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.
The band scaled back their touring schedule in 2006, looking to concentrate on writing new material instead.
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. Although not an international best-seller like its two predecessors, the album still went platinum in Canada, where demand for the band's spunky pop songs remained strong. The band returned three years later with another album, Get Your Heart On!, which featured cameos from Rivers Cuomo, Natasha Bedingfield, and All Time Low's Alex Gaskarth.
–
MacKenzie Wilson, Rovi