Another year has gone by and we are already looking forward to what’s going to happen in the next one. But while we’re still all surrounded by 2011, let’s summarize all that’s happened this year in the world of Simple Plan, just like we do every year.
Here is the recap of 2011:
Just a couple of days after the start of the year we’ve learned one of the most basic information about the upcoming fourth Simple Plan record: that one of the new songs would have 2 versions: English and French. It was only a couple months later that we’ve found out this song was called Jet Lag. Still in January, the band started planning their tour for the whole year. The next month the first official snippet (of 27 seconds) was released: for the song You Suck At Love that the fans have only heard in full live version so far. And to celebrate his 90K followers on Twitter, Pierre has released the so-called “Twitter song”.
March has been full of news about the new album: first, the band revealed in a special video the official release date of the record: June 21st, then Alex Gaskarth was confirmed to be one of the collaborations on the album and Simple Plan also released a full version of their song Can’t Keep My Hands Off You, to which they also recorded an accompanying music video (even though the song itself wasn’t released as an official single). Apart from that, Sebastien released his second EP “Les Robots” online for free in March, Simple Plan were confirmed to be the co-writers of All Time Low’s song “Time Bomb” and once again Pierre and Chuck worked with Faber Drive on a few of their lyrics. In the same month the song “Wavin’ Flag” by Young Artists For Haiti (that Pierre has been a part of and that was released a year before that) has won the award for “Single of the Year” on 2011’s Juno Awards.
In April, Simple Plan recorded two more music videos: for Jet Lag and Astronaut. Jet Lag was released a few days after its recording and SimplePlan.cz was the first site to inform about the fact that Natasha Bedingfield and Marie-Mai were to sing on it. The music video first appeared on the so-called Jet Lag Airlines, which was an interactive segment on the official Simple Plan website which revealed the fans a certain surprise regarding the new record every other day. This way the fans got to know the official name of the record: Get Your Heart On! and also its tracklisting.
The closer we got to the release of the album, the more information was released. In May, all the collaborations on GYHO have been released: namely Alex Gaskarth, K’Naan, Natasha Bedingfield, Marie-Mai and Rivers Cuomo. Simple Plan organized a “secret” show in Montreal, Canada, which only a small amount of fans could attend and be able to hear all the songs from GYHO live for the first time ever, including the party medley that SP used on their shows for the rest of the year. The official Simple Plan website changed its look and the fans were able to see the band for the first time on their new photos and videos imitating many famous bands from Ramones to Wham! The band stopped in Japan and Singapore, where also a few of its members took part in the recording of a special version of the song Fix You, this time for benefit purpose.
At the beginning of June, Simple Plan performed in a few European countries, mostly on local festivals. On a few occasions, the boys took advantage of the fact that the record was still not out and they could surprise the fans with new songs, so they played not only the just released single, but also the never-heard-before songs like Last One Standing (in Poland), Astronaut (in Germany) or Freaking Me Out (in France). In the midst of June the guys appeared on the annual MMVAs in a pink limo, surprising all the media and guests by their fierce looks alá Plan! On June 21st Simple Plan finally released their 4th studio album called Get Your Heart On!, which has received unexpectedly good reviews: both from the fans and also from the critiques. The album has been declared more than once as “the best pop-rock album of 2011”. In June, Simple Plan joined other bands on Warped Tour in the USA, which they continued performing at also during July.
Pierre’s appearance as a judge in the competition called Canada Sings premiered in August, when Simple Plan also began their promo tour in Asia. Unfortunately, after the first show in South Korea, the band was forced to cancel the remaining shows and also a few concerts in Europe, due to Pierre being diagnosed with a case of swollen vocal chords. Luckily Pierre got well really soon and the band continued their tour in Europe from the end of August till the beginning of September, visiting many countries. While in the Czech Republic, SimplePlan.cz had the honor to interview three members of Simple Plan and give them a present that hundreds of Czech fans participated in.
After the end of this tour, the guys returned to their homeland, where, still in September, a new charitable campaign for Centraide was launched, revealing the members of Simple Plan in their naked glory and making millions of fans swoon. A few days after that the band released their second single (and third music video) from GYHO: Astronaut. The annual Simple Plan Foundation benefit event took place in September and was very special: Simple Plan were joined on stage by the Montreal Symphonic Orchestra (OSM).
From Canada, Simple Plan flew all the way to Australia, where the band played a few shows in October and November. From this tour the band composed another music video for their next single – Summer Paradise. After Australia, Simple Plan went back to North America, this time joined by The Cab, Marianas Trench and Forever The Sickest Kids on Simple Plan’s tour across the United States. SP spiced up this tour on Halloween, when they put on their tiny white shorts and tank tops – just like on MMVAs – as Plan!
In November, we were able to watch the whole documentary in the program called Born To Be, in which MuchMusic documented he whole history of Simple Plan. The band also started announcing their tours for the upcoming year. In the midst of the month, SP visited Brazil again, where the played two concerts, and Mexico after that. In this time, Simple Plan also came up with a limited edition of the “I Got A Heart On For You” t-shirts with all proceeds going to charitable causes.
And finally in December, first a video for the song Loser Of The Year appeared on the internet, confusing pretty much all the media that declared it “another SP music video”. Anyway, later it turned out not to be any official music video, but nevertheless it has received lots of positive reviews. Shortly after that the band released the official music video made of live footage from Australia – for the song Summer Paradise. Simple Plan also managed to attend a few Jingle Jams in the USA and the whole recording of SP’s performance with OSM has been released online. Towards the end of the year, more information about the upcoming documenatary called Je Suis Fan about the fans of music (including Simple Plan fans) leaked online, including a trailer. The last concert of this year will be Simple Plan’s New Year’s Eve show at Niagara Falls.
And what can we expect from 2012? So far, Simple Plan have huge tours in Asia and Europe scheduled for the first half of the year. And who knows… maybe they will visit your country too! Just don’t forget one thing: in order for them to know they are wanted in a certain country, they must be getting some feedback in a form of the counts of plays of theirs songs on the local radio stations. So go and request the singles from Get Your Heart On! and help Simple Plan come to your country too!
