Joel of Good Charlotte was able to sit down for a chat about touring and the new album. Check it out.

Good Charlotte Interview

Question: You've been touring non-stop for almost two years, is the band starting to get a little burned out?

Joel: We're definitely starting to get a little burned cause we've been on the road for almost two years and we haven't been home at all, and you just get tired, it wears on you and you never catch up, but we definitely see a light at the end of the tunnel, we get off at christmas time, and we're so excited about our new album, we're just using this time to prepare. Everyone gets burned out, but it's just like any other job, people get tired and you realize how luck you are and it gives you a fresh breath.

Question: There's a lot of mixed influences in your music, how do you make it all come together?

Joel: I just do my thing, i'm influenced by everything, like i love rap. And usually when Benji lays down a guitar line I just put out what I feel and usually the guys like it. Then we change things around 'til we got what we want. I just do my thing and whatever comes out comes out.

Question: How did you get "The Innocent" together?

Joel: I was on the west coast when it happened, and i called John (front man of Goldfinger) and we were getting together to record some stuff and he was like "It's really messed up what happened, I'm working on this song if you guys wanna come down early and get in on it and help me out i'd love that". So we locked ourselves in John's house for two days, and it came out and i was really happy with it.

Question: You're starting to get more exposure and a larger fan base. Has that changed anything?

Joel: It makes it harder to spend more quality time with each of our fans, because now you have new kinds of fans, you have some little girls screaming over here, then you have your punk rock fans over here, then they all kinda mix and it's kinda bad sometimes, so its hard to get down with your fans more quality but we still try. It's definitely harder but its awesome, just the more people that get into your music, it's cool.

Question: How were you affected as a band by September 11?

Joel: ...Well i was stuck on the west coast and i couldn't go home, i couldn't see my family. There comes a time when there's something more important than music. I love playing shows, but then we wrote that song and that helped us feel a little bit better by knowing we were doing our part to help, and even by this tour, we're trying to do our part by getting people to stand up and be more American, that's what this tour is about. The whole tour's about opening kids eyes, like we live in the greatest country in the world, so let's start acting like it.

Question: What can we expect from the next album?

Joel: Its going to be good charlotte times ten. Like the last record...times a hundred. We've been on the road working on our songs and musicianship, we've been going through some changes, we've got a new drummer and he's amazing, he's taken our music a step up. We've been influenced by our friends, our fans, with a lot of new things coming into play, so it's going to be Good Charlotte times 100.