With over two decades of music under their belt, a catalogue stacked with pop-punk anthems and a fiercely loyal global fanbase, Simple Plan have more than earned their place in the scene’s history books. Now, the Canadian quartet are reflecting on their journey with their recent documentary Simple Plan: The Kids In The Crowd – a raw and deeply personal look back at the history of the band from their perspective throughout the highest highs and the lowest lows.
Sitting down with founding member and drummer Chuck Comeau to chat about the documentary and Simple Plan’s legacy here in Australia was a real pinch-me moment – especially given the film has such a heavy focus on Comeau himself.
Watching the film, one thing that is immediately clear is Comeau’s ambition. There’s a scene towards the beginning from circa 2002, where Comeau looks at the camera and says “this is going to be in the Simple Plan movie”. There never seemed to be a doubt in his mind that they’d make it, through sheer hard work and determination. The footage recorded throughout their early days is a testament to that. On that, Comeau said, “Maybe we had that intuition that that stuff would be would be useful one day. But certainly, we had the intuition that it was important to document all this. We brought our best friend, Patrick, who we had met in school, and we bonded over our love of music together. He was our first employee and his job was to bring his camera and film everything. The first time we ever played Perfect in our basement, we have it. The gig that got us signed to Atlantic Records, you see it.”
A major focus of the film is the relationship between Comeau and lead singer Pierre Bouvier. Meeting at school as kids, the pair were inseparable and started their band Reset together at the age of 13. The band took off in Canada, playing alongside bands like Blink 182 and Pennywise, before Comeau was kicked out of Reset by Bouvier. This caused a deep rift between the two, one from which they are still healing.
“It was still hard, we did a bunch of interviews this week and it was him and I, and it’s a bit uncomfortable to talk about that dynamic and complex friendship.” Comeau said of revisiting some of those moments for the documentary. “I’m definitely not the most talented musician, but I found music and I was so passionate about it. I was like, ‘I have to be in a band, this is what I want to do for a living and I don’t care what it takes, I will figure out a way.’ He was on the opposite end, maybe didn’t have that same drive. I think he wanted to play music but just had the talent. And sometimes when you have the talent, you’re maybe a little less inclined to want to work super hard because it comes a bit easier. But when you merge those two personalities into one band, you get a sort of superpower. Like okay, you got the really talented guy who can write amazing songs, and then you got the other guy that’s willing to push and make sure these songs are heard. So I think that dynamic has been the essence of what made this band what it is today. Obviously everybody else in the band has played a key role and everything, but there is something about the two of us. We started when we were 13 years old. We’ve been playing music for 32 years together… we’re not just friends not, we’re making decisions that impact each other’s lives, and that’s why it’s hard to be in a band.”
After being kicked out of Reset, Comeau crossed paths with Jeff Stinco and Simple Plan was born. Knowing that they needed a vocalist, Comeau couldn’t get Bouvier off his mind and eventually worked up the courage to push his pride aside and invite him to join Simple Plan. “There was a big part of me that wanted the vindication, like, ‘we’re going to make it we’re going to show him he was wrong.’ But then I realised the only way we could make it is if we make it together, because he’s the most talented guy. It was like, ‘I know you’re my favourite singer, you should be in the band’. It was tough for him, I think he was wrestling with it because the other band was not incredibly successful but he had a lot of stuff going on. They were actually about to head to Australia, we had never travelled outside of North America so that was a big deal to leave that band and try a brand new band that had nothing going on. I think he saw that there was a cool energy to what we were doing- it was fresh, musically, for him… no pun intended, but it was kind of like a reset of our relationship. “
Though they were able to move past the heartbreak of the initial falling out, things haven’t always been smooth sailing. “It’s hard when you’re in a relationship with people that you’ve known since you were a teenager, because you get stuck in these patterns and these old ways, and it’s really hard to undo that. One thing that we’ve learned is to try to communicate more and try to talk more. I think that the other band members can be really useful as well because they can be like the diplomats. I think it’s not necessarily obvious to figure out how to navigate that even with all those years… There’s a secret sauce to what makes Simple Plan, Simple Plan, and we just have to figure it out. We just have to find a way because we want the band to continue. This is the best thing we’ve ever done, the coolest adventure we’ve ever been on and we don’t want it to stop because we can’t get along.”
2003 saw Simple Plan release one of their biggest singles to date, “Perfect”. The Kids In The Crowd reveals that this track was written about Comeau’s own complicated relationship with his parents, who initially encouraged him to pursue other avenues rather than join a rock band. Though they were supportive of him in their own way, he never felt truly understood by them. Now a parent himself, he says that his relationship with the track has changed over time. “My parents were incredibly supportive of our band, we rehearsed in my basement for ten years and the amps kept getting bigger every year and louder and they were still okay with everything… As you become a parent, you start to understand- like, I get it. I get why they did what they did and why it didn’t make sense for them when I said, ‘hey, I’m gonna drop out of law school, I’m going to be in a rock band and I’m going to be a drummer.’.. I get it now because I look at my son and I want the best for him, I don’t want him to mess up his life. At the same time, because of my experience, it feels a little more possible for me that somebody can chase a crazy dream and actually make it happen and succeed. My parents just didn’t have any reference point, there was just no one around them that had done it.”
And while at times his relationship with his parents was strained due to a lack of understanding each other, he has his father to thank for his ambition and drive. “When I was a kid, my dad gave me this book. It was a self help book, I was 14 but it shaped my whole life in such a profound way… It was called The Magic Of Thinking Big, and it changed my whole perspective- or maybe it didn’t change it, but it just reaffirmed how I felt. ‘Why not me? I can do this, it can happen to me.’… So, in a way he poured gasoline on the fire by saying, ‘yes, you can dream big, and if you really put your mind to it, you can achieve anything you want.’ As a parent myself, I’m gonna be a bit more inclined to be supportive of that with my own son because I saw that it is possible.”
Throughout the film, Australia is featured heavily, as most of the live tour footage was filmed during their 2024 trip Down Under. We get to hear from fans who have been influenced by Simple Plan and see some of our iconic landmarks as the band documents their tour highlights. And as an Aussie fan, this was extremely special to see. For Simple Plan, Australia holds heavy significance, with Comeau sharing, “The success we had in Australia didn’t come easy, we released three singles that all tanked on the radio, like “I’m Just A Kid”, “I’d Do Anything” and “Addicted”… Then,“Perfect” came out and the label wasn’t giving up… they saw the US success and were like, ‘there’s no reason why this band won’t work here.’ And finally “Perfect” went to like number one or two and so they went back and re-released every song to radio and they all became hits. After that moment, Australia became one of the best places for us to play… It was very important for us that our fans would see themselves in the film, and we didn’t want to just make it in Canada or the US because we’ve taken a lot of pride in being a global band. I wish we could have shown even more countries and places, but we wanted people to see themselves, so for all our Australian fans to see that it was filmed there- I know it feels special when you see that. And it feels special for people from our hometown to see that we filmed in Quebec because we wanted to represent the fanbase.”
Simple Plan have well and truly cemented themselves as pop-punk legends, and Simple Plan: The Kids In The Crowd shows you exactly why – you can catch it on Amazon Prime Video now.
Header image supplied by artist.
