SIMPLE PLAN Photo Chapman Baehler

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Undisputed Canadian pop punk legends Simple Plan are mere weeks away from returning to Australian shores. The latest tour is a celebration of the 15-year anniversary since the release of their monster debut album, ‘No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls’. To commemorate the occasion, Simple Pan recently released the 15^th anniversary tour edition re-release of ‘No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls’, complete with seven super special bonus tracks that includes two new live tracks.

The upcoming run of Australian shows will see Simple Plan playing ‘No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls’ in its entirety – an album that Rolling Stone has named as one of the Top 50 Pop Punk albums of all time!

Ahead of the special shows along the east coast of Australia, Simple Plan’s drummer Chuck Comeau recently had a chat with AMNplify about the iconic album, memorable moments as a band and of course, the Australian tour. Check it out below!

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What do you think makes ‘No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls’ such an iconic record?

It’s interesting; I think it’s honestly the timing of its release. We came out at the peak of this pop punk movement that was just happening. We were at the top of the world, amongst so many great bands and so much momentum for this kind of music. It got people paying attention to the album and I think for us, it was an honest album. We were out of our teenage years and into the first year of our 20s and we just wrote about what we knew and what was happening in our lives, what we were going through. It was true, honest, real and raw and you can hear that on the songs.

When you listen to the record, it’s crazy, we just knew what we wanted to do and wanted to be – we just wanted to be a super melodic, catchy, full of energy kind of band and I think we had a great mix of influences and when you hear the songs, I think that’s the key; the songs. I think when you hear a song like ‘Perfect’, I think in some ways this song could come out today, maybe in a different arrangement but the same melody and lyrics. It just connected with people, it just meant a lot, I think a lot of people felt it was true to the generation and it was just something that happens and we were able to capture it with the melody and the lyrics and when people hear it, they can relate.

The last thing I would say is just the touring. We just toured, toured and toured. We got pretty good as a band playing live and we just kept touring for 2 ½ to 3 years and we just played and played, I think that’s like the old school way. We would meet people at the shows and go out into the crowd and talk to people. We treated them like they were our friends and I think that created a huge connection and then people heard the music and they remember the songs and the people behind the songs, the personalities and I think that’s why people have been coming back to us for 15 years now. That’s my best attempt at trying to explain it.

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What are you most looking forward to when you arrive back on Australian shores later this month?

How cool the shows are going to be. Every time we play there it’s very special. It’s really cliché, but it’s one of the most special places for us. We just love the vibe, the people, the cities, the country; the attitude.

Just the vibe of the gigs, there’s just so much passion and the fans have been so supportive of the band ever since we came out for the first time in like 2002 or 2003. We can find friends that we’ve made throughout the years and playing a whole album live that means a lot to us a band (because it changed our lives), but at the same time, I think it means a lot to the fans as well. It’s like a little gift from us to be able to do this tour.

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SIMPLE PLAN Photo Chapman Baehler

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What was it about Stateside and Eat Your Heart Out that made them the ideal special guests for this tour?

It’s just really cool that we get to play with bands from Australia. A few years back, on our fourth album, we had Tonight Alive that were on tour and they were killer. We met Jenna and all the boys on tour and it’s really cool to discover young bands that are doing well and are awesome. I think it’s really also, you have like these bands on tour with you and it’s not like a statement, but it was cool to have them on our stage, to say that we like them and that we endorse them and it’s something we support.

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What are some of your most memorable moments as a band?

There’s so many, there’s a lot. We’ve done so many awesome things as a band. I think for me it’s the travel, the places we’ve got to see. I think if I’m being specific, one of the coolest things we’ve ever done was I think in 2004, we opened up for Green Day on their ‘American Idiot’ tour. We played all the big arenas and the shows were sick.

Then 6 months later we came back and played all the same arenas on our own as the headliner. To be able to make that jump as a band, it was an unbelievable journey. There’s too many others to name, but playing our hometown arena in front of friends, parents and family back in 2004 or 2005 was one of those moments when you get goose bumps when you see your parents in the crowd, You start playing and memories of trying to play drums as a 13 year old come back and now you’re doing it in front of 20,000 people. I think our parents being able to witness it, it was one of the coolest things we’ve ever done.

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What can Australian fans expect from the upcoming shows?

I think it’s going to be an awesome night of looking back and being able to reminisce of all the memories that music can bring back. I think music is one of the most powerful things; it can bring you back to a time and place, for maybe some of the fans coming, when things were simpler and easier. Back in high school, I remember being this young teenager discovering music for the first time and it brings you back and makes you feel young again in some ways.

I think it’s going to be one of those nights where there will be nostalgia and love, looking back. I think that’s cool. As a band, we’ve always wanted to look forward in terms of the music but this is a special milestone of 15 years of our first record. I think our fans have been really stoked that we’ve done it and we’ve also been very grateful that these shows have always been so fun to do. It’s just a big party. It’s just a night where you can forget all your troubles and come in and just have fun. That’s the key; I think that’s what they can expect.

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Why did you name the album ‘No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls’?

We just wanted to have something that would make people laugh a little bit, very tongue in cheek. We knew that it was going to be big. It was a way for the people on radio and TV to take notice and it worked.

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What would you be doing if you weren’t involved in the music industry?

If I wasn’t in the band, I would definitely be involved behind the scenes; being an agent or management or something in trying to help out other bands and song writing as well. I would say somewhere in the sphere of entertainment whether its TV shows or books. I think it would be something like that or…I was in law school, so maybe I would be a lawyer.

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What is your personal favourite track from ‘No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls’ and why?

In some ways it has to be ‘Perfect’ because it’s the biggest song we’ve ever had and it truly has a special connection with our fans. It’s the most personal song we’ve ever wrote and I think it really connected. It was a really special anthem that the band had that we close the show with and the whole entire crowd singing it. It’s really one of those goose bump moments that really stands out. We didn’t play it for years and years and on this tour, we’re playing it every night. It’s not necessarily the song, but in the middle of the song, I get to be at the front and be the lead singer for a few minutes and then go back and play drums. It’s just a nice moment in the show and I love it.

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15th Anniversary

World Tour Dates – Australia

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Saturday 21st April
NightQuarter, Gold Coast (All Ages Event**)
www.oztix.com.au

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Sunday 22nd April
Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill (All Ages)
www.oztix.com.au

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Monday 23rd April
Forum, Melbourne
www.ticketmaster.com.au

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Tuesday 24th April
Forum, Melbourne
www.ticketmaster.com.au

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Thursday 26th April
NEX, Newcastle
www.moshtix.com.au

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Friday 27th April
Big Top Luna Park, Sydney (All Ages)
www.oztix.com.au

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AMNPLIFY – DB