Artist Friendly with Joel Madden - G Flip

Episode Date: June 26, 2024

On this week's episode of Artist Friendly, Joel Madden is joined by G Flip. G Flip recently wrapped a lengthy run across North America and the U.K. in support of their latest album, Drummer, including a stop at the final day of Governors Ball in NYC. The appropriately titled album, which came out last summer, is a love letter to the instrument that made them fall in love with music — while also serving as a tribute to their late drum teacher, Jenny Rose Morrish. “She was very integral to my life,” they told Rolling Stone in 2023. “I honestly think if I didn’t have her in my life, I wouldn’t be sitting here with you. I just happened to have the best teacher in the world.” ------- 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'll be talking to Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist G-flip. Let's go. I don't want to bet times. I don't want to have bad. How you doing? I'm good. We've never met. We've never met. But I feel like I know you. Oh, really? Good. I feel like I know you. I've like, probably. you ever since I was a kid. Really? I wasn't allowed your album, like one of your first albums for Christmas because it had mature

language on it. Dirty words? Yeah. Just cuss words. Mom wouldn't let me have it. Which album? Because I don't think we said the F word a lot. Was it, I think it self-titled or young?

Young and Hopas are self-titled. It had to be. Yeah. There wasn't a lot of... It's going to be early 2000s vibes. Were they strict your parents? No, they weren't. It was like...

I think like I had the sticker on it maybe yeah it had the sticker on it and I feel like I just came home from school one day and like dropped a bomb on them like dropped some word and then they were like we need it they were worried yeah we need to rain it in so when I was like on the good Charlotte album it was no not allowed it and I was fucking and then you chose rock and roll as a lifestyle yeah exactly so it worked it worked it worked now my parents are real chill but that was their one moment of trying to to, you know, rain me in and, yeah. Where in Australia you're from? Melbourne. Oh, great. Yeah. Best part. Cool place.

Yeah. I visit there a lot. So I go back many, many times a year. I was back there, I think last week or the week before. And my family's all still there. And I got a place there. And I've got lots of work out in Australia. So I just like do little cheeky trips.

Yeah. Smash out some work. See my nan and my family. and then come back here. Then you live in L.A. Live in L.A. Which is great. Yeah, I love it.

Very Aussie friendly. Yeah. L.A. is a great stepping stone into America because you can go deeper into America and really like get to know the country, which is great. But L.A. is very Aussie friendly like, Ozys do well here. There's lots of Ozies out here. Very, like half my friends. Yeah.

And Americans like Australians. We love Australians. Yeah. At the accent. laid back. Yeah. Easy going. Yeah.

You guys have good coffee. We have, yeah. Like the best in the world. We have great coffee. But I like, I love just a shitty drip coffee. Yeah, like 7-Eleven coffee. Yeah. I love a shit.

Just. Dirty, shitty. Even just the ones that you just add water do. Yeah, yeah. On tour, just fucking add the water. That's good enough for me. Yeah. I don't need the fancy stuff.

But I will say the Australians have brought good coffee to L.A. There's great coffee here now. I spent tons of time in Australia. It's like weirdly like my second home. Really? Where do you like going? Well, when I'm there, it's usually Sydney because that's where the work is. Yeah.

Although I love Melbourne because it's like the good bar culture there and like music and stuff and food. And it's like a different city. So it's a great mix if you can go to Melbourne. Sydney's where like I end up where I'm always working. And my friends, I have so many friends in Sydney. Like when I go to Sydney now, I don't even stay in a hotel. I stay at my friend's house every time. Fuck yeah.

And I can stay there for months. Yeah, it's a vibe. It's like a whole vibe. They don't care. They're like, I literally, it's weird. It's like it maybe it's Australian or maybe it's them or maybe it's both. But like you would feel like you're wearing out your welcome at someone's house for like, I stayed there for two months one time.

Yeah. And I was working. Yeah. And my family came with me actually and stayed there. Oh, I love that. And it was, I mean, they have a big house. house. That person's a big-ass house.

Yeah. But it's like near Bondi. Oh, fuck yeah. So it's like a great spot. Oh, yeah. That's a dope hookup. It's a good setup. Yeah.

That's dope. Think about how much that's worth. Two months at a hotel. That's like easily saving you 60 grand or, it's like a lot of money. They literally just open their house every time. We have family dinners. We hang out. They're very close-knit friends.

But staying at a house is another level. And how long? because you have a house guest with you? I'm pretty chill. I've had people crash with me for months. Maybe it's Aussie thing. Yeah, I've had people crash with me for months. And I've crashed at people's house for months.

When my first time in L.A., I slept on a couch for like two months, right in the thick of Hollywood. And because I was so Aussie and oblivious, I didn't realize that, like, you know, you kind need to be safe around here. Yeah. So I was literally just walking up and down, like, Hollywood Boulevard at night time. This is a little seedy. Yeah, jumping on like the train, going to downtown.

Like, honestly, it's like no one told me like, hey, gee, probably not the safest thing to do. And I was just out here just sleeping on my mate's couch, just rolling around. I was perfectly safe. Nothing happened to me, but I can't believe now I look back and I'm like, holy shit. Well, you know the town now. Yeah, now I'm like, how did I not, I don't know, get robbed or anything, you know, like, you know when you're young and you're just invincible? Yeah, I felt the same way when I was young. I didn't think anything happens to me.

And for the most part, it didn't. Maybe we just have good energy around us. I reckon I've got angels or something. Yeah. That just like look after me, make sure shit's okay, and then protect me from crazy stuff. Still a lot of crazy shit has happened to me in my time, but like I've been pretty all right.

It feels like you have. Yeah. It feels like it's just humming along nicely. Yeah. I remember when your first song kind of, the first song that really got attention. Yeah. It vibrated out was a few years ago. Yeah.

