At the Bamboozle Roadshow I was lucky enough to have the honor to sit down and talk with Deano and Billy of Good Charlotte while watching what would turn out to be the US’s last match in the World Cup. But the good news is that we did talk a lot about the band themselves and not just soccer! Check out the interview to read up on Good Charlotte’s new album, Cardiology, future tours, and their views on the new generation of bands and fans. I cannot thank the guys enough, never have I had such a great pleasure interviewing a band before, they could not have been any nicer and sincere. Enjoy!

For the record, could you state your name and role in Good Charlotte?
Billy: Sure, my names Billy, I play guitar and keyboards.
Deano: I’m Deano. I’m the drummer.

So, the Roadshow’s coming to a close, how has it been?
Billy: Nice. I try t compare this tour to Warped Tour, but it’s not quite the same thing cause there’s less bands. So it’s kind of like something in between a normal tour and Warped Tour. We got to meet a lot of new band whereas on Warped Tour you meet hundreds of new bands by the time it’s over. But it’s been nice, we’ve gotten along really well with All Time Low and it’s cool to be on tour with them. They’re a band from Maryland and I don’t think we’ve ever toured with a band from the area we’re from. We know Boys Like Girls and Simple Plan we know too. And some new bands like Forever The Sickest Kids have been really nice. We met Hanson at the beginning of the tour and those dudes were really nice. Cartel.
Deano: The Third Eye Blind guys were real cool. It’s just been kind of a big fun moving music circus.
Billy: It’s been nice. I had no idea really what to expect getting into it. We hadn’t really toured in a couple years and there are a lot of like young new bands and we’re stoked to just get to be a part of it. Always hear about these big traveling festival-like shows and we’re just never on them and I’ve always been like “I want to do one of those tours”. So, it’s cool. It’s been good for us.

Did you think it would be weird at all? Third Eye Blind and Simple Plan are obviously more experienced bands like you guys, but then there are these much newer and younger bands. So did you think that would be weird at all with the experience gap?
Billy: I just kept trying to take it as a learning experience because sometimes you’re more experienced, but times change. Obviously these band’s approach to just touring and music is different cause the internet has made so much of a difference with these bands and they’ve really built fan bases and learnt a lot of stuff through their social networking and stuff. And that’s something that we’ve been getting into, but we kind of relied on it as a secondary tool, but those bands rely on that. More or less like, that’s first. You get that internet following sturdy and then you can tour based on those kids, but for us it was always tour a lot and then those kids would go to your website. So it’s just kind of like a good opportunity to sort of learn how the next generation of bands are doing it.

Have the crowds been good for you guys?
Deano + Billy: [In reaction to the USA game] Yes!
Deano: US just scored, for the record.
POZ: What happens if they tie right now?
Billy: He was trying to explain. It’s kind of complicated. Penalty kicks and stuff.
Deano: The receptions been fantastic for us. Hearing the crowds have been great. In a situation like this rather than doing a headline tour where a headline tour is based around us completely. So all our fans coming out here and having such a diversity of fans, it gives us a chance and gives all the other bands a chance to go and introduce our music. They may have heard of Good Charlotte, a lot of these people, but they’ve never seen us. The idea is to go out and try to recruit some new friends if you will.

Is it kind of cool that the headliner also rotates every night?
Deano: Yeah that’s kind of like the Warped Tour vibration, but yeah, it’s all good.

This has been your first tour in a long while, was it at all difficult to get back into the groove of things?
Billy: Not difficult. I think it went from good to great by the end of the tour. Never was it just like “What the fuck are we doing, I can’t remember”. We’ve toured so long and played for so long that I still think there’s a handful of songs that I could take five years off and play them with my eyes closed. But it’s more than just playing the songs. It’s about engaging the crowd and working together on stage. Playing a song and putting on a show is really two different things, so the last two weeks of the tour have been a lot stronger, especially this east coast run. `We’ve always just gotten a lot of love from like Pennsylvania, New Jersey like that sort of area. So these last couple shows have been really, really good for us and I felt like we kind of got back to where we were a couple years ago in terms of really feeling comfortable

