If there's one thing that's a turn off, it's whining (unless it's your own, of course). This is probably the reason why it was quite an effort to wade through Simple Plan's newest offering.
The only audiences that may be able to endure their sound are sullen, "the world is against me", angst-ridden teens with eyes lined heavily with mascara. One can only imagine that these sorts of youngsters will enjoy Simple Plan's depressing lyrics which deal mainly with unhappy relationships.
Tracks
The Simple Plan album is the group's third and contains 11 tracks that kick off with When I'm Gone and one can't decide which is worse – Frontman Pierre Bouvier's cringe-worthy voice or the hackneyed lyrics.
"Whoa, No we're not gonna waste another moment in this town. Whoa, And we won't come back the world is calling out. Whoa oh, Leave the past in the past gonna find the future. And misery loves company. Well so long. You'll miss me when I'm gone. Ohh, ohh, ohh. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. Ohh, ohh, ohh"
As Bouvier croons these lines to the object of his affections, all you can think is that nobody could miss an irritating voice like that.
Most of the tracks like Take my Hand, The End and Save You are indistinguishable; however Your Love is a Lie is marginally better. Again the lyrics deal with the same tired theme of love and betrayal.
Generation is the band's attempt to sing about the woes of their generation. Listen to the lyrics "I'm sick of all this waiting. And people telling me what I should be… . When we're standing on top and do it our way. You say we got no future. You're living in the past. So listen up, that's my generation," and you realise you've heard this song by Linkin Park before. Only they did a much better job of it with their smash hit Numb.
The band also makes a stab at the hip hop genre with Generation and it comes off sounding all wrong.
Collaboration
The Montreal-based quintet has attempted to incorporate new sounds into their music by collaborating with producers Nate "Danja" Hills.
"I think we all felt we needed to do something that would be a little more daring and stretch the envelope of who we are," explains frontman Pierre Bouvier. "We wanted to make a record that will leave a mark."
Drummer Chuck Comeau adds: "There was sort of a realisation we needed to shake things up and really take chances and just go for it. To do something that was still us but would challenge ourselves."
Although the band tries to move away from their comfort zone, they still sound pretty much the same.
Trepidation
The change has caused the band members to feel some trepidation as they have been comfortable in the pop-rock genre since 1999.
"We were scared," acknowledges guitarist Jeff Stinco, "because at first, we didn't want to mess with something that we already knew worked and that we loved. We could've made another record like the second one and it would've been well-received by our fan base. But the new stuff was so exciting to us, and you have to follow that if you want to grow."
Bouvier agrees that, at times, "we didn't know if we were on the right track with something cool or if we were just losing our minds". But, he adds, that was not necessarily a bad thing. "You should be a little nervous. If you're not nervous, it's probably too safe. I think if you look back in the past, all the great records come from some kind of risk."
Simple Plan began working on the new album in the spring of 2006, shortly after wrapping up the touring cycle for Still Not Getting Any.
Dubai performance
Simple Plan performed their first ever and only Middle East concert in Dubai earlier this month with a capacity crowd attending the Madinat Arena concert.
Simple Plan is now taking their latest album on the road. The group has rehearsed extensively to work the new material into live performance shape and is confident it will rock its fans just as hard as its two predecessors.
"I feel so strongly about these songs," says guitarist Jeff Stinco, "and I've believed since we started this band that a strong song always prevails. These are definitely songs we can stand behind and endorse, and I can't wait to play them live."
Desrosiers was equally enthusiastic. "I felt like I was 12 years old when I heard When I'm Gone on the radio," he explains. "It just sounded so... fresh. I don't think we've ever been this excited."
