Simple Plan – Harder Than It Looks | Uninhibited pop-punk

Simple Plan had nearly completed their sixth album when the pandemic hit, only the mixing had yet to be finalized. The Montreal group therefore had to launch Harder Than It Looks in the summer of 2020, but he was keen to introduce the new songs on tour as soon as possible. We finally had to wait almost two years, but that may be a blessing in disguise.

Pierre-Marc Durivage
The Press

“I could never have predicted that pop-punk would come back full circle 20 years later,” drummer Chuck Comeau told us during an interview with the band in a Laval studio. We’re talking about a style that many people didn’t think they’d hear again, and now there’s really a pretty crazy craze! »

the timing the launch of the disc could not have been better timed, as the group has just hit the road in the United States with the Ontarians of Sum-41 as part of the tour Blame Canada. “We recognize that what is playing on the radio is very pop and that we hear very few guitars, but there is now a parallel universe where pop-punk is very strong, supports guitarist Jeff Stinco. And we also see a lot of artists associated with pop who are starting to incorporate pop-punk influences into their music. »

We only have to think of Machine Gun Kelly, Willow Smith or Olivia Rodrigo to be convinced. The guys from Simple Plan couldn’t be in a better state of mind, a few days before the launch of their album.

Nevertheless, it was not simply a question of taking up the recipe for success, but of recognizing its merits. “Basically, we still love this music, it’s still our passion, says Chuck Comeau. But as a band, you may feel like moving away from what made you famous, you may be tempted to do something else; but after six albums and 20 years of career, we assume exactly who we are, we know what people like about the band, what we like about the group ourselves, we no longer have any complexes about that. »

“Yes, but doing that is tough, because we don’t just want to release a song by copying and pasting what we did in 2002,” Chuck Comeau immediately says, thinking out loud. It’s difficult after having had a career like ours and with the responsibilities we have today to take the time necessary to make a good album. I now understand bands that go on tour and just put out a record they think is okay. We are very perfectionists; maybe people will listen to our album and say it’s not that good, but for us it’s really the best we could do at that time, we never compromise on that. »

Harder Than It Looks displays the band’s classic sound, but in a “modern, updated version, perhaps a little more mature, because we’ve changed and we’ve been through a lot”, analyzes Chuck Comeau. Pierre Bouvier’s voice is indeed a little more calm, the rhythms are sometimes a little heavier and the atmospheres a little darker, at least in certain pieces. “It’s still very melodic and very catchy, but we also wanted to keep a slightly more alternative sound, a little more indie-rock,” says the drummer.

This maturity is also felt in the subject of the songs, certainly less juvenile than in the group’s first albums. A song like Anxietyfor example, tackles the issue of mental health head on, on a surprisingly melancholic reggae rhythm.

Simple Plan is therefore aware that it is not only aimed at young people: ” Ruin my Life is for example a song that can refer to the bullying that one can suffer at school, but it can also be something deeper like the feeling of constantly needing the approval of others, supports Pierre Bouvier. So we try to address themes that are important to us, but that can also speak to both young and old fans who have followed us all this time. »

Of course, Simple Plan has accustomed us to seeing the bright side of things, and this is always the case with Harder Than It Lookswe can reassure ourselves.

pop-punk

Harder Than It Looks

SSimple Plan

Out this Friday