Tag Archives: depression

David not to join Simple Plan at shows in Japan, Hawaii and Warped cruise

AUTHOR: Dominika | 14. October 2017 | no comments

While the crew is already waiting for them in Japan, the members of Simple Plan are currently on their way to this country where they will kick off another part of their No Pads tour. Unfortunately once again, the band has just made an announcement that David Desrosiers will not be appearing on the upcoming shows in Japan, Hawaii and on the Warped Rewind At Sea cruise, due to his continuous struggles with depression. While David is said to be getting better, the band members have assessed as a group that it wouldn’t be the best idea for him to go on such a long trip right now, as touring can be very demanding – both physically and mentally.

You can see that it is yet unclear whether David might join Simple Plan in Mexico or not – as of right now, the band is keeping the door open for the possibility of his return there and will reassess the situation a little bit closer to the start of the Mexican tour in the beginning of November (which follows directly after the Warped cruise).

We are of course all standing behind David and the band’s decision to give him the needed time to get better and we will be happy to welcome him back whenever he decides to come back.

Below, you can read Simple Plan’s official statement on David’s upcoming absence in Japan, Hawaii and Warped Rewind At Sea.

“Japan, we’re on our way!

We can’t wait to be back on tour and play shows again! We’re extremely fortunate to be doing what we do and very grateful to everyone who supports our band and comes to our shows! Thank you!

We know some of you have been asking for an update on David and here’s the latest we can share with you:
David is still resting at home and recovering from mental health issues and although he’s making progress, we came to the conclusion, after meeting together, that he still needed more time before he could be ready to head back on tour and play shows. Therefore, he won’t be with us in Japan, Hawaii and on the Warped at Sea cruise. We will reassess the situation together after that.

We want all our fans to know that David has our unconditional support and that the only priority is him getting better and back to feeling healthy again. We can’t wait to have him back on stage with us, but we don’t want to impose any deadlines or timetables; he will be back as soon as he feels he’s ready. We hope you understand and give him the time and space to get better. In the meantime and with David’s blessing, the four of us will keep on playing for all of you and we look forward to seeing you soon.”

– Simple Plan –

Chuck and Jeff discuss declining record sales and David’s struggles in a new interview

AUTHOR: Dominika | 26. August 2017 | no comments

Before Simple Plan headed on their North American No Pads tour two weeks ago, Jeff Stinco and Chuck Comeau met up with a reporter from La Presse [see the new accompanying photoshoot here]. In the just-released fittingly-titled La Presse piece “The biggest small band in the world”, the duo discussed a number of not-so-light issues, as in many other interviews, as the interviewer delved into topics such as record sales and the band’s dealing with their bass player’s struggles with depression.

The reporter was surprised to learn that in the 15 years since the release of their first album, Simple Plan have only sold 10 million records. This is what Jeff and Chuck had to say about the tough reality of the contemporary music business:

“Our sales are on the first two albums. Since then, the industry has completely changed. Physical sales virtually no longer exist. Not just for us. For everyone. Our figures are now on Spotify.”

– Jeff Stinco –
“We will not lie to you: we are not Metallica, nor U2. We don’t belong to the 1% of the artists who earn more than the 99% of the middle class bands. If I can use a hockey analogy: we will never be Sidney Crosby, but we will play in the NHL and we make a good living. And quite frankly, even though Simple Plan never made the cover of Rolling Stone, I’m not ashamed of our 10 million sales. I’m not disappointed either. We did what we wanted. Perhaps we have not accomplished everything we have dreamed of, but we are not stopping either. Who knows what tomorrow holds?”

– Chuck Comeau –

Another hard topic the reporter brought up was the issue of David’s absence on tour due to his continuous struggles with depression, which don’t allow him to tour with his band. Jeff pointed out that the fact that they decided to not replace David and keep him with them via pre-recorded tracks, works in their favor much better now than it would have in the past:

“In 2002, it might have been badly seen, but today, the vast majority of groups resort to recorded tracks on show. It’s also a way to keep David with us and not turn everything upside down.”

