Post by .|Fe|. on Sept 19, 2006 10:36:12 GMT -5
Un'intervista del 2 settembre 2006 prima del concerto dei Simple Plan a Montreal. Purtroppo sono stati intervistati solo Dave e Sebby. Gli argomenti sono abbastanza vari e si parla anche del nuovo Cd [Come avevo già scritto nell'altro topic]. So che è in inglese e spero che capiate tutti ciò che c'è scritto... perchè non è che abbia molta voglia di tradurla xD
CONFRONT: What is your definition of mainstream relative to music today?
SEBASTIEN: Mainstream seems to be the music that plays on the radio and people tend to buy the record for, I guess. That seems to be “mainstream”. I don’t think it’s a style. I just think it’s what’s popular these days.
CONFRONT: What is it that you think makes something popular?
SEBASTIEN: I think it’s just a good song. If you put out a good record and put out a good song then people are just gonna be more keen to finding out more about you and probably getting the record.
CONFRONT: Do you think that mainstream has evolved?
SEBASTIEN: That’s a weird question to me. Because I don’t think mainstream is a style or a certain type of music. What band is mainstream right now? I don’t know. I’ll pull out a chart and it’s whoever is in the top ten I guess. And then next month it will be different bands that are mainstream.
CONFRONT: So you don’t think one genre is more mainstream than another?
DAVID: Definitely not.
SEBASTIEN: 50 Cent and Gwen Stefani…
DAVID: Coldplay and 50 Cent…
SEBASTIEN: Or even Fall Out Boy.
DAVID: I think it’s the most rediculous thing when someone comes up to me and says “you’re too mainstream for me”… I don’t even wanna talk to that person. Why would I waste my energy, you know.
SEBASTIEN: Like if other people are gonna like a certain band your not gonna like it? It’s kind of weird.
CONFRONT: What is it that makes you popular with kids then?
SEBASTIEN: I don’t. We’re real band. And by that I mean we write our own songs, we talk about stuff that happened in our lives, stuff we are honest about you know and that’s just the way we do things. Everything has been decide by or done by the band and I think a lot of kids can see that and they identify with our lyrics because we are just normal people talking about normal things.
CONFRONT: Have you started working on the new album?
SEBASTIEN: Yes yes, we are in the writing process right now.
CONFRONT: How do you go about writing? What’s the process behind it?
SEBASTIEN: Well it was my idea to make a 3rd record.
DAVID: And a good one.
SEBASTIEN: And I said also lets write good songs for it. (laugh). I don’t know. It’s the same approach as the last record in the sense that we just want to make a better record again, write better songs, have better lyrics better everything; so that’s what we aim for. But we just started writing recently.
CONFRONT: Do you guys have a set date for a release…
DAVID: Definitely not… For sure by 2010 we will have a record out (laughs).
SEBASTIEN: The album will come out when it’s recorded and we’ll record it when we have the songs written for it and we are writing the songs now.
CONFRONT: Is there some sort of plan or time frame?
SEBASTIEN: Early 2007 is what we are aiming for.
DAVID: That was more for the 2nd record. The record was done in mid September and it came out in October. It was like never seen. It was the fastest turn around in the industry ever.
And this time around we still have a couple of records so you know, it can wait.
SEBASTIEN: We just want to make a good one. ‘Cause if you put a deadline on yourself and then you might put out a shitty record.
CONFRONT: You guys talk a lot about perseverance and that’s what got you to where you are today. What drove you that have that perseverance? What was it about this industry that you said “this is what I want to do?”
SEBASTIEN: Well we are all music lovers. Music is just a huge part of our lives. Growing up you always listen to music, you always play music and then eventually you join a band and you figure out that you might be able to do that for a living so you just work, work, work, you know. Our career, the way it went was just very, very gradual.
DAVID: But in Quebec people don’t seem to get that it took us a while to get recognition.
SEBASTIEN: Yeah here is was always a little bit bigger shows but if we were quitters, since our first single didn’t do too well in the States we would have been like “Ok screw it”.
