good charlotte – Alternative Press Magazine https://www.altpress.com Rock On! Wed, 20 Dec 2023 19:41:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 https://www.altpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/24/attachment-alt-favi-32x32.png?t=1697612868 good charlotte – Alternative Press Magazine https://www.altpress.com 32 32 Behind the scenes of When We Were Young’s sophomore year https://www.altpress.com/when-we-were-young-2023-photos/ Thu, 21 Dec 2023 14:00:00 +0000 When We Were Young is a special time, when we relish an amalgamation of gut-wrenching nostalgia pangs and realize how much of our brain’s storage has been put to work holding onto MxPx lyrics instead of our social security numbers. It’s a place for fellow hoarders of Good Dye Young products who never shy away from a pyramid stud. It’s a moment where all of the Warped Tour eras collide: From hip-hop legends to pop-punk royalty, audiences were constantly surprised as they stood in the crowd at each of the four stages throughout the weekend, watching Lil Wayne singing “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous” with Good Charlotte, seeing Tony Hawk crash Goldfinger’s set, and Steve Aoki collab with Yellowcard. Alongside the greats, exciting younger acts hit the desert, too, artists who we’ve seen so astutely interpret this corner of alt music we’ve always loved in modern and insightful ways — from Jean Dawson to the Wrecks, EKKSTACY to KennyHoopla.

Read more: Fan poll: 5 best punk vocalists of all time

With 2024’s lineup featuring My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, and dozens of iconic album play sets, all we have to say is: Until next year, Las Vegas.

WATERPARKS

Waterparks / Jordan Knight

THRICE

Thrice / Jordan Knight

THE VERONICAS

The Veronicas / Jordan Knight

SIMPLE PLAN

Simple Plan / Jordan Knight

SAY ANYTHING

Say Anything / Jordan Knight

SAVES THE DAY

Saves the Day / Jordan Knight

RISE AGAINST

Rise Against / Jordan Knight

PLAIN WHITE T’S

Plain White T’s / Jordan Knight

PIERCE THE VEIL

Pierce the Veil / Jordan Knight

OFFSPRING

The Offspring / Jordan Knight

NOW MORE THAN EVER 2

Now More Than Ever / Jordan Knight

NEW FOUND GLORY

New Found Glory / Jordan Knight

MXPX

MxPx / Jordan Knight

MAGNOLIA PARK

Magnolia Park / Jordan Knight

LIT

Lit / Jordan Knight

JEAN DAWSON 2

Jean Dawson / Jordan Knight

GOOD CHARLOTTE, LIL WAYNE

Good Charlotte and Lil Wayne / Jordan Knight

CASSADEE POPE

Cassadee Pope / Jordan Knight

GAMES WE PLAY

Games We Play / Jordan Knight

DERYCK WHIBLEY

Sum 41 / Jordan Knight

5SOS

5 Seconds of Summer / Jordan Knight

GC MASCOTS

Good Charlotte mascots / Jordan Knight

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When We Were Young’s second year spotlights alternative music’s stars https://www.altpress.com/when-we-were-young-2023-recap-photos/ Tue, 24 Oct 2023 21:28:37 +0000 While my sinuses are grateful to have left the desert heat, I’m reeling with a specific type of comedown from this year’s When We Were Young festival. It’s two days of the year I spend relishing an amalgamation of gut-wrenching nostalgia pangs, and realizing how much of my brain’s storage has been put to work holding onto Relient K lyrics instead of my social security number. And I have to add, there’s certainly nowhere else I feel more seen and understood than in a crowd of people who, just like me, hoard Good Dye Young products and never shy away from a pyramid stud. Of course, this year was no laughing matter when it came to emo music icons, and creating moments where all of the Warped Tour worlds could collide.

