Before the show in Acton Vale, QC, our friends over at Tempo-Mag.com had the chance to interview Sebastien and Jeff from Simple Plan and managed to get some pretty interesting info from the twosome. While you can check out the English version of the full interview here, let’s sum up the most important things we’ve learned from it.
As SimplePlan.cz has reported before, the Taking One For The Team record should be released on a vinyl on September 2nd, according to various European online music retailers. The band has finally confirmed the release of a vinyl in this interview, when Sebastien stated: “The vinyl will really come out in some places. Vinyls are so cool! The vinyls from the factory are on back order. I think that it will take only a few months, or maybe just a few weeks.” It is unknown whether Sebastien is already taking in account the already known post-poning of the vinyl (original release date was August 5th), or if there’s been another post-poning since then. However, no matter when the vinyls arrive, it is now sure that Simple Plan do plan on releasing them in the near future.
The boys also once again discussed their touring plans for 2017. As Jeff had previously mentioned, the band plans on going back to works on their next album right after they’re done with touring for Taking One For The Team (around May 2017). But where is that tour going to bring them till then? It looks like the boys are also still standing behind their previously plans on hitting Europe and Canada once next year – maybe even for the summer festival season, which means the “May 2017” date as the end of TOFTT tour cycle isn’t set in stone just yet. To directly quote Sebastien again: “Of course, we still want to be on tour this spring. I also think, we are just talking for the sake of it, nothing is confirmed yet, but we are open-minded to do some festivals next summer. Maybe here, maybe in Europe. Something’s sure: we want a new album as quick as we can. That’s true. It will happen but we want to do the things right, that’s really our good best intention.”
And finally, the ever-present questions regarding any accompanying releases from Simple Plan besides their album. Ever since 2003 when the ‘A Big Package For You’ DVD came out, many Simple Plan fans have been adamant about requesting the release of the next Simple Plan DVD in the ABPFY style. Similarly also with the recent growth of the amount of acoustic sets the band has been performing, the fans have also started asking about an acoustic album, that would feature acoustic versions of already released songs. Unfortunately, the answer to both of these projects seems to be a “no” as of right now.
While it isn’t long that some band members have stated in a recent webchat that an acoustic album “may happen”, it’s also fair to note that creating such an album would take the band a very long time, which could be spent much better on producing a brand new album, rather than “recycling” old songs. As Sebastien noted: “We really should not do an acoustic album. It will take too much time,” and as Jeff added: “I don’t think it’s a good idea. I think it will be cool to explore the idea but I don’t think it will be on this album.”
Regarding the DVD, there’s a different issue than “not enough time” – the problem is not enough footage and an out-dated medium. Back in the day, in the 00s era, the Internet was in its very beginnings and therefore wasn’t considered a threat to the movie business at first. However with the expansion of the Internet into YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and other visually based media, Simple Plan now give out so much visual content on daily basis that they simply do not have enough of it left for a full-length behind the scenes DVD. According to the band, it’s possible that they might eventually put all these already released short pieces of footage into one big compilation – as Jeff put it in the interview: “Yes a compilation, it should exist. I don’t even know if we have any new material to present because everything ends up on the Internet. We feel that we are obliged to be present, always. So, we don’t have anything to show more than we already have.”