Was it a song called About You? Yeah. That I made in my room. Is it like four years ago? Yeah, about. Three or four? Four or five years ago. It feels like it's just continued to hum along.

Yeah. It's been just like slowly building and just grinding and then figuring it out but yeah i think the success of that song was like holy shit let's go you know like it kind of vibrated and went places and people discovered me and i was just on logic in my bedroom just fucking around making shit and making shit and what you wanted to do it oh yeah i grinded extremely hard yeah yeah i did i worked hard yeah well i was a drummer i was a session drummer for years beforehand. So I was always touring and I toured the states and lived on buses and just kind of grinded in that way. And then I was always doing backup vocals. I'm not vocally trained,

but I was always doing backup vocals and then I got more confident. And I always wrote my own music as like a teenager in my bedroom like before my parents got home. I'd run or skate home and get there before anyone was home. So I'd have the place to myself and I'd write my little little songs on guitar and piano and then I just found confidence touring with people and playing and doing backup vocals. I kind of found my voice and then, you know, with my sexuality, I came out. So then I just got more confident as a human being to then release my own music. So then I spent a year grinding and like making connections in the industry, getting everyone's fucking emails. I made a whole Excel spreadsheet of everyone in the music industry.

in Australia. Then I had my dream team list of who I wanted my publicist, my manager, my booking agent. That's dope. Made a hit list and then I spent a year making as many songs as I could and then made a shortlist of the 10, made a secret SoundCloud account and then hit up everyone on those lists. And then people listen to my demos and people like them. And then I uploaded that song about you online and then overnight it blew the fuck up and I was just in my bedroom like. Yeah, because it's good. Thanks.

And that's the thing about good art. If you are creative and talented and you work hard, you can be successful with whatever's available to you at the time, which was that. Yeah. There's something in you that had to say, whether you allowed it or you took it seriously or you felt like it was like you had the stuff, something said, had to say like, I want that for me. I want to actually make my own music.

Yeah. But also something held you back. So you went the route of like the opportunities available. I'll play drums. I'll do studio work. This is actually amazing way to hone your craft. Yeah. So I'm not mad at that path at all.

Right? I think that's a very honest way to become good at, you know, singing. Well, go on tour and sing background for someone. But like there had to be something in you that was calling you to do it for yourself. Oh yeah. The whole time. Yeah. I think ever since I was little.

Yeah. I was always thought I'd been like an actor or a solo artist. Yeah. Like that was always kind of what I thought. But then I fell in love with drums. And then I was drum obsessed. Yeah. And I just loved Kit.

And I worked in a drum shop and I was a drum teacher. And it was just drums, drums, drums. And then I wanted to be a session drummer. And then I found the confidence in myself to be, go back to that original, like, dream how I had when I was six. That first idea. Yeah. I always say, like, your first idea is probably your best idea. So I'mena.

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and like you have these innocent ideas and dreams before the world like infiltrates your mind. Yeah. Influences you. Yeah. So I always think like the little kid you is almost like in a way like you're real authentic. Yes.

Little essence of a human. It's the perfect like version of you. Yeah. Because before it's all like the files are corrupted by other people's ideas or information or their bad time or their failures. Most of the time, our perception of what's possible is given to us by someone else because of their own success or failure. Yeah. So I always say like, even so my wife, I'm like, yo, I want to raise people who think it's possible to win. because I was not.

Yeah. So even when I won, I didn't hold it. It was like, oh, a magic trick happened to me. Yeah. Or I hit a lottery. It wasn't me. I didn't try and then succeed. Yeah.

You know, I didn't put forth effort and get results. Yeah. That's actually what I did. That's how life works. It's a causality world. We put fourth effort. We get back results. Yeah.

And we measure them and we go, okay, now I got to do this. But when you're kind of raised in a way where nothing works out, and it's kind of a hopelessness. Everything seems like a magic trick. Like, oh, the stars lined up. Yeah. There is a little bit of that in life, but you have to put effort. Yeah.

I believe in manifestation as well. Hard work in manifestation. Together. Yeah, together. Shit works. Because you will also see people that think they're manifesting things because they're saying it all the time, but they're not doing anything. Oh, yeah.

The people on, yeah. I love the people on, like, Instagram story, who is like another day grinding. And I'm like, you bitch. you ain't doing shit. Sometimes. You know, so I think that I just try to reinforce the idea that part of manifesting your reality

and what you want out of life is actually taking steps towards it every day. 100%. Right. So even like just thinking about it, I think as well, like is another step of like manifesting and getting there. Like obsessing and thinking about it. And I talk to myself in my brain all the time.

Me too. Talking to myself and like thinking about. You know, what are we doing and going through it in your head to make the actions if you can't do it that day to do it the next day? Yeah. Yeah. But then you had to learn the drums. And you're a good drummer. I love drums.

And it gives you as a musician, there's something about that that's got more. Not to say if you were just a singer, it's not that I wouldn't take you seriously. Yeah. That's not it. But there's something about people who can play instruments and do it well and have spent all that time, you know, that it takes. to become competent at it. Yeah. And then if you have talent and you're good at it,

you still had to do the work to become competent at playing it, even if you're talented. It just come easy. Some people learn it more easily because they're more kind of inclined to do it. So they have that part of their brain. There's something about that that gives you this layer that's interesting. Yeah. Other musicians go like, okay.

Yeah, I love playing. I know, that's cool. I love playing kit and I feel the most comfortable seeing behind a drum kit. Yeah. I like it better than running around. Do you like it because you can hide a little bit? I like it because I think I'm just so comfortable there. And also it feels right in my body.