And collide they did, and then some: from hip-hop legends to pop-punk royalty, audiences were constantly surprised as they stood in the crowd at each of the four stages throughout the weekend, watching Lil Wayne singing “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” with Good Charlotte, seeing Avril Lavigne crash the All Time Low set, and Steve Aoki collab with Yellowcard. Green Day kicked the entire weekend off with a Dookie album play, and in lockstep with blink-182, each announced a 2024 stadium tour and performed new music that had yet to be played live at the festival. Alongside the greats, exciting younger acts hit the desert too this year, artists who we’ve seen so astutely interpret this corner of alt music we’ve always loved in modern and insightful ways — from Jean Dawson to the Wrecks, EKKSTACY to KennyHoopla.

Though it’s easy to get emotional, no pun intended, that the weekend’s a wrap, we can at least revel in the gifts it gave us, and look forward to the year ahead, full of anniversary album plays, our favorite bands hitting the road, and new music — breadcrumbs that will satisfy that nostalgic itch we all have, at least until next October. 

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The many phases of Good Charlotte https://www.altpress.com/good-charlotte-benji-joel-madden-interview/ Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:26:23 +0000 https://www.altpress.com/?p=218344 Good Charlotte appear on the cover of the Fall 2023 Issue. Head to the AP Shop to grab a copy, as well as an exclusive vinyl variant of The Young and the Hopeless, limited to 500 copies.

When I think of Good Charlotte, I think of a specific era of my own life. I cherished the trading of CDs I burned on my mother’s iMac G3, each labeled in Sharpie bubble letters with a sappy title. I held dear my Wet n Wild kohl and the suffocatingly tight, zebra-print Tripp jeans I’d purchased at Trash and Vaudeville — along with a black fedora, which, I hate to admit, had not one but two feathers in it. Any facet of the culture I could consume and share with the world around me felt meaningful. The undisputed insecurities of adolescence felt impossibly hard, but littering my walls by Scotch-taping DIY “posters” — liner notes ripped from CD jewel cases — somehow eased my growing pains. Sometimes it was in the music itself, the pop-punk anthems filled with angry truisms that hit me in the gut, and sometimes it was simply in my feathered hat. I’d yearned to feel a part of something, anything, and to express how different I felt from those around me, and this was the entryway.

When it comes to chapters of my own life, Good Charlotte’s founding members, twin brothers Benji and Joel Madden, will exist for me in perpetuity with liberty spikes and eyeliner, their band’s moniker hovering above them in a weathered Old English font while they croon of relentless angst. However, when I put down my selfish little scrapbook, I revel in the full, beautiful, and unquestionably big lives of their own, with a plethora of painful, prosperous, confusing, and triumphant chapters both before, and after, anyone had a single liberty spike. It’s the whole picture they’re presenting. Like myself, one day, they poked their heads outside of the pop-punk bubble and understood there was a world of work to be done, both in the industry and on themselves.

Read more: 20 greatest Fueled By Ramen bands

Today, the Maryland-born brothers who sit before me — sans eyeliner — boast a long list of entrepreneurial endeavors in the last decade-plus, both before and after their last release as Good Charlotte, with 2018’s Generation Rx. Amid the accolades they continue to add to a growing roster, Good Charlotte have become almost a passion project, for when they have the time and desire to dip their toes back in, sometimes just to give back to fans who have continued to show love for GC.

good charlotte

Jordan Kelsey Knight

In 2014, they started an artist management company, MDDN, whose goals are anything but “managing” artists in a traditional way, but rather supporting them in navigating a tough, often manipulative industry with transparency and empathy, to help them create sustainable businesses and longevity in their careers. Through this empathetic mentorship process, they’ve helped put bands such as Chase Atlantic, Architects, Waterparks, Bad Omens, and more on the map. They founded, and serve as co-CEOs of Veeps, the leading platform in premier concert livestreams. They’ve invested in Icons Group, FKA Project M, an institution aimed at innovating music media for the modern fan through publications such as Revolver, AP, and BrooklynVegan. But above all, what has been the most transgressive and monumental move for each brother, and GC band member, was their foray into family life as husbands and fathers. 

I’d like to start from the beginning. I see this story in three phases. The first phase of the path that’s gotten you here is the initial inspirations, the things that informed you, the things you saw that made you want to be musicians, that made you go after the things you did with such passion from the jump. I see them as positive, or painful, lessons. In the second phase, what were things that shaped you, the challenges and joys? And in the third phase, what are the things that drove you to keep going, growing in new directions, and the things that continue to drive you?

