Do we want to dig into the archives of a pop-punk band that pogo-ed into our hearts twenty years ago by wailing, "I'm Just a Kid"? Yes, absolutely. Since the early aughts this Canadian rock band have been charmingly smooshing themselves into our lives by way of pop radio, Warped Tour, movie soundtracks and more. We recently had the opportunity to talk data with drummer Chuck Comeau who detailed some very memorable fest moments and a few songs targeted by Gen Z/TikTok that meant a setlist refresh. Take a look:
Checking for accuracy:
"Let's go back and see on Friday we were at SOMA in San Diego. We got "I'd Do Anything." We always play that first. "Shut Up!", "Jump", "Worst Day Ever," "Addicted", "Wake Me Up (When This Nightmare's Over)". Perfectly accurate. It's a 10 outta 10. Whoever did that props to you. In San Diego we were on at 8:00 PM. We take a lot of pride on being on time. We're not trying to pull any Axl Rose over here. Like we run a tight ship."
Songs on the new record:
"And one of my favorite on the new records called "Iconic". And I have a feeling that that one we're gonna keep playing for a while. It just feels like a really bombastic, kind of really fun, and big statement kind of song. We're extremely proud of the new record. We think it's one of our best, if not our best. We play about two, three songs every night from the new record and the reaction's been incredible."
Edgefest 2001:
"And so let's see what they got for 2001. Edgefest show. So that's probably the first real show that we played. First big time show. That was a sick lineup. Blink-182 was on that, New Found Glory, Jimmy Eat World, Sum 41. We were the first band opening, and I remember we were so nervous. Blink was headlining that night, and I had a friendship with Mark. Just as we were about to start the show I see him at the corner of my eye like walking down the stage, and Jeff's amp, which is our guitar player, is not working. And I was so mad. I was like, "What are you doing? Come on. Not now." Mark is here, everybody's watching us. It's our first big show of all time. It took four and five minutes, which at the time felt like four, five hours. And finally he like hit the chord and it work, and we're like, "All right. Let's go and start this show." And we play our hearts out. It was a really special day, but it was so nerve-wracking."
Warped Tour:
"All right. So here we go, 2003. We got some Warped Tour. And the reason why we did Warped Tour so much is because it was really important to who we were as a band. It really kind of sent the message that even though we had success on pop radio, at the same time, we can play with Rancid and AFI on the Warped Tour. So it really became a way to define our band, and also because we loved it. When we did our first Warped Tour, Simple Plan was a bit more on the pop side than the punk side. So there was a bit of controversy that we're playing Warped Tour. And we wanted to kind of make a statement that we had real roots in that kind of music. We played this song called "American Jesus" from Bad Religion. When I was 14 years old, I heard on the radio, this song, and I remember like getting up in my bed going, "Oh my God, what is this?" And it changed my life. Before that we were playing grunge, Pearl Jam kind of music, and then when I heard that song, all of a sudden like it was all punk rock. And so it was kind of like to pay homage to that. And we played the whole Warped Tour. It definitely created like a big reaction. People had some strong feelings about it, but I think we did a very good version of it. Still to this day, it's one of my favorite punk rock song."
The soundtracks:
"We love being in movie soundtracks. We always felt like if we're creatively involved in something then it's gonna be cool and our fans are gonna love it. We did this song for Freaky Friday. We did a cover of The Turtles' "Happy Together". For a long time, we've played that in our set. Apparently it's the song that we covered the most."
"The song "Vacation", the only place where it's been released is part of a soundtrack for a movie called New York Minute with the Olsen twins. The whole idea of the movie is that one of the twins wants to go see a Simple Plan concert. We're actually in the movie, we filmed it with them. It was really cool. But at the time, it was a little tricky to be part of that. We got a little bit of backlash. For the longest time, we didn't really play that song. We didn't really talk about it. And fast forward, like four or five years ago. And so many people, they come to the show, and they got like tattoos, and they got like, they look like pretty badass. And they're like, "Yeah, I discovered you guys when I watched like 'New York Minute.'"I'm like, "Wait a minute. That's how you discovered the band?"
"Yeah, that Scooby-Doo song. So we did that in 2003. So the band was not really big at all yet. Somehow we got a call from a record label saying, "Hey, would you guys be interested to play the theme song for What's New Scooby-Do? We did all the arrangements, all the guitars and the drums. It's really like us. For the longest time, it really didn't do much. We didn't really hear about it. It didn't really like connect with our fanbase or anything. But then this Scooby-Doo thing started to blow up on TikTok.
Like the Gen-Z kids, they love "What's New Scooby-Doo?" They think it's like, I'm gonna sound old, but they think it's really lit. They think it's a bop.
"And the moment we started playing it live, man, the reaction is just insane. Now it is a staple of our setlist and we will play forever."
How to make a setlist with six albums:
"Yeah. It really sucks to be a band with six albums and 20 years of career, and try to make a setlist. It's really challenging. At the same time, on the flip side, it really gives you like a setlist that's so punching. Like every moment is special, and every, there's no like filling time at all."
"There's a resurgence of our style of music of pop punk right now. And our shows are getting bigger and bigger, and the band is more profiled than the last 10 years. So we're really grateful for it."
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