Simple Plan: "We Got To Hang With Scooby"
It's got to be a dilemma familiar to a lot of bands who made their name in the big pop-punk exposion of 2002. As more time passes, do you keep doing what you're doing, hoping that the bottom of the barrel of tunes you're scraping away at will give way and suddenly reveal a whole new barrel underneath it (note to Sum 41...it won't), or do you seek to vary your sound with guest producers from a whole other musical discipline, and risk watering down what it is people like about you in the first place?
In the case of Simple Plan, the answer has been a very firm YES to the latter approach, and their third album 'Simple Plan' is a three-way production split between rock (Dave Fortman), pop (Max Martin. Yes, the Britney fella), and hip hop type stuff, in the shape of Dangahands (friend of Timbaland). It also apparently features guest appearances from a variety of rappers/singers, including Akon, Jay-Z and even R Kelly. Fall Out Boy, eat your hearts out!
Now, in the interests of ´óÏó´«Ã½ honesty, I should point out that I spoke to David Desrosiers from the band about this issue, but it was a couple of months ago. I've been saving this lovely interview until people could hear some of the songs he's talking about. Seeing as the album comes out on February 18th, now seems like a good time to finally unveil it. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to THE PAST...
What I Expected: Well, if I'm honest, a cynical list of all the hip hop hardmen Simple Plan have managed to hang with in the last year, and some stories which are meant to sound impressive but aren't.
What I Did Not Expect: Gosh, the man can't half talk! And it's not even in his native tongue. Plus anyone who has had to have voice training in order to sound like themselves for a cartoon wins my undying respect.
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There's a DVD Extra to this interview, in the form of an incredibly long-winded account of Simple Plan's promotions diary, which came out of David's mouth before I could even say "so, my first question is this...". I include it here so that SP fans (seriously, this is just for fans) can have some understanding of how the tail end of 2007 panned out for them. It sounds VERY busy!
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Here's the video to 'When I'm Gone', which is out on Feb 11th.
Your ChartBlog interviewer was: Fraser McAlpine
Comments
:D
Simple Plan rock!
But they're not playing a gig that I can go to grr
:(
Anyhoo, I love their old stuff and I'm very interested as to what this new album shall be sounding like.. not long left to find out now!
Judging from that video.. it's, well, it's not exactly "I'm Just A Kid" or "Welcome To My Life"etc.. the beginning but scared me a bit, but the chorus is great! I think it may just take a few listens.. atleast it's not as extreme as hearing "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" for the first time!
Simple Plan has their own video blog hosted by kyte.tv! They have some pretty cool shows on there, that are definitely worth checking out! It's on their myspace!
www.myspace.com/simpleplan