Simple Plan
Nov 14, 2011
Simple Plan is one of Canada's most successful punk-pop acts, featuring a lineup comprised of former high school pals Pierre Bouvier (vocals), Jeff Stinco (guitar), David Desrosiers (bass), Sebastien Lefebvre (guitar), and Chuck Comeau (drums). The quintet initially came together when Comeau and Bouvier founded Reset at age 13. Reset proved to be a modestly successful band in Canada, touring the country with other punk groups like MxPx, Ten Foot Pole, and Face to Face. A debut album followed in 1997; however, Comeau bowed out quietly to attend college. Two years later, Comeau pushed his studies to the back burner and returned to music, this time working with Stinco and Lefebvre to put a new group together. Meanwhile, Bouvier was still in charge of Reset, but he'd grown tired of being both a frontman and a guitarist. After he and Comeau reconnected at a Sugar Ray show in late 1999, Bouvier agreed to join Comeau's new project. Desrosiers, who briefly replaced Bouvier in Reset, was also asked to join the group, and Simple Plan was born.
The band quickly hit the road and joined the annual Vans Warped Tour in 2001. By this point, Simple Plan had carved out a spunky, energetic punk sound, textured like Cheap Trick but raw like Pennywise. The following year, Simple Plan headed into the studio to capture the sound on tape. Good Charlotte's Joel Madden and Mark Hoppus of blink-182 joined Simple Plan during those sessions, and the end result was the fiery, fun No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls, which was released in early 2003 on Lava Records. The group took home a 2003 MuchMusic Video Award for People's Choice Favorite Canadian Group in June, and the album became a genuine success, selling over four million copies worldwide while going double-platinum in Canada and America. The Bob Rock-produced second album, Still Not Getting Any..., appeared the next year and also did quite well, scoring hits like "Crazy" and "Welcome to My Life." Simple Plan continued touring in support of both releases, and released the concert album Live from the Hard Rock in 2005.
Simple Plan entered the studio in June 2007 to begin work on their third studio album, the self-titled Simple Plan, which appeared in February 2008. "When I'm Gone", the first single from Simple Plan was released on October 29th when the band held a fan webcast. On February 17, 2008, Simple Plan achieved their highest charting single in the UK. After the first two albums just missed the UK top 40, "When I'm Gone" gave the band their best chart position in the UK, coming in at number 26.
The band's fourth album Get Your Heart On! was released on June 21st. Fans who pre-ordered the album were given access to several other songs from the album prior to the actual release date. Three tracks were released for those who pre-ordered, including "You Suck at Love", "Loser of the Year" and "Freaking Me Out." On April 20th the band announced that "Jet Lag" would be the album's lead single. The song was released in English and French versions featuring singers Natasha Bedingfield and Marie-Mai respectively. To promote the song, a service called "JetLag Airlines" was set up on the website, releasing news, lyrics, tracklists and videos regarding the album. The song is currently climbing up the Hot AC radio charts.