When I'm running around, it's almost like my body wants to be walking and running in time. Because you know how when you're singing, my whole body, it's like, it's all on a grid. While I'm singing, there's the floating melody top line of what I'm singing, but the rest of me is so regimented and like every limb is so in time. So I remember when I first started, having to be a lead singer and running around while singing, it was like, oh my God, my steps aren't in

time with my vocal. I've got to learn how to like have my body not be stuck to the grid. Yeah. So that was a bit weird. But I think with drumming, the thing I learned from all those years being a session musician and like a drummer is I got to watch how a lead singer acts. Right. So I was like, while I'm behind the kit, I'm like, watching. all the lead singers that I'd perform with and be like, almost like taking notes on what works and what doesn't work

and what crowd interaction works and what doesn't work and interaction and seeing how a front person does it that I think I then felt super comfortable my first show when I had to be like, all right, I'm going to take the mic now off the kit and I'm going to be a front person. So I think that all helped.

A hundred percent it did. It's hours, it's hundreds and thousands of hours of information. Yeah. Like going to school. Yeah. It's really important. I played a lot of gigs, man.

Yeah, you probably haven't actually done all the accounting. So if you were in school, right? Because it's very hard to say, okay, go to college for music, even though there are some great music programs out there. Yeah. So you're going to spend X number of hours over that four years learning about the thing that you want to do. In concept, that works.

And it does in some, I believe it does for some people. But there's no better education in getting like the degree of what you're trying to do, then being on tour, playing shows of all different sizes, all different kinds of crowds, because you're not just watching the singer or the band, you're looking at the crowd, you're clocking all these variables. Yeah. And like your brain is doing all the work. So you may not even realize that at the time that you're doing like, that you're gathering

research and information to make decisions on how you want to do it. Yeah. But that's the best education and the best process. I think any person who actually wants to do music, especially live performance, as an art form and as a business, then a couple years on the road with people that are actually doing it. A couple years on the road, shitty venues, shitty fallback monitors, fucking shifting schedule. There's so many variables about how that thing happens. Yeah.

that you don't even clock. No, you don't account for it. Yeah. But you were aware of it if I told you. Like, oh, set times push back because of this, this, this and why. You go, oh, got it. Someone who's never done it before really, what does that mean? Yeah.

Right? But it's a real thing. And then if you had to go to Broadway and then apply all that information to an art form, let's say, as I always think about this, like the institutional side of the world that decides what things are worth, control market. It's actually like how the world functions. A big side of it is these kind of institutional organizations of people and places and things. What they value.

They wouldn't necessarily value rock and roll as a serious business and craft, although they do when it gets to a certain level. But let's say you went to something like respectable like Broadway. Yeah. You would absolutely know how to run a show. There would be some nuanced things you'd have to learn. Yeah. But you'd get it because of all the experience you've gained. So I always think it's important to highlight the value and the importance of like what we actually do out there on the road because it's not just a party.

Certainly there are fun moments in between work as you're killing time or you're, you know. But the work of it is actually a really useful skill set to learn. Yeah. And it can serve you in a lot of places as you. decide what else you want to do in your career and where else you want to go. Yeah. It's cool. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad I'm here. Thanks for coming. No, no. I like it. It's good. Good to be around the Aussies sometimes. Yeah. How's yeah? Yeah. Yeah. Was there like a favorite artist you toured with that you'd say had the biggest influence, whether it was musical or personal

or even just that time in your life, it might not have just been them, but was there a tour or an artist you remember that really had the biggest impact on your formation of the path you went down. I haven't actually toured with too many people, to be fair. When I came to the States, I toured with an artist called Fletcher and an artist called K-Fle. Yeah, yeah. And those were two really great tours. It was like right after COVID when everything started opening back up. And it was my first two tours in America to introduce me to like,

American markets outside of, kind of when my project kind of blew up a little bit. And I played South. Yeah. Okay. That's cool. You were a support for them? Yeah. Support.

Dope. I like both of those artists. Yeah. Well, one of my friends is really tight with K-Fle. So I've gotten to hang out a few times. She's great. Yeah. She's great.

Yeah. So those are really fun tours. And also it was just fun seeing different places in the States. Yeah. States is fucking funny. Wild. You go one hour. one way and fucking everyone's dressing and talking different and eating different foods and like

real passionate about sports. Oh yeah. Yeah, it's good. I've been learning American sports. I've been getting into it. Any faves? So I really like NFL. I followed the whole last season.

Yeah. It's the best. Sunday football. The greatest sport in the world, NFL football. Yeah. American football is exciting. It's fast. I got into it.

Yeah. I watched. So many games. Do you have a favorite team? So I don't really have a team. That's fine. But I have teams that I like. And then there's my wife, her family.

They live in Missouri. So they go for Kansas City. Okay, that's fine. Which I'm also like, hell's the air. But then I don't want people to think I've just jumped on the bandwagon. You know what I mean? It's acceptable. Because it's a family.

Family. It's a family team. Also, I do love the Chiefs. I love the Lions. Yeah, the Lions are. You root for them, though. The underdogs. Yeah.

I'm a Washington Command. commanders fan. Cool, commanders. I grew up there. Cool. You just got. I think you got Echle from charges. Is that right?

I'm just thinking about the trade. I've been following the trade. Maybe. I hope so. Yeah. We just drafted Jalen Daniels. Second pick. Cool.

Heisman trophy winner. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, they haven't been a great team to be a fan of the last 15 years, but I grew up with it. You know, my whole family liked them. So it's just in me to be a fan. Yeah. And I like the Ravens, the Baltimore Ravens.

Oh, yeah. They came after. So, like, we grew up Redskins fans. Yeah. And then they changed their name to the commanders. And then the Ravens came and we were fans. So they're Baltimore. We're from Maryland.

So we are fans of the Ravens. I root for them every Sunday. Yeah. But they're good. Something emotional in me is still like commanders when they lose, I'm still kind of sad. That's part of it, you know? Yeah.

