Artist Friendly with Joel Madden - Benji Madden of Good Charlotte

Episode Date: July 2, 2025

On this week's episode of Artist Friendly, Joel Madden is joined by Benji Madden of Good Charlotte. Last week, Good Charlotte announced their long-anticipated return with Motel Du Cap, which the band celebrated with a late-night appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to perform lead single “Rejects.” As part of their first album since 2018, the song teases a promising new chapter — one inspired by Good Charlotte performing at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in France for a family member's wedding. The record’s title nods to that extraordinary night and its “wild, once-in-a-lifetime vibe. We were just there to celebrate, no pressure, and it reminded us why we started this — pure, unfiltered connection,” Joel says. In a conversation with his brother and bandmate, Benji opens up about defining success, staying aspirational, and the story behind his favorite track on their upcoming LP, out Aug. 8. ------- Listen to their Artist Friendly conversation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify.⁠⁠⁠ ------- Follow Artist Friendly! IG: @artist.friendly TikTok: @artist.friendly YouTube: youtube.com/@artist.friendly ------- Host: Joel Madden, @joelmadden Executive Producers: Joel Madden, Benji Madden, Jillian King Producers: Josh Madden, Joey Simmrin, Janice Leary Visual Producer/Editor: Ryan Schaefer Audio Producer/Composer: Nick Gray Music/Theme Composer: Nick Gray Cover Art/Design: Ryan Schaefer Additional Contributors: Anna Zanes, Neville Hardman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, what's up? I'm Joel Madden, and this is artist-friendly. On this episode, I'm talking with the co-founder of Good Charlotte, my brother, Benji Madden. Our new single Rejects from our album Motel DuCap is out now, and the album is out August Day. Let's go. So how do you do this? Welcome to the show, Joel. I've been wanting to talk to you for a long time. You know, ever since I heard your second album. I guess the way I start usually with people is, it depends, it's different with everyone. A lot of times it's like catching up or we're meeting for the first time. So we're having that like actually like exactly how you would like talk to someone when you meet them for the first time. Okay. Wait.

When were you born? Were you born on March 11th? Yeah. Somewhere in Maryland? Yeah. I think we might be brothers. Yeah. So, okay, when Cameron was here, we, we don't need to have like small talk.

I saw that one. It was very sweet. Yeah. We kind of got right into it, me and Cameron. But she doesn't fuck around. No. She doesn't waste time. No.

So I think it's probably a good time to just talk about like where we're at. Yeah. Because we just made a record. I was just thinking it's interesting because. when you sat down in the chair usually i drive when i'm in this chair like when i sit down with someone like i just start the conversation and i like drive it but it's weird with you you're like the leader of us and you usually like make decisions and drive things so it's weird because i like to drive yeah but i also like it when you drive yeah i know it's a wild ride sometimes

when you drive you also just sit on your phone chance to get you guys stuff done. Yeah. Not always so. Which I actually feel good about when I'm driving and you're just on your phone and then you'll like say something to me and then you won't say anything for like 20 minutes and I'll have said, I'll have answered your question and you won't even like you won't hear like you'll start talking to me about something and then I'll respond and then I go, wait, why is it so quiet? And I'll look over and you're just on your phone and I know you're doing stuff. So I just go, oh, he's working. So then I go back to like, you know how it is.

The days are pretty flooded. Yes. You know? I don't, I'm not criticized. We're doing a lot. Yeah. Which is amazing. I mean, I think if you think back to where we started, we, it's like a workout.

We started with, we were able to do a band. And then we were able to do a band in a clothing company. And then we were able to do a band and a this. And now we have like this whole like world that takes a lot. It takes a lot. Never ends. That I care about greatly. But those are the jeans I bought you?

They are. Cool. Quite comfortable. Yeah. Yeah. I knew you'd wear the shit out of them. They fit really well. I knew that you would wear them all the time.

