'Literally No One Knew Us': Simple Plan On Being The Perennial Underdogs
When Canadian pop punk outfit Simple Plan first touched down on Australian shores close to 25 years ago, they likely had no idea what the future held.
That first visit took place in late 2002, just seven months since they released their debut album – the somewhat awkwardly-titled No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls, which initially avoided the Australian charts – and saw them appearing low on the bill of Triple M's M-One festival.
Appearing alongside the likes of Nickelback, The Goo Goo Dolls, Garbage, Midnight Oil, and Billy Idol, the North American visitors hadn't even found their name listed on the event poster – though if they had, they might have been included as they were on the festival's timetable, listed as A Simple Plan, like the 1998 film that inspired the moniker.
"No one knew us," remembers drummer Chuck Comeau, speaking over Zoom between US tour dates. "Literally no one knew us except maybe 15 people in the front row. Our record had come out, but it didn't do very well at first; it was very under the radar.
"We were playing with Nickelback and Default, and it was a little bit more on the kind of… they call it divorced dad rock now, but they didn't call it like that back then," he adds. "It wasn't exactly the perfect fit, but we made some fans on that first festival run, and we fell in love with the country.
"Even though we were going on first, we were like, 'We're going to make an impression.' We were coming on with the Australian flag, we were waving it all around, and we were playing our hearts out. We really wanted to stand out in that sort of, that kind of festival that wasn't exactly our scene, and it turned out amazing."
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As it turned out, the band were just a little premature in their visit to the country. Following their first trek down under, that debut album made an appearance on the Australian charts, reaching No. 96 before swiftly falling out.
In July 2004, however, the record's final single, Perfect, would peak at No. 6, two months before previous single Addicted would hit No. 10, and another two weeks before their second album, Still Not Getting Any..., would arrive.
That album would eventually peak at No. 6 as well, with their debut once more impacting the charts and this time cracking the top 30 in early 2005.
This education in chart history all to say that by the time Simple Plan returned to Australia in March of 2005, things had changed and the audiences had finally caught on.
"Perfect was the game changer for us in Australia," Comeau remembers. "It was like the trigger that just went boom. All of a sudden it did amazing, and what was amazing is that the label went back and resurfaced every single song that had failed at radio, and all of a sudden they just became big hits afterwards.
"So it was very late in the cycle of the first record, but it was such a gift. They had the MTV Video Music Awards back then in Australia, we got to do that, we got to play Rod Laver and all these iconic venues.
"We have so many great memories of the early days," he adds, "but really it was the people, it was the fans that were listening and that embraced the band. There's just that special connection with fans there."
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At the time of Simple Plan's first visit to Australia, the band were in their early 20s, with all members having played together since their late teens. Having officially formed the group in 1999, their first single (the anthemic I'm Just A Kid) had only arrived months prior to their album's release and M-One festival shows.
Needless to say, they were right in the middle of a whirlwind experience that they couldn't have expected to be going in 2026. Living in the moment, they were relishing the highs but well aware of the fact that such success was a rarity which could very well dissipate as quickly as it arrived.
"I don't think you can expect a certain trajectory where you for sure know what's going to happen," Comeau admits. "But at the same time you can have a hope and a dream for it. And that's what we were always wishing for; to have that longevity, to be able to have an impact, not to be a flash in the pan with one or two records, but to be able to be a band that will last and that's going to be around for a while.
"I had that vision right away when we started playing shows, even though it wasn't massive right away. For example, the first time we did Warped Tour in America, we were playing the fourth stage or the fifth stage, but we had five times more people than all the other bands on that stage.
"There was something; there was a buzz," he remembers. "We were able to connect with people in a way that told me that, 'Hey, if we can do this here at this scale, we can replicate this everywhere else in the world, and we can reach people.' The music seemed to connect, maybe it was the way that we were vulnerable with the lyrics, or maybe it was the way that we were honest with our songs and the kind of energy that the music had."
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By his own admission, Comeau can't quite put his finger on what it is that brought people in and kept them around. However, the thing that is the most baffling is the fact that "it's getting bigger than it's ever been".
As it stands, they boast over ten million monthly listeners on Spotify alone, with their most-played song – I'm Just A Kid – closing on 450 million plays. Few of their early contemporaries could likely boast similar numbers, and even fewer could say that their fanbase has only increased.
Perhaps it's a social media thing, much like how Deftones exploded in popularity amongst a younger fanbase, or perhaps it's the timeless nature of their attitude, lyrics, and songs? Or perhaps it's a mixture of everything which can't easily be explained?
"Since the pandemic, this band has been on this ascending [trajectory] and we have this momentum," Comeau points out. "Maybe it's social media, maybe we got lucky with the I'm Just A Kid challenge or whatever it is. But I also think people are rediscovering their love for the band and the music, and maybe there's a bit of nostalgia in there. But we're embracing it all.
"To be like literally having the best years of our career 27 years in, I mean, I cannot express how grateful I am and how happy it makes me."
One of the biggest motivating factors comes from the band members having kids now, and being able to show them that while their dads are in a band, it's not a sad nostalgia-driven cash grab of the glory days of the past. Rather, it's as relevant and resonant as ever.
"It's not like, 'Oh yeah, they used to be popular, and they used to do this,'" he says of the band taking their kids on tour. "It's like, 'No, we're doing it now.' I think for everyone in the band, it has become a huge motivation because we want to be able to share all this with our families and keep it going.
"It opens up so many doors, it brings us on so many adventures, and it brings us to so many cool places. We're so lucky, so we want it to keep going."
Of course, Comeau also points to the band's hard-working nature and perennial status as underdogs which has given them a drive to take their careers seriously, to never settle, and to always keep striving for new heights.
