Simple Plan Aiming For Spring Album Release

Quebec's premier pop-punkers, Simple Plan, are busy working on their third studio album and hoping for a spring release.

After spending the last six months working on 70 to 80 "pieces" of songs, drummer Chuck Comeau told MTV News, "We have all these riffs and melodies and slow and fast parts — it's like a puzzle. Now we're turning all those parts into full songs and figuring out what the record is going to sound like."

Comeau said that the band have 10 or 11 completed songs, including "Forever," "Never Should Have Let You Go" and "Take My Hand," which Comeau described as "AFI meets The Killers meets Simple Plan." The band have also expressed interest in working with a female vocalist, such as Kelly Clarkson or Gwen Stefani.

No producer has been decided upon for the album yet, but a strong candidate is Bob Rock, who produced 2004's Still Not Getting Any... for the group. The band have also expressed interest in working with Black Eyed Pea Will.I.Am or Wyclef Jean as a producer, though no contact has been made with either of them.

Simple Plan will continue writing until the end of the year and will then head to Brazil for two large outdoor shows before they start recording the new disc in late January.

In the meantime, Simple Plan fans can hear a double-disc of early material from Comeau, singer Pierre Bouvier and bassist David Desrosiers' previous outfit, Reset, which was released in Canada last week.