MONTERREY, MEXICO – APRIL 02: Pierre Bouvier singer of Easy Plan, perfoming throughout day two of … [+]
The roots of Easy Plan’s new album, Tougher Than It Seems, return 20 years. In celebrating the 20 th anniversary of their influential and really profitable debut, No Pads, No Helmets…Simply Balls, the band tapped into the sound and really feel of that report for the brand new album, including in 20 years of expertise since then, in addition to the now grownup themes of their life.
The discharge of Tougher Than It Seems is a part of an enormous yr for the Canadian pop-punk superstars, who can be out this yr for a celebration of their Canadian lineage with fellow Canucks Sum 41 on the “Blame Canada” tour.
I spoke with Easy Plan drummer Chuck Comeau in regards to the new album, his fandom of Pearl Jam, why the band discovered to embrace the success of their debut and never run away from it and rather more.
Steve Baltin: Let’s begin with the anniversary of the debut album. Once you’re within the midst of a report, you do not have time to understand the whole lot. So whenever you went again to the anniversary, have been there issues that both actually stood out to you or songs that you simply appreciated in a brand new approach?
Chuck Comeau: Yeah, it has been so attention-grabbing. We truly did an enormous fifteenth anniversary tour and we have been not likely certain at first if we wished to dive into this complete nostalgia facet. I believe it was a bit scary as a result of you then begin to assume your band is simply gonna be that sort of act, proper? That like your finest days are behind you and all that folks care about is your outdated stuff, which we completely wished to keep away from in any respect prices. It isn’t what the spirit of this band is all about. We’re at all times attempting to look ahead. However we truly mentioned, “Here is how we’re gonna method the entire thing. We’re gonna be happy with our previous and we’re gonna be proud to have a good time that as a result of it is a part of the profession, it is a part of the artwork, it is a part of what we have achieved, and we’re happy with it. However we’re additionally gonna be excited in regards to the future.” I believe we will have it each methods, and that is actually been the stance of the band. And after we did the fifteenth anniversary tour, what I used to be actually stunned by was how pure and nice it felt to play the entire report. It did really feel prefer it was nonetheless related. And once I noticed individuals within the entrance row singing each phrase even to the extra obscure tracks on the album, it sort of made me really feel like, “We created one thing that at that second meant so much to all these individuals.” They have been in a selected time of their lives the place the music might resonate with them, and there is one thing particular about with the ability to revisit that point in your life and produce all these recollections. It was actually particular, it was much more enjoyable than I believe we ever anticipated it to be. And that is why now that we’re arising on 20 years once more, it is like, “Yeah, why not embrace that and simply be pleased?” As a result of even me as a music fan, I nonetheless gravitate towards the report that I like once I was a youngster or in my early 20s. That is nonetheless the music that actually grabs me essentially the most.
Baltin: Once you return and listen to outdated materials it will probably completely affect new music. So for you, revisiting outdated materials, do you’re feeling like there’s a continuation that comes into this new music?
Comeau: Yeah, like one hundred pc. I believe it is truly actually inspiring to return and do this tour. It made us wish to make the sort of report that we’re about to launch now with [Harder Than It Looks] as a result of we realized we had the blueprint. We knew what sort of album we wished to make [back then]. There was little question in our minds. We had the path and we simply went for it. And it got here out, and fortuitously for us, it did join in a very superior approach with tons of individuals around the globe. After which on the second report, we made it again to again virtually. We toured and toured and we stopped and we made the report and we went again out. After which once more, we had that very same path. We did some small changes, however we knew who we wished to be. We had the identification of the band sort of narrowed down, proper? We had that want. We knew who we have been, and I believe that as you progress in your profession, after one or two data which are very profitable, you then get into this complete factor about, “Oh, we have to change. We have to utterly reinvent the band and who we’re as individuals and the way we gown and the whole lot. As a result of if not, it is too apparent, you are simply doing the identical factor time and again.” And I believe that that is what occurred on our third album. We received a bit bit misplaced alongside the way in which. And with the fourth report, the fifth report, and now this one coming, I believe greater than ever after doing the anniversary, such as you mentioned, we sort of reconnected with like, “Hey, that is who Easy Plan is. That is what we do. That is what we’re good at. Let’s simply embrace what individuals love about our sound and let’s embrace what we at all times love about music, which is excessive power, tremendous catchy songs with very heartfelt and sincere lyrics.” That is our identification.
Baltin: Are there moments on this report that sort of pleasantly shock you lyrically as a result of it reveals you who you might be 20 years later?
