In less than two months, Simple Plan will return to the United Kingdom, where they are scheduled to perform as the opening act of the legendary Bowling For Soup. The title of the tour “Together Again, You’re Welcome” cleverly refers to the original Bowling For Soup/Simple Plan UK tour back in 2003, which is the first and so far last time these two bands toured in the UK together.
On their upcoming tour, Simple Plan and Bowling For Soup will make 6 stops in total, visiting Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester, London and Brighton in between February 10th and 15th 2020.
Given how close we are to the tour already, RockSound decided to interview Bowling For Soup’s lead singer Jaret Reddick, devoting much of the interview to Bowling For Soup’s relationship with Simple Plan. So if you’d like to know how this whole upcoming BFS/SP tour came about or what Jaret remembers about the time when the two bands drunkenly threw a mini fridge out of a hotel window (you may recall this incident from Simple Plan’s DVD: A Big Package For You), check out the following excerpt from the article:
“We did! Myself and my manager just really wanted to come in with – well, just a show, and I think we’ve done that these last couple of years. Bringing over Simple Plan is great timing too, because they have a new album that’s going to be out some time shortly after that. Also, they’re just great friends of ours, they’re our original little brothers, and it’s just gonna be awesome – I’m so stoked about it! It’s just gonna be just a big singalong night, because you just take all of the singles of the two bands, that’s your night right there – there’s a lot to sing along to, so I am beyond excited.”
This is also the return of an original touring package you did 15 years ago in the UK too…
“Yeah! It’s actually going to be 16 years ago next year which is crazy. That was a huge year for them, a huge year for us, and just a nice time – so it’s good to bring it all back over there. We’re due for a huge tour, and those guys will definitely be bringing it – and I’m bringing over a band that I manage called Not Ur Girlfrenz who were on the bundle with us last year too, and it’s just gonna be a really fun night.”
You obviously know Simple Plan really well – what are some of your best memories of them?
“One night things got a little bit crazy – and they don’t really party like we do – they don’t really drink, but they’re still a lot of fun. Well – they drink a little bit, but they’re not Bowling For Soup is what I’m saying. So we were at a college in Leeds, and shit was going crazy, and Chris Burney [guitar] was throwing chocolate milk off the balcony and watching it explode – and a refrigerator got picked up, and just tossed over the edge of the balcony. Just as it was just about to go over, everybody was like, ‘Man, they’re gonna charge us for that!’, and Jeff [Stinco, guitar] from Simple Plan just goes, ‘Fuck it, I’ll pay for it!’, and the refrigerator just goes over the edge. And when we walked out, and there was Jeff just writing a cheque – so we were at least responsible in our insanity. But there’s always something going on with those dudes, and I’m so excited to do it all again.”