JOEL MADDEN: Well, I think that the idea that always comes to my mind about everything that we do or have done — the theme of what injured us, what we thought was our weakness, what our trauma was — always ends up being our strength. The thing that I would underscore is purpose. When you think about us now being of service to artists, it’s only because in the early stages of our career, we felt a need for someone to teach us, protect us, tell us the truth, which we couldn’t find often. Now, if you look at the purpose behind MDDN or any of the businesses we have, there’s a real artist-focused value system around that. I always say the simple idea of when we started MDDN, it’s, “Let’s be the guys we wish we would’ve met when we were 18 coming into this business in this world. And let’s be honest.”

BENJI MADDEN: As I see it, [the first] is total unawareness. The second phase is searching for self-awareness, and wanting to grow — [this is] where I think you’ll start to see a lot of artistic decisions. The third phase, which I think we’re in now, is coming into that self-awareness, figuring out what to do with what you’ve learned and how you can make an impact. What do you care about? What’s important to you? I think today, both of us agree that our biggest goal in life and the thing that will allow us to die happy is if we’re good dads and husbands, number one, and then everything filters down from there. So for me, those are the three phases. But they do file into liberty spikes, suits, and then investors in companies.

good charlotte

That one could be filed as “trucker hats.”

JOEL: Yeah, hoodies and trucker hats. [Laughs.] But when I think about phase one, the way you relate to us and the idea of Good Charlotte and the music — that liberty spike phase was actually the beginning of phase two, when you think about the records we did [before]. The first six years of the band was really complete unawareness and naivety, aggressively chasing this idea that we were good enough to make it and that we had this. We would run down the dream. 

It’s something I always want people to think about for themselves, to see how they could apply [it] to their own lives. If there is something you’re trying to accomplish — a business, an art, personal growth, physical health — the naive and unaware phase is extremely important. Where you think you are at a disadvantage to everyone else that’s figured it out, you’re actually at an advantage because there is something about being naive that allows you to work in your stream of consciousness, and that’s sometimes your best work. So, I do think that those naive years were some of our best. 

Ignorance is bliss. There’s something very hopeful about being blind to obstacles. 

JOEL: You get to the other side, having accomplished the goal, and you go, “Would I go back and do it again?” And [the answer is], “Hell no, I wouldn’t go back and do it again. That was too much work, but I didn’t know it was going to be that much work the whole time, so I just did it.”

BENJI: I think that everybody’s got something that calls them a little bit, if they can listen, if they can quiet things down and listen to that instinct.

What was that moment for you?

BENJI: All the way back to the beginning, it really was at a time in our life where it was confusing. There was depression all around us. But we’ve always been a team, and we’ve talked about everything, and still do through the years. There was something in us — something that just said, “Don’t give up. Not even with music, not with anything.” There was just something that said, “Keep going.”

JOEL: You could be more than this.

good charlotte

Jordan Kelsey Knight

BENJI: You can be different than this. You can be more than this. You can amount to something. I think coming from a place where you don’t know if you are worth anything or if you even matter… There’s just chaos, instability, and depression all around you. There was this hopelessness. Not everybody has someone. We were lucky to have each other so that on a day when I felt like it wouldn’t matter…

JOEL: There was a cheerleader.

BENJI: I always had a cheerleader that said, “It will matter.” On a day that he felt it wouldn’t matter, I said, “It will matter.” Then we found music. We found it through… Well, Alternative Press was a big, really special one for us.

JOEL: We were extremely captivated by artists and how they did it. How did they make it? How did they create music? [AP] was a source of what made us feel cool. [We] grew up not able to afford the clothes that other people are wearing and didn’t have the resources to get the things that come into your own awareness as a young teenager, around the age when you are finding your own style. I think that music gave us the freedom to be different. We started to really find our identities by going to thrift stores and dressing like the Beastie Boys.

You discovered DIY.