It's fun to follow a team and then they're shit for a bit and then they come back up and then it's just like makes all of those hard years so much more rewarding. Yeah. Football is great. Yeah. And now I'm looking into baseball. I'm a huge baseball fan. Are you?

Who are you? Who do you go for? Baltimore Orioles. Okay. Yeah. That's orange team? Orange and black. Yeah.

Okay. And I've been raising my kids here in L.A. I've been here for 20 years. So my son, who's a big baseball fan, loves the Dodgers. So we root for each other's teams. So I go to Dodgers games. I love the Dodgers. I have a Dodger tattoo, but grew up with the Orioles.

So it's like in my soul. Okay. But I love rooting for the Dodgers. And they're in national and American league. So they're in different leagues. So the only time it would really matter when they play is if they met each other in the World Series. Yeah.

So it's pretty, it's okay to have a national, favorite national league team and American league team. Baseball's cool. I like it. This was great. I went to a game. I ate three, three Dodger dogs.

Yeah. I love them. I couldn't. They're great. I don't eat much, but I was like, fuck, these hot dogs are sick.

They're very good and they're like big. They're long. They're awesome. And they're like, how do you, what do you put on it? Just wax some sauce on it, tomato sauce.

What do you call? ketchup. ketchup. A little bit of cheeky mustard. Yeah, not too much though. Some onions? Yeah. Yeah, I'll rock some onions.

Relish? No relish. Really? Nah. Got to have a little relish on there. Dill relish. Maybe I need to check that out. I'll go to another game, smash some more hot dogs.

If we ever go to a game together. Yeah, I want to come with you. Never know. I will prepare the perfect hot dog. Dodger dog, bud. I promise you it will be one of the best things you've ever. Fuck yeah. I actually make incredible hot dogs at home.

Really? My family raves about. my preparation. Really? Yeah, yeah. Grilled. And you got to go with the like cheaper kind of the Dodger dog style. Yeah. Shidi or the pretty.

Not the fancy sausage. And then you got to, it's really about the consistency of like the onions. If you dice them really, really small. Yeah. Almost like the McDonald's onions are the really tiny ones. They're like a freeze dried type. Yeah. It's not like that, but I'll like prepare them a little bit.

I'll cook them a little bit in the, I'll dice them really small and then I'll just like cook them a little bit in a pan. Fuck yeah. And then like some mustard, some ketchup and then dill relish. Deal relish. But actually, a little trick, will take a little sweet relish and mix it into the dill relish. Oh, wow. There's a process.

A little bit of sweetness in it. But the dill is something about it with the sweet ketchup. The ketchup's kind of sweet. So something about it. I love it. Fuck, yeah. That's great. Yeah.

I need to learn your ways. Real quick. takes five minutes, 10 minutes, max. Get those onions, fucking dice them up. Played a hot dog, so everyone's like, thanks, dad. Yeah. Makes me feel a little good about myself.

Yeah, vibe. Yeah. I like it. You grew up in Melbourne or are your parents together? My parents split up when I was 17, 18. Okay, so a little bit past. Yeah. Not to say that wasn't hard.

Probably hard, but like, like not as hard maybe as if you were like 12. I have a weird, like my parents, they split up. But it was all amicable. And then they both started dating new people and dropping each other in the car at the dates. Ah. And then now they have new partners and they all, they go on holidays together. And they come to my shows. They come around to all my festivals in Australia.

That sounds very nice. Yeah, it's a dream situation. We still have Christmas together. We're friends with my parents, new partners. They both have kids. So now I've got stepbrothers and everyone gets along. And it's honestly the most perfect situation ever. And I'm extremely, extremely lucky.

So I would bet any amount of money they are functional people. Like they really somehow they like have an ability to communicate how they're feeling to each other and respect it. I think that's where relationships go wonky and they blow up is when one side or the other can't receive the information of like how some. someone feels. Yeah. And that's where the breakdowns happen where it gets passive aggressive and all the things dysfunctional. But that sounds like super functional and like emotionally connected way to be.

Yeah. So I would bet you have pretty functional, emotionally intelligent relationships yourself. I feel like I do. It's pretty cool. I feel like maybe my first few relationships in life maybe not as much so until I really found who I was as a person and became 100% comfortable in my own skin. But after that, I feel like I have emotionally intelligent relationships with a lot of communication.

And yeah. That's kind of rare though. I mean, like takes a lot of us a lifetime. Yeah. And a lot of work to figure out. I always think the early relationships are for that. They're practice. They're like learning how to be in a relationship and learning what it even means and learning.

But I don't think I really started communicating and like functioning. well until a couple years of therapy into like probably in my mid-30s. Yeah. It'll be a long time. Yeah. Therapy's great. Yeah. Therapy's where it's at. Yeah.

Everyone, go get therapy. Go get therapy. However you can. Yeah. It's got to be something that you enjoy, I think, even when it's not fun or painful in some spots. Most of the time, I find it's not all painful. Yeah.

It's just nice to understand yourself. Yeah. So you go to therapy. Yeah. How long? How long have I gone to say everything? Yeah. Ooh, five years, maybe.

That's good. Yeah. A fair amount. Yeah, five years. I remember my song came out and then I started kind of blowing up in Australia. I just went through this month of like intense anxiety and I'd never experienced what anxiety was before. And I was like heart racing awake at night, staring at the ceiling, thinking that I've gone

insane because I had was riddled with anxiety for over a month. And I didn't sleep. And then I was having like irrational fears. And I didn't know what the fuck was wrong with me. And then I started getting therapy and learned like what I was dealing with. And it helped me so much. And yeah. What did you realize?

Like what was it that you realized? And what did you come to with the therapist about that? Like what was that a response to? I think it was just a response to stress and pressure on myself and no sleep. sleep and not drinking enough water and eating well. So my body was like struggling to function because it didn't have the nutrients it needed, it doesn't have the sleep. Like sleep was a big one.