You're much better shopper than me. I am. I'm not a big, great shopper. I just have a good eye for bits, for cuts, for. Although I think I can be of great help on the certain side of things. Like, sort of. Watches? Watches, yes.

I feel like I can give you watches and chains. You do good jewelry, good watches. I think it's important to be aspirational. Yeah. I always have thought that. Remember when we saw Doug Williams walk out of the David Copperfield Show in Washington, D.C.? I don't remember that. In 1980, maybe.

Did we really? Yep. We did? And he got in the Lexus. Yeah. Never forgot that moment. It was the first time I ever saw a baller in real life. Like a real guy.

And I saw he was wearing jewelry. He was wearing a nice watch. I clocked everything, saw his car. And I was like, that's all I'm going to do. He was really friendly. He was very nice. But he was like, Super Bowl champ, you know? And he said hi to everyone.

It was like very nice. Yeah. You know? And I was like, that's how you do it. You have to be aspirational. So then when you're living in the world, you can inspire kids that see you. Inspire people. To go big.

Right. That it's possible. So that's why I've always done the, the watch jewelry thing like um and i think it's important to be like really kind like with kids like and then you can inspire them to just like go big yeah i agree i try to be that way you do no i see it but i think it's a good i think it's like really good to talk about where we're at now because i feel like there was like a time when we were like maybe it's like a little bit of a little bit like burnt out or we were a little bit

maybe we got a little bit like injured on a couple plays maybe limped off the field a little bit and we used to say like oh I don't know if I'll ever do the do another album yeah like maybe those weren't actually even injuries like maybe we didn't realize how things worked and we couldn't zoom in and zoom out like we can now so things could injure us worse than they and then maybe like where I thought

something hurt me more than it did. I realize how it works and I realize I have perspective and insight that now I can coach myself through a moment that would have maybe broken me before disappointment or someone did something to hurt me or whatever, especially in a career, if we're just talking about career, maybe that injury or that moment wasn't as big as I thought it was at the time. But one hand, you have life that teaches you. On the other hand, could teachers around you can help you. Good coaches. Good coaches can go, hey, it's not as bad as you think. Good coaching is everything. Keep going forward. What I learned the most in, in all of our years of working in music and having a career was to go forward. Yep. And the people that stop when you say,

why didn't it work out? A lot of times it's because they stopped. Yep. They didn't have the, they stopped something. They stopped the energy. They stopped doing it. Stop dreaming. Maybe. They stop. Yeah. That's a 1,000 percent. I think that we learned that life is all about momentum. Yeah. You can say success, but like success is whatever you think success is. Right. But life. Life and progress. Things materializing is like, also there's an organic nature to it. Like it grows. Gross. So it grows like a tree. You got to water it. You got to do all the things. So there are aspects to success. Whatever that means. It's growth. It's momentum. It's not magic. I was just having this. conversation with a guy in a band, newer band, and he was talking about things like it,

we used to kind of talk about it in the early days, like it was magic, it was a lottery. Like, if I could just get, my life will change. And my life will change. And I'm like, it's not kind of, I said, there's a magical feeling to what we do when we have success. So I'm not taking, I don't want to like spoil that because there is a really magical feeling when you, when the ball goes in the hoop, or you score a game winning touchdown. All that feels magical.

but it takes practice skill and you can put plans together and if you have you got to have good music you got to have a vision and then you go forward and you execute and you do that again and again and again and things happen you get results you put forth effort over time you get results it's pretty much that simple we live in a world that's cause and effect that's what i always go back to where i didn't have that when we were young, I think we were taught that there was a magic, that, you know, God, that I believe in God, but that God was up in the sky deciding who gets what based on X, Y, and Z, and not that we have been. That there's a nature to things.