Comeau: I believe “The Antidote,” that is at all times been the method for Easy Plan. We truly begin with the title and the entire idea behind the tune and we attempt to do one thing that is totally different. You do not hear of a tune known as “The Antidote” each day. I give you a variety of lyrics and the idea and I at all times attempt to push myself and I will learn the newspaper, I will learn a ebook or I will be watching a TV present and even hear a dialog. I will hear a phrase that folks say. And I used to be like, “Oh wow, that is a very cool phrase. How can I twist that right into a tune? How can I make {that a} cool huge rock tune?” I believe I used to be studying a newspaper. I learn like, oh, the antidote or one thing. I am like, “Oh s**t, the antidote, that is a tremendous title.” I saved that. And I am proud identical to “Jet Lag” on the fourth report. These are phrases that you do not actually affiliate with a tune, however someway we flip into what I believe is a fairly important, Easy Plan tune, however it has a cool unique hook to it. So I believe that is what’s enjoyable. There is a tune known as “Iconic” on the album that I am actually happy with. I believe it appears like an anthem that we at all times wished to jot down, the sort of huge second in your life, like sports activities sort of second. We have at all times chased that we have been by no means in a position to do it. And on this report we have been like, “Yeah, let’s strive.” And we had the right title that was actually cool and totally different. To me there’s at all times a satisfaction when you’ve the little notes scribbled in your pocket book. So I nonetheless get excited each time I give you a bit thought, I can think about the potential and there isn’t any higher feeling than when it is totally blended and you set in your automotive and also you hear it and it is ultimate. And it is like, “Oh wow, this little factor became this.”
Baltin: What’s the most iconic sports activities second you’ve got witnessed?
Comeau: I used to be within the constructing when the LA Kings gained the Stanley Cup for the second time. In order that was fairly particular, ‘trigger I am an enormous hockey fan and I have been to many, many video games and I used to be a Montreal Canadians fan after all, ‘trigger we’re from Montreal. However to see the Stanley Cup and [Commissioner] Gary Bettman current the Stanley Cup. It was additional time in opposition to the Rangers. In order that was fairly spectacular simply to be there and see it. Yeah. We received to truly play the winter traditional and we received to do the Nationwide Anthem proper earlier than the Winter Traditional in Boston when the Montreal Canadians performed. And we received to play the all star sport for The NHL. So for me, these have been all unbelievable moments.
Baltin: What are a few of your favourite examples of the dichotomy between upbeat music and unhappy lyrics?
Comeau: I believe our complete catalog is that. Like, “I am Simply A Child,” that tune had this gigantic TikTok revival final yr, virtually like 5 billion impressions on TikTok, which is insane. Once you hear, it is like, “I am only a child, life is a nightmare you already know and no one cares and I am alone and the world’s having extra enjoyable than me tonight.” It is a bit like teenage sort of lyric, however it’s so attention-grabbing ‘trigger so many individuals now, such as you see it on all social media and particularly on TikTok, they use the lyrics they usually’re like, “Wait a minute, I am 35, I am 30, I am 40. And I nonetheless really feel the identical approach.” In order that one is a very good instance. The primary tune we ever launched, “Welcome To My Life,” it sounds tremendous sort of pleased, however whenever you have a look at it’s fairly heavy lyrically. It talks about simply being alone and simply utterly misplaced and folks not having no thought what you are going via.
Baltin: What about as a fan, one or two examples for you as a fan from different individuals’s music?
Comeau: Pearl Jam, for me, was an enormous band. “Alive,” that tune felt very catchy and tremendous pop, however you then would go into the lyrics and go, “Oh, wow it is so much heavier.” Or like “Jeremy,” for instance. Even some Unhealthy Faith songs are, by way of the melody, so catchy. Then you definitely hear and it talks about all these social issues and the whole lot. And I assumed that was at all times actually attention-grabbing. Blink-182, identical factor,. That they had a variety of songs that discuss that angst of not with the ability to slot in, then they might discover a approach to make that sound so catchy. Then My Chemical Romance, identical factor, you’d be singing about suicide, and it is like the best melody on the earth. So I believe that there is numerous bands that do this.
Baltin: Let me ask you about working with Deryck Whibley who I’ve identified for a billion years.
Comeau: We’re tremendous excited. We got here up virtually on the identical time, I believe they have been a yr earlier than us. And I keep in mind, like there was a little bit of a rivalry between Easy Plan and Sum 41 as a result of we have been each from Canada, and we have been taking part in in the identical scene and the whole lot. That they had that sort of angle on the time the place they might go after everyone and that was their shtick, that was their factor, proper. And so it is actually cool all these years later to see that each bands have sort of survived and are nonetheless right here, nonetheless thriving, and nonetheless doing nicely, nonetheless related. And to have the ability to lastly do one thing collectively, musically, I believe the followers are gonna be completely thrilled about it. So to return collectively and do a tune, it is actually cool. He is been tremendous good about doing the entire thing. He did it again in his home in Vegas and we simply texted and e mail. We’re additionally gonna announce an enormous worldwide tour with them as nicely, for the anniversary. It is gonna be fairly superior to have the 2 bands coming collectively and doing this, we have by no means finished it. We have by no means performed a tour with them.