It's been seven years since 2018's 'Generation Rx', but Good Charlotte have finally returned. A rejuvenated sight, their time behind the scenes – raising families and new bands alike – has resulted in a band ready to return to their place in the pop-punk and emo lineage where they belong.
Leading this charge comes 'Rejects'. The first taste of their upcoming eighth studio album, 'Motel Du Cap', harks back to their golden years with its iconic-feeling riff, a call to arms chorus, and heaps of bounding fun. It's a reminder of the band Good Charlotte have always been: a voice for the disenfranchised through ludicrously catchy hooks. Getting back to that point, though, required some reflection.
After forming in the late 90s in Waldorf, Maryland, brothers Joel and Benji Madden, with founding bassist Paul Thomas, and longtime guitarist Billy Martin, sought to take on the world. When their second album, 2002's 'The Young and the Hopeless', sent the band into the stratosphere, Good Charlotte's dreams were certainly coming true. Of the pop-punk names that capitalised on the boom in the early-mid-00s, Good Charlotte were always outliers. With their hip-hop influences blending effortlessly into their instantly recognisable tracks, they stood out amongst the crowd while feverishly seizing every opportunity that came their way. "When you're young, it's all encompassing. It's everything," Joel explains. "One of the greatest experiences you could ever have is success in a band, being with guys you love, and going on that ride. It's a roller coaster of all these things when your dreams are coming true, and especially when you come from nothing, and you feel worthless to people."