That there's a nature to things. Science. And that we've been, we've got God given ability to affect the world. So with it, for all the people listening that are religious, I'm not taking your. religion away from you. I'm with you on a bunch of it. But I do believe that God, it's God given ability, God given talent. Well, like God created these games to play. I think, yeah, and God created a certain amount of chaos too. Like the science, the nature of things all came from some realm that God created, but it still exists. But we have to play the game. We have to play the

game. And we have to figure out how the game works. Yeah. And that's the nature of life. I think that God energy is like something that I think you can tap into. And I think it's good for some people that feel like completely lost and they're spiraling to sort of like put it to find God. Just to make it more literal. Like I am asking him for this specific thing. And then the idea that we can affect our own lives is so important because I think a lot of people, myself included, like grow up feeling powerless, feeling like we can't have an effect. We can't change. We can. So You start small and it grows and grows and grows and grows just like any plant, just like any tree, just like anything you build.

You have to start from the ground up. And the question I've learned to ask myself, not why did this happen to me, the question I learned to ask myself is, how can I affect this? How did I get? And how did I get here? Can I look back and figure out how I got here? Because a lot of times we're unconscious of our habits because we're like just living our lives and we don't realize our habits are what got us here and then we just got to change our

habits one at a time if we can i learned that through good charlotte good charlotte taught me process good charlotte taught me possibility good charlotte taught me yes that you can try and try and try again the trying again part is not just trying the same thing again it's adjusting pivoting trying adjust, look at it, measure, adjust, try again. I was reading somewhere, self-directed, intelligent effort. All effort isn't equal. There is better effort and worst effort. Unthought through, unplanned effort.

It can serve you sometimes. Yes, yes, sometimes you, you know, you throw and go. But you do have innate, you do have natural talents and abilities where, where like, you know, unplanned, you know, just just. You capitalize on a moment with no plan. But that's... But always a plan and a strategy is usually better. It's usually better.

But if you can be ready to be opportunistic when those moments pop up in life. But most people are, I think. Unless they're locked up and they can't. They're defeated. Yeah. So that's the thing is you got to always be hopeful. You got to always be ready. I watch people block success.

Success and wins, right? All the time. And, you know, unfortunately, you have to get away from those people. Yeah. You have to get away from them. Nick agrees. You got to get away from those people. And you can try, okay, but it's like the start of a bad relationship.

You're trying to get someone to be different than what they are. You got to meet them where they're at. You got to meet them where they're at. So then you have to decide what position in my life does this person have, and when I meet them where they're at, right? What you learn as you get older is like when somebody shows you who they are, you just got to take them, you got to believe them. And you've got to just accept them.

So acceptance. acceptance sets you free. Think about it. If you accept somebody where they're at, then you can organize where they belong in your life. You're not having the pain of trying to make them love you, trying to make them see you, trying to make them believe that you're special,

trying to make them believe that you're worth it, trying to make them believe that you... Okay, so then it's like, but you see people do it all the time. If somebody is blocking the wins, I always say this to people, don't snatch defeat, from the jaws of victory.

Like you give someone, like literally, you know, you hand someone a win. A win. You just say, here is a win. I want to share this with you because I have the resources. Or they fit the spot. They show up, and it's a lot of times it's this momentum thing. When you're working on something, you're working on a skill set,

you're working at a job, you're working in a relationship, you're working and you're putting effort in. You're showing up, right? Then you show up, and around the corner, there's an opportunity. Well, there's also, I've died. Because you've proved yourself as optimists. Optimists.

Are looking around. And they're looking for it. They see the world as a, as a place of opportunity. Something could happen. Something great could happen. Maybe there's a possibility. Yeah. Maybe there's a thing.

And pessimists, they see the world as a place of, probably not going to change. Nothing's going to happen. Of loss, of problems. Yeah. They only find problems. How bad is this going to be? I've asked a few people that have come to me.

Can you think of people in our life that were, that were pessimistic blockers that have turned into optimistic seekers. Yes. It's a real thing you can achieve. I literally can think of a couple people that between the last 20 years, 15 years, that they went from being pessimistic blockers going that way, to optimistic seekers going that way. Always going upward.

