Simple Plan is a Canadian rock band formed in Montreal, Quebec, in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of Pierre Bouvier (lead vocals, studio bass guitar), Chuck Comeau (drums), Jeff Stinco (lead guitar), and Sébastien Lefebvre (rhythm guitar, backing vocals).
The band has released six studio albums: No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls (2002), Still Not Getting Any... (2004), Simple Plan (2008), Get Your Heart On! (2011), Taking One for the Team (2016), and Harder Than It Looks (2022). The band has also released an EP titled Get Your Heart On – The Second Coming! (2013), in addition to two live albums: Live in Japan 2002 (2003) and MTV Hard Rock Live (2005).
The band performed at the Vans Warped Tour every year from 1999 to 2005, and in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018 and 2026. The band also performed at the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony in Vancouver, along with The X Factor Australia. In December 2012, the band performed at Mood Indigo, the college festival of IIT Bombay in Mumbai, India. In 2004, the band appeared as themselves in the film New York Minute, starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Simple Plan also performed "O Canada" at the 2016 NHL Winter Classic. Additionally, they performed the theme music for, and were featured on an episode of, What's New, Scooby-Doo?.
History
Background
Prior to forming Simple Plan, in 1993, Reset was formed by lead vocalist Pierre Bouvier and drummer Chuck Comeau when they were 13 years old. The original band members were Bouvier, guitarist Philippe Jolicoeur, Comeau, and bassist Jean-Sébastien Boileau. The original name for the band was Roach, but as another Canadian band was using this name, the band members decided to change theirs to Reset. The band's first full-length album, No Worries, released in 1997. In 1998, the band lineup changed; Comeau was unhappy with the musical direction and eventually left the group to go to college. Bouvier took Boileau's place in playing bass and a new member, Adrian White from Vancouver, replaced Comeau as drummer.
1999–2001: early years In mid-1999, he met with high school friends and guitarists Jeff Stinco and Sébastien Lefebvre who were in separate bands of their own. Comeau, Stinco, and Lefebvre formed a new band together. Bouvier was going tired of being both a singer and a bassist; in late 1999, Bouvier and Comeau reacquainted at a Sugar Ray concert to join Comeau in the band. For some time, Bouvier switched between the new group and Reset, before ultimately leaving the latter. Bassist David Desrosiers briefly filled Bouvier's position in Reset, which impressed Bouvier and Comeau. Desrosiers was interested in joining another band when he was asked to join the new outfit. He too left the band six months later to join the then-unnamed band. This allowed Bouvier, who had doubled as the band's lead vocalist and bassist, to concentrate on singing, and Stinco, who had doubled as the band's lead guitarist and backing vocalist, to concentrate on guitar.
Originally, the band did not have the name. At first, they considered naming the band Touchdown 999; later Bouvier's friends chose the name Simple Plan, derived from the 1998 film A Simple Plan.
In 2001, Simple Plan performed at Edgefest II in Toronto. Chart Attack, 27 August 2001. Review By Keith Carman and the Warped Tour. The band rehearsed material at Rumble Fish Studios, before recording at Arnyard Studios in Toronto, Ontario with producer Arnold Lanni. Partway through the recording sessions, they signed to major label Atlantic Records in October 2001.
2002–2005: No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls and Still Not Getting Any...
In 2002, Simple Plan released their debut studio album, No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls, which featured the singles "I'm Just a Kid", "I'd Do Anything", "Addicted", and "Perfect". The band was aiming for a pure pop-punk record. The record was originally released in the United States with 12 tracks, ending with "Perfect". Enhanced and foreign editions came in several different versions with up to two additional tracks in addition to the original 12. Two pop punk singers contributed on vocals: Mark Hoppus from Blink-182 on "I'd Do Anything" and included vocals by Joel Madden from Good Charlotte on "You Don't Mean Anything." The years of 2002 and 2003 were formative for the band. MTV Networks featured "Addicted" on one of their top performing shows during the spring of 2003 in the United States and internationally; on MTV and MTVu, and was filmed at the University at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo) in Western New York. Addicted was the theme song for Fraternity Life. While the show was taken off the air the following season the band continued to rise on the billboard charts in the United States and performances continued to be booked and reruns of the show played around the world.
In 2002, the band also performed and recorded the theme song for a rebooted installment of the Scooby-Doo franchise, What's New, Scooby-Doo?. This show used the band's intro throughout its entire run until its conclusion in 2006. It also featured many of the band's songs within episodes of the show, including "I'd Do Anything". The band also starred as themselves in the Season 2 episode "Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman".
In 2003, the band played as a headliner on the Vans Warped Tour — an appearance memorialized in the comedy slasher film, Punk Rock Holocaust, in which four of the five band members are killed. The band also played short stints on the Warped Tour in 2004 and 2005. That same year (2003) the band opened for Avril Lavigne on her Try To Shut Me Up Tour. In addition to several headlining tours, the band has also opened for Green Day and Good Charlotte. The album had sold one million copies in early 2003 then went on to sell over four million copies worldwide, making it the band's best selling album to date.