You guys almost immediately are heading out to Europe, all over. Are you guys pretty stoked for that?
Billy: Yeah, I mean, it’s gonna be different. It’s like a really different European tour for us. For one we like support P!nk for a bunch of shows and she plays like huge, huge shows, you know?
Deano: Like football arenas.
Billy: Crazy shit. And it’s a lot of like smaller European countries or cities that we’ve never played for. The first place that we do with P!nk is like an eight-hour drive from Paris.
Deano: It’s about an hour north of Marce. It’s this beautiful city, actually.
Billy: So for that part of it, it’s cool. We’re gonna be hitting like all of these cities that we don’t usually play in Europe.
Deano: It’s a new market I think. Working with somebody like P!nk and her fans. And we’re hitting some great, big festivals out there, which I personally really enjoy. I like going to watch all the other bands play.
Billy: Then we’re doing like a couple smaller club shows just on our own.
Deano: And a lot of promo because we have a single coming out the following month and a record coming out in October and you know, it’s just a lot of press. So we’re killing a lot of birds with one stone on this and on that.

So you can confirm that the albums definitely coming out in October?
Billy: Yep, I mean, we keep going from September to October, but I always shoot with the later month because when you get things ready, you know, things happen. So I feel pretty good about saying October.
Deano: And the single hits radio in August. So we’re really excited.

You guys are obviously gonna want some time off after that huge Euro tour, but are you guys going to hit the road in the fall?
Billy: Yeah, I think August and September will be just like promotion like interviews, radio interviews and all that stuff. Then I would figure when the CD comes out in October hopefully we’ll be out to do like another US tour or something. We haven’t squared all that away yet.

There will probably be many Maryland citizens hoping for an All Time Low/Good Charlotte tour. Considering that you guys are close is that a possibility?
Deano: We talked about that.
Billy: Oh, sure. They’re getting ready to put a new record out next year or something. So maybe we try again next year.

Your last album was much different, sound wise. Would you guys just say that that’s where you were at the time?
Billy: I mean, I think we try to make every record a little different. Most of my favorite bands take those big progressions. If you make the same record over and over again you’re kind of stuck in a spot. And also, I think that honesty is one of those things that fans really like. Like one of those sort of truthful stories about wherever you’re at at the time. And I think that musically we were listening to different stuff and if we tried to make a record that the fans would like they would kind of call bullshit on it. It would’ve been missing something. So we kind of did just try something different. Sometimes its fun. When you see the curve going this way you try to go that way.
Jack Barakat of All Time Low: [Walks in after US scores a goal] Unreal.
Billy: I know, we’re stoked. That’s Jack. He likes to come on our bus and yell unreal at least once a day.

So what would you say this album is going to sound like?
Billy: I keep saying that I feel this record sounds like the best bits of all the records. There’s still some programming and some keyboards and some stuff like that, but more of in a textual element, not a dance element.
Deano: It’s definitely a hybrid of everything. A lot of sort of record one and two, a lot of energy and some up-tempo stuff. We took a long time to do this record and I think we’re all really proud and excited. We wanted to make a record for our fans to engage in and to be stoked on. We read blogs and what everyone in the GC family wants to hear from us. Everybody has their opinion, fan or not fan, of a band. So you kind of want to beat their expectations. At the same time we as artists, as individually, and collectively as a band, we are all trying to grow. And we all want to be pushing each other and pushing the envelope for ourselves as well. So I think we did it on this effort and then the other thing is too is to hopefully engage people who may know the name. There are so many people that know the name Good Charlotte, but never bought a record or whatever. So they’ll go, “Oh wow, I didn’t know that they did that song.” I’ve done that a million times myself. Like I’ve gone to a festival and like, “I didn’t know they did that song.” Then the dots connect and it’s all that stuff, but yeah, there are some good rocking jams on this thing, you should definitely get it yourself.

