“Whenever we’re together, I feel like I’m home”: Inside the meaningful return of Good Charlotte

Spend even the briefest amount of time talking to Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden, and he’ll make it clear just how much he loves his family. It’s the most important thing in the world to him. He’s got a fantastic career, sure, but nothing comes close to the life he’s built with his wife Nicole Richie and their two children. “Straight-up, I will tell you, if you said choose your family or a hit song or the big career, I will choose my family,” he emphasises.

Appropriately, it was a special family occasion in 2023 that helped serve as the catalyst for his band’s recent comeback. At France’s grand, glamorous Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc a little over two years ago, for the wedding of Joel’s now-sister-in-law Sofia Richie and husband Elliot Grainge, the pop-punk legends played a private show that Joel describes to Kerrang! today as “unforgettable” and “one of the best nights of my life”.

“Watching my little sister, this woman who I’ve known since she was seven and has loved Good Charlotte, and I love her husband – it was such a beautiful moment for our family,” he smiles. “And to be a part of it with Good Charlotte was not something I expected. Of course we would do anything for them, and so we went and played – and the band showed up. I fucking love these guys. They dropped everything, came, put effort into it, and we had this amazing time, which makes me love those guys. And we would all do that for each other. We were just laughing and hanging around and we were like, ‘We should make another record.’”

Following 2018’s seventh album Generation Rx, it wasn’t until last year that the band – Joel, his twin brother Benji (guitar/vocals), Paul Thomas (bass) and Billy Martin (guitar/keyboards) – really knuckled down on their long-awaited eighth record. And, happily, it was a hugely successful endeavour for Good Charlotte, who’ll be releasing the cheekily-named Motel Du Cap on August 8 via Atlantic.

“Once we started, it was full obsession,” Joel enthuses. “It became our creative, obsessive project. And that’s when you know you’re making a fucking record that you’re gonna love: when you’re obsessing over it. We became completely obsessed with Motel Du Cap, and now we’re obsessed with putting it out. I want to get it out to the world – we’re so happy to share it with everyone.”

Let’s find out more…

Last week was the big comeback week – you released the album’s lead single Rejects, and then played it on Jimmy Kimmel Live! the following night. How’s everything feeling right now?
“It feels great! We’re very fortunate – we’ve been a band for almost 30 years. The four of us – Billy, Paul, me and Benj – have been together so long that it really feels like family when we’re together, so it’s always fun to be together and it’s always nice and it’s very much home. It’s hard to explain, but we all come from the same place and we transplanted out to California, which is an amazing place for so many reasons, but it’s not home. So whenever we’re together, I feel like I’m home a little bit, which is a really nice feeling. And the week’s been great – people are so great towards Good Charlotte, everyone’s just got so much love, and we really appreciate it. It’s been so long since we’ve been able to put out new music, and I forgot what the feeling was like of putting out music that you really fucking love. We haven’t released an album in seven or eight years, so it’s such a good feeling to finally start rolling the record out and letting people hear what we’ve been working on. So yeah, we’ve really enjoyed it.”

Have you been paying attention to the fan reaction so far? People are loving it on places like Reddit, but do you have that healthy approach of ignoring social media and not looking at the comments?
“The really hardcore fans are in the Discord and I go in there a lot. I have a really good relationship with the people who like our music and the ones who dedicate their time to it, you know? I think I have a pretty nice rapport with them. And I do feel like I got a pretty good sense of their excitement. I think that Rejects is a great way to introduce everyone to the record. I don’t know if it’s a straightforward pop single or something, but I also don’t think we live in those days anymore where you have to think about anything other than expressing yourself and putting something out that you are excited about. That’s the most important thing. And we did that with this song, and I feel like that’s probably what’s paying off for us: we put out a song that we’re really excited for people to hear, and we do feel like it’s a good first little appetiser for the record. It’s a unique song, and it’s got some weirdly nostalgic things in it, but then it also has some stuff we’ve never done.
“I feel like I have a good relationship [with social media], coming back to your question. I have a good relationship with the comments! I check them whenever I can, wherever I am, if I’m on Instagram, I’ll look, I’ll read. Sometimes I’m good at it. Sometimes I don’t at all. I’ll put my head down for a week and work. I think it’s a healthy relationship because I’m not so beholden to the comments, but I do care, and I also feel okay if someone doesn’t like it. It’s too much pressure for everyone to love it!”

Sound-wise Rejects is the perfect comeback single, but lyrically it’s pretty dark. Good Charlotte have always had that serious side, but were there any thoughts of leading with something a bit lighter?
“No! We had to be ourselves. We’re Good Charlotte and we have this way of saying something that’s really dark but then also in a way that I feel like is the truth of life. I think we all feel like rejects sometimes. And I don’t wish that I was never born at all, but sometimes I say it because I feel that way. It doesn’t mean I want to fucking do anything extreme – I don’t. But I do think it’s important to share, and I just feel like everybody feels that way sometimes. And hopefully people relate to that in a way, because we all feel alone. Sometimes we all feel like rejects, sometimes we all feel like we’re working this shit out, you know? Working shit out is a thing, and it’s something we’ve been doing our whole career, and we do it in our songs.”