BENJI: I think genuinely we gravitated to [those] things because resource-wise, like he said, you could go to a thrift store, you could rip up old shirts, you could do things [like] that. Whereas the other things aesthetically that were going on in the ’90s, there was a high end, super shiny. Then there was more [of] the grunge/punk/alternative where it was attainable. At that time, we were also gifted a guitar and bass from a guy at a church that was helping our mom out [at] a time when there wasn’t a Christmas happening. Then we went to a Beastie Boys concert — the first real concert we went to. And that was how we started. We were in nosebleeds. We left that show at the Patriot Center. May 13 or 15, 1995. I still have the ticket. That show meant a lot. 

JOEL: We left saying, “That’s what I want to do.”

BENJI: We sat, almost in silence, watching the show in awe, just going, “I feel like we could be up there.” Then all of a sudden, our sights were just set on it. And that was it. We never looked back. There used to be this quarterly magazine that would come out called The Musician’s Guide to Touring & Promotion. You could find it at Borders. We made demos and took a disposable camera to Paul’s neighborhood because he had a pond in his neighborhood, and our little sister took photos.

I wrote letters as the “manager” and sent them out to all the labels, with our early cassettes. Then we went to a local print shop and made stickers that a friend of ours drew in art class. We started sending out “press kits,” which I read about in the magazines. 

JOEL: That’s what we would do every night when we got home from work. We always had to work jobs.

good charlotte

Jordan Kelsey Knight

What jobs did you work?

JOEL: Pizza place, grocery store, waiting tables. We were always losing our jobs every three to six months because we would get a show, and they wouldn’t let us off. And the band came first. 

BENJI: We were religious about it. We would lose the job for a show for 20 kids. I don’t know why we had that immediate dedication or why we would go, “Yeah, I’ll lose my job to go play a show.” But we just started doing that. Then when we got out of school, we just kept one thing after another. We signed up for the Music Monthly compilation — a local Baltimore area music paper. They would do a compilation for local bands, and we submitted for that and got on it. From there, an assistant of an actual big-time A&R at Columbia Records called and came down to see us, offering us a demo deal — which is not a real record deal; you’d do three songs. We said no. We were like, “You can give us a real deal. We’re not going to do a demo deal.” Don’t ask me why. We really believed it. [Laughs.]

But it was all about that unawareness. We didn’t grow up in Baltimore. We didn’t grow up in D.C. We grew up about two hours from Baltimore, an hour-and-a-half from D.C., pretty far down 301. As naive kids, we didn’t realize how we were threading the needle. 

JOEL: We were just constantly searching for an opportunity to connect with people.

BENJI: If anything, regardless of the outcome, it really kept us going, focused, and super positive. Because [during this time], there was tons of other bad stuff going on in our life — the chaos and the fallout of a totally broken family that was also broken financially.

JOEL: And riddled with addiction and things like that. So when I listen to him talk, it’s nice because I can zoom out and go, “What’s the through line here for all people?” And I do think the nature of living things is to search for life. It’s our nature to survive.

BENJI: A crack in the concrete to grow.

JOEL: That’s what that was at the time. We were just searching for growth. There is a natural strength that all people have if they allow themselves to be primitive in that way sometimes and search for the good, search for the life, search for the sunlight.

BENJI: When you think about the phases, total unawareness was all the way up until Chronicles. We matured very late. We had no life experience. We had never been to New York. We had never been to LA. We had never been anywhere. We didn’t fly on a plane till we were 18 or 19 to California, and the band was already well on its way. We were so green, and we came into an industry. We didn’t know the world would be critical. That first album, we thought we listened to it so much…

good charlotte

Jordan Kelsey Knight

JOEL: Some people would argue that’s a classic album, Benj.

BENJI: Listen, I love the first album. I listen to it, and I just go, “Aw, those guys, they’re sweet.” We really were trying our best. We wanted to be so much, and we thought it was so cool. Now, I’ll blush sometimes when I listen to that record, but I do like listening to it because it’s our inner child. And we got slapped in the face with life. We made The Young and the Hopeless and moved to LA when we made Chronicles. It all went really fast. We were on tour, made the record, tour, tour, tour, made the second record, tour, tour, tour. So, we didn’t stop. 

