What was your experience on this spring’s Bamboozle Roadshow like?
Chuck: We hadn’t done a U.S. tour in a long time, and we were definitely curious – maybe a bit apprehensive – about how we would go over. We wanted to see if people still cared, and we were blown away by the response. It was really reassuring. People were stoked and were like, “Where the fuck have you guys been?” [Laughs.]
It’s been two-plus years since your last album. What’s been the biggest change you’ve seen in the industry in that time?
Pierre: Even back as far as 2005, the number of illegal downloads is so mindblowing. But I think albums are becoming like your business card. You put it out there to let people know who you are, and hopefully they’ll come out to a show. You can never re-create or really bootleg that show, which is great. And technology has changed things, too. People can make great-sounding records with a little bit of money and a little bit of gear. There are definitely more bands because of that, and you’ll have a lot more small-to-medium-sized bands instead of huge bands like Pearl Jam and Guns N’ Roses.
With so many more bands, how has the increased competition for listeners’ time and money affected Simple Plan
Pierre It’s a songwriting battle now, and whoever can write the most creative and exciting songs pretty much wins. We’ve always taken a lot of time between albums because we don’t want to release something that’s half good songs and half filler. Maybe nowadays it might be smarter for us to concentrate on few massive singles and filler so we could put out more albums, but we don’t agree with that.
How have you had to adapt to deal with things like shrinking video budgets
Chuck: It definitely makes me sad, because I think we caught the tail end of this great perid where you could be so creative and money was hardly an issue. But now you have to find more ways to be innovative and do things a little cheaper. I don’t think things have really changed for us. From the start, we would spend more than 300 days on the road, playing places like Malaysia and the Phillipines where not a lot of bands went. Now all the bands are catching on and going to those places because they’re all trying to tour as much as possible because album sales are suffering.
Are fans okay with bands turning to sponsors to subsidize tours and videos?
Pierre: I think kids feel that it’s cool unless it impacts the product somehow, but in the past you’d be seen as a complete sellout. Can you imagine Nirvana doing a car commercial? They’d be booed offstage and never listened to again. [Laughs.]
What about social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook? How important are those connections with fans?
Chuck: Very important. Even early on, with our first record, we said we wanted to be the most accessible band out there. I think you have to choose if you’re going to keep the mystique or to be open.
Pierre: We put out a DVD with our first record called A Big Package For You, which was a big, teo-hour thing following us on the road. Now we do video updates on our site and Twitter. I think it’s fun for the fans and us as well, but I think you have to do it. There’s always someone else out there that wants it more than you do.
Yesterday some Simple Plan fans had their dreams come true when they had a chance to go to Simple Plan’s recording studio in Vancouver, Canada, sing on the song This Song Saved My Life and as such be a part of the new Simple Plan record forever. By the way, this is the last song that Simple Plan are recording for the album.