In Good Charlotte’s absence over the past few years, you’ve been busy with your company MDDN and doing the Artist Friendly podcast. Did that inspire you in any way, when you’re interviewing artists who are right in the middle of all these exciting things and sharing their work – were you ever like, ‘Damn, I’d quite like to be back in that position again…’?
“It does affect me. I love that show, and I love talking to artists. And I do get to get these perspectives. I relate to everyone when they’re sharing. And sometimes when you see someone in the game, you’re like, ‘I want to get in there!’ MDDN gives us this great opportunity to ride in the car with these artists and to be a part of their journey and their career. Every day at MDDN is intertwined with all these conversations and processes, and it’s an interesting company because it’s about partnerships. We’re not telling people what to do. We’re all thoughtfully sitting around the table and discussing things and giving our perspectives, and then the artists are going to make their own fucking decision, period. They need the organisation and the team members and the partners that help navigate the pathways, because careers are these long winding roads where you have to pivot sometimes, and you need all hands on deck. But the artists we work with have their own visions, and we work well together because we collaborate. When someone’s got a vision, you just need to get behind them and help push. I think doing MDDN has been an incredible way for us to stay in it, and every single day of our lives for the last 12 years has been an incredible learning experience.
“And I think coming back to Good Charlotte, MDDN is our managers. We have our team there. It’s amazing having this experience where I love my management – they’re incredible partners. And it was an idea that me and my brother started 12 years ago. Now it’s bigger than us. And being able to have the artist experience at MDDN has been incredible. But it all leads to the same place, which is: we’re experiencing other people’s perspectives, other artists’ journeys, and it takes you out of yourself. I get so much from these artists – from Chase Atlantic, I’ve learned so much about what it means to be a band and what it means to make decisions. And another person I go to is Sam [Carter] from Architects, because he’s so solid. He gives you such real advice, and it’s from a place of love; there’s no ego in that advice. He’s really, really thoughtful and smart and experienced. I feel like we’ve picked up so much from the artists we’re around that we’ve applied on this record, and I can see that it’s made it a better result. It’s all these little contributions from artists in the world that we live in – it’s a bunch of people that are all just chipping in. It’s not about any one band or any one person, and I think that’s what happens when you build a community. Because when you come into the MDDN world, you realise really quickly it’s not about me and Benj. It’s this world with all these incredible bands, artists, producers and people working behind the scenes that love what they do, that are really smart and really good. It’s really cool to see that and how it’s affected Good Charlotte, and what we’ve been able to make.”

So these conversations have influenced you on a creative level? Do you have any specific examples?
“Yeah, I can really see a through-line. There’s a guy named EYEDRESS. He’s an incredible artist, and he just does what he feels. He doesn’t think about it. On any given day, he’s not thinking about how he’s going to sell it – he makes the art first, and then he sorts it out with his team, how they’re going to put it in the world, and when. He makes very thoughtful, authentic decisions and he’s very confident and he’s very okay with things not being in line with what everybody else in the world, the 99 per cent of the music business, is doing. He’s not concerned with anything other than being himself.
“And then there’s Noah [Sebastian] from Bad Omens, who has got a vision and he’s gonna make it his. He’s going to make the record, however long it takes. And it’s not so dramatic – it’s, ‘This is what I’m doing.’ I’m a huge Bad Omens fan, and he’s working his ass off to create and bring a vision to life.
“All of these different artists that I’ve been able to interact with and talk to and see first-hand, I’ve found the through-line is just being themselves and doing what they feel, and however long that takes or however short that is. You have Chase Atlantic, who will go in the studio and make a song in a night and it’s the single from their album – they toil over every detail, but they don’t overthink it and when they catch that vibe they can make something quick. It’s not about timelines, it’s not about anything other than creativity, vision and executing that. I think we learn more and more about doubling down on how we feel, trusting our gut, and not overthinking too much about it other than just making an album. We’ve gotten a front-row seat for a lot of great examples of that, and I think it’s had a huge influence over the last 10 years.”

Speaking of talented people, Jordan Fish and Zakk Cervini did the majority of the production on Motel Du Cap. You’ve worked with Zakk before but not Jordan, so what did he bring to the table?
“Jordan is amazing. He’s incredibly talented, he’s smart, and he cares deeply about what he’s making. I think he’s one of the best rock producers in modern music. I’m so impressed with him and excited for his career. He knows songs. He’s got great ideas. He influences things in a way that’s really great – he brings something special. And he gets things out of you that are special. And him and Zakk together was a dream team. We’ve been working with Zakk since he really stepped out on his own as a producer, and he’s one of the hardest working guys I’ve ever met – he’s extremely talented, and he’s really good in the room with bands, and helping to get the best out of them. And so it was a really cool collaborative group because Jordan and Zakk were in the room every day, no matter what.
“And then we had different people coming in – Matthew Koma wrote a song with us. We had different people coming in that were our friends, and it was just like an open door. People would say, ‘Hey, you guys working on the record?’ And we were like, ‘Yeah, come by!’ And then we’d end up writing a song. But Jordan and Zakk are a real dream team for me. I think they’re the two of the best rock producers in the world. They have very exciting careers already, but ahead of them too, and I think it’s going to be so exciting to watch what records they make. And they’re just great guys – you can’t not love them. They’re really easy to work with, and they’re really sweet, humble, hardworking guys who just want to make classic music. This record wouldn’t be what it is without Jordan and Zakk.”

Finally, you might not want to go too spoiler-y just yet, but what else can you tell us about what’s to come from Motel Du Cap?
“Well, we have some great collaborations and features with artists we love. We have Zeph, who’s amazing, and she’s on a song. There’s another guy named Luke Borchelt. We’ve got Petti Hendrix, another artist at MDDN. And Wiz Khalifa is on a song, too. What else can I tell you? We like it! There’s a lot of different stuff in there – there’s some slower stuff, and there’s some stuff that’s harder than Rejects. Rejects kind of sits in the middle – it’s a nice little middle-place with some heavy guitars but also some pop. A lot of our songs that are the most popular, if you listen to them, they’re kind of weird. They don’t fit, and they don’t sound like anyone else. And there’s a lot of that on this record. There’s a lot of personality and quirkiness!”

Motel Du Cap is due out on August 8 via Atlantic

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