For nearly three decades, American rock group Good Charlotte have championed the underdog.

Made up of twin brothers Joel and Benji Madden—Joel on lead vocals, Benji on guitar and vocals—alongside bassist Paul Thomas and keyboardist Billy Martin, the band have gone from Maryland misfits to bona fide global rockstars. Their 2002 sophomore record, The Young and the Hopeless, catapulted them to worldwide acclaim thanks to tracks like “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous,” “The Anthem,” and “Girls & Boys.”

But that breakthrough didn’t come easily. “We were worthless to everyone for the first five years of our fucking career,” Joel says during our Zoom call on a sunny June afternoon. Despite those early trials, Good Charlotte have gone on to release seven studio albums, spanning from the dance-punk flair of 2007’s Good Morning Revival to the dark introspection of 2018’s Generation Rx. To date, they’ve sold over 11 million records worldwide.

Nearly 30 years since the band first formed, life looks very different. Inspired as teenagers by rap-rock luminaries like Beastie Boys, it was that wide-eyed enthusiasm that first pushed the Madden brothers to start making music. Today, all members are happily married with children, far removed from the “broken homes” they came from. Success may have brought comfort, but the fire behind Good Charlotte still burns as brightly as it did in 1996.

Their eighth studio album, Motel Du Cap, lands on August 8th. It sees the band channel early influences while exploring new ground. There’s even a Wiz Khalifa feature on the album as well as some production from Jordan Fish and Charlie Puth. The record’s name was inspired by a wedding they attended at the renowned luxury French hotel, Hôtel du Cap—but true to their ethos of inclusion, the band’s Motel Du Cap is imagined as a place open to everyone, no matter their status in the world.

In conversation with 1883 Magazine, Joel Madden of Good Charlotte opens up about their new single “Rejects,” the life lessons which helped shape Motel Du Cap, and the enduring bond of brotherhood.

Joel, thanks for chatting with 1883 Magazine. It’s been seven years since Generation Rx, and now “Rejects” is finally out. How have you found the reaction to the song so far? Releasing a song after quite some time can be a big thing for an artist.

Yeah, it’s been great, man. I don’t know what we thought. I don’t know if we thought too much about that it has been so long. I think we just were excited to get it out and get rolling with the record. We love this record, we really like it. So it’s been amazing in that regard, to just make something you love and feel really good about, so you just want to put it out. The reaction to “Rejects” has been incredible. I don’t know if I thought if anyone would care or not. I think it’s a cool little song.

I just liked it, it was the first song we wrote on the record, and it ended up being something that we think reflects the personality of the record. There’s lots of different stuff on it, and I think it’s truly Good Charlotte. We do stuff that is kind of unique to us. All of our songs have these quirky little personalities in a lot of ways, like songs people love. I think that this record is full of that.

We just thought this one was a really great first little appetiser for the record. When you think about “Rejects”, it’s not your copy-paste song. It’s got two verses, a chorus and a bridge, just a weird little structure to a song, but it somehow just worked. We wrote it in one night, and we liked it. As we continued down the road and made the record that one, we kept coming back to that one. It’s short and sweet, but it’s got all the kinds of things you want on it. It’s got some good guitar work on it, but also has some meaningful lyrics and ideas on it. 

We were really happy to put that out first because that’s just what we wanted people to hear. I don’t know if it’s a runaway hit song, but that’s okay. We like this record rolling out the way we feel like it should. Motel Du Cap is interesting. It’s got all these little moments on it that we like. So I think “Rejects” is the perfect first listen. But there’s some other stuff on there that I’m super excited for people to hear.

Speaking of the new LP, Good Charlotte’s eighth studio record Motel Du Cap is out August 8. What life lessons or experiences over the last several years do you think have consciously or subconsciously shaped the making of it?

That’s a great question.

Sorry, I know it’s a loaded question and I’ve put you on the spot.

No, I love it. It feels like we’re on Artist Friendly right now. To learn how to be yourself is a very important lesson in life that is kind of abstract. It’s not something that we are all told we need to do all the time. But I actually think it’s one of the most important things we can do is to learn who we are, to learn what it means to be yourself, and then to learn how to lean into you, how to lean into how you feel, what you think, what you want, and then to go on the journey and discover what it means to be you as a person. 

As a band, it’s a whole other so it’s like who are we as a band and and we want to be original and unique for ourselves. That’s what we want. That’s what we want to achieve. I don’t know at this point in Good Charlotte, what achievement looks like more than just can we lean in to being more Good Charlotte than ever before. Can we lean into being the most honest we can possibly be, can we lean into and be okay with it if it’s not  the biggest thing in the world.