Like I'd be up working on shit till 4 a.m. And then sleeping like three hours and then going. And I'd be like, yeah, I'm totally fine when my body on the inside was like not okay. So I was like it. It's a bit of a sport too. Yeah. Like what we do. 100%. Physical. But we don't get told that. We don't treat it that way. It's not taken quite as, again, like I would say, it's not taking quite as seriously as if we were all, if we were a gifted athlete on the verge of success in the pro whatever league, people would be saying, okay, you know, you need to sleep. You need to work out. You need to eat right. You need to drink water. You need to if you want to. to succeed, you got to do that. Yeah. And athletes, it makes sense.

Yeah. So they do it. Yeah. And then you see the ones who succeed tend to be the healthier ones for the most part. Yeah. You could say there's a through line there. And the ones that fall off, you could also find a through line with like drugs, alcohol, lifestyle as well.

But it's funny with music, you're not encouraged to be healthy by the world. Yeah. In fact, they celebrate you if you're unhealthy. Yeah. You're like the party animal. you're the fun one yeah but i think there's something to that like healthy living that i didn't know either i was very i had struggle with anxiety PTSD all kinds of stuff from childhood and this and that but also take all of that childhood stuff and then throw in prospect of success in music when

you're right there on the verge of it and you're just trying your hardest yeah and then you get it your first peak of it first hit first whatever alcohol doesn't help no not sleeping doesn't help. Nope. Eating terrible doesn't help. Yeah. Loud, crazy environments don't help. All of the things that you find yourself in readily available to you, drugs, alcohol,

sex, drugs and rock and roll, as they say. Yeah. Are not conducive to success over a long period of time. No. And nowadays that the music industry is so demanding of you. Yeah. You can't be hung over because you've got to fucking get on social media, post some TikToks, do this, got to do that.

Do a podcast. Yeah, rock a podcast. Like, I reckon the start of my career, I was a little bit more sex drugs rock and roll. And then it was just like not doing good for my body. So I feel like I'm like honestly the most healthier, like I'm the most healthy when I'm on tour. I think so, too. Which is wild because I'm basically my show's a workout for me. But then I'm also doing other workouts just for mental health.

I'm drinking so much water, which I, struggle like to drink lots of water and I always trying to make myself drink lots of water. So I'm like hella hydrated when I'm on tour. You know, obviously it's hard to get sleep on tour because you got to wake up at crazy hours to drive to the next city. But like I try get as much as I can. Yeah. But I feel good on tour. I feel healthier than when I'm not on tour. Yeah. Yeah, there's a discipline out there that you don't have to have here. Yeah. Because you have more options when you're home. But then I find my flow at home and I'm very disciplined once I get it. Yeah.

I find it hard to get a routine. The closest to having a solid routine is when I'm on tour because you know you've got the show, you've got sound check, meeting great, wake up, whatever time that is. But when I'm not on tour, I really struggle to get a routine because I'm back in Australia doing some jobs. And I just flew in from London last night. So I'm... You did?

Yeah. So I'm on a different time zone. And then now the next few days I'm building the show for my tour that starts on Wednesday. And then, but then, you know, I got a podcast this morning. Then tomorrow I've got meeting with some, like a music brand. And then so always my routine is so fucking all over the shop. And then I think when I get on tour, I'm like, oh, God, I love this. Yeah, it's Groundhog Day.

It's like, even though, you know, you're waking up at different times every day, but like there's just a routine of some sort in my life rather than just. kind of a bit of chaos. It's everywhere in different time zones. I'm going here and there and shit. Yeah. What were you doing in London? London, I was supporting my wife.

She was over there doing a show, like at the London Palladium, which was like a tell-all interview over there. So she always comes to my shows. She's always like number one fan singing every song. Yeah. So there was no chance I was missing her show. And that's the first time she's ever done one of those kind of. things that's great i feel the same way she always supports me and so when she has something especially

you know sometimes she has something that that doesn't make sense for me to go she's she's like it'll be easier if you don't come like and then sometimes i can feel like she needs she wants some support that a movie come out and we all went to the premiere and we didn't have to but i could feel like the want to like me and the kids to come and show her like we can't about this thing. Yeah. Because she does that for all of us. Yeah. It's good when you have that kind of relationship, I think. Because entertainment relationships, when both people are doing something in and around creative and entertainment, they're not linear relationships. Every minute you're called away. You never know when something's going to come or they're like, hey, we need you to come here for a month. Yeah.

And that's what you do. Yeah. It can really pull you apart if you let it. So I think you have to try. and stay together as much as possible and go do as many things together as you can. Yeah. My brother just, his wife, did a movie last year and they were in London for six months, five or six months. And he went. Yeah, you can do it. Because he was like, this is what we have to do.

She wants to do it and she needs her family there. Because once you get the family thing rolling, it's very hard to be away from. Yeah, 100%. Me and Chris, we don't. We try to never do more than two weeks apart. Smart. So we fly to each other wherever. we're at. That's kind of our limit too. Yeah. You got to have your like limit.

100%. You got to know it. Yeah. And you got to stay true to it. Yeah. You don't let anyone talk you out of it. I love scheduling and spreadsheets and shit. So I'm always like looking at my calendar and making sure that we see each other. And then I'm going, you know, to Michelle and her assistant and making sure the days work out so that we make sure we clock clock in. And, you know, we're not missing too much time apart. So I like being on. top of that so it sounds good but i think back to your parents and the way they navigated separating from each other i guarantee that was a huge influence on how you behave in your relationships because i just think my parents it was a big mess and it sent me into the world there's so much confusion about like

how to navigate being a partner with someone yeah like figuring that out yeah you know 100% yeah i think my parents, I think they did a fucking great job. And also the point where they kind of knew that they weren't in love anymore and they, you know, wanted to separate in a healthy way was when I was kind of going through my like 15 year old rebel kind of stage. What was that like? Well, no, I was going to say my dad decided to stay. So they stayed together for a little bit longer until I grew up because they knew maybe.