In 2004, Simple Plan released its second album, Still Not Getting Any... which was produced by Bob Rock and led to the subsequent singles, "Welcome to My Life", "Shut Up", "Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me?)", "Crazy", and (in some markets) "Perfect World".
According to the album's bonus DVD, the band originally considered other names for it like Get Rich or Die Trying, Enema of the State, and In The Zone before deciding on Still Not Getting Any.... The name stemmed from the band's belief that they were not getting any good reviews, with Bouvier once noting that the band only had one recent good review in Alternative Press. Still Not Getting Any... was a musical departure from the group's previous album: the band retained its style of downbeat lyrics matched to upbeat music, but managed to transcend from the standard pop punk genre. Although many of the tracks on this CD still carried the feeling of teen angst that is probably most noticeable in "I'm Just a Kid" from No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls, the general slant of this album tends toward slightly deeper and more mature lyrical themes, as well as a more mainstream sound that edges away from the pure pop punk style of the group's last album. Some critics have pointed towards the inclusion of "classic" or "mainstream" rock elements, claiming the album "de-emphasizes punk-pop hyperactivity in favor of straightforward, well-crafted modern rock".
In 2005, their cover version of Cheap Trick's "Surrender" was featured in the soundtrack album for the superhero film, Fantastic Four.
On September 11, 2005, Bouvier was hit by a water bottle while performing "Welcome to My Life" at the Ovation Music Festival in Stratford, Ontario. He stumbled off the stage and was taken to a nearby hospital shortly after, where he received an undiclosed number of stitches. The band finished the song with an audience member as an impromptu guest singer and cut the concert short. The injury forced the band to cancel their appearance at a ReAct Now: Music & Relief benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina victims the following night. In a separate incident, Comeau was hit in the face by a glass bottle during a concert in Detroit, which required four stitches to his nose/mouth area. Sometime afterwards, they went on a South American tour.
2006–2009: Simple Plan
After nearly a year and a half in support of Still Not Getting Any..., the band ended most touring in February 2006. They were playing only a few shows, taking some time off, and beginning work on the third studio album. Bouvier headed to Miami as on about 21 March 2007 to work with Dave Fortman. The band entered the studio for pre-production in Los Angeles on 29 June. On 15 July the band returned to Montréal to record at Studio Piccolo, the same studio in which the band had recorded Still Not Getting Any.... The band finished recording and headed back to Miami and Los Angeles to mix the album. The final part of making the record was done in New York City, and it was officially completed on 21 October.
When I'm Gone, the first single from Simple Plan, was released on 29 October. This album was produced by both Dave Fortman and Max Martin. On 17 February 2008, the band achieved its highest-charting single in the U.K. After the first two albums just missed the UK top 40, "When I'm Gone" gave the band its best chart position in the UK, coming in at number 26.
Simple Plan held an extensive tour schedule in support of the album. After completing an around-the-world promotional tour, they played several holiday shows during December 2007. After they continued promotional tours in January, Simple Plan played a triple bill in Camden Town, London on 27 January 2008, with the first show featuring songs from the band's first CD, the second from the second, and the third from the new release. The band played four U.S. shows in late February, and completed a European tour running until late April. The band played four Japan dates, followed by several European festivals and headlining dates. On 1 July 2008, the band gave a free concert on Québec City's Plains of Abraham, attracting a crowd of 150,000 people to the Canada Day show. After a return to the Far East in late July and early August, the band played a Cross Canada Tour with Faber Drive, Cute is What We Aim For and Metro Station. After dates in Germany, Mexico, and Australia, the band played its second full European tour of the year from 28 October to 29 November, playing in Estonia and Poland for the first time. The band also played in Tel Aviv and Dubai in early December—shows at which the band played as a four-piece, with Desrosiers absent due to a family emergency and Lefebvre on bass.
2010–2013: Get Your Heart On!
The band's fourth album Get Your Heart On! was released on 21 June 2011. The album marks Simple Plan's second time since No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls to feature collaborations with other artists, including Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, Marie-Mai, Natasha Bedingfield, K'naan and Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low. In April, "Jet Lag" was released in English and French versions featuring singers Natasha Bedingfield and Marie-Mai respectively.Simple Plan's newest features collaborations with Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, K'naan (Nick Patch, The Canadian Press / Brandon Sun) 21 June 2011 The band was on the roster of Warped Tour 2011 for selected dates in June and July 2011.
In September and October 2011, Simple Plan performed four shows in Australia, on the "Get Your Heart On" tour, with supporting bands Tonight Alive and New Empire. During the Australian tour, Jenna McDougall from Tonight Alive featured in "Jet Lag". We the Kings supported Simple Plan in Europe on a tour in spring 2012. The song "Last One Standing" was featured on the NASCAR The Game: Inside Line soundtrack. Simple Plan also performed live with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at Montreal Symphony House in Montréal, Quebec, Canada on 20 September 2011, raising over $500,000 for sick children and young people in need.