Good Charlotte: Young, but Not Hopeless

The men of Good Charlotte talk about being the next big thing, hanging out with Chris Kirkpatrick, and dealing with fans who love too much.

By Linda Laban
CDNOW Contributing Writer

When you're tipped as a "next big thing," it can get complicated.

With the release of Good Charlotte's second CD, The Young and the Hopeless, the pop punk quartet is being called just that. Frankly, it's got the band's singer, Joel Madden, a little worried.

"We don't even know if we are that band. We feel like the Good Charlotte we've always been," he says. "When people say things like, 'Oh, you guys are going to blow up,' what does that mean? Does that mean we are going to have the one big song, and then it's over?"

So far, things have been going pretty well. The band -- rounded out by twin brother Benji Madden, who plays guitar; bassist Paul Thomas; and guitarist, Billy Martin, all of whom grew up around Maryland (they are presently in between drummers) -- spent the summer on the Vans Warped Tour, hosted MTV's All Things Rock, and has just released one of the year's most promising albums. The Young and The Hopeless, a bright, savvy mixture of pop hooks and golden harmonies, references both Joel and Benji's experience growing up in a broken home and the many fans the band speaks one-on-one with after shows.

"We have a big burden sometimes with our fans," Joel admits. "Kids in each city we go to come up to us and tell us the things they go through. I'm not a psychologist, and these kids are telling me things that I don't know how to handle. When we were making this record I felt this huge burden to be positive, because I'm so afraid that I'll make some kid commit suicide, because he might take something I wrote the wrong way."

"When people say things like, 'Oh, you guys are going to blow up,' what does that mean? Does that mean we are going to have the one big song, and then it's over?"

The burden of being young and hopeless is one thing, but rich and famous is quite another. Good Charlotte, a good-time sunny punk band after all, parodies the idea in the CD's debut single, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." The accompanying video features two of their heroes, punk stalwart Mike Watt and Tenacious D's Kyle Gass along with one of their friends, Chris Kirkpatrick. Yes, that Chris Kirkpatrick, from 'NSync.

"Chris is a friend; he's a fan," Madden says fondly. "You can name any line off the CD, and he'll finish the song." If Kirkpatrick gives Madden advice on dealing with the pressures of encroaching stardom, he isn't saying. Either way, "the next big thing is a scary sounding thing," Madden figures. "The way we do things right now is just fine, so can we just keep it that way? If we could freeze, this would be perfect."

- - cdnow.com