CONFRONT: I didn’t know that the first single didn’t do well in the States. It was pretty huge here in Quebec.
DAVID: Yeah! Here and Japan. But to answer your question, I don’t think there is anything about the industry that made us want to do it. It’s the music.
CONFRONT: You were talking about Japan and that you guys a big over there. Do you guys go to Japan a lot?
SEBASTIEN: Yes! And I miss it these days.
CONFRONT: What is it about the Japanese culture that you miss or that you enjoyed so much that you miss the country?
DAVID: They just treat people with respect.
SEBASTIEN: It’s definitely the one place in the world you go and you feel like you are in a different country. We go to Australia and we all love Australia, it’s one of our favorite places in the world, but you know people speak English…
DAVID: It’s like Canada.
SEBASTIEN: Yeah it’s just like Canada but more tropical. And you go to Hawaii and you land and there is a Home Depot. But then you go to Japan and you can’t understand anything that is written anywhere and people look different and speak different…
CONFRONT: Is there anything about the culture that you retained?
SEBASTIEN: Yes, the love for Sushi.
CONFRONT: Do you find that the fact that you are mostly French or that you were brought up speaking French hinders you in a way? Like, was the fact that you weren’t Americans and have a little bit of an accent a problem?
SEBASTIEN: No actually the ladies think it’s Sexy. (laughs) No, I don’t know. I don’t think it really matters where you are from anymore. As long as you make good music that’s all that matters.
CONFRONT: You guys were just on vacation right?
SEBASTIEN: Yeah we toured up ‘til March and then took maybe a month of doing absolutely nothing and then we started writing.
CONFRONT: What did you do during your time off?
SEBASTIEN: I slept a lot! I hung out with my friends again so that was fun.
CONFRONT: Do you find that Quebec culture is different from other cultures?
SEBASTIEN: I think so. I think that Quebec is a little bit closer to European culture than it is of the traditional North American culture. I think people out here are much more open minded; especially in Montreal. It’s such a diverse city.
CONFRONT: You also have outside projects?
SEBASTIEN: Yeah I have a radio show with my buddy Patrick called the Men of the hour hour.
CONFRONT: What was it about that that made you say that you wanted to do that?
SEBASTIEN: Well to tell you the truth, we were bored and a friend from Idobe.com, the online radio station, said we should do a show for them so we did one and we had a good time; so we did more.
CONFRONT: You guys talk bout being close to your fans a lot. How has that changed since four years ago when you were doing smaller venues?
SEBASTIEN: Yeah it’s changed quit a bit. We used to go sit up by the “merch” booth and meet everybody. Now we still try to do it but it has to be organized now so we do meet and greets and stuff like that. We still enjoy it, it’s just different now. And after the shows, there are always kids hanging out by the fences, so we just change and go talk to them when we can.
CONFRONT: You also do a lot of charity work. Why is that so important to you?
SEBASTIEN: I don’t know. We feel we should give back a little. We’re very fortunate with our band, we’ve had a lot of success and we’re very lucky we’ve made it this far and we are in a position where people listen to what we have to say; so if we can actually say something interesting that can bring good to other people, we might as well do it.
CONFRONT: Are there certain causes that you say “Ok, these are the people I’m gonna work with this year”?
SEBASTIEN: Well we actually started a foundation last December - the Simple Plan foundation - that we are still raising funds for and we are still discussing who we will give the profits too; but it’s probably going to be for kids that are sick and possibly help out schools that don’t have music programs and so on.
CONFRONT: CONFRONT Magazine is internet based and there are very specific reasons why that is… how do you think that the internet has affected the music industry?
SEBASTIEN: Well I think that people downloading music off the internet affects the industry because some record labels can be stupid at times and they only look at numbers and if they don’t see the numbers, they think the band doesn’t have any fans; so they don’t make another record. But just MySpace is absolutely crazy. You can put your music on MySpace and people can listen to it and get the word out. It’s amazing.
