Breakfast with Simple Plan

Montreal-based quintet Simple Plan stopped by Albany Broadcasting to play an acoustic set with The Fly Morning Rush last Thursday, promoting their new self-titled album Simple Plan, supported by about 20 listeners who won V.I.P. passes to attend the Breakfast Jam.

“We’re pretty regular down-to-earth guys. We don’t date crazy celebrities or anything,” said lead singer Pierre Bouvier. Although the celebrities they do have in their cell phones include Avril Lavigne, Mark Hoppus from Blink-182, Boys Like Girls and Hilary Duff.

A fan asked them how it felt to inspire so many people and Bouvier answered “I think it’s great to know our music impacts so many people.”

Concerning their hybrid new album guitarist and background vocalist Sebastien Lefebvre said, “You crash and burn,” when artists do not change their music. Bassist and background vocalist David Desrosiers said, “We were scared not to change. It was important for us to keep the excitement going.” Bouvier added “It’s better to evolve than not to change at all.” Guitarist Jeff Stinco said “In this album we include R&B and Hip Hop. We wanted to kind of create a new sound and reinvent ourselves for the new record.”

“When people ask me to describe our sound” Bouvier said, “I always think of it as angry, negative, depressive lyrics over really poppy, uplifting music.” The song “Save You” deals with Bouvier’s brother’s battle with cancer. “What If” is a wide view essay, inspired by the TV show “Heroes,” about changing and improving the world. Although “I Can Wait Forever” is an unconditional love song about Bouvier’s current relationship, the rest of the album deals with dark and even bitter romantic tumult.

Simple Plan showed a down-to-earth side, as they answered personal questions. On fantasizing about women, Stinco answered, “Dave’s mom is actually kinda hot.”

On Montreal’s culture, Desrosiers said, “I’m not such a big hockey fan but I think that Montreal has beautiful architecture.” Stinco added that Montreal’s “strip clubs are good.”

One of the questions frequently asked of a touring band is about life on the road. “You stop using ice, because they don’t use ice over there [in Europe],” said Bouvier. He also added that in Japan “They sing in key. I think it’s because they sing karaoke all the time.” As for the new stop on the band’s tour, Lefebvre said “Prague is going to be fun.”