Simple Plan’s 2002 debut album, No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls, did what its title suggested: it proffered an abundance of gutsy, bratty pop-punk which drew comparisons with in-vogue contemporaries such as blink-182 and Good Charlotte. It also ripped up the charts, peaking at No.2 in the band’s native Canada and going platinum in the US – but its success meant Simple Plan were expected to deliver more of the same with their second album, 2004’s Still Not Getting Any…
The Montreal quintet, however, had other ideas. They were keen to experiment and push beyond their pop-punk blueprint, but, due to their intensive touring schedule, needed to do so with one eye on the clock. Here’s the story of how Still Not Getting Any… ensured that Simple Plan got everything they deserved.
Listen to ‘Still Not Getting Any…’ here.
The backstory: “After months of pushing each other, it just came together”
On No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls, the group set themselves a specific challenge: to write a pure pop-punk record. When it came to crafting a follow-up, however, their aim was to simply “write good songs” – even though events seemed to conspire against them.
“This record was so full of deadlines,” drummer Chuck Comeau told Modern Drummer magazine. “Because of the way the schedule worked out, we had to write about ten songs in three months. We did fight a lot.”
In a 2005 interview on the band’s website, Simple Plan vocalist and co-writer Pierre Bouvier agreed with his bandmate’s assertion – though he stressed that capitulation was never an option.
“At first we had trouble coming up with stuff we loved, so we just kept writing and writing… never giving up,” Bouvier recalled. “After months of doing this and pushing each other, it just came together. Perfect World was one of the first good songs that we got, and from there the songs just started coming out of us like a waterfall.”