Well, optimistic seekers are always going upwards because they're always looking upwards and we go in the direction of which we made that up just now. Right. That's good. pessimistic blockers. Yeah. But it's real. But it's real.

That's the description. Optimists are always moving up and forward. I'm an optimist. Optimists are always looking up and forward, and they're always moving forward and going on horizon. I think the thing that we're talking about in general that you talk about on this show, the reason is because the thing I think we find a lot of joy in life is sharing. Yeah.

We find a lot of joy in giving. We find a lot of joy in people succeeding. In people succeeding. It's fun to watch. It feels like a win for us. Yeah. You know, it's like, I think about like MGK. Whenever I see him win, I go, yes.

You know, just from that first like interaction we had with him, like when we first, you know, all the fucking bands or that one or that one. Sevenfold. Like any band I met along the way, there's a pure joy that comes with it, right? So I think what we do when we go around in the world is we always have these conversations. We have these conversations together, just the two of us. Constantly when I'm not on my phone. answering well let's be fair we we talk all day long all day every day so it's but i think it's

important too i'm always happy to drive by the way because i know you're busy and you're doing a lot of stuff that i don't have to do so when you're doing it i feel very grateful because i know you're doing stuff that i think you i can't do so you drive like a maniac i do you do i think it's your ad i think you actually forget that you're turning or something like while you're doing it like you actually forget what you're doing between here and like that's the truth yeah so um but the psychiatrist told me that my ADD was so bad he doesn't advise me driving a lot so it's good to get in these conversations so anyways we'll have another episode about that but i think that it's important for us to share these things and i think that that's also why i think we're called to still do good charlotte

i think it's why we have that that instinct and i think it's why we're still called to write these songs and it's funny because all the things that we're talking about that we're sharing come from a place of like real experience and you know i was thinking about one moment on the record where i was driving back from the studio we we were listening to like a rough of i don't work here anymore i got choked up and i got tears in my eyes and i had no you don't listen to that song and you don't go like oh that song's going to make me cry no not at all it's like but i did too and it just came out of nowhere and like we needed to say it i realized it i realized what i realized what i was was it was from the moment that we were in the world alone just the two of us all the way to this point we have never

stopped working and we have never stopped fighting to stay alive because we never submitted right we went into we were in an industry that requires you to submit in some ways we were in an industry where things happen you you know it's like you look back at certain things and you go well yeah fuck man sony music could have given them they'd be nicer been plenty of money yeah god knows that's the best investment that's the best investment structure for the investor is the but what we but so so you look at certain things and you go what i got to what i've gotten to in my life is i realize that i'm not i can't be and this was like really the last five years each wave of like a mature I'm never mad at anybody for playing the game for playing the game taking care so listen I I really

realize that how I how I sleep at night how I want to act that's up to me what everyone else can live with and what everyone else has to do is up to them they're taking care of themselves and they're going their own way so who's in my life is a choice so who I decide now to invest in to have relationships with well well who actually gets to enjoy you because what's special about you has nothing to do with the music yeah exactly so what i realized is like in the last five years it's like i'm not even mad i'm i'm just never mad at anyone you're not bitter but this comes all the way from like whether it's a business thing whether it's a i think it's whether it's fans if i hear people say weird things about well this thing or you know

you know the world they they just talk sometimes you hear yeah they're just not conscious and unconsciously talk about things like they're not real right And, you know, they'll maybe say something about your wife or they'll say something while you're standing right there. Like it's an object. So I just got to realize this not to be mad at anyone, but also people decide what their impact is going to be. So I will say this.