The thing for me, is  let’s just find the real truth of the matter of who I am, be at peace with it, and then live life from that. I think we’ve always been on that journey, I don’t know what it is, but it’s probably, well, of course, it’s childhood shit. It’s just trauma and shit like that but you go on this journey and you’re just trying to come to terms with being myself, owning it, the good, bad, ugly, and then operate from there. I think as a band, we’re on that same journey and this album kind of reflects that.

I know the creative spark — and the title — came from a friend’s wedding in 2023 at the Hotel du Cap in France. But hypothetically, if Motel Du Cap were a real place, what kind of clientele do you think would be staying there?

But our perspective, coming from nothing to coming to this world of luxury, which we now exist in, we have to be honest about it, whatever that means. From where I’m from, it doesn’t matter wherever I’m at now, I’m not on Rodeo Drive every day, but I still live in a world that’s full of luxury, opportunity, and abundance. So we have to be real about that. We can’t fake that we’re not there, but our relationship is always going to be conflicted. We’re never going to say we’re more hotel than we are motel. We’re more comfortable in the middle, I think, where we’ve learned how to take something that other people might look at as worthless and make it valuable. And that’s what Good Charlotte is to us, because we were worthless to everyone for the first five years of our fucking career.

Then suddenly we have a couple hit songs, and then everybody’s arguing about shit we never talked about before, and it’s funny to us in some ways, and then in other ways, we’re like, it’s just real, that’s just the way the world works. People’s perception of you is going to be limited to whatever they perceive. So if they just read one thing, that’s their perception, that’s just how it is. Don’t fight it. So, we always laugh because we say we’re truck-stop couture, motel chic, we’re not joking. We’re saying, if we had a truck stop, it’s going to be the coolest, best experience you’ll ever have at a truck stop, and you’ll go, this is a necessity and same with a motel.

Whatever we do, we’re going to gravitate towards things that are more accessible, because that’s who we are. So we’re not the fancy hotel guys, even though I’m fine, I can hang, I can go to Du Cap and hang. It’s a beautiful hotel. I will have a great time. I am not conflicted about enjoying life, but I tend to gravitate towards things that are a bit more accessible, it’s where my mind goes. So if you said, design me your dream hotel. It’s going to be a motel, It’s really nice, that’s who we are. So it’s not even tongue-in-cheek, I don’t even know how to explain it, because we’re dead serious about ourselves, our perspective and what we like. But it also tends to be more accessible for everyone, and you feel like more welcome. You know, the thing that you got to remember is… anyone could maybe relate to this with me, but if you go to a really nice place, a hotel or restaurant, I’m not there every day. I barely fucking go to these.

I’m not dissing anyone saying, I just don’t always feel comfortable. If I go to a restaurant and they tell me to take my hat off. I’m just not gonna eat there, I don’t do dress codes and it’s not personal. I appreciate people that have their rules, it’s your house, it’s your rules, right? So if I find out there’s a rule I’m not with, I’m just gonna leave politely and go, I’m not angry. That’s just how we live life, I think. Motel Du Cap sums it up because we actually had one of the best nights of our life at this beautiful, luxury ,hotel that left us such an impression on us. The people there were amazing. The hotel people were freaking the best, gracious, classy, we had this amazing time.

The wedding happened, we played this show together, and it was like the best show ever. It was just the band together. It felt like we were playing a friend’s basement party. We left with this idea, we should make a record, and then we start kicking that around, and a year later, we’re in the studio, we’re making it. It had such an impact on us but we were like we can’t call it Hotel Du Cap for lots of reasons. But we were going to honour that place, moment and that thing, and we’ll call it Motel Du Cap, it’s fucking cool. I’ll go to Motel Du Cap anytime. My ideal Motel Du Cap is just a place where everybody can come, be themselves and they have a good experience.

It’s like the Good Charlotte show right. Every dollar is going into the experience, we’re not here to do 300 shows and make tons of money. We’re here to create an experience for people, because we realize a majority of people actually haven’t gotten to see us live. We just haven’t toured that much in the last 15 years, or whatever. If you’re going to come see Good Charlotte, we’re going to put on the best show we can. We’re not doing that many we might do. If we could do 50 shows next year, I’d be really happy. That’s a lot of shows for us. I can’t even promise that we can because we have kids, wives and all this stuff.

