Canadian pop-punk band Simple Plan took a brief hiatus from music, but they’re back!
Simple Plan’s fourth album “Get Your Heart On” hits store shelves today and GlobalGrind caught up with Simple Plan’s lead singer Pierre Bouvier to talk about his celebrity crushes, growing up in Canada, his favorite rappers, and of course their new album!
For more music from Simple Plan, click here.
Check out the exclusive interview below!
GlobalGrind: The new album “Get Your Heart On” comes out June 21st. How do you feel?
Simple Plan: It is so exciting!
How amped are you?
I am so amped I can’t even contain myself.
What’s been the inspiration behind the new album?
The inspiration, if I can narrow it down to something, I would say it’s about having a good time. We wanted the record to be fun. We were thinking about playing new songs for the next year and a half, two years, so we wanted it to be upbeat and have something we would have a good time doing for the next year and a half.
How old were you when you first started making music?
Well, I started my first band with the drummer of Simple Plan right now. I think we were thirteen, fourteen. We recorded our first album in my parent’s basement. My brother had a little bit of recording knowledge and his friend did as well. We recorded out of my parent’s basement and we had a little tape. That was in 1993 that came out, so that was like 18 years ago. Crazy.
Do you guys have any funny stories about the times that you were thirteen in your mother’s house?
Yeah, we had some great times. We would play to these local shows and our parents would drive us to the shows. We’d pack up the drums in the cars and I remember the first little tour that we did was called Ramp Rage and we were playing with this punk band called Good Riddance and another band called Trigger Happy and my parents were nice enough to drive us to the four gigs in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City. I come from a family of travelers and my dad always had a Winnebago and he’d pack up the Winnebago and we’d pull up to these guys that were in vans. And we would show up in our Winnebago with my parents and their dogs. It was pretty funny we were like fourteen year old kids and they were like, who the fuck is this band?
I really want a Winnebago so bad. It’d be pretty cool to just get one and drive across country.
It’s pretty awesome. I think that I definitely want to get one too. When I was younger I’ve seen more than 95% of Americans. I’ve seen more of America than they have. By the time I was thirteen, fourteen I’ve been to the Grand Canyon, Vegas, California, Florida, all the East Coast, down to Santa Fe, New Mexico and all that, it was crazy.
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There’s a lot of amazing artists that have recently emerged from Canada. Is there something in the water or what’s going on?
I think it’s the weather. It’s so cold all year round, there’s nothing else to do but put together a band and make music. Honestly, I feel like if you live somewhere where the weather’s very hot and nice, the last thing you’re thinking about is getting together in a basement and rocking out to music all day long. You just want to go to the beach. I think the weather has to do with it and the fact that it’s just a really good scene up there. It’s hard to explain. It could be the food too.
There’s a lot of indie, alternative, hip-hop and pop groups that are coming out.
I think it’s a good community and there’s always been a strong support from the government for music. There’s a lot of quotas on radio and on TV that they have to play Canadian content which allows us to have somewhat of a scene up there.
You guys met back in when? How long has it been?
We’ve been together for about 12 years. The first album will have its 10th anniversary this coming March.
Does it seem that long?
You know, I definitely feel like I’ve been doing this all my life. It’s so part of who I am and I can’t remember me not being in this band. I feel like you look at the age that we are and the age that I am in my head and it doesn’t quite match up. I think in a way it feels like we’ve been doing this for a long time and in a way we still have a lot more to give and we’re not done talking yet.
If you could have it your way, who would be your dream collaboration?
I think Pink. I think she’s really awesome, she has a great voice and she keeps it rocking. I mean we met her like a bunch of times and hung out with her and she’s really cool. I like her vibe.
Her daughter’s name is Willow Sage.
No way, that’s awesome!
If you could collaborate with any hip-hop artists, who would you collaborate with?
Well we have collaborated in this album with K’naan who’s an amazing rapper from Canada. Other than that I like Drake, Drake’s awesome. I really like Ludacris I think he has funny lyrics and that weird swagger.
Where do you personally want to be in music in the next five years?
I think we’re going to just keep doing what we’re doing, you know? The path of Simple Plan kind of evolves every year with every album and we just kind of go along and do what we love. We make records that we love to hear and I think it’s going really well. I think we want to keep doing what we’re doing. I wouldn’t want to change anything. I think that we would naturally evolve the way that we want to and need to and musically, I can see myself doing one or two records and playing for the fans all over the world.
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If you were sent to the most deserted part of Canada and you could only bring three albums with you, what three albums would you bring?