You needed it. Yeah, I needed my parents around every day for support because I was a little bit naughty. I was just a bit naughty. You were testing the limits. Yeah. That's what you do, though. But to me, that's like the 15-year-old who's trying to figure it out, right? Is it going to be as conscious of that as the parents will?

Yeah. And whether you think you need them there or not, they make a executive decision to go, like, you know, let's just keep the walls here. Yeah. So you can bounce off of them. Yeah. However, you know, painful that is or crazy that is to go through. You know, I have teenagers now and it, they're pretty chill, but they're still teenagers. So what you want is a solid home that they come back to so that when they go out into the world,

they're going to try whatever they're going to try, they're going to figure out who they are, they're going to do the things they need to do. I want them to do that. I do not want to tell them who they are. Yeah. I want them to go figure it out. and feel free the freedom to like have their own opinion on themselves on life and then i want them to be able to come home every night to a house that's the same yeah and reliable in that way

gives them like a safety or something that they can go out and make some mistakes or try some stuff and i just don't want to judge them yeah because i felt judged my whole life and i just don't want there to be any shame around you figuring out like who the fuck you you you you are. And, you know, I always just say just be safe. Take care of your state. Love yourself. Make sure that people are treating you the way you want to be treated and like have a standard for that. Yeah. And if you need me, I'm here. Call me. Yeah. You've won some arias. Yeah. I want some arias. They're pointy as. Yeah. They don't give them to you on the night because apparently rumor has it. Someone dropped it and stepped through their foot. Oh, I thought maybe someone like tried to stab someone with it.

No, no intentional violence, but it was just... I always won in an aria. You never got one? I've been so many times. International... Never even been nominated. We need to change that. International, whatever.

Yeah. But I've always, I've gone a bunch of times and I've always appreciated the vibe of that show versus like you go to a lot of award shows here. Oh, yeah. And it's a little more fun. Yeah. Then like a serious award show. Even though it's a serious award.

Yeah. It's funny how. the Aussies do things like the Logies. Yeah. Right. It's a great award, but it's a fun night. Yeah, everyone's drunk is fun. Everyone's drunk.

The Logies is wild. Everyone's like yelling shit at each other. Yeah. Right. You know if someone agrees or doesn't agree with a person who won. Yeah. Because it's like coming out sideways, like drunken. It's fun.

Yeah. And it's one of the like things about Australia, the way you guys do things over there. because you'll go to an award show here and it's a big thing and it's great. I'm not saying I've been to a bunch of award shows here. It's great. But there's a seriousness to it sometimes where you're like it's bottled up. Yeah. It feels like loose there.

Very nice. Yeah, there was the Arias not last. I've won two. Two, okay. But you've nominated a bunch. Yeah, I think I last year got nominated six or seven times. Great. Yeah.

Took two of them home. Fuck yeah. But yeah, they're definitely, like, I've gone to a couple of ward things here with Croshell. Oh, shit. We're, like, looking at what I'm wearing. I'm like, oh, shit. How am I sitting? Realize, uh.

Yeah, it's. Tense. It's full tense. Why? Everyone needs to loosen the fuck up. Yeah, chill out. Yeah, like, guys, it's not that serious. Also, it's supposed to be fun.

Yeah. I like the RIS. Congratulations. It's a big accomplishment. Thanks, yeah, it was... I have a loggie. Do you? Yeah.

Fuck, yeah. Yeah. They're weird little... Weird little creatures. Yeah, a little, like, Plato looking... What was that for the voice? Best new talent. Dope.

Silver loggie. Yeah. Boom. Yeah. I love that. I take a lot of pride in my loggie. Do you do a little speech? I did.

No, I was there. What was this? A long time ago. 2012? I love that. 13, I don't know, like 12 years ago. I'm sitting here with an Australian silver Logie winner. Logie winner.

Holy fuck. Very prestigious. I love that. I certainly have it on my shelf of things I care about. I hope that it's dead center. It is. Is it? Yeah.

That is the big one. And no one knows what it is except for Australians. I know. So every now and then an Aussie will come and go, what the fuck. But no one else knows what it is. No one. I'm like, no, trust me. That's cool.

It's cool. Yeah. That's some big shit. Very proud of my Logie. Yeah. It was when I did the voice there. Yeah. It was fun.

Yeah, cool. You have a record coming out soon. I have a little EP coming out next week. Okay. Which was not really an accident, but kind of. Like, I was just fucking around with songs making different versions of my own songs and like acoustic versions. Like on TikTok, I was just singing an acoustic version of a song or like doing something.

And then I was like, my whole album's called drummer from last year. And then I was like, why don't I just like release these little alternate versions that are drumless? Because they're all, they don't have kit on it. That's cool. I've re-produced the songs in a new way that are drumless. So it's called the drumless EP. Are you going to play any of them on the tour? I might.

I actually was up last night trying to work out my set list. So, yeah, potentially. Like, is there a version of any of them that you like better this new way? Not ones that I like better, but I'm like, I like them the same. Like, there's a song called Seven Days that I open up my drummer record with, and the drumless version of Seven Days is almost a little bit country, which I've never done anything in that kind of genre or world, so that's fun for me.

Another song, Real Life. And all of these songs, we've like, most of them have changed the key. in the tempo and like really like I've altered melodies. There's new lyrics in some of the songs. So it's like not like a strip back version. It's like a, oh, this is a whole new song kind of vibe. Is your wife coming on tour? She'll be visiting in some cities where she can.

