Simple Plan Release 'Harder Than It Looks' May 6th!
Photo by Jordan Kelsey Knight
SIMPLE PLAN// From their new millennium rise to MTV superstardom through pop-punk’s modern resurgence that has introduced their iconic, multi-platinum sound to new audiences around the world,SIMPLE PLAN have been an indelible part of pop culture for more than two decades because they’ve never lost sight of what got them there in the first place: their fans.The quartet, formed in Montreal in 1999, enjoy the rare sort of artist-audience dynamic that’s never dulled over time–if anything, it’s only grown, as both the band and their fans have learned that life as outsiders is anything but lonely. It’s this same sense of mutual respect that’s fully on display on “The Antidote,” the first single from their sixth studio album, HARDER THAN IT LOOKS. “‘The Antidote’ is about finding that special person or special thing that will give you away out of the darkness,” vocalist Pierre Bouvier says. “For us, that’s always been our fans.” “The last few years have been challenging for our fans, just like they have for us,”drummer Chuck Comeau adds. “We wanted to release a song that would bring them hope and make them feel less alone. I think the last time we felt so confident about a song hitting home with our fans was when we released ‘Welcome To My Life’ back in 2004! Honestly, if this song doesn’t resonate with them, then I don’t know anything about Simple Plan.”But Comeau, Bouvier, and guitarists Jeff Stinco and Sébastien Lefebvre certainly do know why their legions of worldwide fans love them–and, most importantly, what they themselves love about being in Simple Plan. They deliver that in spades on the self-released HARDER THAN IT LOOKS, their first new music since 2016’sTaking One ForThe Team and the most authentically Simple Plan album since 2004’s Still Not Getting Any. Free agents for the first time in their storied career, the band kept their circle tight during the recording process, enlisting longtime songwriting partners like We The Kings’ Travis Clark and producers Brian Howes and Jason Van Poederooyen (who worked on the band’s 2011’s album Get Your Heart On!) and Zakk Cervini (blink-182, Good Charlotte)to be part of the 2019 sessions. Bouvier himself even got in on the action, receiving producer credit for the first time after years of meticulously crafting the band’s demos. In a time when artists are more in control of their careers than ever before (“No one is ever going to care more about the band than we do,” Comeau says proudly), the sense of freedom the quartet enjoyed while making the album let them follow their own convictions: No looming deadlines, no pressure from external forces to deliver anything other than the record they wanted to make. In doing so, they rekindled a spark they didn’t know was missing. “Throughout our career, it’s taken a while to be mature enough to understand that our sound is an asset, not a liability,” Bouvier says.“On this album we said: ‘Let’s just embrace who we are and not be afraid to do what we do best.’
Making a good Simple Plan record is just as hard as making something off the beaten path.” Thus, HARDER THAN IT LOOKS: an album title that, true to form, elevates the adolescent joy hard-coded into Simple Plan’s DNA since day one while at the same time reinforcing a sense of self-awareness that’s guided them through a career full of ups and downs. “It’s amazingly complex to be in a band for 20-plus years, to keep going, stay relevant and manage all the challenges that come your way,” Bouvier explains. “It’s the furthest thing from a ‘simple plan’–it’s truly a lot harder than it looks. With some more perspective and maturity, we’ve also realized just how lucky we were to have the kind of career we’ve had and to still be here today.“Of course, we worked our asses off, but there’s so many amazingly talented musicians that also worked very hard and never got the same opportunities we did. We somehow beat the odds, and I think we understand just how much pure luck and good fortune played a major role in all of this and feel very fortunate and grateful. That’s what the title is about: being in a band for this long, it’s way harder than people think.”From the skyscraping choruses of “Congratulations” and “Ruin My Life”(ft. Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley)to the unflinching poignancy of the album-closing “Two,” which instantly ranks alongside “Perfect” and “Untitled (How Could This Happen To Me?)” as one of the band’s best closers ever, HARDER THAN IT LOOKS certainly respects Simple Plan’s storied career–and the same spirit that helped the band sell 10 million albums worldwide–without being overtly reverent.The album opening “Wake Me Up (When This Nightmare’s Over)” is a cathartic rush of familiarity and freshness–not to mention a bit lyrically prescient, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit shortly after the band wrapped the album. (“We certainly didn’t set out to write a pandemic album,” Bouvier says with a laugh. “It’s funny how some of the songs might seem like that, though.”) There are even spiritual successors to early material, like the glass-half-full skate-punk-leaning “Best Day Of My Life,” quite a 180 for a band who put a song called “The Worst Day Ever” on their genre-defining, Platinum-selling 2002 debut No Pads, No Helmets... Just Balls. But you won’t find an ounce of fat on the 10-song album, no obvious plays to recapture the radio waves they claimed in the early aughts with smash hits like “I’d Do Anything,” “I’m Just A Kid” and “Addicted.”Even the new sonic twists feel more like left turns and less like detours: The chromatic cool of the ‘80s new-wave “Slow Motion,” reggae-noir anthem “Anxiety” and sports montage-ready “Iconic” push things forward but feel wholly genuine, updating the band’s song book with compelling stylistic twists.“I’d like to think we’ve learned the difference between a great song and a great SimplePlan song,” Bouvier explains. “Even if we’re going to go somewhere different musically, the lyrics have to be authentic.”It’s this ironclad lyrical connection that’s made Simple Plan’s music so timeless and resonant–fully understanding there’s no expiration date on feeling like you don’t fit in and that life doesn’t get easier after-teen disappears from your age. Decades later, audiences of all ages, from all eras of Simple Plan’s career, still pack shows around the world to sing along to evergreen hits and fan favorites alike–songs that burrowed into their souls at key moments in life and, just as importantly, are still evolving to this day.Look no further than your local emo night, where the band’s hits still turn crowds into giddy teenagers again–or the re-emergence of their very first single, “I’m Just A Kid,”which cracked platinum status in 2020 thanks to a TikTok trend. The #ImJustAKidchallenge has spawned more than 3.4 million videos, including clips from the likes ofWill Smith, Ed Sheeran, Usher and Venus and Serena Williams–and more than 4 billion total views.“We quickly realized we would never be the coolest band with the five-star review and all the hype, but that what we had was even better: We were a people’s band, a band that was all about the emotional connection with the audience,” Comeau says. “When you see someone in the front row bawling their eyes out, you just can’t deny that. That’s why we take so long to make albums; we know there’s nothing more important than writing genuine, memorable songs and making sure we believe every word of them.”Regardless of how long it takes for new music to reach them, Simple Plan fans have proven time and again they’ll wait. In a here-today-gone-today world, most acts don’t have the freedom to truly mine the depths of their creativity. For Simple Plan, this unconditional support is something they’ve never taken for granted, looking to pay it forward at every step of the way–from establishing the Simple Plan Foundation that’s donated more than $2 million in Canada and around the world to nurturing younger artists following in their pop-punk footsteps. More than anything, the opportunity to truly center themselves in between album cycles and find what motivates them has given them the determination to always keep moving forward.“We feel so lucky to be a band with fans who love our old and new material,” Comeau says, noting 2022 marks the 20-year anniversary ofNo Pads, No Helmets... Just Balls. “We’re very proud of our past, but we’re even more excited about the future. We’re still ambitious, driven and curious to see what the next 20 years will bring. We truly always feel we’re 3 minutes away from the best or biggest song of our career.” XX