– Jeff Stinco –

Chuck on the other hand mentioned David’s uniqueness within the band and the difference of his priorities compared to the rest of the band, who are now all husbands and fathers, which may stand behind his struggles:

“David is a rock star and a complex character. He is also the only bachelor in the band. He does not have the same priorities and responsibilities as we do. Because of our families, we tend to organize our tours so that the shows are condensed so that we can return to our homes faster. David – he would like to have more time, more holidays. He has rock star tastes and we have those of blue-collar workers. He has been marginalized within the band and we understand that it is difficult for him. “

– Chuck Comeau –

Chuck and Jeff open up about David’s struggles on the Les Échangistes talk show

AUTHOR: Dominika | 16. August 2017 | no comments

On Tuesday evening, Chuck and Jeff from Simple Plan and also Patrick Langlois, their former website & merch manager, were two of the guests of the Canadian talk show Les Échangistes. While Patrick was there to discuss his Global Citizen ambassadorship, the members of Simple Plan talked to the host Penelope McQuade about their band, upcoming touring plans and also about their friend and bassplayer, David Desrosiers, who will be absent from this tour, due to his continuous struggles with depression.

An article on Showbizz.net brought us a few quotes from this talk show, which show us how in depth did Chuck and Jeff discuss how they deal with their friend’s illness and how David is currently doing. You can read the English translation of it below:

“To answer: “He’s fine”, would be wrong. David is doing the right thing to get better. He surrounds himself with good things. I try to stay positive in all this. I have to. David talks about his discomforts with others and for him, that is a very therapeutic thing to do. I find it important because it may inspire other people to talk about it too. […] I find it very courageous to talk about it openly.

He has a place in the band; He is not going anywhere. We decided not to replace him either. It was very important to him. […] David felt the burden of slowing down and seeing that we continue, it encourages him to get better.”

– Jeff Stinco –

“He’s been our friend for 17-18 years. To see someone you know, someone you love, to go through difficult moments like that, it just breaks your heart. It has always been a little harder for him to follow the infernal rhythm [of the tour] and there it just caught up with him. We support him 100%. We think that taking rest and not coming back too fast is really the key.“

– Chuck Comeau –

Make sure to visit our gallery to look at more pictures of Chuck and Jeff (and Patrick) at Les Échangistes:

David releases official statement – will NOT appear on upcoming U.S./Canadian tours

AUTHOR: Dominika | 9. August 2017 | 5 comments

It has just been officially confirmed by the band that David Desrosiers will unfortunately not be joining them on the upcoming tours across the USA and Canada (August to September). Back in May, it has been revealed that David has been suffering from depression for quite a while and that this mental illness has forced him not be able to attend certain tours. The last time David performed with Simple Plan was in the USA in April earlier this year.

Read the official statement from David and also from the rest of the band below:

“Hi everybody,

I tried my best, worked very hard and I really believed I could make it. There’s nothing that I wanted more than to be ready for our upcoming US and Canadian tour. Unfortunately, there are some things you just can’t control and I will regretfully have to miss our upcoming August and September shows.

Even if I’m starting to feel better, out of respect for you and my band, I don’t feel I should be on stage if I’m unable to give my best performance. I believe this is a temporary setback and that it’s only a matter of time until I’m able to join the guys and you at the shows and do what I I love the most, once again.

I would like to thank all our fans for their support and positive messages; it means a lot to me and I can’t wait to see you all again.”

– David Desrosiers –

“We are sorry to inform you that even though David is making progress and starting to feel better, he’s still not ready to to go back on tour with us and be a part of our upcoming American and Canadian shows. He wrote a message to explain the situation and you can read it on his Instagram account @davidesrosiers.

Depression is a complex issue and there’s no “quick fix” or “magical solution” to overcome it; it takes time and hard work and David is doing everything in his power to do so. We fully support his decision to stay home and rest longer and have nothing but love and support for our friend and bandmate. We know how bad he wants to be back on stage playing with us, but his health is the number one priority for all of us and we all agreed together that this was the right decision for now.

We would like to thank all of you for the incredible amount of positive messages you sent David; it means a lot to him. We know some of you will be disappointed by the situation, and we apologize. We simply ask for your understanding, kindness and compassion in these difficult times for David.

With David’s blessing, all the August and September shows will go on as planned. We look forward to seeing all of you on tour and to welcoming back David on stage with us as soon as he’s ready.”

– Pierre, Chuck, Jeff and Sebastien –

We hope that all fans will understand and respect David’s decision to stay at home and keep working on his mental health, as I’m sure we all want him to come back stronger and healthier than ever. And we applaud Pierre, Jeff, Seb and Chuck for sticking with their friend and respecting his decision.

As far as who replaces David on tour, if nothing’s changed then Chady should be stepping in for David during some parts of the show in more or less the background of the performance set, just like he did on the South American and European tours.

Simple Plan already have “a bulk of songs ready” for 6th album

AUTHOR: Dominika | 25. June 2017 | 2 comments

In a new interview from Hungary, Simple Plan’s guitarist Jeff Stinco discussed the band’s relationship with fans, the reasonings behind David Desrosiers’ absence on tour and also surprisingly hinted on the fact that the band may already have some songs ready to go for their next album.

The Hungarian server Life.hu published an interview with Jeff Stinco today, in which the guitarist revealed a number of interesting information. First of all, this was probably one of the first interviews in which a member of the band opened up about David’s struggles with depression and how the band has dealt with this situation. Jeff even revealed that David insisted that the band continued touring without him. Check out Jeff’s quote below:

“We have a challenge on this particular tour. David, our bass player, is actually not with us. He’s having a really hard time, he’s suffering from depression, which is something that, you know, a few years back, I don’t think we could’ve discussed openly, but I think people are more open to it now. So he’s taking care of himself. And I think that as a band we decided to support him and basically allow him to take that time off and keep touring. And he wanted us to keep going, he wanted us to keep touring.“

– Jeff Stinco –

Towards the end of the interview, the conversation moved to the ever-lasting elephant in the room: when will Simple Plan release a new album? Jeff once again repeated that the band would like to not take as long as they previously have with TOFTT to make a new album but besides that he also dropped a very interesting hint on Simple Plan already having some material to work with! See what Jeff said below:

“You know what, we were planning on celebrating the 15th anniversary around the anniversary of the record, on March 19th, you know 3-4 shows and it’s becoming a full year of touring. But after that, we have to stop. Make a new record. And this time around we’re not gonna wait as long to put out new music. We have a bulk of songs that are already ready but we’re perfectionists and we wanna make sure that you know, like, what we release is actually up to par. And we’re ambitious guys, you know, we wanna… I told you earlier, we wanna keep growing and evolve and that demands time. So we’re gonna spend the time that it takes in the studio to develop those songs. As I said, it’s a work in progress. We’re gonna finish this touring, get into the studio and man, hopefully we’re not gonna take a full year of recording like we did the last time.”

– Jeff Stinco –

As you know from the SimplePlan.cz interview, the band definitely expects some song-writing to be done but it’s very interesting to hear that Simple Plan already have some songs they can use as a starting ground. Given that Simple Plan never write on the road, it is very possible that the songs Jeff mentioned in the interview are some of the “left-overs” from the song-writing sessions from Taking One For The Team. Chuck and Pierre wrote over 80 songs for TOFTT but only 14 of them made it onto the record. Now, not all of the remaining 66 songs are completely finished, but some of them might be and perhaps these are the songs Jeff is thinking off.

It wouldn’t be the first time for Simple Plan to use old material for a new record. In 2013 Simple Plan released a whole EP “Get Your Heart On: The Second Coming”, which featured songs originally written for Get Your Heart On. Similarly also GYHO itself included a bonus track called ‘Never Should’ve Let You Go‘, which the boys wrote for their third, self-titled album. In most cases however, Simple Plan usually start working on a new album from scratch.

You can watch the full interview with Jeff for Life.hu below:

How do you feel about Simple Plan possibly using songs they wrote for their previous record? Would you like to listen to more songs created in the “TOFTT” era? Let us know in the comments!