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A demo of "The Little Things" made its way to Philadelphia's modern rock station WPLY(Y100) and broke a record on the station's show of dueling songs. "For 15 nights we won 'til they had to retire us," says Joel. The buzz around Good Charlotte was deafening. After being courted by a variety of labels, they finally signed with Epic Record this year.
Producer Don Gilmore (Lit, Eve 6) was recruited to guide the quintet through their debut album. "What drew me to the band the most was their personality," says Gilmore. "There's a lot of pop-punk rock bands that have gotten record deals, but these guys are doing something really different."
Benji looks around the New York studio where Good Charlotte is recording. A sheet of recorded tracks hang on the wall with titles like "I Want To Stop", "Complicated", and the tentatively titled, still developing "Thank You Note to Mom".
"Sometimes it doesn't feel real," he says quietly, running his hand through his shock of pink hair. "Then I realize that it is, like when I'm walking home from the studio to the subway at night and I realize that we're in New York making a record."
"We've been doing this for four years and there were all these times when we crammed into a car driving 3 hours home from a gig and we hadn't even made enough money to pay for gas. It's thinking back to those times that it really hits me."
Benji pauses, shakes his head and smiles, "We daydreamed all this stuff and now its all happening."