For the past 12 years, ever since SimplePlan.cz started, we’ve been putting out recaps of the past year every December to summarize everything important or interesting that has happened over the course of the year in the world of Simple Plan news. Obviously, even despite the whirlwind of 2020, it was important for us to continue with this tradition and in the course of writing the recap, we reminded ourselves of all the interesting and positive things that did happen in 2020… even if the negative ones might have overshadowed them.
You can check out all the past reviews from 2009 later on over here – 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 – but right now, let’s go ahead, take a deep breath and have a look at everything that happened in 2020!
Believe it or not, 2020 started off pretty great! In January, the boys headed back to the recording studio to finish 4 more songs for their upcoming 6th album and it was also announced that the album would be co-produced by three people: Pierre Bouvier, Brian Howes and JVP. At that point, it was planned that the album would come out probably in the middle or the second half of the year.
The boys hurried up in the studio, because they had to have everything done by February, when they headed off to the United Kingdom, which ended up to be their only touring endeavour this year. Simple Plan joined the headliners Bowling For Soup on their tour, which was eventually all sold out. While in the UK, Simple Plan announced another exciting tour: a co-headlining tour with New Found Glory across the United States, initially planned for May/June 2020. Some of the shows got sold out almost immediately and more had to be added – that’s how excited the American fans were about this particular tour.
But as luck would have it… we all know what happened next. In March, COVID-19 spread all across the world, quickly turning into a worldwide pandemic and changing the lives of every single one of us, one way or another. All future appearances and tours slowly got canceled, as it became more and more clear that we will not be going back to our normal lives as quickly, as we initially hoped. But let’s add at least one positive thing about March – Silverstein’s new album (‘A Beautiful Place To Drown’) was released on March 8th and Pierre Bouvier’s voice was featured on a pretty cool song called ‘Take What You Give’.
In April, just like all of us, the band continued staying at home and some of the band members started finding new things to do to kill the time – the most active of all being Pierre. Pierre first appeared in Neck Deep’s new music video called ‘When You Know’, which was done in a very quarantining and social distancing way and later on in the month he also first joined the platform Cameo, where anyone can hire personalities to send them a personalized greeting. To keep their fans’ spirits up, Simple Plan decided to release the fully filmed show from the No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls 15th anniversary tour called ‘Live in Anaheim’ online for free on their YouTube channel for all fans to watch and enjoy.
Around mid-April, something amazing happened: Simple Plan’s old hit ‘I’m Just A Kid’ suddenly blew up on TikTok, as people started using the song in the new #ImJustAKidchallenge, in which (out of quarantine boredom) they decided to recreate old family photos in the 2020 setting. The song became so huge, it also affected its streams on Spotify and YouTube going up, eventually turning it Platinum in the U.S. in May. Simple Plan decided to then join TikTok as well, and from the safety of the Canadian and U.S. homes and latest technologies – they managed to create a bunch of I’m Just A Kid TikToks as well – some of them even with all members ‘together’.
Besides dealing with the sudden TikTok fame, Pierre also mentioned that SP were almost ready to release some new material soon (which didn’t happen, likely because of what came next in July) and it was also announced that Simple Plan were finished with their 6th album – with its release however being pending due to the on-going pandemic.
So far, the first half of 2020 was pretty eventful, considering the situation. That has however drastically changed in July, when certain sexual misconduct allegations against David Desrosiers came into the light and on July 10th, just a day after the allegations were posted online, David himself announced that he is withdrawing from the band, apologizing for the “harm he has caused to women” and promising to seek help. With this shocking statement to many, the remaining members of the band decided to take some time off to “pause, reflect and put in place guidelines to prevent similar situations from happening”. And that was the last we heard of them all the way until October.
Finally in October, Simple Plan returned online after a 3-month hiatus, keeping their word and announcing a set of changes and guidelines that will be put in place from now on for every show and every performance in order to prevent any wrong-doing and to promote inclusivity and safety at their shows. From this statement and many others that followed from October until now, the message from Simple Plan has been clear and consistent – David is no longer part of the band and the band is now trying to move on as a foursome: with Pierre, Chuck, Jeff and Sebastien. With the band being back, fans have also cheered the return of Sebastien’s (and Patrick’s) podcast Man Of The Hour for another season after a pause, also caused by the band’s hiatus from any online setting. And best news at the end: the band has confirmed that the final mixes of the new album have now also been finished.
It is clear that today, there’s much more uncertainty about the future than ever before. But still – since the vaccine against COVID-19 is already being administered to thousands of people all over the world and millions in the upcoming months, we are slowly moving towards a safer future.
And in time, there will hopefully come a moment, when we will all gather at a show without having to wear a mask or social distance again. We are hoping that the return of live music could happen at least in the second half of 2021 but the question is: what will touring look like after the pandemic? Will meet&greets still be a thing? Will negative tests or proofs of vaccination be necessary to enter a concert venue? Those questions will surely have to be answered eventually.
But as far as Simple Plan concerns, the band has had the past 6 months to deal with the departure of their bassist. We can imagine, of course, that such a big change must come with tons of other issues – whether personal, financial or legal. The question of David’s participation on the 6th album still remains uncertain, as he did record his parts, so it is likely he will be credited on the record (unless they decided to rerecord his parts, which is unlikely). More than likely however, the band will just go on without him as a four piece and promote the album that way. Whether the band will eventually acquire a new bassist or hire just a touring musician to help out with the bass parts at live shows is still unknown.
Overall, the main goal for 2021 for Simple Plan should be the final release of their 6th album, which fans have been waiting for for incredible 5 years… A lot has changed since then – but given the recent huge success of other artists in Simple Plan’s niche – namely All Time Low or Yungblund – we believe there is still place for Simple Plan in today’s music scene.
Let’s see what 2021 brings..
Stay tuned for more news!
