The indie rock boys from Montreal-based band Simple Plan have released their third studio album. Armed with a fresh new approach and a collaboration with R&B powerhouse producer Danja Hills, they prepare for the Australian leg of their world tour. yourGigs speaks to lead guitarist Jeff Stinco to see what all the fuss is about.
yourGigs (yG): Tell me about your new album?
Jeff Stinco (JS): For our new record we decided just to keep the rock aspect of what we're doing and blend it with some R&B stuff. We took whatever we had and enhanced it, and collaborated with guys that were really outside of the rock world and used their creative input, like their beats, and just blended it with whatever we were doing. As for the inspiration for the record, we wanted to incorporate some of the stuff we were doing on the radio and just make something fresh out of it; take Simple Plan to a new level.
yG: What made you decide to work with Danja Hills?
JS: You know, we heard those records on the radio and they were just great, amazing records that just sounded so fresh - we wanted to see what it would be like to get involved with a guy like that. I think a lot of the artists that he usually works with basically take his ideas and put them on a record but we did it very differently; we actually sat down with him and wrote full songs - we didn't rely on him to write the songs. The songs are definitely Simple Plan-ish. His contribution definitely brought us to another mindset and basically opened some new doors for us.
yG: Who would be your dream producer to work with in the future?
JS: Well you know we had Bob Rock on the second one, Danja, we had Arnold Lanni. As producers go, there are a lot of options that were discussed for our third record that keep popping up for our fourth, but we're not sure yet.
yG: What is it that inspires you guys to write a song?
JS: With this record there was a whole different way of operating. In the past the inspiration came initially from a vocal hook or an idea or a guitar-riff but with this record a lot of song ideas came from grooves, from rhythmical ideas. With our first record we were a bit afraid to talk about our own personal lives, but with our third we took a break from touring and started having a life, so you kind of have to look and question the relationships you're having and look at the issues you have in your relationships. That definitely inspired this record, it's a much more personal record.
yG: How important do you think it is for bands to step out of their comfort zone?
JS: It was important for us, we needed that challenge to stay excited about the music and we wanted to change it up for ourselves. Some people said that we wanted to follow a trend or wanted to go more mainstream, but that was not the intention at all. We wanted to bring a groovier, sexier sound to the songs that we didn't have before - it gives us more variety and I think it makes for a better rock show.
yG: Your previous tour schedules have been pretty hectic. Is touring a friend or an enemy of songwriting?
JS: It's definitely an enemy 'cause we probably tour too much. It's kind of weird because a lot of bands now tour just as much as us but we have always done that - we are on the road maybe 300 days out of the year. I mean definitely, there are more ideas that are brought from the road, but in the past we never wrote on the road - too many distractions.
yG: You mean sex, drugs and rock'n'roll?
JS: Ha, yeah well when you take out the drugs you've got more time for the other two.
yG: Where is the most interesting place you have played?
JS: Well, we toured South Africa with Metallica and that was pretty cool. Asia is fun to tour 'cause you know you really feel like you're on another planet when you're there. I would have to say my favourite place to play is Australia you know - it's so different, the people are cool, the shows are amazing; yeah it's definitely my favourite place in the world to tour.
Alex Hahn
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