Since the release of their debut album, No Pads, No Helmets, Just Balls Simple Plan has taken the music world by storm. Their talent for writing relatable, incredibly catchy tunes shines through with every album.
With their fifth studio album Taking One For The Team being released in early 2016 and recently finishing touring the album, the guys are back on the road again. They just announced their 15th-anniversary tour for their freshman album, No Pads, No Helmets, Just Balls.
Before heading out for the tour, CelebMix was able to chat with guitarist Jeff Stinco about the band’s history and what brought them together.
1. How did you all meet? Were you friends in grade school?
Chuck, Pierre, Seb and I (Jeff) went to the same high school. Chuck, Pierre and I played together when we 12-13 until they went on to form a band called “Reset”. Oddly enough, in 2000, we met David through a show he did replacing Pierre (who was now the full time singer of Simple Plan) in Reset.
Simple Plan has been a band since 1999.
2. What or who inspired you all to pursue a career in music?
We all had a passion for music and loved being in bands. The fact that we all grew musically together also created a bond between us. We started out loving bands like Guns and Roses, Metallica, Pearl Jam and eventually got into bands like NoFx, Green Day, Blink 182, Face to Face.
We all loved fast and melodic music but we also all loved amazing classic songs. I guess the mix of those two set of includes created the Simple Plan sound.
3. Is there a place that you guys haven’t played to yet that you would like to?
We hope that someday we’ll be able to play Turkey: the political climate there makes it difficult to tour there. We’ve been to South Africa but it would be nice to check out Northern Africa as well.
We’ve played in a lot of places but the world is a big place and there are so many more places to go to.
4. The Simple Plan foundation is really quite incredible, what made you want to start the foundation?
I think that, as individuals, we all had different motivations but as a band, we felt that we could do more for our fans in need. We were getting letters and messages from fans who were going through difficult times and we couldn’t do much about it so we found OUR way of making in difference. The foundation helps kids, teenagers in need through the money we raise and the organizations we support. We also create awareness for certain causes that we care about.
We raised over $2M since we started and we will keep going because it not only really matters, but I think it made us better people. We all grew through the good we did with this foundation.
5. Have you thought about making another movie/ documentary?
We shoot videos that we post online all the time and I guess that’s the new way of expressing ourselves visually. It seems that a DVD would not be as relevant anymore but if we ever did a crazy cool show, we would consider it packing it for online.
6. What would you say is your biggest accomplishment so far as a band?
I’m most proud that we are still the same 5 band members. We went through a lot and being in a band that tours as much as we do is definitely not easy yet we are still very good friends and support each other.
We have a legacy of songs that people love and still relate too yet we release new material that people genuinely care about. I’m proud of that too.
7. You guys have some of the best music videos to watch, what one has been your favorite so far to make?
I’m just a Kid is pretty amazing, it’s like a little movie. I love the videos we did that had a storyline like: “Don’t Want to Think About You” or “Perfect”. “Summer Paradise” was the easiest and most fun to shoot: we hung out on boats and in the water all day with beautiful people and that ended up being the video…not so bad.
8. CelebMix was recently at your Detroit concert and you could really feel the energy between you and the fans. How does it feel to still be able to still have that energy with them when you play live?
We have the best fans in the world. We hadn’t been in the US in way too long so I think our American fans were very eager to see us play live again.
I feel a connection with our fans and I know they feel that we care too.
9. Is there any advice that you would give to your younger self if you could?
Take the time to stop and smell the roses…