Well, you went from one bubble to another bubble. Because finding that success, so young, going from a small town to Warped Tour — that can be jarring. And maybe stunts you in a way.

JOEL: It does. You see how people can get traumatized. All of a sudden, people are managing you and infantilizing you, and they debilitate you from being able to grow with your business. That’s the problem, the problem we look to solve with our newer companies. We don’t manage people. We’re their partners. 

BENJI: We were so young, only 21 years old when the first record came out. By the time we got to Chronicles, we were right on the edge of jaded and angry. Plus, you’re going through all this in front of people. But I think when we made that album, we were in this place of, “Why do people criticize us? Why do they box us in?” We were angry and on the edge of going further that way. Going into Good Morning Revival, we were still going through that. I think we really started doing some healing on Cardiology, and that ended up being our last record before we took a break because instinctually, we all felt, “I don’t know exactly what to do here. I want to heal. I want to be a whole person, and I don’t know what that looks like. I want to find some resources.” That’s when we started looking for therapists.

JOEL: Cardiology is interesting. It was our least successful record, one that people almost threw away. But there was so much healing for us on that record. I think we broke through something that we don’t even give that record credit for. In general, people could look at our catalog and go, “Oh, that record was a failure.” But to me, it was the biggest success because of the searching we did on that record and the confusion we went through on that record. And on the other side of it, I think we found the value of us as us.

It’s not the success we’ve had. It’s not the records. It’s not The Young and the Hopeless. It’s not Good Charlotte. It’s not what we’ve accomplished in front of the world and what people clapped for, but it’s that we survived a really traumatic childhood, and we learned how to love ourselves after that. 

good charlotte

Jordan Kelsey Knight

It’s about identity and purpose.

BENJI: We have a lot of reverence for Good Charlotte because it’s the vehicle that carried us through a time where we could have really done some damage to ourselves, and we could have really gone in a bunch of other directions. We were protected in this bubble of ambition and dreams, and we learned how to work together. So we have this reverence for what the band symbolizes, what it means to our life and what it gave us, and all the people that provided that for us. Not just people in the music industry that helped us, or taught us, but the fans and the people that to this day believe in the messages that we needed to say [and] needed to believe in. They made it real. 

It was a big part of an important time in lots of our lives. What AP did for you, AP did for me, and bands like Good Charlotte were a part of that. It offered me a portal into something that felt very safe, for someone who didn’t always feel safe or connected to others as a kid. It was an opportunity to feel a part of a gang of misfits, as they were finding this balance between being punk and mainstream. There was an incredibly aspirational element to it. 

JOEL: It’s funny. I was thinking, “What if Good Charlotte was just this social experiment, of these people going through a process of healing?” We are just on the other side of it, with this legacy that I’m really proud of. Everyone participated: all the fans and everyone that was involved. You could argue the naysayers or the critics — both sides were participating in this experiment of five guys coming of age and growing into real people that were healed. Because I always go, “What’s the legacy of Good Charlotte?” It’s so interesting. We’re not U2, we’re not the Rolling Stones, we’re not Green Day, we’re not blink. We’re this little band that existed in its own little way. And sometimes big ways. The takeaway? Five people grew into what could have been really broken, problematic people because success can do that to you as well. I always go back and forth on, “What will we do again?” But I think we’ll do something again. 

Well, I don’t know about this experiment. I feel there’s more credit due — to come out of that level of trauma in childhood to find success, which also can be traumatizing, then come out the other end of that talking about their mindfulness practices and families? That is more than an experiment to me. I think that takes spectacular people to have that happen.

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Good Charlotte’s Benji and Joel Madden to appear on Ep. 35 of Artist Friendly https://www.altpress.com/artist-friendly-podcast-good-charlotte-episode-announcement/ Tue, 12 Sep 2023 14:17:07 +0000 https://www.altpress.com/?p=218466 Good Charlotte appear on the cover of the Fall 2023 Issue. Head to the AP Shop to grab a copy, as well as an exclusive vinyl variant of The Young and the Hopeless, limited to 500.

