Sugar Ray and Simple Plan Heat Up SVSU's Ryder Center

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Sugar Ray and Simple Plan Heat Up SVSU's Ryder Center

By Robert E. Martin

Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray..photo by Kay McEntee

It may have been a cold day in March as the throngs of fans gathered to catch Sugar Ray perform at Saginaw Valley State University's Ryder Center, but the 1,500 people standing in line waiting for doors to open (later joined by the 3,500 capacity crowd) were clearly primed for a hefty dose of excitement.

With a neon 'Sugar Ray' sign hanging over a stage equipped with a Tiki bar, the group fired-up the stage with a hard-driving musical assault of earlier material like Under the Sun and Answer the Phone before getting into those undeniable 'summer anthems' such as Someday and When It's Over that helped propel this group of West Coast hookmasters to fame.

Led by heartthrob of the moment, lead singer & frontman Mark McGrath, the group easily lured the audience into shouts of approval with their broadly eclectic sound, ranging from full-throttled rockers to the acoustic shuffles, scratches, and bouncy hooks of their hits.

Formed out of Newport Beach in the late '80s, Sugar Ray is virtually a

musical encyclopedia of influences that range from The Clash to Duran

Duran.  And unlike the manufactured teenage pop of N-Sync, Sugar Ray is one

of the few straight-up rock bands to give teen pop a run for its underage

constituency, having scored with two multi-platinum albums that cross age

demographics.

But without doubt, the biggest surprise of the evening came in the form of

opening act, Simple Plan.

A Montreal-based punk quintet that has spent the past two years knocking

out crowds with storming gigs alongside such bands as Sum 41 and blink-182,

the group's debut major label release on Lava/Atlantic records (in stores

this week) coincides with their first U.S tour opening for Sugar Ray.

Performing songs from their debut entitled No Pads, No Helmets Just Balls;

the material is exuberant, imaginative, and irresistible, possessing more

depth & tightness than most punk bands.

Much of this can be attributed to the fact that singer Pierre Bouvier and

drummer Chuck Comeau have played together for ten years.

"I'm the oldest member of the band," explains Pierre, "and Chuck and I have

played together since the age of 12.

Simple Plan

"When we were younger we listened to a lot of punk rock," continues Chuck.

"We thought it was phat and really enjoyed it, but as you grow up and get

more experienced playing, we wanted to look for something more. So we went

back to stuff like Cheap Trick, The Beach Boys and Elvis Costello.  We took

everything we liked and decided to make music that we wanted to listen to."

"It's not really punk, pop, or modern," interjects Pierre. "It's more about

how the music makes you feel and the connection you have with the music.

That's what counts. If somebody thinks we're punk or pop or rock, that's

fine."

Simple Plan started three years ago when Chuck started playing with

guitarist Jeff Stinco, an old high school friend. Sebastien Lefebvre,

another guitar-playing high school pal was brought into the mix, rounded

out by David Desrosiers, and a new band was born.

"We've been lucky," says Pierre. "The whole band has been together for 2

years now and we've worked very hard. A lot of bands do that, but we feel

fortunate because so many Rad bands never have a chance to be heard."

"In this business, everything is a challenge," continues Chuck. "Making the

record was hard, but at this point in life I want to connect with all the

people we perform before and meet during the tour."

"We always loved the power & energy of punk," explains Chuck, "so every

song we write has to incorporate that dimension. And even though our songs

are catchy, they're never really 'pop'. There's always a lot of angst and

intensity going on."

"We thought the most important thing to do was take time to write the best

songs possible," adds Pierre. "The genre we are in, it's really about the

song. It's not like this huge production deal where there's so many things

going on. If the song can't stand on its own, then you don't have much."

"In reality there is this tiny space on the radio," observes Chuck, "and

there isn't a lot of room for bands to be heard. That's why we toured

constantly and are big believers in mp3 and the Internet. Every day we

update our site and after each show we jump out into the crowd and talk to

the kids and find out what they like. That's the best way to reach people.

It's different from being on MTV every day."

Another factor that pleases the group is the fact they got signed to Lava

Records. "Lava is a small boutique label of Atlantic," explains Pierre,

"and they only have 14 or 15 artists. Sugar Ray is signed to Lava and its

cool because we can talk to the President of the company if we want to.

It's not like we're number 99 on the list. Plus, we are very particular

about everything we do.   We're more of a 'hands-on' type band. It's our

product and our music and we care so much about it that we won't let

anybody change it."

For their debut U.S. tour, both Chuck and Pierre say the reception has been

amazing.

"Crowds have been really enthusiastic and the guys in Sugar Ray have been

very cool. The first day we arrived Mark came up and shook hands and made

sure everything was good. They said if we needed it their entire crew was

at our disposal."

With so much animated poise and creative power behind their sound, Simple

Plan is definitely a band to watch. Check out their website at

www.simpleplan.com.

And hats off to SVSU for hosting an exceptional, emotive, and powerful

night of popular music.

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