I will say that to the world, you're not real. So that's just the way it is. You've got to accept it. And I know you do. I'm saying, I'm being objective about it. When you say that and I hear it and I go, well, let me think about that because I don't want to be out of touch. I know I'm a rich guy who had success, who's got a famous wife or whatever, however you want to label me, right? I'm aware that if I haven't met someone before and they

know who I am, I'm aware of the things they probably think. I don't, I give them the benefit of the doubt that they're going to give me a chance to be a real person with them and like that we're going to have an interaction that always that like human beings would have. That's what I enjoy. I like to just be with people. That's why I do the show. But then I also am aware that might not go that way. They might just see me as this thing. This guy who's a rock star or he's married to Nicole or he's rich or he's this or he's

that or he's famous. All these things that aren't incorrect in reality. So I try to be aware of like what I'm up against when I'm meeting someone maybe new or when I'm interacting with someone. Maybe this is good or bad. I'm mindful of it. So I go out of my way if I'm perceiving them to think of me that way,

even if it's not right, even if somebody's being rude to me or being standoffish or being whatever, because I can feel like that they have a perception of me. Pre-conceived notion of me. I go out of my way to try to show them I'm not. And I don't know why that is.

That's interesting. That's my, you're the opposite. I do the opposite. Right. But that's the balance of, us is I think my survival skills in the world, leaving home in an early age with you, we had to learn how to navigate the world together. And I think we always played good cop, bad cop, or we were partners on a lot of stuff. And I think my nature is to try and connect with someone. And I think as a

survival skill, maybe it's like, I'd rather not have an enemy than have an enemy. So if I can, you've always done that. Always. It's my nature. So I, accept it. I don't know if it's right or wrong. I just think it's me. So, and so I try to be perceptive if I feel someone is, and I'm not saying I always catch it. And I'm not saying, and I also could misjudge someone. They can not give a fuck, you know? Um, so I'm open to all of it, but I try to be perceptive to people's experience of me because I actually care. Yeah, which is actually, I think, a sweet thing about you. I care. That you actually care. I do want someone to walk away with a good experience.

You like to make friends. I do. I want, I want them to walk away and go, like, I met that guy. He was nice. I do care about that. I don't know why. I do deeply care about that. Not to a point where I would let it hurt my family. So if I was with my kid and someone was being out of line, that's a different me. You prefer to be friends. I do. I am open to being friends. Yes. I know that about you. Like, you know what I mean? You're okay with someone with whatever they come to. Yeah. which I think is what I would like what I think we balance each other yeah like I'll I'll call you I'll I'll nudge you sometimes yeah the same way you'll be like what are you doing no no there will be some

things where where you'll be like don't be too hard on this guy yeah because because I I know where they're coming from and it's an innocent place and you see long term about you you go look I think that this person can grow and I think that they can be a great ally and I think that you're like a very diplomatic, which has been the, I think this, like a lot of our long-term success in life has come from your diplomacy. Right, but your ability to build walls and yeah, well, it's because sometimes people are just frauds. Yeah. Yeah, no, I accept that. It's not, not even like they're aware. And we've been, we've been defrauded over the last 30 years a couple times. A couple times. Yeah, a couple times. And you learn your lesson. You learn your lesson and you

learn the tells. And if it doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. But I think that we are a good team because I do actually go through the world every day, completely conscious of every interaction I have with every person. I feel that some people are looking to have a bad experience. I agree with you, but I also will, like, for the most. I think life is a tennis match. Yeah. You know, I always tell, though, I don't want to say that. But like, I'll say sometimes, like, I'm just hitting the ball back. Right. You hit it to me hard. Yeah. My serve's different. Yeah, you could, you know what I mean? I'm just hitting the ball back. So I think the reason we're sharing this stuff,

and I think the reason I also talk about, we just made a new Good Charlotte record, right? We made a record because I think that we feel this like calling to participate. Also because to shine a little light. Like sometimes I think. Because Good Charlotte isn't done. But I think we needed to, we need, I think we felt instinct.