So Motel Du Cap for me is an experience that you’re going to have that you’ll never forget. You’ll say ‘that was really nice, I got my money’s worth, the people cared about everything, every effort was put into the food, bedding, and the rooms were thoughtful. It wasn’t the most luxurious, but it wasn’t cheap. Someone put every dollar into the place that you’re spending on it so that you’d have a good time and feel like you got your money’s worth and it was something that you’ll remember, and they’re not here to rob you. They’re here to fucking watch you enjoy it. That’s how we feel about Good Charlotte now. 

We’re going to try and go around the world and give everyone maybe the Good Charlotte show they never got to see because maybe too young at the time, we just care about all the details, man. We want people to experience the band in a way that they will remember and that they feel they’re welcome. You don’t have to be the biggest rocker. You don’t have to be an emo expert. You don’t have to be a punk. Everybody can come, have a good time, bring your whole fucking family, and it’s going to be a good night. The show is going to be great. And you’re getting to have this experience with the record and the show, where people feel it’s more than a transaction, it’s a memory, a special place.

That’s what we wanted to create with the record and with the live Good Charlotte show.

When I was in secondary school, I used my older brother’s iPod, and on it he had your self-titled album and Good Morning Revival. I was just a kid, but that was my introduction to Good Charlotte — and I couldn’t stop playing “Keep Your Hands Off My Girl.” With that in mind, can you remember a moment from your own life when you first heard a band, a song, or an album, and instantly fell in love with their music?

Beastie Boys: Check Your Head. When I heard that record, I then went back and got into Paul’s Boutique, Licensed to Ill, and then I got to go see them on the Ill Communications tour, and that was the full circle moment. I was like, ‘Oh, this band taught me how to dress, showed me a perspective’ because I was from the country, they were in New York City. I thought they were so cool. They played, rapped, and they were a band. So there were all these weird things, and I think when I heard, Check Your Head, it changed my life. 

As a kid growing up was different back then. You couldn’t go online and trade with people or find things. You didn’t have the resources to dress cool; we only had thrift stores or hand-me-downs or whatever. The Beastie Boys taught me how I could have some style, swagger, and it was so important at that age, the early teenage years, you know. So I really always say that’s the band that started it for us. 

There are other bands, for sure. So many other bands, because we started digesting music, just devouring any record, and having that dream, chasing it, reading about how the bands did it, what they do. But Beastie Boys were it, when I started listening to them, and went to the Ill Communications tour in 1995, we went, and that was it. It was over. We were like ‘we’re doing this’ and we just became completely obsessed.

After almost 30 years, and with songs like “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous” and “The Anthem” cemented as classics, what goes through your mind when you look back on everything you’ve achieved?

I feel eternally grateful that we get to have our little corner, our little place, it’s extremely special to us. This band is so much more than music to us. This band saved our lives, gave us purpose and gave us something to feel. It made me feel special, It made me feel needed or wanted, It made me feel loved at times. It made me feel like myself and like I mattered, you know. So I think the band is so much more than the records to us. It was the thing that saved us. It’s a vehicle that carried us out of all these terrible things and so the people that made that band matter and are extremely special to us. Honestly, I get to talk to them every day, every time I go out into the world, I interact with someone who says the same thing, you said, ‘I listened to you when I was 13, and my brother had the record and I took it’ and I can almost see that kid discovering our record, experiencing it and enjoying it the way we want people to.

It makes me so happy because that’s all I want people to get out of Good Charlotte, a happy feeling of singing along to a song with your friends at a fucking party or in the car. Then when you’re going in, just thinking, by yourself, I hope Good Charlotte makes you feel better about yourself, not worse. I hope Good Charlotte makes you feel better about life, not worse. I hope Good Charlotte makes you feel what it made me feel. Because I truly feel that’s our legacy. That’s the most important part of our legacy. It’s not any one song, I love all the songs. I love playing those songs live. What Good Charlotte stands for is just be yourself, go find out what that means, and then take it seriously. You only get to be you once, you know. People gave us the opportunity to do that and so we feel like lucky guys.

So at this stage in our lives, if we show up, we want to be there. We’re not going to show up for money, we’re not showing up for fame, we’re not showing up for anything other than we want to go play that show. We played Welcome to Rockville, we wanted to be there, we put a lot of effort into the show and we fucking loved it. It was such a good time. We got Aftershock festival coming up in the next couple of months. All these shows we want to play them. So like I said, I think we’re just at that stage where we we appreciate the opportunity to put out another record. We’re not wasting any opportunity, and we’re not overdoing it.

