Can you even believe 2014 is almost over? Even though in the world of SP news, this was one of the slower and less action-filled years (but after all so are all the years before the release of a new album – remember 2007 or 2010?), SimplePlan.cz still brought you plenty of news each month – some more exciting than others. Let’s check out what 2014 brought us then in the traditional recap of the year!
Here’s the recap of 2014:
After the Christmas break, Pierre and Chuck kicked the new year off by diving into the song-writing process again and writing more songs for the new album. In January, Jeff was pretty busy, as he opened two new establishments: bar Rufus Rockhead (which closed later in the year) and Japanese restaurant Shinji. He also became involved with the Rocksmith 2014 “60 Day Challenge” in that month. And finally in February, SimplePlan.cz got this purple / outter space / astronaut-y makeover.
In March, the Canadian band Amasic released a brand new song “If I Had One Dollar,” which has been co-written by Pierre and Chuck from Simple Plan in 2013 and SimplePlan.cz brough you an exclusive interview with their lead singer Janick Thibault. One of the biggest news in March, though, has been the announcement of the guys from 3OH!3 working with Pierre and Chuck on the new SP album. Simple Plan got back on stage in April, when they performed at We Day in Ottawa, Canada and later in the month they also played a secret show in Chisasibi, QC. In other news, Sebastien helped co-write song songs for Jilian Jensen and we witnessed the very funny cover of “Untitled” by Pewdiepie.
Pierre got some excellent voice-coaching advice from Gary Catona in May and later that month the band performed at the Million Meals Movement event in Toronto, where the guys also helped pack some meals for people in need. In June, Jeff started getting involved with the production of “The Event,” a documentary series about the backstage of Canadian music festivals which aired during the summer. The attendees of the Amnesia Rockfest in June witnessed the special reunion of the original members of Reset – featuring Chuck, Pierre and also David from Simple Plan. After that the SP boys appeared and performed at the charity golf tournament organised by Omnium Gervais-Talbot, which donated generously to the Simple Plan Foundation.
The beginning of July always means that Simple Plan are somewhere around Canada to celebrate Canada Day – this year it was in Brampton, OT, after which they also performed at Salmon Fest. Jeff, who opened a new pub – Lorbeer – that month – attended the pancake breakfast with Chuck Hughes and Patrick Langlois in July and Pierre made a big decision to start revealing more of his private life on social media. The highlight of the end of July were the APMAs, where Chuck got to interview and hang out with many of his friends from the music industry. August was all about the ALS ice-bucket challenge which Chuck and Sebastien bravely underwent. Some of the members of Simple Plan also attended the Osheaga festival in Canada and all of them supported their bandmate Jeff by showing up at the opening of his new restaurant Laurea. In other news, Simple Plan Foundation held a charitable golf-tournament, SimplePlan.cz celebrated its 7th birthday that month and first rumors about the possible collaboration between Simple Plan and 5 Seconds of Summer started to flood the Internet.
The most used word of September in the SP world has definitely been “Kiehl’s,” as the band teamed up with this cosmetic brand for charitable purposes for their Foundation, which ended with a live-stream of an acoustic Simple Plan show and $400 000 raised! In September, Pierre and Chuck finally met the members of 5SOS which kicked off another wave of rumors about a possible collaboration. During that month, was nominated for the first time ever for the MTV Europe Music Awards, in the World Stage category and Pierre and Chuck did some song-writing with Mark Hoppus (Blink 182) and Alex Gaskarth (All Time Low) . Just a few weeks after that Pierre and Chuck flew to Vancouver, where they co-wrote some songs with another big name – Josh Ramsay (Marianas Trench) . The band also celebrated the 10th anniversary of Still Not Getting Any, Adam Elmakias visited Chuck and Pierre at their home studio and in more private news, Sebastien announced the birth of his baby-girl.
Regarding side-projects in November, Sebastien got involved with the Je Signe Pour L’Enfance campaign and Jeff presented new beer cans for his West Shefford micro-brewery. Pierre and Chuck kept on writing more songs for album no. 5 and ever worked with John Feldmann. In November, Summer Paradise was certified triple platinum in Canada and for their charitable efforts, Simple Plan received a Peace Medal from YMCA Quebec and also got nominated for the Heart of Gold category at the CBC Music Awards. The day before the annual Simple Plan Foundation benefit event, the band performed at the CN Canadiens Alumni Challenge, where they performed “The Rest of Us” live (acoustically) for the first time. And finally the highlight of the year came from the fore-mentioned benefit event, where Simple Plan performed a brand new song called “Boom,” which is to be featured on their new album. In December, Jeff opened another new bar, Mimi la nuit and Chuck and Pierre went through a little writer’s block period, which they luckily overpowered by the end of the year.
And what can we expect from 2015?
Probably around late January, the band should finally be heading to the studio to record their fifth studio album. That means in the following weeks, we should finally find out not just where they will be recording it, but also who they chose as the album’s producer! The next few months then should be devoted to the recording process, mastering and post-production and as of right now, the band hopes to release the album by the end of spring. With the album out hopefully by June, the band should start touring in summer so you can expect them to come back everywhere most probably in 2015.
It will be a big, big year, so make sure to keep checking SimplePlan.cz for all the news. Are you ready?!