We need to live a lifetime. We need to live a lifetime. We've lived like another, literally like even seven, years right it's like a whole night seven years is a cycle yeah so we lived another lifetime you know and i think we learned a lot and now now it's time for us to share that that's why i feel the songs feel a lot more connected that's what i'm saying listening to i don't work here anymore all of a sudden i get choked up and i get like a little tear in my eye and i'm like oh my god like what am i about to cry right now and then i started thinking about the feeling and the meaning of the song and how you know it's a survivor

song it's a song that you're like i'm betting on myself i'm going my own way i don't care i don't care who's coming with me. I'm going my own way and I am going to fight it out. I'm going to go and make my own way and I'm going to fight it out. And I think that's something we've done our whole life. And it's something I'm really, and I think that's why that song hit me. It's something we've done our whole life. We genuinely, I think approach it from a place of like, I think we're givers. I think we want to share. We want to, we want to win. But we want to, we want to make something of ourselves. Yeah. And we want to be people that can have impact. We want to achieve things. Which we have. You know, so I think it's interesting because also like Good Charlotte is a badass band and we make good records.

And I do feel like it's a lost art form. There's a craft to it. There is a thing that you know, there's a lost art form to make a real album that has songs on it that aren't just assembly line. There's my, you know, there's like. Hit chasing. There's miles on the engine. You know that it's like it. Well, it's a classic car.

When you take it out, everybody looks because it's like a, it's unique to it. it's got personality it's got life on it and it's a thing from another time but i think one of the most i want to say like courageous or valiant or like one of the most like incredible things that you can do in life because every single person has been hurt or has been perpetrated on right every person has been perpetrated on in some way has been every person or knows someone in life if you can grow up and not become a perpetrator. You are a force. You're a force for good.

You're a winner. So I think that in our lives and then in our careers and in our careers and our second act, what we have done is fully protect people. We spend a lot of time mentoring and protecting and doing things that I think that make me feel very much. Like I think the way that I always think about life from a small, we talk about it all the time, from just a daily small thing to a long-term life thing is I just think about how people are going to talk about me one day. Or what my wife's going to say once we, when it's all said and done, like what's my end goal?

My end goal for my friends, my family is just like I think the industry, everything is just like when you watch. back the movie. I'm Aima. And, like my music, my hair can be able to keep my rhythm. For so,

Potion 9, of Sebastian Professional, has all what my hair needs. Nutrition Profunda. Protection contrae. 99%

less of rotura and Puntas abjirtas under control. New Potion 9 of Sebastian Professional, the secret

professional, of who not are the things, but what are they going to say? And I think

that's like, that's the little things that I think goes into our record. I think it's like just wanting to share whatever we have, whatever we know, whenever we found out. And I think it's why you do the show, right? The show came about because we're having these conversations all the time. All the time. Every artist we meet.

You know, and I always have to tell them, like, it seems intense, but we never know when we're going to see you again. So whenever we, whenever we meet artists and we have a connection, we just want to share. We just want us to give everything we can give it. Whether they heard it before or not. You just want them to love themselves. And for me...

And it's a fight. You know, it's like what you know is you know those dark moments. The industry. There's so many great things. Yeah, you also know all the perpetrators. Yeah. And the great thing, there's many great things about the industry. But also, it leaves you in some pretty dark self-doubt moments where you go,

am I even good at this? What am I doing? Can I do this? But that's life. Is this worth it? That's life. Yeah. So I think we want to always, we always see ourselves as like these like boxing coaches

who are in the corner saying, okay, get back out there. This time, move your head. Okay, get back up. Come on, come on, come on, let's go. They're dropping their hands. They're doing this. Yeah, and you know, the way I was think it's like, it's three minutes of your life.

You've got three minutes to give. So that's, you could break that down into, one round at a time. You can break that down into like a microcosm of like, whether it's this season, whatever it's this album, where it's this year, it's this job, it's this whatever situation you're in. You can do this.

It's three minutes of your life. It's one round. Just go. Come out the other side of this round with some points on the board. That's all you got to think about right now. You got it. Okay? Get back in.