"We never had a number one song around the world, we had to earn it everywhere," he explains. "We never got the Rolling Stone cover, other bands got it, so I think it gave us that mentality of needing to work harder if we want to get what we want.
"Even to this day, when we go on stage, we ask people, like, 'How many people are seeing us for the first time?' And it's literally crazy, it can be up to 80% of people that's never seen the band, right? So it's like, 'Hey, we're still making a first impression on all these people.'
"We get the luxury of these fans having never seen what we do, so we don't get comfortable," he adds. "We don't take it for granted, we're not just coasting. Every show, we're like, 'No, we're going to prove to you that we deserve to be here.'"
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Perhaps it's this determination, this continuing rise in their profile, the increasing crowd sizes, and everything else that is part of why Simple Plan are now returning to Australia this December, appearing as one of the headliners of the 2026 edition of the Good Things festival.
Simple Plan are no strangers to Good Things (be it the concept or the festival), having performed on the festival's second outing, in 2019. On that edition, they were performing fourth on the bill, behind Parkway Drive, A Day To Remember, and Violent Soho.
This time around, only Limp Bizkit are ahead of them on the timetable, giving the band one of their biggest Australian audiences to date.
Seven years later, Comeau still looks back on the band's first Good Things experience fondly. "We really loved it," he enthuses. "Look, any excuse that we have to come back to Australia, we take it.
"It's one of our favourite places in the world. We truly enjoy going there, and we love our fans there, they've been so supportive since day one. Not only do we love the country, but on top of that, we get to play really fun and big shows. So it's like a perfect combination.
"It's literally one of the only places I would consider living outside of where we live."
Simple Plan's first foray onto a Good Things line-up also coincided with Bad Religion doing the same, with both groups visiting for the festival once more this December. It's something which excites Comeau, especially given that – as we speak – he's decked out in a Minor Threat shirt, featuring current Bad Religion guitarist Brian Baker. "They're one of my favourite bands," he gushes excitedly.
But if he's this excited about sharing the bill with a band like that, what can equally excited fans be expecting when it comes to Simple Plan's Australian return? "We keep stepping up our shows," he teased. "We keep doing more stuff because, I mean, it's kind of blowing our minds that we're that high on the poster now.
"It's amazing, but it's also a little bit more pressure, right? Like, we have to deliver something special. So we're gonna go all out in terms of the production. We want to make something that stands out and that people talk about.
"We've been doing the Bigger Than You Think tour in the US, and it's the biggest thing we've ever done. So we're going to bring that to Australia; we're bringing the whole thing.
"We're just going to try to put on the best show that we can, with the most energy. I think that's the key because, yes, the production gets bigger, but at the end of the day, we were always the kind of band that didn't rely on that. So now it's like we're putting on the same energy, the same great show that we used to do with, and, but we're just adding all these crazy, fun things around it.
"We're going to do what we do as Simple Plan," he adds. "Which is, give it our all and really make sure that every single person from the front row to the last one is having a good time. Obviously, it's a festival set, so we're going to play all the songs that people want to hear, and we're going to throw in a few curve balls for the hardcore fans."
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Since the 2019 edition of Good Things, Simple Plan have been back on Australian shores twice more, touring in both 2024 and 2025, with their most recent album – Harder Than It Looks – arriving back in 2022.
While touring is their current focus, and while Australian shows are on the way, how are things looking in regard to album number seven? As it turns out, things have been progressing nicely, with a brief window in the touring schedule earlier this year providing a chance to start writing.
"We don't have a title yet, but we've written quite a lot of songs already that we love, that we're excited about," Comeau teases. "It's not finished, but t's interesting as a band when you're on your seventh record and 25 years in, you're competing against yourself at this point.
"It's hard to make records that will impact people the same way as the song that they heard when they were teenagers, right? There's something about when you're 17 or 14, whatever, the music hits you in a way that's not going to be the same when you're 35. But we're trying to write something that people are going to love just as much.
"And the last record, we worked really hard on it, and our hardcore fans truly love it; they think it's one of our best ones," he adds. "So that's the bar, we need to beat that. Our fans know that we're not the fastest when it comes to records, but when we do make them and when we do put them out, we really feel proud, and usually our fans agree that it was worth the wait.
"We're going to probably keep writing in the early beginning of 2027, and then start recording, and hopefully have something out around that year or early 2028."
While that's something to look forward to, Simple Plan will first find their way down to Australia for Good Things in December, and it sounds like it'll be hard to find anyone more excited than Comeau himself.
"We just can't wait to come back to Australia," he gushes. "There's a vibe there. It feels like Canada, but tropical and nicer, with cooler animals and better-looking people."
Tickets to Good Things's 2026 edition are on sale now.
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GOOD THINGS FESTIVAL LINE-UP:
Limp Bizkit
Simple Plan
Spiritbox
Polaris
The All-American Rejects
Bad Religion (45 + 1 Anniversary)
Alexisonfire (Performing Crisis In Full)
Grinspoon
Millencolin (Performing Pennybridge Pioneers In Full)
Bilmuri
Ministry (Farewell Australia)
Chad Gray (30 Years Of Madnesss – Performing Mudvayne & Hellyeah)
MxPx
Neck Deep
Speed
Slowly Slowly
P.O.D.
The Devil Wears Prada
Choirboys
In Alphabetical Order:
All Them Witches
The Black Queen
Future Palace
Headwreck
The Home Team
House Of Protection
ivri
Kami Kehoe
Locked Shut
LØLØ
vianova
Voice Of Baceprot
Plus The Chaos Of Stage 666!
DATES AND VENUES:
Friday, December 4th – Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, VIC (16+)
Saturday, December 5th – Sydney Showground, Sydney, NSW (16+)
Sunday, December 6th – Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane, QLD (16+)
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