Star Apps: The Madden Brothers
Maryland-born brothers Benji and Joel Madden always dreamed of making it in California. After 14 years of pop-punk success in Good Charlotte and 10 years as California residents, the two are now performing as The Madden Brothers, and they're sending fans a postcard that reads "We made it!" in the form of new album "Greetings From California." I chatted with Benji Madden, who will soon tour with his brother.
The Madden Brothers will bring Greetings From California across the country this fall.
(Credit: Justin Colt)
You shocked a lot of people recently when you pulled the plug on Good Charlotte.
It freaked a lot of people out when we said we didn't want to do Good Charlotte anymore, 'cause it's not the safe thing. This could fail miserably, and luckily it hasn't. People are actually hearing it in the way we wanted them to, which I don't think happened on the later Good Charlotte records, where we were reaching for different perspectives and trying different styles, and I don't know if it was ever quite heard the way we wanted it to be. So when people do hear it the way we wanted them to, it's like, "Oh s---, someone actually noticed." It's an awesome trip and makes the risk and gamble so worth it, to be able to be an artist and have it appreciated.
How would you compare The Madden Brothers to Good Charlotte?
We started Good Charlotte when we were 16, and I'm really proud of the work we did. From 2000 to 2011, it was a really great learning experience. I learned how to write songs, how to perform, and how to craft a record. I think The Madden Brothers is the evolution of that. At 35, when you think about where you were when you were 20, it's quite a difference in terms of life experience and your priorities. With The Madden Brothers, you can hear that seasoning. Good Charlotte was born out of the angsty teen years. And The Madden Brothers was us going full circle to where we started with music, which was a lot of the vinyl that our parents listened to when we were kids. Stuff like The Beach Boys, Eagles, Stevie Wonder, a lot of stuff that we kind of rebelled against when we were teenagers. We were angsty and just wanted to play louder, faster, harder. Good Charlotte was always polarizing, and we always loved that. There was never a lukewarm reception. Then we got to our 30s and thought more about what we want to get out of this experience and less about getting a reaction from people. With The Madden Brothers, we were just at a place where we were comfortable with our own skin and interested in doing something different and wanted to be genuine about it. The only way to get there is time.
How do you two collaborate?
"Brother," one of my favorite songs on the record, came about really quickly. We wrote that song in 20 to 30 minutes. That song started because Joel was fooling around on the guitar and kind of playing a little chord progression, and I said, "I like that, but let me add a few more things to make it more interesting and musical and less elementary." He had the first line: "One night while I was driving/From the place I usually go/I saw a pair of headlights/And a car I didn't know," and I took that line and wrote the rest of the verse. We did the chorus together, and then we did a second verse, and we were literally done in half an hour. "Brixton" was a song I wrote in London. Joel said, "This one's really cool," and he took it and said, "Let's finish it." Then he wanted to change this and that.
Why did you title the album "Greetings From California"?
To me, it's a postcard out to everyone who believed in us, to everyone who ever inspired us. We feel like we're back and have come full circle from where we started. When we left our childhood home, we had just turned 18. We literally took our backpacks with everything we could put in them -- we had $40 or $50 and an acoustic guitar -- and that was it. We went out into the world, and we didn't know anyone in the music industry. We didn't have any hookups or anyone looking out for us.
During the rougher times in our life, we always dreamed about when we'd make it to California one day. It kept us hanging on those rougher days. California was the metaphor for making it to the other side. Not only did we make it as a band, but also we went through the trials and tribulations of being in a band that was successful, and we didn't lose our minds, we didn't become enemies, and we remained who we are. We have now lived in California for 10 years. California represents the possibilities for anyone with a dream or a goal. And what do you do when you go somewhere beautiful? You send a postcard to the people you love, because you want them to know you're thinking about them and wish they were there. To us, that's what this record is.
The Madden Brothers wanted to make a classic album with real instruments.
(Credit: Justin Colt)
When Good Charlotte first exploded, critics and fans were always arguing about whether your music was punk, pop, or punk-pop. Your current sound doesn't sound like either. How would you define it?
When we set out to make the record, we were having a conversation with one of the producers. We were talking about all these great old records, like The Beach Boys, Steely Dan, Eagles, The Doobie Brothers, and all the amazing pop records. Now the word "pop" means something completely different. So we thought what if we challenged ourselves and could make a record that was made in this tradition of all the music we remembered our parents listening to -- 'cause I just went on a trip these last few years, listening to all the music my parents listened to -- could it live and breathe in the world today? So we set out to do that. So yeah, it's traditional pop, but compared to the pop of today, it's kind of more of an alternative rock record, 'cause it's real drums and real performances. But for me, it's an old-school pop record.
It's interesting that you, as a former neo-punk musician, would embrace the music that '70s punk railed against.
I appreciate it so much now. Every era will have its reaction to the last era. I think where The Clash ushered in this punk rock era was a response to disco and all of that. For me, it's more about how the craft of record-making has been lost a little bit as it relates to pop. If I have a choice, I'd rather be one of the guys putting out a record like this. I also think there's an appetite for that vinyl experience, where a band makes a record. It wasn't a safe decision. The safe decision would have been to go with one of the hottest producers that has No. 1 songs over pop radio now. We had access to all those guys and definitely respect them, but we wanted to make a record with some sounds on it that people will trip out on, regardless of the risk.
When you get into your 30s, you appreciate that more than when you were 24. As 24-year-olds, I think our hearts were with Good Charlotte. Music always gave us a sense of relief and hope, so if we felt disenfranchised, we wanted to give other people a place. That was always our intention to put positivity out there, even in our sarcastic songs. Even the sarcastic messages were presented in a way where we wanted the people having a bad day to have something joyful, 'cause that's what we got from music when we were in rougher times. I think that message continues but with me and Joel as songwriters. It's our nature to put positivity out in the world, and "Greetings From California" is such a positive record. That's why we chose "We Are Done" as the first single. It's meant to empower anyone who's been held back or mistreated. It's a message to empower them to say, "We're done." It doesn't sound like anything that's out right now, and we loved the message and wanted it to be heard. We've become really comfortable with people questioning our positivity. It's about staying true to what we want to say.
What are your top mobile apps?
1. ESPN Fantasy Football
2. Instagram
3. Twitter
4. Spotify
5. Beats Music
6. Amazon, because that's where I do all my shopping.
Straight from the Maddens' mouths:
