Source: Press+1

We haven’t had a decent long article in here for a while, don’t you think? That’s why I decided to post this article, which caught my attention – Press+1 published an article including an interview with Sebastien. You’ll find out for example something more about the songs from his EP, what’s up with him and charity and how he feels about creativity.

Simple Plan’s Sebastien Lefebvre Gives Back To Youths

You have to like the way Sebastien Lefebvre multi-tasks; when not playing guitar for megalith Canadian band Simple Plan, Lefebvre can be either found releasing his first solo EP “You Are Here/Vous Etes Ici”, taping for his podcast “Man of the Hour” or quite possibly in a local school talking about self-esteem and bullying for the No Health Without Mental Health Symposium.

It comes as no surprise that Sebastien has used his fame and celebrity to influence youths towards positive perspectives as his mother is a child psychologist and social worker. Simple Plan are also highly involved in the Simple Plan Foundation which has given $170,000 back to charitable organizations, built two schools in the Congo and innumerable other charities. The fans of Simple Plan are also contributors to the cause, doing fundraising campaigns for a band and causes they believe in.

“I like to help out where I can,” says Lefebvre in English that is slightly laced with the sweetness of his francophone accent, “We also like to promote music as a way to work through your problems with the Simple Plan foundation. Nothing but positive has come from this. We try to be socially conscious and think about how our foundation can help in Canada and in the world.”

Speaking of being international, Simple Plan isn’t just a Canadian band, they have fans all over the world and the last time we interviewed the band we received a lot of positive response from the Brazilian fans. “Brazil is one of those places where our fans are intense and very verbal about their love for us. It’s great,” says Lefebvre.

Whether it be Brazilian, Canadian or any other fans around the world, they should be excited about the prospect of Lefebvre’s new EP as he describes the collection as a place where the more introspective songs of Simple Plan ends up. “Sometimes you see a song grow into a big rock song and they usually end up on the Simple Plan records and sometimes you write a song and it goes in a completely different collection. After a little while I had a lot of those songs, and so I decided to re-record them and put them out just for fun.” Picked up by the Simple Plan record label, Warner has given its full support to Lefebvre’s solo project which is compiled of decadent poetic songs from the heart. Sung in both English and French the album might attract a strong lovelorn audience of fans who can slip this onto their iPod and walk around in a bubble of uplifting musings. A sample of the EP can be found on Sebastien Lefebvre’s Myspace.

In fact, Lefebvre has used the internet to really connect with his fans “I like to be very present online, that is where you really get to meet the fans, keep them informed with news and the medium has really helped to spread the word for my projects and many emerging artists so quickly. When you meet fans at concerts now you already have built a connection with them and it is cool to meet someone face to face that you know from online.” Lefebvre has also taken to podcasting as an alternate medium from songs to discuss his thoughts. Called “Man Of The Hour”, the podcast is a joint effort with videographer Patrick Langlois, and is in its sixth season. They haven’t done a podcast for a couple of months now but Lefebvre is committed to doing a new episode over the holidays.

Seeing the connection that Simple Plan has with its community of fans, and the commitment to giving back, showcases the true talents of this artist and his band. Lefebvre reflects, “It is paramount that parents have good connections with their kids. We will hear about kids who have shown their parents lyrics to our songs like ‘Perfect’ and ‘Welcome to my Life’ and it has helped them open up a dialogue. You think that teenagers don’t want to be friends of their parents, but they do and anyway that can be cultivated is beneficial to everyone.”

He says that “youths nowadays are a lot more creative then when I was growing up, a lot of youths are getting involved creatively, whether they are building websites, creating bands, or photography or artwork, they are really using those outlets now.”

It is easy to see that Sebastien Lefebvre is a fan himself; of music, of community, of creativity, of conversation and of his own fans.