Simple Plan Generation!

The Canadian Punk-Rock group Simple Plan gave a performance at the 1000 Islands Music Fest in Gananoque (Canada) on August 14, 2009. The group is concerned by teenagers’ problems. Pressenza met two of their members: Jeff Stinco, guitarist and Chuck Comeau, drummer. Jeff said he was touched and is inspired by the famous speech of Martin Luther King, “I had a dream”.

Several Simple Plan songs shows the psychological and emotional struggle teenagers and young people face in today's world. The songs, Generation and Shut Up, summarize the impatience felt by the younger generation towards a narrow vision of the world coming from the past. Explicit lyrics from the song Generation: “I'm sick of all this waiting, And people telling me what I should Be, You say we got no future, you' re living in past... So listen up, that's my generation” - give us this general feeling of their impatience in front of the older generation views. Whereas the song Crazy describes the hypocrisy of the society toward the social injustice that hundreds of millions of people live each day and the emptiness that millions of others feel.

According to Jeff, the Simple Plan songs are not politically committed - they rather talk about the younger generation’s interpersonal dynamic and their relationships. Jeff and Chuck acknowledge that they are older than their fans, but remain touched by youngsters realities. Chuck: “we understood what the young people live; we were at that stage some years ago - we lived similar things, the rejection, the humiliation and the difficulties in relationships.” Jeff: “I realize that often I forget about the naivety carried out by the younger generation - this naivety which has to do with believing that things can change - our fans help me to remember it and this is very good”.

During their world tour, the group was confronted with different realities that the young people live elsewhere. Jeff: “The racial segregation in South Africa still exist, the exclusion of the young Mexicans in the south of the United States, is not easy, the difference between people is seen like a threat - however for me it's a richness and it's beautiful. Well, it's a beauty to see all these very different people.”.

The group is concerned by teenagers’ problems. In 2005, they launched the Simple Plan Foundation whose aim is to help young people in need by easing their often difficult passage to adulthood.

Chuck is inspired by the environmentalist Al Gore and by the former US President Bill Clinton, while Jeff is touched by the famous speech of Martin Luther King, "I had a dream". Jeff and Chuck were pleased to learn about the World March for peace and nonviolence and took some World March t-Shirts.

Simple Plan will be performing in Moscow on August 18, 2009 at the B-1 Maximum event and in Tel Aviv on August 20, 2009 at the Non Stop Musix Festival. To get information on the Simple Plan foundation, visit the website at : www.fondationsimpleplan.com