Artist Friendly returns for its latest installment this week. Following conversations with Phillip Frankland Lee, Violent J of Insane Clown Posse, and Royal & the Serpent, the Madden brothers from Good Charlotte will join the latest episode of the podcast.

In a conversation with Alternative Press Editor-in-Chief Anna Zanes, Joel and Benji Madden reflect on the different eras of Good Charlotte — and what has allowed them to create enduring businesses, as well as maintain longevity as musicians. “I think that the idea that always comes to my mind about everything that we do or have done — the theme of what injured us, what we thought was our weakness, what our trauma was — always ends up being our strength,” Joel says of the band.

Read more: 20 greatest Hopeless Records bands

You’ll be able to listen to their conversation on Artist Friendly when it hits streaming wherever you listen to podcasts this Wednesday. Before it arrives, make sure you’re caught up on all the episodes of Artist Friendly here and continue checking Alternative Press for more announcements and exclusive content related to the podcast.

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Good Charlotte appear on the cover of Alternative Press’ Fall 2023 Issue https://www.altpress.com/good-charlotte-alternative-press-fall-2023-cover-announcement/ Fri, 18 Aug 2023 19:00:39 +0000 https://www.altpress.com/?p=217424 Years ago, Good Charlotte poked their heads outside of the pop-punk bubble and understood there was a world of work to be done, both in the industry and on themselves. Today, the Maryland-born brothers boast a long list of entrepreneurial endeavors in the last decade-plus, both before and after their last release as Good Charlotte, with 2018’s Generation Rx. Amid the accolades they continue to add to a growing roster, Good Charlotte have become almost a passion project, for when they have the time and desire to dip their toes back in, sometimes just to give back to fans who have continued to show love for GC.

Read more: 20 greatest Fueled By Ramen bands

In conversation with Anna Zanes, Joel and Benji Madden open up about the different phases of their influential band. “The idea that always comes to my mind about everything that we do or have done — the theme of what injured us, what we thought was our weakness, what our trauma was — always ends up being our strength,” Joel says. “The thing that I would underscore is purpose. When you think about us now being of service to artists, it’s only because in the early stages of our career, we felt a need for someone to teach us, protect us, tell us the truth, which we couldn’t find often.”

Preorder your copy today, and get an exclusive vinyl variant of Good Charlotte’s The Young and the Hopeless, limited to 500 copies, here.

The Fall 2023 Issue also comes with three alternate collectible covers, featuring Scowl, Yves Tumor, and Poppy, as well as stories on Jean Dawson, Shapel Lacy and Toby Morse, Genesis Owusu, and more. 

good charlotte
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Fan Poll: 5 greatest pop-punk bands of all time https://www.altpress.com/fan-poll-best-pop-punk-bands/ Wed, 05 Apr 2023 20:50:10 +0000 https://www.altpress.com/fan-poll-best-pop-punk-bands/ For the past 40 years, pop-punk has gone through many evolutions. From the Ramones and Bad Religion to blink-182, the genre has garnered fans for its sticky choruses and guitar-centric melodies. The underlying allure of pop-punk lies in the thematic elements of the songs which also include romance, lust, heartbreak, and rebellion — and so many bands have truly made them their own, pushing the boundaries of the genre in their wake.

Read more: 15 greatest supergroups across rock, punk, and metal

With so many bands to choose from, we asked our readers to choose the greatest pop-punk bands of all time. The top five fan picks are ranked accordingly below.

5. Paramore

For more than two decades, Paramore has dominated pop-punk, with songs centering on the nostalgia of teendom, frustration, and heartache. Angsty anthems like “Misery Business” and “Pressure” have solidified bandleader Hayley Williams as one of the best pop-punk vocalists of all time, too.

4. New Found Glory

From singing about suburban drama to ex-girlfriends, New Found Glory‘s infectious choruses and raw emotion has cemented the group as one of the most impactful pop-punk bands of all time. Even now it’s impossible not to get “My Friends Over You” and “Head On Collision” stuck in your head on repeat.

3. Good Charlotte

For over 25 years, Good Charlotte‘s vulnerable, pop-punk anthems have made them one of the most influential bands in the scene. From critiques on wealth (“Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous”) to ruminating on being an outcast (“Little Things”), the group’s songwriting aptly embodies societal pressures with a ton of catchy choruses.

