Q&A with Simple Plan’s Chuck Comeau ahead of Kelowna show

Following sold-out European dates, the hugely popular American outfit The Offspring announced they’re bringing their Let the Bad Times Roll Tour to Canada.

Supporting the punk rock icons are Canadian rockers Simple Plan. The Montreal-based band formed in 1999 and has sold over 10 million albums worldwide and cracked the 1 billion stream mark.

The band’s 2002 track, ‘I’m Just a Kid’, recently soared back into popularity thanks to a viral trend on TikTok. The #Imjustakid trend has over 4.3 billion views on the app.

Ahead of the show at Prospera Place, Roach, from 104.7 The Lizard, caught up with drummer Chuck Comeau.

The questions and answers have been edited for clarity.

Roach: After a cancelled show in the spring due to COVID-19, what is it like to be back playing live in front of a full capacity crowd, no hesitations?

Chuck: It was tough. We were so excited about that tour, but then Omicron came in and wreaked everything, for so many things, it was so challenging. But now we are back. We’ve been touring since April; we’ve played shows from coast-to-coast. It is nice to be back and what’s special is when we play, to look at the crowd and see how happy people are to finally see live music, to be all together. You feel people appreciate it more than ever. It is quite remarkable. The same thing for us. Being on that stage, we missed it. It is even more special than it used to be.

Roach: Simple Plan cite The Offspring as a major influence on your music. What is it like to go from looking up the band to joining a stage with them?

Chuck: It has been a bit surreal. When we were 13, 14 we discovered them. [Lead singer] Pierre [Bouvier] used to watch all these snowboard movies and the soundtracks to them were always The Offspring songs from their first album.

It opened up a whole world of music to us. We discovered NOFX, Pennywise, Bad Religion, all these punk rock bans that were so important in our teenage years and shaped the DNA of our sound and our music. So, all these years later, it is kind of a full circle thing. They look at us as peers. It is quite special. It’s amazing to hear these songs every night, and it brings back so many memories. It is just a privilege to be able to do a tour like this.

It is great to put on a show that people are like, ‘oh, I can’t miss this.’

It’s not just Simple Plan. It’s not The Offspring. Its both of them together. It is a big night. It is an event that might never happen again. I think people are excited about it.

Roach: What can people in Kelowna look forward to?

Chuck: It is us, getting on stage, and going as hard as we can, and bringing the energy that we have and that is the trademark of the band. Obviously, we have very emotional songs, but the way we play them on stage is we go all out. I jump in the crowd. And go in the mosh pit and it is a good time. We try to put on a rock show that people will enjoy.

We play the greatest hits; we play the new songs. And the same thing with The Offspring. They put on a hell of show. It’s like every song you know, they have this song, this song, this song, its all hits.