20 years ago, rock band Simple Plan burst onto the music scene with their 2002 debut album No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls. Now, to mark the anniversary, the Canadian group have announced their sixth studio album, Harder Than It Looks.
Out May 6, the 10-track record will be the band’s first self-released album since parting ways with longtime label Atlantic Records in 2019. The LP will include the previously-released singles “The Antidote” and “Ruin My Life” (featuring Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley). The band also just shared their newest single off Harder Than It Looks, "Congratulations."
“It’s a very quintessential Simple Plan album,” vocalist/bassist Pierre Bouvier told Billboard. “It’s us being ourselves, not trying to be something that we’re not. In a lot of ways, it’s about finding pride in what we created in the beginning. A lot of times, you start a band and create this sound — which, for us, became our signature sound — and then you want to run away from it. Now, with a little more maturity, we can embrace who we are, who we were, and give the fans what they want.”
Drummer Chuck Comeau added, “If there’s one word for me that sums up the album, and the band in some ways, it’s ‘resilient.’ It’s overcoming adversity and obstacles and finding hope even when it’s difficult. I feel like our music for a lot of people has been this thing that gives them hope. Every song that we do, even if it’s very dark subject matter, there’s always that glimmer of hope — a light at the end of the tunnel. Like, ‘OK, we’re going to get through this together.’”
In addition to the album release, the band will embark on a co-headlining U.S. tour with Sum 41 in April. Regarding the tour, Bouvier said, “It’s the 20th anniversary of our first album, and it’s the 21st anniversary of Sum 41’s [2001 debut, All Killer No Filler], so…it’s going to be a throwback tour of those early-2000s days.”
You can pre-save Harder Than It Looks here and find more tour information on Simple Plan's website.
Listen to "Congratulations" below.
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Article Image: Pierre Bouvier of Simple Plan during a performance at the Aerodrome Festival in 2017. (yakub88 via DepositPhotos.)