2. Green Day

While Green Day began as an underground punk band, they helped put pop-punk as a genre on the map in the ’90s. From the gritty guitar riffs of “Basket Case” to the wistful vocals of “Waiting,” the East Bay rockers have solidified their place as heroes of the genre.

1. blink-182

With their fast-paced, punk-rock melodies and irreverent humor, blink-182 is at the core of the genre. Between Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker, and Tom DeLonge, the band has endured breakups, reunions ,and reaching the mainstream. And along the way, they’ve left fans with a ton of anthems — from “What’s My Age Again?” to “Feeling This” — that encapsulate growing up.

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Awsten Knight of Waterparks to join Joel Madden on Ep.4 of Artist Friendly https://www.altpress.com/artist-friendly-joel-madden-podcast-awsten-knight-waterparks-episode-announcement/ Wed, 08 Feb 2023 05:58:42 +0000 Are you ready? Artist Friendly, the music podcast hosted by Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden, is returning for another episode featuring an organic, one-on-one conversation with one of the industry’s most exciting talents. 

Following previous episodes with DE’WAYNECarlie Hanson, and Leafar Seyer (Prayers), Artist Friendly welcomes alternative’s beloved “mischief maker,” Awsten Knight, the frontman of the genre-bending pop-punk trio Waterparks. For this week’s episode, which drops Wednesday, Feb. 8, Madden connects with Knight to trace the origins of his unique songwriting approach and fearless attitude that has thrust the artist into a constant balancing act between being a rockstar on stage and a celebrity online — all while trying to be the best role model for his dedicated fanbase. The conversation couldn’t come at a better time, as Waterparks is set to release their highly-anticipated fifth studio album Intellectual Property on Apr. 14 and shortly after will embark on a North American headlining tour with indie-rock darlings HUNNY. 

The upcoming episode of Artist Friendly will be available whenever you listen to podcasts this Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, and onYouTube, as well. If you haven’t had a chance to dive into the three previously released episodes, you can check them out here, and make sure to stay tuned to Alternative Press for weekly announcements of upcoming episodes, future guests, and exclusive content related to Artist Friendly. 

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Alt-pop singer Carlie Hanson to join Joel Madden on Ep. 2 of Artist Friendly https://www.altpress.com/artist-friendly-joel-madden-podcast-carlie-hanson-episode-announcement/ Wed, 25 Jan 2023 11:15:43 +0000 https://www.altpress.com/artist-friendly-joel-madden-podcast-carlie-hanson-episode-announcement/ Get excited: Another episode of Artist Friendly is on the way.

Last week, Alternative Press debuted the first episode of the new music podcast hosted by Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden and featuring interviews with some of the most exciting talent in alternative today.

After sitting down with alternative rock artist DE’WAYNE to kick things off, on this week’s episode, Madden welcomes Wisconsin-born-LA-based singer-songwriter Carlie Hanson for another in-depth chat ahead of the release of her upcoming new single, due out next week. Premiering Friday, Jan. 27, Hanson details her humble beginnings in rural Wisconsin, how she discovered her love for music, and her whirlwind journey going viral and finding her stunning indie/alternative sound. Hanson also touches on topics such as mental health, lyrical honesty, and being unapologetically herself, making for a truly forthcoming interview with the young artist.

Following the release of a series of mature singles in 2022, including “608,” “Illusion,” and “Pretender,” Hanson is now gearing up for her next full-length album (tentatively due in 2023) and set to embark on the Home is Where the Heart Is tour, her first-ever North American headlining run, which kicks off Feb. 28.

Make sure to tune in to wherever you listen to podcasts on Friday, Jan. 27 to catch this career-spanning conversation with rising alt-pop artist Carlie Hanson. Also continue to check Alternative Press for weekly announcements of upcoming episodes, future guests, and exclusive content related to Artist Friendly.

