THE SIMPLE LIFE

ON THE EVE OF THEIR FOURTH VISIT HERE IN AS MANY YEARS, MATTHEW CHEETHAM CAUGHT UP WITH GUITARIST SEBASTIAN LEFEBVRE OF ONE OF CANADA’S POPPIEST EXPORTS SIMPLE PLAN.

“It’s quite warm where I am at the moment,” says a placid Sebastian Lefebvre (pronounced “Le Fever” if you’ve seen any of his cheeky interviews), taking a moment to survey his surroundings. “I’m in Mexico now, but I know it’s already cold and raining back home. That’s one thing I’m looking forward to about Australia; you guys always have such nice weather.”
Well, in truth, this week has been one of the hottest here in a good while, so the conversation turns to temperature comparisons, and the topic of Global Warming inevitably comes up.
“I think that Al Gore might be on to something,” Lefebvre laughs, and although environmental studies might be the last thing you’d expect to hear discussed by the guitarist of one of the world’s biggest pop bands, who found their footsteps alongside the likes of Good Charlotte and New Found Glory, it seems there’s a lot you may not know about Simple Plan.
“Is it more pop?” Lefebvre asks himself of the band’s latest collective effort, “Yeah I guess, but some of the stuff we’ve done before is pretty pop too.”
Fair point. So why then, is there such a fuss surrounding the glossier look and feel now synonymous with the Canadian five-piece?
“There are so many good bands out there that you can’t just have a normal record anymore,” he continues. “There’s a lot of bands out there who are coming out with some pretty original-sounding records now, so it feels a bit like the way music used to be, and it pushes you to wanna come up with something that is fresh and original.”
Originality and innovation aren’t words usually delivered in the same sentence as names like Simple Plan, but much like the self-titled album stirring said hype, the band are becoming more and more difficult to label.
“I think we’re fans of good music, and there’s definitely a lot of that out there – if there’s something we feel like doing we do it. We just made a record and we feel like it’s the best record we ever wrote, so there you have it.”
The band who are at least 50 per cent responsible for the surge of baggy shorts, long socks and sidewards hats throughout the early 00s aren’t the only ones who can claim responsibility for their thankfully refreshing sound, though, as a multitude of well-known producers contributed to the “Ahh-ahh’s” and manufactured beats within singles ‘When I’m Gone’ and ‘Your Love Is A Lie’, not to mention the remainder of the album.
“That’s always the way we’ve approached every record – to make whatever we wanna make. It happens to be that we very much enjoy catchy melodies and hooks,” Lefebvre declares, assuring that the band’s collective heart was in every decision made.
“We spent a lot of time making sure everything was going to sound right. Our second record did really well and took us around the world and put us in the position where we could work with people like Max Martin [*NSYNC, Pink]” he adds of the buffet of world class knob-twisters the band enlisted. Names like Dave Fortland [Evanescence, Mudvayne] and Danjahandz [Britney Spears, Madonna, Justin Timberlake] also come up before Lefebvre claims fame to the latter.
“When we worked with Danjahandz he was still the up-and-coming producer and wasn’t known for working with Britney or any of that, so it was interesting for us to try something completely different. I think we’re fans of good music, and there’s definitely a lot of that out there. If there’s something we feel like doing we do it.”
Now, back to what you don’t know about Simple Plan. For example, thanks to their own efforts and initiative, the band donated $100,000 to different charities within and around their hometowns last year. Named the ‘Simple Plan Foundation’, this venture is one the band took upon themselves to pioneer.
“It started about three years ago and it came from the fans who would come up to us after a show and tell us how our music helped them,” Lefebvre recounts. “We feel very fortunate that we get to have that kind of impact and provide such a good base to some kids, so we figured we’d take it a step further and donate profits from our merchandise and stuff like that. Whether it’s problems at home or drugs or anything, it’s just a great way for us to try and give back.”
Benefit shows and various other profit-making appearances ensued and saw an additional $150,000 donated this year. Forging a relationship with an animation studio in Asia was another endeavour fans, or even the band themselves, might not have expected to benefit from.
“That was actually really exciting for us!” Lefebvre declares. “They had this contest where kids were writing scripts for them and the theme is all about love so they figured our song ‘I Can’t Wait Forever’ tied in really well with the concept of it. They put us in the show and we’re gonna make an anime music video so it’s really exciting to have that happen!”
No strangers to entering 2D land, the band have lent their songs and figures to both big and small screen in the past as Lefebvre explains.
“Four or five years ago we got asked to do the theme song and the other one was around for like 25 years so it was pretty hard to say no and we just went for it,” he says of the band’s involvement with one of his “favourite shows growing up”, none other than Scooby Doo. “Every time we turned on the TV for a while we were like ‘Yeah! That’s us!’,” he adds with a modest chuckle.
Continuing their not-so-unpredictable trend of bouncing onto our shores again more times in the last few years than some bands ever do, and covering every major city in the country in the process, it’s not hard to see why Simple Plan’s live show holds such a high reputation, especially after the magnitude of some of their previous tours.
“Obviously we were very big fans of Green Day growing up and just to tour with them was cool, but to play those size venues was amazing,” Lefebvre says of the tour which brought them to the attention of hundreds of thousands of new faces every night back in 2005. “The best part about that though, was that a few months later we came back and played the exact same venues on our own, so that felt like a big accomplishment for us.”
Breaking Australia was definitely something close to the band’s heart, too, he says.
“When you first put a record out and start touring, you don’t really know what to expect, but I remember exactly when it happened in Australia,” Lefebvre says. “We were actually making our second record and everyone wanted to hear the first one but we were already on to our next one!” he laughs. “It’s probably something you hope for – playing stadiums and touring the world, but it’s not until it actually happens that you step back and go ‘Wow, cool’.”
Stadiums aside, is there some kind of other hidden agenda that would make all the jet lag worth it?
“Are you insane?” Lefebvre says. “The women, man! Every one in Australia is beautiful!”
Touché sir, touché…
WHO: Simple Plan
WHAT: Simple Plan (Warner)
WHERE & WHEN: Brisbane Entertainment Centre Friday Oct 17