Friends with punks and Rejects

Simple Plan ignore detractors who say that their punk-pop sound is too playful and light.

It's tough being in a punk-pop band nowadays. But if you're Simple Plan and have friends in a "real punk band" like Rancid, then up yours. Simple Plan, who play the St James tomorrow night, don't care what you think.

"A lot of bands talk shit about us," says drummer and founder Chuck Comeau, reflecting on his band's punk-pop sound.

"They think they'll get cred for talking rubbish about bands like us, and Blink, and Good Charlotte. But we don't reply to that," he laughs.

When Simple Plan toured with Rancid they thought the old-school band would hate their lighter, more playful punk sound heard on hit single Welcome To My Life from their second album Still Not Getting Any ...

"Rancid are real punk-rock dudes, you know, but they came out with the opposite attitude," says Comeau.

"They came to watch us every night, and we became good friends. They'd come to our shows in San Francisco when they were home and we'd go to see them when they were in Montreal. We got along really well and I think it showed a lot of integrity on their part because they got to know us instead of going on what their fans think."

Comeau, and his high school mate, singer Pierre Bouvier, were fans of punk rock when they formed their first band, Reset, at the age of 13 and the pair recruited Jeff Stinco (guitar), David Desrosiers (bass) and Sebastien Lefebvre to complete it.

They toured Canada with bands like MXPX and Ten Foot Pole. After the release of Reset's debut album in 1997 the band had a two-year interlude so Comeau could go to college.

Bouvier continued on as guitarist and frontman for Reset until hooking up again with Comeau at a Sugar Ray concert in 1999. That meeting resulted in the high school band getting back together, this time as Simple Plan.

After solid gigging, including the 2001 Vans Warped Tour, the band went into the studio and recorded their uppity 2003 debut, No Pad, No Helmets ... Just Balls.

On that record Good Charlotte's Joel Madden and Blink 182's Mark Hoppus contributed their talents. "Mark has been really cool to us," deadpans Comeau.

As well as those two acts, and their early touring partners, Simple Plan have a huge respect for bands like Strung Out ("Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues is one of my favourite records of all time"), Pearl Jam ("I listened to Ten so much when I was a kid") and Green Day.

And Comeau also makes special mention of Guns'n'Roses: "Use Your Illusion I and II. Those are bad-ass records, and there are so many classic songs on there.

"But I think we look up to bands that have been around a long time. Bands that have amazing careers and keep bouncing back and come back stronger, like Green Day who have come back and reinvented themselves and made their best record ever. That to me is truly inspiring and really really cool."

And then there are their mates the All-American Rejects. "And that's why they're on the tour with us because we get along; we're good friends and we love their music."

However, the All-American Rejects were meant to play Auckland tomorrow night as support act but because of a change in their itinerary they can't make it.

If there's one thing Comeau and his mates have learned after being in a band for nearly 10 years, it's to go on tour with like-minded bands.

"Truthfully," says Comeau, "obviously good music and a good live show is important, and you have to make sure your fans like them. But most importantly having cool vibes and nice people because there's nothing worse than spending a month with a band that you don't connect with and you don't have fun with, and they take themselves too seriously and they have bodyguards, you know what I mean, they act like they're something they're not."

Who are your foes then?

"Who are our enemies? Man."

Do you have any beefs with anyone?

He laughs, trying to avoid the question. " We've been pretty lucky because we're not the type of band who goes out and slags other bands. That's not our vibe."

It's not. Simple Plan, you get the feeling, even though their playful and rousing music is a little adolescent at times, would not say a nasty word against anyone. In recent years the band have been doing charity work for cancer sufferers after Stinco's father died of the disease three years ago. Their main project is supporting the Make A Wish Foundation for terminally ill children.

"It's for little kids who have one wish which is to meet a band or whatever, and come to a show and hang out. In the last three years we've done about 20 of those. It's amazing to see that so many people want to do that as their last wish, and it's kind of humbling. You spend the whole day with them, hang out, and it's just cool."

Performance

*Who: Canadian power pop punks Simple Plan (with support from 48 May)

*Where & when: St James, tomorrow night

*Albums: No Pad, No Helmets ... Just Balls (2003), Still Not Getting Any ... (2005)