CONFRONT: On a final note, what do you think that future of the internet is with regards to the music industry?
SEBASTIEN: Well one day there just won’t be records anymore. Everything is going to be online. You know, records are 10 bucks online but they’re still 18$ at the store. Why pay 18$ when you can get it for 10$
?
CONFRONT: What is your definition of mainstream relative to music today?
SEBASTIEN: Mainstream seems to be the music that plays on the radio and people tend to buy the record for, I guess. That seems to be “mainstream”. I don’t think it’s a style. I just think it’s what’s popular these days.
CONFRONT: What is it that you think makes something popular?
SEBASTIEN: I think it’s just a good song. If you put out a good record and put out a good song then people are just gonna be more keen to finding out more about you and probably getting the record.
CONFRONT: Do you think that mainstream has evolved?
SEBASTIEN: That’s a weird question to me. Because I don’t think mainstream is a style or a certain type of music. What band is mainstream right now? I don’t know. I’ll pull out a chart and it’s whoever is in the top ten I guess. And then next month it will be different bands that are mainstream.
CONFRONT: So you don’t think one genre is more mainstream than another?
DAVID: Definitely not.
SEBASTIEN: 50 Cent and Gwen Stefani…
DAVID: Coldplay and 50 Cent…
SEBASTIEN: Or even Fall Out Boy.
DAVID: I think it’s the most rediculous thing when someone comes up to me and says “you’re too mainstream for me”… I don’t even wanna talk to that person. Why would I waste my energy, you know.
SEBASTIEN: Like if other people are gonna like a certain band your not gonna like it? It’s kind of weird.
CONFRONT: What is it that makes you popular with kids then?
SEBASTIEN: I don’t. We’re real band. And by that I mean we write our own songs, we talk about stuff that happened in our lives, stuff we are honest about you know and that’s just the way we do things. Everything has been decide by or done by the band and I think a lot of kids can see that and they identify with our lyrics because we are just normal people talking about normal things.
CONFRONT: Have you started working on the new album?
SEBASTIEN: Yes yes, we are in the writing process right now.
CONFRONT: How do you go about writing? What’s the process behind it?
SEBASTIEN: Well it was my idea to make a 3rd record.
DAVID: And a good one.
SEBASTIEN: And I said also lets write good songs for it. (laugh). I don’t know. It’s the same approach as the last record in the sense that we just want to make a better record again, write better songs, have better lyrics better everything; so that’s what we aim for. But we just started writing recently.
CONFRONT: Do you guys have a set date for a release…
DAVID: Definitely not… For sure by 2010 we will have a record out (laughs).
SEBASTIEN: The album will come out when it’s recorded and we’ll record it when we have the songs written for it and we are writing the songs now.
CONFRONT: Is there some sort of plan or time frame?
SEBASTIEN: Early 2007 is what we are aiming for.
DAVID: That was more for the 2nd record. The record was done in mid September and it came out in October. It was like never seen. It was the fastest turn around in the industry ever.
And this time around we still have a couple of records so you know, it can wait.
SEBASTIEN: We just want to make a good one. ‘Cause if you put a deadline on yourself and then you might put out a shitty record.
CONFRONT: You guys talk a lot about perseverance and that’s what got you to where you are today. What drove you that have that perseverance? What was it about this industry that you said “this is what I want to do?”
SEBASTIEN: Well we are all music lovers. Music is just a huge part of our lives. Growing up you always listen to music, you always play music and then eventually you join a band and you figure out that you might be able to do that for a living so you just work, work, work, you know. Our career, the way it went was just very, very gradual.
DAVID: But in Quebec people don’t seem to get that it took us a while to get recognition.
SEBASTIEN: Yeah here is was always a little bit bigger shows but if we were quitters, since our first single didn’t do too well in the States we would have been like “Ok screw it”.
CONFRONT: I didn’t know that the first single didn’t do well in the States. It was pretty huge here in Quebec.
DAVID: Yeah! Here and Japan. But to answer your question, I don’t think there is anything about the industry that made us want to do it. It’s the music.