Come on. Get back in. You know, little, like, you know, water on the face. Like, let's go. You know, and I think that analogy, I think, sums up me and you, I think, for each other, for other artists, for our friends. I think it's just what we want to do. I think we get a lot of joy out of it.

And we get a lot of self-worth, a lot of rewarding. I don't think we hang our worth on it, but I think it's really rewarding for us. We learn. I think we like to win. Yeah. Love to win. And we see wins line up for other people.

And we try to coach them because we see a path of least resistance for someone where they think, like I say to someone, you think you're a rock star, but what you are is a fucking amazing songwriter and an amazing producer. So I think you should focus on the producing and the writing. because for whatever reason, the feedback you're getting is not saying you're an amazing rock star.

I could be wrong and they could be like, no, no, no, no, no. But then I kind of go and five years later, they're still doing the same thing, but they're an amazing songwriter and a producer and they've lost five years of pouring into where I think the win is lining up for them. Right. Usually those scenarios are very clear.

Their insecurities taken over. Right. And they're trying to fill a hole with something they think will fill the hole they're trying to fill the gap. They're trying to fill that like crack. With like what they think fame or whatever. They need when they have something incredible right here.

And they're they're, they're neglecting something incredible because they're living in their insecurity. And they're trying to fill that crack with with like something else that they think will fix and it won't. Usually when you get to the bottom of it, immediately you see like, oh, damn self-esteem. The reality of success and achievement and building. and building is someone has to do it. If we said, who's the hardest working person you know?

Right? You'd probably say me. I'd say you. And I'd say you. I'd say you and Josh. Okay. So I only know one person that's more hardworking than us. Who?

My wife. However, she's smart. What she does is she pulls back. She waits. She calculates. She prepares. She waits. She reads the, you know,

I feel like and then she fucking goes to work. Yeah, she kills. And she outworks every. I've never seen someone so hardworking and so on point. It's like, you know, I heard someone say the other day like, you know, you just get like 15 opportunities and then it weeds down to 10 and then it weeds down to what. I say, oh, no, no, no, no. No, no. What you need to do is not even look at 15 opportunities and you need to get to know your instincts so well that when the.

one opportunity you like goes by, you say that one. And you're always right. So like I've seen that in the last 10, 11 years that we actually have done when we started to where we're at now. I think that we've adopted some. We've refined. We've adopted some of that. And I think because both of our wives are super smart, right?

And they would, the only time they're probably the most frustrated with us is when they know we need to grow up a little bit or become a little bit better about this, this, this or this. More when they see it's wasting. And you know, you go through those like waves of growth. Right. Like everything's sweet.

And then you need to grow a little bit. So there's like a little grinding a little bit like. And then you grow. Everyone grows, you know. So but I think it's interesting. So to me it's like we're at right now, the album.

There's a reason why we've made now right now. We didn't have like some like grand plan. No, it just started feeling. It just started feeling. It just started feeling. It just started feeling. All instinct.

You know, like pulling at you a little bit. And, but if you think about it, like seven years. is kind of like the cycle. Yeah. You know,

when you think about like our life and the chapters, right? And when we started to, um, psych, you know, when we say,

we started the band. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To the point we got the record, to the point we got the deal. The point we got the deal to like the next, where we sort of need to grow a bit more seven years.

And then you had kids, right? And then there was that like almost seven year period to when you, when you had kids to when I started my family. And I got married. You know, so like, we've been cycling.

through this like, and it really is like seven year like sort of period. It's about time, you know? And, um, and I think that it's, uh, instinctually we made an album at a time we needed to. And I think that like we share some themes on it that are important to us. And I think it's like, it's legit like the most tapped in thing we've done in a long time in terms of art. Motel du Cap feels like a whole era weirdly. I mean, it's, it's like, wait to you. you know, it feels like an era.

