Good Charlotte frontman on being ‘a little bit naïve' as rockers drop new music
The rockers, currently consisting of the frontman and his twin brother, Benji Madden, Paul Thomas, Billy Martin and Dean Butterworth, have blessed us with some bangers over the years, including The Anthem, Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous and, of course, Girls & Boys.
However, it has been five years since they last dropped new music, with Last December in 2020, and even longer since they worked on an album – having released Generation Rx in 2018.
Speaking to Metro, the 46-year-old shed light on exactly what took them so long, and what we can expect from our favorite Rejects.
'I knew we were going to make another record, I know Good Charlotte is going to make records but they've got to come when they come, they've got to be real,' he told us.
'I think we've been in this practice over the last 10 years of listening, waiting and feeling our way through it, because you can't just pump out records. Some bands can, I can't. So, I don't know when the right time to make a record is.
'I think it's when you mean it. We're at this less is more place where we go, 'No, let's just focus on the things that we f**king love, we don't need to go out and take over the world, we don't need to go out and do everything, we need to do what we feel.'
'We're honestly so happy. We're so happy to be here and we're so happy that we got to make this record, and we got to do it our own weird way.
'Rejects is a funny, cool little song that we think has everything that's unique about Good Charlotte in it, from the lyrics to the melodies to the music, it really is very good Charlotte.
'It still feels like it's new, and it's not some rehashed thing. It feels original, which is important.'
Joel and Benji first formed the group with bassist Paul in the mid 90s, with Billy and Dean joining the fold shortly after – they released their self-titled debut album in 2000 but it was the 2002 follow-up, The Young and the Hopeless, that shot them to superstardom.
They are set to release their eighth album, Motel Du Cap – a play on the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc venue where Joel's sister-in-law Sofia Richie got married to husband Elliot Grainge, and the group performed at their afterparty.
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It was this moment, and the feral reaction from fans after videos hit social media, that sparked the idea for them to get back in the studio, blessing us with their first new music in seven years.
Motel Du Cap has been a year in the making and will be released on August 8 – it comes exactly 25 years after the group released their debut album – but despite the years between projects, lead single Rejects proves that the scrappy Good Charlotte spirit is still there.
'It does feel like the first record a little bit. I think it's the energy, the excitement…,' Joel explained. 'It's got so much Good Charlotte-ness to it. It's got so much personality, so many moments of that I think are unique to Good Charlotte.
'I love this band. I feel super proud to be in this band with these guys for almost 30 years.
'We all started in high school, we all come from nothing, and to see who these guys are in their everyday lives makes me extremely proud to be their friend, and to be in a band with them, because they're just good people.'
The musician – who shares two children with wife Nicole Richie – also offered up some sage life advice, having fronted the group for the last 30 years.
'We have to be a little naïve in life. You have to be,' he insisted. 'You have to find those moments to be naïve, where it's okay to be naïve enough to believe that you can make a record that anyone will f**king listen to in 2025. And to be naïve enough to believe that Good Charlotte has a place in the world.
'You've got to go back to the pure idea of, I just want to make a record [that] I want to do well, I want to make a record that I love, I want to make a record that people will experience and go, 'That's a f**king good record.'
'It's kind of weird to say that's naïve, but there's something about it. It feels like young, naïve, 'I'm good enough to make a record' energy.
'This record is full of Good Charlotte, quirky personality, songs that only we could do … The music is actually some of the best music we've ever done, and the live show is better than it's ever been.'
Speaking of those live shows, the group will be taking Motel Du Cap on the road around the world very soon while also putting their own GC spin on their different 'eras'.
While Joel insisted that no song from their back catalog is off limits, as long as fans want to hear it, he conceded that some are harder 'work' than others. https://www.instagram.com/p/DLVNvSAgcvr/?hl=en
'Some of our songs are a lot of work. Dance Floor Anthem is a lot of work, vocally. It's very high and it never stops, so you're out of breath the whole time,' he laughed. 'When I sing Dance Floor Anthem, the best part about singing that song is everyone singing in the crowd.
'It's the hardest song of the night, always, because the vocal range is so high and you never stop. You're just going, going, going. It's not that I don't enjoy singing it, but it's a physical event when you do that song, it's always f**king hard.
'There are songs that are just fun and they're easy to sing, and Rejects is really easy for me to sing. I really enjoyed playing it live, so I'm looking forward to playing that song.
'But there's a couple that, if you said, 'Would you play that song?' there's probably a couple that I would be like, 'eeeh'.'
'We sound better than we've ever sounded and the music is interesting,' he added. 'I really like it. I love this record. I think it's got a real place in the catalog. More Trending
'To be able to do that and experience that almost 30 years in… I can't explain how grateful I feel, because I think you're searching for that feeling when you make a record this late in the game.
'I don't think we're old, I think we have tons of energy, but I think sometimes you feel old when you've been in the band for 30 years, and you look around and some stuff has changed, some stuff hasn't.
'You [think], 'Well, where do I fit in in the world today?' I don't know, but I'm going to make this record that I love, and then everyone else can decide. I'm actually good with whatever everyone decides.'
Good Charlotte's eighth album, Motel Du Cap, will be released on August 8.
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