CONFRONT: You were talking about Japan and that you guys a big over there. Do you guys go to Japan a lot?
SEBASTIEN: Yes! And I miss it these days.
CONFRONT: What is it about the Japanese culture that you miss or that you enjoyed so much that you miss the country?
DAVID: They just treat people with respect.
SEBASTIEN: It’s definitely the one place in the world you go and you feel like you are in a different country. We go to Australia and we all love Australia, it’s one of our favorite places in the world, but you know people speak English…
DAVID: It’s like Canada.
SEBASTIEN: Yeah it’s just like Canada but more tropical. And you go to Hawaii and you land and there is a Home Depot. But then you go to Japan and you can’t understand anything that is written anywhere and people look different and speak different…
CONFRONT: Is there anything about the culture that you retained?
SEBASTIEN: Yes, the love for Sushi.
CONFRONT: Do you find that the fact that you are mostly French or that you were brought up speaking French hinders you in a way? Like, was the fact that you weren’t Americans and have a little bit of an accent a problem?
SEBASTIEN: No actually the ladies think it’s Sexy. (laughs) No, I don’t know. I don’t think it really matters where you are from anymore. As long as you make good music that’s all that matters.
CONFRONT: You guys were just on vacation right?
SEBASTIEN: Yeah we toured up ‘til March and then took maybe a month of doing absolutely nothing and then we started writing.
CONFRONT: What did you do during your time off?
SEBASTIEN: I slept a lot! I hung out with my friends again so that was fun.
CONFRONT: Do you find that Quebec culture is different from other cultures?
SEBASTIEN: I think so. I think that Quebec is a little bit closer to European culture than it is of the traditional North American culture. I think people out here are much more open minded; especially in Montreal. It’s such a diverse city.
CONFRONT: You also have outside projects?
SEBASTIEN: Yeah I have a radio show with my buddy Patrick called the Men of the hour hour.
CONFRONT: What was it about that that made you say that you wanted to do that?
SEBASTIEN: Well to tell you the truth, we were bored and a friend from Idobe.com, the online radio station, said we should do a show for them so we did one and we had a good time; so we did more.
CONFRONT: You guys talk bout being close to your fans a lot. How has that changed since four years ago when you were doing smaller venues?
SEBASTIEN: Yeah it’s changed quit a bit. We used to go sit up by the “merch” booth and meet everybody. Now we still try to do it but it has to be organized now so we do meet and greets and stuff like that. We still enjoy it, it’s just different now. And after the shows, there are always kids hanging out by the fences, so we just change and go talk to them when we can.
CONFRONT: You also do a lot of charity work. Why is that so important to you?
SEBASTIEN: I don’t know. We feel we should give back a little. We’re very fortunate with our band, we’ve had a lot of success and we’re very lucky we’ve made it this far and we are in a position where people listen to what we have to say; so if we can actually say something interesting that can bring good to other people, we might as well do it.
CONFRONT: Are there certain causes that you say “Ok, these are the people I’m gonna work with this year”?
SEBASTIEN: Well we actually started a foundation last December - the Simple Plan foundation - that we are still raising funds for and we are still discussing who we will give the profits too; but it’s probably going to be for kids that are sick and possibly help out schools that don’t have music programs and so on.
CONFRONT: CONFRONT Magazine is internet based and there are very specific reasons why that is… how do you think that the internet has affected the music industry?
SEBASTIEN: Well I think that people downloading music off the internet affects the industry because some record labels can be stupid at times and they only look at numbers and if they don’t see the numbers, they think the band doesn’t have any fans; so they don’t make another record. But just MySpace is absolutely crazy. You can put your music on MySpace and people can listen to it and get the word out. It’s amazing.
CONFRONT: On a final note, what do you think that future of the internet is with regards to the music industry?
SEBASTIEN: Well one day there just won’t be records anymore. Everything is going to be online. You know, records are 10 bucks online but they’re still 18$ at the store. Why pay 18$ when you can get it for 10$
?