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5 takeaways from episode 1 of the Artist Friendly podcast, featuring alternative rockstar DE’WAYNE https://www.altpress.com/artist-friendly-dewayne-podcast-takeaways/ Fri, 20 Jan 2023 23:00:50 +0000 https://www.altpress.com/artist-friendly-dewayne-podcast-takeaways/ By now, you have probably listened to the first episode of Artist FriendlyJoel Madden of Good Charlotte fame’s new podcast presented by Alternative Press, that just dropped today and features rising alternative rockstar DE’WAYNE. If you haven’t, drop everything you are doing and dive into the deep, introspective conversation that transpired between DE’WAYNE and Madden.  

Throughout the nearly hour-and-a-half-long discussion, DE’WAYNE speaks candidly about his upbringing, passions, and personal growth that ultimately shaped who the 27-year-old artist is today. While the interview was recorded shortly before the release of his stellar 2022 sophomore album My Favorite Blue Jeans, DE’WAYNE used the opportunity to not only celebrate the release and the whirlwind past few years he’s had touring across the globe —  but to also take a moment to reflect on the near-decade he spent working tirelessly to get here in the first place. Whether you are a diehard supporter, a casual fan, or just a music/podcast connoisseur, it’s a must-listen conversation. 

These are the five takeaways from episode 1 of Artist Friendly, featuring DE’WAYNE. 

DE’WAYNE is a massive fan of Ink Master

While it may seem like he is trying to score brownie points with Joel Madden, make no mistake, DE’WAYNE is a “massive” fan of the Paramount+ tattoo competition series, Ink Master, which Madden also hosts. DE’WAYNES’ “personal favorite” tattoo artist is season 14 runner-up Gian Karlelargely for his showboating and “badass” demeanor, but also has love for artists Angel Rose and resident troublemaker Creepy Jason. (Although, he was remiss not to mention how “heated” he was with the recent shake-up that allowed previous champs to re-enter the competition.) 

“Life is good” after seven years of grinding it out

When DE’WAYNE made the jump from his humble hometown of Houston, Texas to move to Los Angeles to pursue music, his success did not happen overnight. In fact, on the podcast DE’WAYNE reflects on a nearly seven-year period of development and hard work that it took to discover who he was as an artist. At one point, DE’WAYNE recalls memories of being broke, stressed, and scraping together just enough money to order McDonald’s alongside his friend and frequent collaborator Mitchel Cave (Chase Atlantic). Nowadays, he says he finds himself with a lot to “smile about,” noting how thrilled he is that My Favorite Blue Jeans, which was years in the making, is finally out in the world.

Family is DE’WAYNE’s biggest inspiration

DE’WAYNE describes his upbringing as a “duality” between two very different parental figures. On one hand, he had his mother, a strict but loving parent with a strong religious faith, and on the other, his father, who was once a free spirit but has grown tremendously in both his professional and personal life. While DE’WAYNE may have had a complex relationship with his father at times during his youth, he proudly shares that his father instilled in him a confidence and hope that he could be something great, as long as he pursued his dreams. The singer even mentions that he and his father recently reconnected during a business trip to his hometown of Houston, which allowed them to make up for lost time. DE’WAYNE also admits that his mother was at first hesitant about her son’s career choice of being a rockstar, but has since grown to be his biggest fan and is at peace knowing that her son is “OK and surrounded by great people.” 

DE’WAYNE is an avid reader

DE’WAYNE is many things — a rockstar, an actor, and a renaissance man, in general — but did you know that he is also a bookworm? He tells Madden that he’s currently soaking up Shakespeare’s Othello and tries to get in as many pages as he can every day — going as far as reading it out loud in order to fully grasp the words. It’s no surprise that the rockstar is in tune with the literary world, as his music and lyrics have always possessed a palpable sense of poeticism.  

DE’WAYNE is betting on a more diverse future for rock ‘n’ roll 

In the next 10-20 years, DE’WAYNE hopes that there will be more Black kids getting into rock music, and is confident that they will discover and create the music without fear, judgment, or exclusion. DE’WAYNE is excited about the current examples of prominent Black artists in the rock space today, and declares that “whoever is listening” needs to take note in order to shape the future. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEO1qoZwcTg

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