In April 2020, while the planet was in full lockdown, an unexpected viral phenomenon occurred on TikTok and propelled the group Simple Plan to previously unmatched heights of popularity. On the eve of starting a year of festivities, surrounding their 25e anniversary, Jeff Stinco, Chuck Comeau and Sébastien Lefebvre spoke with The Journal.
The song I’m Just A Kid was the first single by Simple Plan, in 2002. Today, young people aged 13-14, who were not born when it was released, scream at the top of their lungs when the Montreal group performs it in concert. All thanks to TikTok.
At the start of the pandemic, millions of Internet users began using Simple Plan’s song to recreate photos from their childhood. The friendly I’m Just A Kid Challenge – which was in no way an initiative of the Simple Plan team – was a huge success.
“There were about six billion plays just for that song and about five million videos,” mentions drummer Chuck Comeau. “We’re part of the Billionaire’s Club, but differently!” says guitarist Jeff Stinco, laughing.
«No I’m Just A Kid Challengeit was the best thing that could have happened to us during the pandemic, continues the musician. It’s completely crazy. It was a beautiful coincidence, a beautiful gift that came out of something that wasn’t particularly pleasant. Then, with that in mind, we went on tour again. People have heard about it. It exposed a lot of people to that.”
“My children are teenagers and when they talk about the group, it is not necessarily clear to all the young people what it is, Simple Plan,” continues Jeff. But when you tell them it’s the I’m Just A Kid bandthere they all click without exception!”
Scooby-Doo
The musicians can’t believe that their first pop-punk hit, written when they were in their early twenties, is enjoying a second life today. In addition to the song I’m Just A KidTikTok has revived another song that had sunk into oblivion for Simple Plan: the theme song of the series Scooby-Doo (What’s New, Scooby-Doo?)also released in 2002.
“It’s been 15 years since we last played it [en concert]Chuck said. And suddenly [grâce à] TikTok has been rediscovered. It’s a highlight [moment fort] of every show we do. You never know what seed you plant, what it’s going to do in 15 or 20 years.”
This renewed popularity has greatly benefited Simple Plan as it emerges from the pandemic. Since 2022, the group has played no less than 235 times in 115 cities and 33 countries. The musicians notably accompanied The Offspring and Avril Lavigne on tour.
Performance by the Simple Plan group at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, in November 2022.
Thierry Laforce / Agence QMI
Unprecedented access
Jeff, Chuck, Sébastien and singer Pierre Bouvier are taking a few months off to be ready to tackle 2025, which is likely to be rather busy. “These will be the celebrations of the 25e of the band, so there’s a lot of stuff coming up, Chuck said. We will be touring Japan and Europe with The Offspring. We’re also going to do our own tour in the United States as headliners. And there is the documentary that will be released.
Directed by Didier Charette, on behalf of Prime Video, the documentary will delve into the group’s history in an unprecedented way. “We want to be courageous and show what it really is [la vie de Simple Plan]Chuck said. We don’t want to make it commercial.”
“It still makes you a little dizzy,” adds Jeff. Because we have our own dynamic, which is not always perfect, like an old couple. The filmmaker, at some point, was forgotten and I think that’s a bit what he wanted. The camera was on all the time. I think that we ourselves will be surprised to see things to which we might not have given access. I think that in the past, we wanted to control our image, out of insecurity. It’s natural when you’re young. Now, we are more comfortable with the idea of presenting ourselves as we are with our best sides, but also our bad ones.
Bassist David Desrosiers, who left Simple Plan in 2020 following allegations of sexual misconduct, will be part of the documentary through archival material. It has not been decided whether there will be a new interview with him. “It’s still up to the filmmaker,” says Jeff. After that, how this part will play out, I don’t know exactly. David is part of the group’s history. But we continue as four now. There have been four of us since the pandemic. Then we celebrate our heritage like this now.”