First and foremost, all of us come from tough family backgrounds, broken homes and things like that. Every single one of us is married with kids, and all of us put that first by a mile. It has nothing to do with anything other than that was literally all of our dreams was to have good families, and we’ve been very supportive of each other in that, everybody in the band. We feel the same way.

We’re all with our kids, coaching their teams or doing this or doing that. So we’re trying our best there. You know, that’s something that doesn’t come so easily if you don’t have any models. But we’ve all got these incredible wives, incredible kids, and so that comes first. Then everything else, we’re going to give 100% if we show up. We’re trying our best, just like with this record, we want it to be right. We want people who are spending their time with us, we want to feel like ‘fuck yeah, I’m glad I did that’.

Obviously, as artists, you’re always looking ahead to the next project. Wiz Khalifa features on a track on the album, and you’ve worked with Jordan Fish (formerly of Bring Me The Horizon) and Charlie Puth on some of the production duties, which is an interesting combo. Particularly, pop hitmaker Puth…

Benji wrote a song with Charlie, a really good, emotional song about the relationship we’ve had with our father. That’s been a complicated one we’ve been working out our whole lives. Charlie is one of the most talented people. Musically, I never thought of us and Charlie working together but it just popped up. So they wrote this song, they wrote a really deep song, which is one of my favourite songs on the record. It was a cool collaboration; it just kind of happened.

Touring next year is exciting. What can you tease about UK plans?

Yes, I can.

Haha, great, that answers it! We look forward to hearing more soon.

We’re coming back to the UK. We’re not going to make everybody wait too long. It’s our number one place, we fucking love the UK, we’re putting it all together. It feels like a big love fest over there. When I’m in London or Manchester or wherever, I love being there, I feel at home, understand the music there. We’re going to be doing the UK as soon as possible.

Finally, being in a band is tough enough, but being in one with your brother adds another layer, and you’ve been doing this together for years. Speaking about brotherhood now, what is something kind you would say about Benji? 

He’s got the humility, he’s one of a kind. He’s unique because he’s incredibly talented, a great songwriter, doesn’t necessarily want to be on stage, he’ll do it, he’s all in. He’s not interested in attention, credit; he’s not that interested in anything other than writing a song. That’s why I think I am a good lead singer, I think I probably enjoy it a little bit more than he does. He likes to play guitar, write a song, finish it, and then he is pleased. He is less concerned about promoting the song, putting it out. We made this record, and he really finished it, he goes through it back and forth and gets every little detail to where he thinks it sits right and then he is happy.

He’s less concerned about the world, how it perceives the record, how it perceives him, I think he takes a different way and that’s always been really good for us. I think he’s just really focused on the stuff that matters the most, I really do. I’m a little bit more about the shiny objects, the novelty of things, seeing how the music is doing. It’s a good balance with us; he’s a great leader.

I’ve always known we would always be together, not just because we are twins, there is room for both of us. I really feel we have the very best experience of being brothers that you could ever have, which is amazing to say. There’s nothing about my relationship with my brother that I would change. We can have disagreements, we have learned how to talk and do talk. The biggest examples of brothers who everyone loves are Oasis, and they fight. They have this tug of war where they’ve fought, it’s part of the personality of that band, I would love to see them get along beautifully, but then would I? I don’t know if they are meant to, it’s unique.

Me and Benji are unique in the way that we are not that emotional when we don’t agree on something, we talk about it, go around until we land on one side or the other. Sometimes we meet in the middle. We’ve always found a way. We grew up in a very dysfunctional home and had to learn how to work together to survive. We had to keep honing in on that to make records and do things.

I think it has been a very therapeutic experience learning how to work together and survive in the world, I don’t think everybody should be that way but I think I’ve gotten to have the most incredible experience of what brotherhood can mean because of my brother. I give him all the credit because he cares about the things that are important to him and makes room for everyone else to be themselves. He’s honest, though if he’s not with something, so you don’t have to guess, there is no anger or emotion in disagreements between us.

Learning how to survive in the world from a very young age, we had to really be on the same side. We can disagree, but if we turn to face the world, we are aligned, we are together because that’s how we’ve had to survive.

Thanks for taking the time to chat, Joel, it really is appreciated, so thank you.

Thank you, Cameron, I appreciate you as well, man. I appreciate the thought and the time; it’s awesome.

Good Charlotte’s eighth studio record Motel Du Cap is out August 8th.

Interview Cameron Poole

Photography Jen Rosenstein