That's cool. Yeah. That's kind of how it works for us too. Yeah. The whole thing does it, is not going to happen. Yeah. Three days there. Three days there.

Yeah. Works. Also, she doesn't like waking up early. Yeah, yeah. Tour is. Tour bus. Every day waking up early to start driving to the next place. Yeah.

So she's just going to dip into some dates. And she's got work as well. She's filming stuff and doing things. That's kind of how it works. Yeah. It'll be cute when she comes and the fans fucking love it. Yeah. They get psycho about it.

Yeah. When they're all trying to look for her and like soon as we know when she's walked into the building from backstage. Right. Because everyone is like, like fucking losing their shit. That's cool. It's so cute. That's great. It's great.

I don't know if they're like that about my wife. I can't tell. But I am in my heart. Yeah. I'm always happy when she can come out. Yeah. But it actually does add a little layer of like when the family's not there and you're out there, you're focused.

And then once the family comes, I love it. But it adds kind of like a aspect of it that's, It's like, it's not that it's more work. It is, but it's just you're always thinking, are they okay? Are they, do they have everything they need? It's nice, though. It's like a little break in the middle of a tour when they come out. Yeah, I love it.

How long have you guys been married? We've been married almost two years. That's great. Yeah. How long have you been together? We get married fast. Yeah, we got married fast. Great.

How long have we been together? We had kids fast. We got married, slow, had kids fast. Yeah. Within a year. Our first kid. Yeah. I think she was pregnant like in six months.

Oh, crazy. And then we were like, okay. Yeah. Yeah. And then we got married like four years later. Yeah. After we had both kids. Yeah.

It worked for us though. Yeah. Fuck yeah. I think we've been together like two and a, I was going to say two and a half, but I don't think that adds up. Two years, three months or something. That's great. That is fast.

Yeah. So we got married in July and we got together in March. Okay. It's got married in July, got together in March. So a couple months later we got married. Where'd you get married? Vegas. Oh, great.

Yeah. I love a Vegas wedding. It was the best day in my life. Most fun time I've ever had, greatest time. I had this idea for Good Charlotte for this like Vegas residency where it was about people getting married. Mm-hmm. Because I feel like the Vegas.

wedding as an idea is like one we all like really love and we understand it but it hasn't been modernized i feel like there's got to be the new version of a Vegas wedding because getting married by Elvis is cool it's funny it's like the Vegas wedding but like imagine going to a show in Vegas where there's like a mass marriage like 10 couples get married oh my god and then all their friends come and the whole show is like a party because we always get like these days because our fans are older, they're always like, will you play our wedding? And we can't really, you know, it's like it's too big of a thing to get us to your wedding. I don't even want to tell them, like, the intricacies of what it means for Good Charlotte to come play your wedding. It's like a whole

20 people are coming. There's production. There's all the stuff, right? It's too hard. Yeah. I'm not even going to tell you, you know? Like, I don't want to like disappoint you and what your idea of like how easy it is for Good Charlotte to just throw and go and play a show. We can, but like, sound matters to us. The equipment we play on. Production rig. All of it matters, right? So my thought was if we did like a good Charlotte Vegas wedding, all of you can come

and get married there. All your friends can buy tickets. That's your reception. It saves you a ton of money. Yeah. We do some kind of food aspect of it. That's a great fucking idea. And everybody's drinking.

Yeah. And it's just like everyone's celebrating each other. Yeah. Like that to me would be like a modern Vegas wedding. if I thought of it in like a rock and roll sense of like what does it mean now because I love the Vegas wedding I've always like I've always loved the idea of the Vegas wedding earlier you said that part of becoming the artist in really like stepping out in front of your own music and not behind people was coming out how old were you and what was that like um I feel like I always had queer

feelings my whole entire life like my first like really early on in my life I thought I thought I was a boy kind of. When I was like really young and I just always had crushes on girls my whole life, but I grew up in a Catholic schooling system. So my primary school and my high school were Catholic and my high school was an all-girls school. And if you were queer, you were kind of ostracized or you were talked about or whispered about. So I always kept any sort of queer feeling to myself and just played the role of a straight person. And I had boyfriends in high school and stuff.

Almost like instinctively protect your ability to move through the world you're in because of the information you're getting in real time. Yeah. So you just stuff it. Yeah. And just keep going. Yeah. Huh. And there were people around me like I remember in like year seven and seven.

stuff getting a little bit bullied because people would be like, we all know you're a gay flip because everyone would call me flip back then because my last name's flippo. They're like, we all, they all know you're gay flip. Like, why don't you just come out already? And I'd be like, no, I'm not. I'm not gay yet I just had a dream about a girl that night or something. You know, like, yeah, I just like kept my feelings to myself and kind of in my head made myself feel like I was heterosexual and straight.

I'd be like, no, I like this boy because of this reason. and that reason. But really, I was just kind of trying to convince myself a little bit. Yeah. It's like survival skill. Yeah. It doesn't seem fair. No, yeah.

The inner thoughts that I had growing up, I wasn't the nicest to myself in my brain when it came to my sexuality and gender identity. And I ended up coming out early 20s. And then it was. That's a long way to live that way. Yeah. It's a long time to live that way. I would imagine you probably unpacked a lot of it in therapy.

I mean, I can imagine. Because I do think that, like, there's an aspect of all of us that are doing that in some way about ourselves, you know, and it might not be as extreme as your sexuality. But I do feel like growing up, you're trying to just stay out of the spotlight of everybody's, like, meanness. Yeah. Because it feels like in school especially, especially in, like, instant. institutions that like have these overarching themes of like what's right, what's wrong, what's this, what's that? You're just trying to like get through it because it's already miserable.

Yeah. Because you're like, what, 13 to 18? You're just like constantly changing. Yeah. And figuring out tons of shit, let alone who you love. Yeah. What you like, even just how you feel about any of it because I grew up in a very religious house.

