars, you can check out the English version of the interview below:
“Doc Brown’s and Marty McFly’s DeLorean DMC-12 from the Back to the Future trilogy. Like many children at the time, I loved these movies and I was fascinated by this car, which not only looked extremely cool, but could also travel back in time and fly. I went to see all the movies with my parents, I watched them at home on VHS and every time they played on TV. The Doc’s character’s quote: “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads …” impressed me greatly and I really wanted to be Marty McFly, drive this car and have a hoverboard!”
MY FIRST CAR
“It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but I did not get my driver’s license until I was 30 years old. I started my driving lessons when I was 16, but I gave up on touring Canada with my first band, Reset, at age 17. The first vehicle I bought, or rather was bought by the band, was an old motorized car in very bad condition that we paid something like $3,000 for at the time. It was a real public danger, but for us it was a luxury tourbus where we could sleep, cook and look like a professional band. We managed to make the round trip Montreal-Vancouver before it died during our second tour, in a snowbank between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay. Then, when Simple Plan started, our lead singer’s dad lent us an old recycled ambulance van, with the sirens and oxygen tanks still installed at the back, which allowed us to make our first shows and countless trips between Montreal and Toronto, where we recorded our first album, ‘No Pads, No Helmets … Just Balls’!”
MY WORST CAR
“I will always remember when the band rented a car during the recording sessions of our first record in Toronto. We knew that all the money that the record company was advancing us would be refundable, so we were extremely cautious with our expenses, not to mention very cheap, and that’s why we had chosen to rent a car from the business of Rent-A-Wreck Rental …. a 1995 Ford Taurus! On the phone, it was really the windfall of the century: only $50 a month! We quickly understood why when we got behind the wheel. It was literally the worst car in town! The brakes did not work, the bumper held in place with “duct tape” and the color was a mixture of yellow and indescribable brown. But even worse than that, it was the nauseating smell that came from inside the vehicle. It was as if there was a dead animal in the glove compartment. It made our heart ache so much that we took deep breaths before boarding and kept our noses stuffed all the way. We were so embarrassed when we arrived at our destination because we were convinced that our clothes smelled the same … it was absolutely horrible!”
MY DREAM CAR
“I am a big fan of Tesla and I consider myself extremely privileged to own my two dream cars, the Tesla Model S (sedan) and the Tesla Model X (SUV)! Tesla is an incredible builder that, I believe, will greatly accelerate humanity’s progress towards the rejection of fossil fuel dependence and the adoption of clean and renewable forms of energy, and I am very proud to have a small contribution in that all by being an owner. I’ve been driving a Tesla for more than four years and I still feel the same joy every time I get behind the wheel. We just bought the Model X and the falcon doors that open up are so practical with our two and a half year old boy. And the best part of all this is to never have to refuel at the gas station! It’s a game changer! It’s really a revolutionary car, with absolutely gorgeous design and hallucinating performance and, honestly, even if I won the lottery tomorrow morning, I don’t think I would want to drive another car.”