It feels like I really love it. There's a lot in there for me. What's your favorite song on the record? You know, I love Stepper because it's like you just fucking, sometimes you just like, I don't even understand what you're talking about when you start singing it. And then when I feel it, then I, then you round this corner and I go, oh, yeah. And so I love that song because I think it really, it's like, I think a lot of people are going to gain like some confidence from it and just to get up and go after it.

The good feeling song. I love Castle in the Sand just because it means a world to me. That might be my favorite. I knew you would say that one, but I think it may be my favorite song ever. I think I love Rejects, man. I think it's like a deep song. Yeah. I think it's such a deep song.

Damn, I would say Reject Stepper. I don't work here anymore. It's hard to choose a favorite. I mean, if I have to choose a favorite, I'm going to say Castle in the Sand. Right. Because that's just the most meaningful song. Of course. You know, to me it was like my, it's like, you know, Harlow's song.

Yeah, yeah. Which is still one of my favorite. To this day. I'd like to remake Harlow's song. We should. Yeah. No, we should. That's unappreciated.

I never really loved the recording of it. That song is not getting been, it has, it will be appreciated. Yeah. I love to do it. I'm sure there's people out there that appreciate it, you know, a lot. Yeah. Yeah. That song deserves a spot in the sun.

Yeah. You know. But our career is that is our career. Our career is, is things for people to pick up and appreciate more than they maybe knew they would. I think there's a lot of little moments in our career that people can find on their own and enjoy and have it be something meaningful to them. And I'm very happy with that.

I always imagine, I had a guy the other day say to me, oh, you guys were always so ahead with the streetwear stuff. They was like, you guys are always like back in like 2000. You were wearing babe or you were doing this. I would say good Charlotte means different things to different people. and they'll all have a different comment. This guy was about what we were wearing. That person, it's about whatever.

Everything that we did that actually meant anything to anyone was just what we were feeling. Was just what we were feeling and being ourselves. And that is, that's what I took away from it. I thought it was, it was nice. It's nice to get a compliment or to get acknowledged or whatever. But for me, I was like, huh, because when he asked me, how did you know or whatever?

And I was like, we didn't. we were just doing what we felt. Like to find stuff, we like to share stuff. You know, I think the number one thing. And I bring it back to this because this record is truly us just

being ourself in front of everybody. Yeah. No. It's not that deep. We're just making a record that we like. Yeah. And we're getting all the little details right on it. And now here it is.

And we hope you like it. Yeah. Yeah. And that's why I actually think it's connecting is I actually think everything we... But I do think that now we're in a spot versus when we were 21. where we hope you like it, but we're okay if you don't. Yeah, I feel that way.

Yeah, it's fine. It's whatever you want to make of it. I'm happy to just keep this one for me too. Yeah, yeah. But I think that's the most powerful thing we can do, and we can end on this. I think the most powerful thing we can do we've found in our lives is just be ourselves.

Absolutely. That's what I always just want people to take away from any experience we have together is that they are more of them after we hang out, not less them. Best thing in life you can do. If someone listens to our record, I hope they feel more like themselves and not less like themselves.

And that's kind of what I always encourage is, I'm going to try to be the best me possible. And don't take it personal. I'm going to try to be the best me. Just be yourself. And you deserve to do the same thing. Don't make any considerations for me. Be the best you can be. And I think at our best, we do consider each other.

But I think we deserve the opportunity to be our best, whatever that means. And you're going to go through moments in life where you have to grow. Yeah. Or when you're not your best. You know, and we're living in a world,

I think, that's coming back to the idea that everything's not black and white. That there's, like, you know, life is just a fucking evolution and a winding road. And we're all standing in different sides of the room. That's it. Same room.

So the best thing you can do is be yourself. Cool. Thank you for listening to artist friendly. We really appreciate it. If you like the show, you can also follow us on Spotify. You can follow us on Instagram at artist.friendly. And you can watch us on YouTube and Veeps. Leave comments.

I always read them. See you next time.