Simple Plan has experienced the best of times and the worst of times here in Alberta, so it's anybody's guess how the band's show at Capital Ex's Ed Fest will go tonight.

Let's go with the worst first: I once saw Simple Plan perform in Calgary for the Vans Warped Tour and audience members, some of whom were wearing homemade "Simple Plan sucks" T-shirts, threw water bottles at the band when it took to the stage.

The Vans Warped Tour is a punk extravaganza and Simple Plan's inclusion was obviously contentious to the concert faithful. The band's been described as "punk pop" and "punk revival" by some websites, while others say Simple Plan is destroying the punk genre.

Drummer Chuck Comeau says it would probably bother him more if he regarded his band as being purely punk rock.

"Weirdly, it's always been in Canada," he says of their less than well-received performances, gigs like the Calgary show.

Such voices of dissent are seemingly in the minority, however. This year, for instance, Simple Plan won MuchMusic's People's Choice Award for favourite Canadian band for an unprecedented fourth year in a row.

The five guys from Montreal posted a thank you note on their website and also promised their fans a new album, heading down to sunny Barbados to mellow out and do some writing.

"We liked it, so we decided to come back to find some inspiration. We've already found some perspiration," jokes Comeau, who writes all the band's songs with lead singer Pierre Bouvier.

Bouvier and Comeau put a band together called Reset when they were both just 13 years old. Aside from some hometown shows, they actually managed to play a date at Red's in Edmonton, once upon a time. Reset fell apart as they were finishing high school, but they reformed as Simple Plan in 1999.

"We wanted a fresh start, you know. Like, the other band had a different style and it just felt right to find a new name, and for us it was just a question of, I guess, that's the best we could do, honestly," says Comeau, explaining how Reset's sound was faster and more aggressive than what they're doing now.

"Our goal was, like, we're going to go and probably get signed once we have the right songs, and that's going to be our strategy. And we probably spent a year or two just writing and making demos and sending all those demos around and trying to get, like, a label to come in and sign the band.

"So, we pretty much spent a full year or two years just working really hard on the band. We all dropped out of college and school to really focus on that, and it was our agreement to put everything we had into it."

That band signed with Lava/Atlantic, which released its 2002 debut No Pads, No Helmets ... Just Balls as well as Still Not Getting Any in 2004.

The band's success has seen it playing everywhere from the Philippines and Japan to Australia and New Zealand.

And, of course, North America. Even though the band's place in a genre tour like Warped has been up for debate, Comeau insists its own headlining shows, like last December at Rexall Place, have been fantastic.

"It was one of the biggest shows in Canada and was absolutely unbelievable and one of the best stops on the whole tour. So, it just goes to show that stuff happens and you just roll with it."

Tickets for tonight's concert, which includes gate admission to Capital Ex, are $25 and are available through Ticketmaster.