Good Charlotte reunites for new album, tour
After a six-year hiatus, pop-punk icons Good Charlotte are back with a new album (Youth Authority, out July 15) and four-city East Coast tour, launching Monday in Philadelphia before hitting Washington, D.C., New York and Boston next week. Paste BN catches up with guitarist Benji Madden, 37, to chat about the long-awaited reunion:
Q: How does it feel to be getting back on the road?
A: It feels good. It's obviously been a while, so there's that exciting energy of getting back with the boys. It's nice, because we're doing these one-night-only, fan-oriented shows. We did one in LA and everyone is so excited to be there. It really takes you back and makes you feel like a new band. I wouldn't say we've ever been a critics' band, we've always been a people's band. So it was really important for us, when we decided to come back, to start it this way, before the album's out and we move on to bigger touring.
Q: You announced the hiatus was over last November with a new song, Makeshift Love. Why did it feel like the right time to return to Good Charlotte?
A: In the last year, we had worked on a few different records with some bands we really loved, Sleeping with Sirens and then 5 Seconds of Summer. You get to work with these young guys and help them do their thing, and that energy is just infectious. And after taking a step away from the scene, we just needed to find out who we were outside the band. Everyone in the band now has wives and kids, so when you get together for holidays and birthdays and these kinds of celebrations, you're so happy to see each other.
It just felt like it would be a really good time, we weren't thinking of the result. We didn't even know if it fits in music today. That's kind of what 40 oz. Dream is: a funny commentary on, "Do we even belong in 2016 as a band?"
Q: How did the process of making Youth Authority differ from your past albums?
A: One of the reasons that we shut everything down with Good Charlotte is that it felt like the band we started in our bedroom wasn't ours anymore. There comes a time when you need to reconnect with your baby. We just thought, "The only way we'd do this again is if we keep it really special." So when we made the record, we decided to make it old school. If (a song) was fun to play and it sounded cool to us, it went on the record.
Q: What were you writing about this time around?
A: A lot of the album is written from that desire to be a band again. It weirdly takes me back to (our 2000 self-titled debut), the spirit is very much in line with that. We took our chances and worked really hard and made it, you know? When I look back, I feel really proud of those little kids who made it out of nowhere and withstood the industry. Now I feel like we have this hunger and drive to do it all over again. This record has a lot of that fight.
Q: Did your marriage (to Cameron Diaz last year) inspire any new songs?
A: There's a song called Life Can't Get Much Better and a song called Stray Dogs. That's one of those things, as a songwriter, you can draw from, especially when you find that partner that really has your back, which is a new experience for me, getting married. Anything deeply meaningful in your life, you can write about that. So I definitely have a couple songs on there for my wife.