I would bring Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers greatest hits, I would bring Thrice “Artist in the Ambulance” and Lagwagon “Hoss,” it’s awesome.
Can you tell us something that most people don’t know about you?
I think people know everything. We end up saying so much that there’s nothing left, there’s no more mystery. I said this a few times but I’m actually still afraid of the dark sometimes. It’s kind of creepy like when you walk around in a room and you can’t see anything. I kind of imagine things coming at me for some reason. I know for a thirty year old guy it’s weird, but what are you going to do.
Do you have any celebrity crushes?
I always had a big crush on Jessica Biel. She’s pretty damn hot, I would do her.
What’s the weirdest or most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you on stage?
It happens once in awhile, we change the set all the time and I have to remember all these lyrics and sometimes the lyrics kind of come out once you remember the first word or sentence and then they all come out but once in a while, you’re like, ‘Oh shit, I have no idea what I’m supposed to sing right now.’ It happened to me a couple weeks ago. It was actually a show that was streamed online. Tt was an acoustic show in Germany. And I could not remember the second verse of “Welcome to my Life” for some reason I just could not remember it. I’m just like I don’t know where my head is and it’s not happening right now. It’s kind of embarrassing especially the fact that it was online for everybody to see.
What’s your favorite thing to do besides make music?
My favorite hobby is surfing. I started surfing like four or five years ago and I love it. Every time we have time off I try to go somewhere I can get my surf on.
Do you surf on a long board?
I have all kinds of boards. I have a long board, I got a short board, I got a hybrid board. I got like six boards. It’s like my obsession.
Have you ever had a major wipeout before?
Yes. I fractured my shoulder blade, broken my nose and that’s about it. It’s a lot more dangerous than it seems, but it’s fun.
What’s your favorite color?
I think I would say blue or green. I like them both.
What’s your favorite thing to eat?
My mom’s Shepherd’s Pie homemade, it’s awesome.
Who’s your absolute favorite person in the world?
Sebastian, my guitar player. We hang out all the time. We have the same sense of humor, same TV shows, we get along good.
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Do you drink?
Yeah I drink, but a little less than I used to. When we were younger we used to indulge a little more, but we try to focus on work a little more now to give a good show so you got to be in good shape the next day. I’m a beer guy though.
What’s your favorite beer?
Dos Equis Amber on tap.
What’s one thing you love to wear?
I’ve been wearing the same pair of shoes for a long time. They’re these Creative Recreation shoes that are high top, like funky high top, with a bunch of different fabrics on them. I’ve been wearing them for the last year and a half.
What’s your most prized possession?
My dog, for sure. She’s not really mine, she has her own life but she’s my dog. Her name is Delilah, she’s seven years old. She’s a little black Chihuahua but she’s a giant Chihuahua, she’s like thirteen pounds, which is big for a Chihuahua. She’s a friendly dog, she’s been raised on tour for awhile and loves anyone, but she doesn’t like other dogs that much. She loves anyone. If you slept over my house she would probably sleep with you instead of me.
What are a few of your personal musical inspirations?
I think that now I listen to everything. I listen to the radio and I listen to whatever gets thrown my way by my friends or the guys in the band, but I think that a large part of what I was influenced by when I was younger was, well the first thing I was really obsessed with when I was younger was AC/DC. I had like all the records, I think I was in like fourth, fifth grade. I was rocking like “Highway to Hell” and “Blow up Your Video” and all those old records. After I got into like the Southern California punk rock scene with like Sky Records and like Epitaph Records and bands like No Use For A Name and Face to Face. That’s really what shaped my teenage years and I think it still can be heard in our music today. Just sort of like that high energy, really melodic, fast past music. And after that it was kind of like anything. Anything from like hip-hop to reggae, to anything that’s on the radio, to stuff like even Justin Timberlake, to whatever I hear whenever I’m anywhere.
What’s been your favorite moment while touring?
The first time we toured in Japan. We just released a first record and Japan was when one of the first places that it hit pretty big. We got out there. There were fans at the airport waiting for us, fans at the hotel waiting for us. We were playing all these sold out shows and then we’d go back to the hotel and all these people wanted autographs and pictures and it was kind of a surreal feeling at the time because it’s never happened before. That will still remain one of the highlights.
Are there any rumors that you want to deny?
I don’t know of any, we’re not the rumor mill kind of band.
Would you like to share anything else before we leave?
Our records coming out, we’re on tour, check out the website simpleplan.com for all the tour dates and details and we’ll be coming to a city near you, very soon.
