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| - Interviews - |
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| This Interview Was Conducted By Tony Ding For The Michigan Daily & Absolute Punk Tony - Who�s currently members of the band? Is Phil from Autopilot Off still substituting as temporary drummer? Joel � Ah no he was helping out for a while, but we are currently me singing, Benji singing, playing guitar, Billy playing guitar, and Paul playing Bass, and this kid Chris is playing drums with us now. I mean we just pretty much auditioned in the middle of the tour. He was just literally working at 7-Eleven and he tried out, and he was really good. Tony � Cool, so maybe he could become permanent? Joel � Yea, you never know man. It�s worked out well so far. Tony � That�s good, but who played for your new album? Joel � Josh from Perfect Circle/Vandals played for the album. He�s like one of the best drummers. He�s amazing, like my dream drummer. Tony � Some fans have noted that your new single �The Rich And Famous� is in a way hypocritical of your own career direction. What would you say to accusations that you�ve lost credibility in your music? Joel � We totally haven�t, I mean coming into this, we�ve been around a lot of famous people�we don�t really consider ourselves as famous people. It�s just writing what we see. Like when we�re at MTV, or when we�re on the road, or whatever. Tony � So it�s more observational? Joel � Totally, I mean kids always think because you have a tour-bus that you�re rich. And we are not! I mean we pay our bills. We�ve done okay for ourselves, but we�re not rich by any means. Tony � I know a lot of your music is centered on the hardships you�ve overcome through growing up, with poverty, and fighting for your livelihoods. Do you feel you�ve changed the band�s theme and focus now that you are making a good living and have a devote following? Joel � I think I�ve kind of grown up a little bit, and I�m definitely not as angry as I was a couple years ago, but I am still dealing with things that were from my past and from my childhood and growing up. We�re still dealing with a lot of things, and this new record, the lyrical content is just as same as the last one, but it�s just matured. Tony � Rumor has it that N�Sync member Chris Kirkpatrick has a cameo in your new video for �The Rich and Famous� set to premiere Tuesday on MTV�s TRL show. Is it true that he pokes fun at himself in the video? Joel � Yea it�s cool! We know Chris. It�s weird, (stutters), I don�t even own an N�Sync record. I�ve never really listened to them�I couldn�t name their song from another song, but my tour manager used to work for them, and my tour manager is a really good friend of mine, we lived near each other. And we�ve been friends a long time, and when I met him, he started to work for N�Sync and I would always rag on him. Like �oh you work for N�Sync�bla bla bla� you know? And he was always like �you�re going to eat your own words, because they�re really nice guys and they don�t take themselves too seriously.� And I�d be like �whatever dude, they suck!� Then when I met them, I totally ate my own words, because they�re so down-to-earth and nice. And Chris especially really likes our band, and he�s always around, and he�d come around and hang out. And we were like �hey why don�t you get into the video,� and he was like �cool� you know, so we just told him to make fun of himself. He�ll get a different audience. Tony � How do you explain this addition to those that claim you�ve sold out to pop media and boy-band mania? Joel � Well I have to respect what people think and feel, but our band, Good Charlotte, has never been embraced by the punk scene. They�ve never claimed us as a punk rock band. We�ve always taken shit from them. And our fans aren�t punk rockers. Our fans like punk rock, but our fans are kids who don�t have the money to go buy a leather jacket and bondage pants, you know what I mean? Whether they like it or not, our fans are just like us. I�m not a music critic, like the Nappy Roots, but I also like Rancid. I mean, as long as my friends respect me, some punk rock critic�I don�t even give two-shits what they think. It�s just like they didn�t help me on the first place, and they didn�t help me when I was eating shit for six years, and now we�re doing well for ourselves, and the only reason they know about us is because we�ve gotten bigger. The only reason they care to say anything is because they don�t know us, like if they knew us they wouldn�t say anything. Tony � How would you categorize yourself then if you were pun on a record store shelf? Joel � I think the record we just made is a good rock record. I think it is influenced by a lot of different things. There�s a little punk, of course, because my brother (Joel�s twin brother Benji plays guitars) has always been a punk rocker. I wouldn�t consider myself a punk, but he has always been a punk rocker, and he always will be. The other guys in the band�I like hip-hop, Paul likes a lot of 80�s crap, Billy likes rock, you know like Silverchair and Korn and all that stuff�so we have a really big mix of different things. I�d say we made a good rock record, a solid rock record. Tony � Speaking of cameos, is it true that you guys will be featured as characters in the PlayStation2 game Madden 2003? Joel � Yea 2003 man! You can unlock us as characters. But our song, �The Anthem� is on there, and we just got it. I was playing it dude, and in the stadium you can hear it. The game is a trip! Like in the stadium, when you�re running, you can hear the crowd and then you can hear the song like it�s in a stadium. It�s crazy man! Tony � On the Warped Tour, what�s your most memorable moment this year? Joel � Honestly man, everyday at catering, eating lunch and dinner� Tony � Foods good? Joel � Yea! (laughs) Just being with the guys from Alkaline Trio, and all the guys from Thursday and all the guys from Homegrown. All the bands, just becoming friends with them, hanging out with Fat Mike everyday, like that�s the best part, you know, making friends that you�ll have forever. Tony � Can you comment on how Benji got a black eye while ago? Joel � He got a black eye? No he didn�t get a black eye�might have given somebody a black eye�(smirks). Tony � Who would you love to tour with in the future? A lot of fans say you should get together with NFG, what d�you think? Joel � Yea we�ve done a lot of touring with them in the past, and we�ll prolly do a lot in the future. We�re probably gonna tour with them soon. But I�d really like to do a tour with Green Day. I love Green Day. And I�d love to tour with Alkaline Trio. Green Day will probably be the biggest. I think it�ll be cool tour with Rancid, and I always liked touring with Mest. Tony � Cool! Now you guys are going to be gracing the cover of Alternative Press magazine in October, what does that say to yourself about your success? Joel � There was four things that we wanted to do, like our dreams: Get signed�we did it, go on tour around the world�we did it, and one of them was to get on the cover of a magazine. That�s been my dream, like that�s it. If it all ended tomorrow after this man, like I wouldn�t even care man. It still hasn�t sunk in yet. I don�t think it even will when I�m holding the magazine, that we got the cover of a real magazine. It�s crazy man. We�ve really hard, and Alternative Press has been the only magazine that�s supported us. We�ve never been in Rolling Stones, we�ve never been in Spin, we�ve never been in any of them. Alternative Press has been the only magazine that has given us anything, you know even if it�s just a little clip. Now they�re giving us the cover, I think that just shows that somebody believes in us. Someone thinks that we�re worth putting on the cover. So, it makes us feel real good, like our work has been paid off. Tony � Alright, last question: We hear that Good Charlotte will play a small club tour starting October. Can we expect you in Detroit? Joel � I believe we are coming to Detroit, the area |
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