Yeah. And so all of it was, everything was wrong. if you liked a girl it was wrong if you wanted to express that it was wrong if you you know so um you so you're telling yourself like I can't even be attracted to someone and this is like a straight white male yeah growing up in a religious house so I always wonder how hard it would be to be a like a gay kid growing up in a religious house or in a religious school or in a religious community because there there's all these different versions of that where you feel how you feel but then all all the messaging your whole life has been, that's evil, that's wrong, that's dirty, that's shameful,

why would you choose that, all these things? So when you're growing up in it and you're like, you have a crush on a girl and you think she's hot or whatever, like however you feel about her, it's not wrong. In my mind, like I tell my kids like, you'll know who you like, you'll figure it out. And hopefully you're with someone that treats you nice, that respects you. I struggled with that idea of being wrong. Someone said to me the other day, forget who told me it, but they said, guilt is doing something wrong.

Shame is I am something wrong. And that's the shame thing is like the big one in religion. Yeah. I think I was definitely stuffing it down and getting through it. And I was so focused on my music stuff and drums. And I always was like a pretty confident kid and pretty sure of myself. except the part about my sexuality that I kept hidden that no one knew about was like the kind of 5% that wasn't out in the open.

But then as soon as I was kind of like out of school and felt in a safe environment and then I started seeing a girl, then I was just like, hey everyone, I'm gay. And then yeah, it was cool. I remember telling my dad and he was making spaghetti bolognese, which we call Spag Bowl. And then he was just kind of like, oh, yeah, cool. You want more?

Like, want more spaghetti? Yeah. Yeah, Dad. And then I told my mom and she was like, oh, yeah, your basketball coaches always thought you would be gay when you were older. And I was like, all right. And then all my friends were like, yeah, we're not surprised. So, yeah, I think it was very euphoric for me. That's good.

Very euphoric, letting that last 5% of myself out in the open. And then it gave me confidence to then do my solo career because then I was down to sing these queer love songs that I wrote in my bedroom about relationships and queer love and stuff like that. And you need to really be in touch with your truth to like share your music and lyrics with the world because it's like your inner feelings and thoughts and story and stuff like that. Yeah. Like I wonder which 5% of us is the least important 5%. I think 100% of us is what we have to have to be vibrating in music in a way that people can believe us.

Yeah. And if we're not, if we're hiding something, there's something about a fan. When you listen to a band you love or an artist you love, if you don't believe them, it's done. Yeah. And on any level, it's even just in your gut, if someone talks to you and they're lying to you, you feel it just turns off. Yeah. And I think that that's really important. I'm really happy that it went well for you. I have to say it was easy because it's not easy for anyone.

Yeah, it's not easy for anyone. And a lot of people have very, very different experiences. I was just fortunate to have a pretty easygoing one. There was still like, you know, little comments now. And then I remember my parents at the start were like, you'll go back to men. And I was like, in my head, I was like, well, I definitely know I won't be. And maybe it's generational or whatever. But like our parents don't always understand like the weight of some of the things they say,

even if they're saying it in passing. It's fine because we understand them. Yeah. But it still has some weight to it. Yeah. You have to like make peace with. So you have the tour. the EP, anything else you're working on?

Anything else I'm working on? Do any studio work still? Third record. Oh, great. As well. Also, writing and producing for some other artists as well, which has been really fun. I actually enjoy it a hell of a lot. It's fun.

It's kind of fun working outside of your own project. It's a different kind of pressure. It takes the pressure off the summer stuff, puts a different kind of pressure that you, it's kind of nice. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. I see myself doing a lot more of that.

I do too that world because I also like just getting to know an artist and a human and like unlocking what their talents are empowering them to know

that their ideas are validing and they're great so many people you walk into sessions and they're a little bit shy or don't want to suggest their melody ideas or their ideas and I remember being that when I first started

because I was used to just doing my own thing in my bedroom writing my own shit then collaborating with people was a bit daunting. So I like being the top line a producer in the room to help. Especially someone that's in the earlier stage of their career. You can really like identify that and help them through that part. And hopefully you give them a couple little like nuggets of information that they can take

and get there a little faster in their development. That part of it is nice. It's like paying it forward. Yeah. So doing a little bit of that. And then just more touring, like going back to Australia playing shows, going, doing a UK, Europe kind of like tour. Do you have any favorite Aussie artists? Favorite Aussie artists?

Do you know Genesis Ousu? Uh-uh. He's fucking great. Okay. Obviously, like, I love choice of art stuff. Oh, yeah. He's incredible. Little legend.

There's so many artists that I'm. Do you know Chase Atlantic? Chase Atlantic. I don't know personally, but I know who Chase Atlantic. I'm very close with them. Really? Yes. Very cool.

Those are my boys. Yeah. That's awesome. Good dudes. Yeah. You guys would get along. Yeah? Big time.

Where do they live? They live here. Oh, fuck yeah. They're fucking cool. You guys would get along really well. They've lived here for a long time. They left Australia when they were like 17 or 18 and just came here and started making music. And they're really talented.

They're like true Australian fashion. You guys all play every instrument. You all can do stuff. Yeah. Like you come to America and we're like, I sing. You know? I play bass. Like they do everything.

They produce everything themselves. They mix everything themselves. Yeah. And really good dudes though. Cool. You guys would get along. Yeah. I'll have to hit them up.

Cool. Sick. Flip. Flip. Thanks for coming. No, thanks for having me. It's been great. Love having chats with you.

Thank you. Easy. I hope you enjoyed today's episode of artist friendly. If you really liked it, you can follow, like, subscribe to the show, anywhere you listen to podcasts, Spotify, Apple, Amazon. We appreciate your support and we'll see you next time.