Jeff Stinco – Simple Plan (Audio Interview)

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Paul 'Browny' Brown

Taking a trip back to a time where guys wore more eyeliner than girls, the term ‘Fangirl’ was a prominently acceptable way to describe an overly obsessed fan who plastered her walls with posters of her favourite bands and bands like My Chemical Romance, Good Charlotte, The Used, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Fall Out Boy and Simple Plan were dominating the mainstream emo scene which had broken out and started taking over the radio airwaves across the globe. Now some of you reading this might not class Simple Plan as an emo act (the band never has either) but when the majority of your single released songs were sappy somewhat break up songs, woe is me against the world and daddy issue hits, it’s not too hard to place them in the same basket as the rest of the bands mentioned above. In saying that, they found a formula which worked wonders and catapulted the band higher than ever imagined.

The French-Canadian five-piece started out back in 1999 and in a very short amount of time were touring the world on the back of their fan loved albums No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls (2002) and (2004’s) Still Not Getting Any… which spawned emo anthems such as “Addicted“, “I’m Just a Kid“, “Perfect“, “Welcome to My Life“, and sent fangirls into a frenzy whenever these guys would appear in the country or on TV but as the years went on and the band matured, they slowly started moving away from the hit song format and branching out into more mature themed releases such as “Jet Lag“, “Summer Paradise” and most recently “Singing in the Rain” but natural progression was bound to happen (with age) according to guitarist Jeff Stinco:

“A song like I’m just a kid which we released 15 years ago, if we would write that song now I think it would just be fake and it wouldn’t be believable. But at some point a band needs to evolve and touch subjects that are more relevant to their lifestyle they currently have.”

And it’s true, when you’re an older, more established band still singing about things you do in your youth, the older fans who have been following you since the early stages will drift away since they no longer resonate or relate to the music and themes you’re putting out (hence why the emo scene eventually died out). Nowadays it’s not uncommon to see Simple Plan opening gigs for bands whom they took on tour when they first started out as a little helping hand (such as Paramore, Cage The Elephant and Plain White Tees) but how does it feel having the tables turned on them?

“The reality of it is we’ve always been huge fans of music and it’s all about the band’s hard work. I think it’s important as a band to give back and help new bands get heard and be seen. We’ve had moments where Green Day, Blink-182 took us on tour and it propelled the band to another level.” – Jeff Stinco

So could these newer acts be responsible for the second coming of the band or had they already cemented themselves in the music industry that these “helping hands” were just another way for Simple Plan to get exposure? I’ll let you be the boss of that one but talking about helping other bands get exposure, recently the guys put out a video for their song “Boom” and it featured cameos from upcoming and established bands such as Pierce the Veil, All Time Low, New Found Glory, Black Veil Brides and our very own Winston McCall of Parkway Drive who was slightly out of place in terms of genres, but does this mean there could be a possible metalcore collaboration for the band in future years?

“I think he was drunk when he accepted to be in that video [laughs] I thought that was really cool… I don’t know we’re open to anything, but that quite a surprise I have to admit.”

Never say never, stranger things have happened in the past and who knows Parkway could take Simple Plan on their next tour across the country… but don’t hold your breath for that one. Until then grab a ticket to their upcoming Australian Tour next month before they all manage to sell out because the boys will be playing a large combinations of their biggest hits to date as well as fan favourites from their newer albums all in the name of a good night out. Have a listen to our full interview with Jeff Stinco below.