You guys completely scrapped Cardiology.
Deano: Not completely.
Billy: But we did start over.
POZ: Did you guys just use the same material and rework things?
Billy: Maybe half of the songs we rerecorded and then there was a new batch of songs that came into it the second time through. None of the stuff we recorded made it to this version. We rerecorded everything. It wasn’t really the songs we weren’t happy with. Just the process, every band has their process in the studio that they’re comfortable working. We have a certain way we always do it and Howard Benson does it a really different way than we work. He kept saying, “Try it. Try my approach and I promise in the end you’ll be happy.” So we did it and it was uncomfortable and we weren’t enjoying it and we were trying to go through it. And we got through a couple songs and heard the finished product and nobody was into it. It didn’t sound right. It wasn’t fun making it. So we said before we got too deep, we should go back with a producer that we know and works like we like to work and we love Don. Don pushed a lot of things aside to like make room to do our record. We were like, “Hey, we need to start the record tomorrow. Can you do it?” And he was like, “Yeah, I’d do anything for you guys. No problem.” So, super lucky. We just sat down the other day and like A and B’d one of the songs we did the first round and what it sounds like now. And like, fuck man, we made the right choice.
Deano: The crazy thing is, I mean, on top of that, we did like five versions of some of the songs. Because we did demos on our own and did stuff with another producer, like some of the Silverlake sessions stuff. I don’t want to say any names, but songs were rerecorded a few times, up at what’s his name…up in Bel Air, whatever. So songs went from us, to him, to Silverlake.
Billy: Luckily we just have a lot of friends who are producers and engineers and most of them are very open. But you’re always going to get somebody’s two-cents when you’re recording something. One song went from like being really rock. Then we recorded it and it was really electronic. And now the final version is like all acoustic or something like that. But that’s what a producer does, takes a song and throws it around. But surely, this final version of Cardiology is the strongest.

Was it at all trying when you were not enjoying the process? Did you ever feel worried that it wasn’t going to come out well?
Deano: It’s frustrating. It’s frustrating for Billy, myself, Paul. And I think it’s even more frustrating for Benji and Joel because they write. I think there was maybe shy of a little under a hundred songs demoed. Maybe not by all of us, but maybe by Benji, Joel, or three of us, or five of us. Whatever the case may be. Or some guys wrote songs and brought stuff in. Whatever, but the thing is I remember looking back at myself, thinking we got it, these are A-list tunes, that this was the best. I was thinking it was so much better than the last record and how thrilled I was. Then take it to a producer and he’s like, “No.” It’s like somebody just cut your legs off and you’re crawling on the ground going, wow, really? That’s how you get greatness. You’ve got to be beat down until you find the right product. I look at it like the LA Lakers or like a great athlete. It takes what it takes. The funny thing is, looking back, and then sitting here with you now, I’m grateful, even though at the time it seemed like I couldn’t believe it was going to take another six months. But what we have now, ready to go and print to put out as our next effort as Good Charlotte, I couldn’t be more happy with. It’s the best record I think ever. Right guys?
Billy: I guess you always feel like your latest record is the best, but I think on most of our records we were all kind of split like, “I kind of like these songs, and these I could go without.” Each one of us usually has a different batch of songs they like, but I feel like this is the first time where everybody is like really on the same page about all the songs and I feel like that’s a great sign.

So for the following year after when the album comes out you guys will just be consistently touring, here and out of the country?
Deano: We’re going to Disney Land.
POZ: You got to go to Disney Land. It’s a nice vacation.
Billy: We’ve gotten lucky; we’ve played so many countries. Like Australia is probably our most successful market, so we’ve gotten get down there.
POZ: Soundwave…
Billy: That’s like the big festival down there?
POZ: That’s like their Warped.
Billy: Right, right, right. We’re during Europe and then all the Asian countries.
Deano: Mexico, South America. Hopefully back to South Africa, which was good. We went there.  UK, Ireland, Scotland, England.
Billy: That’s the hard part. All the fans think, “You never come here”, but it’s like, “Well yeah, it’s been a year, but we didn’t stop.”
Deano: We’d like to hit every territory that we’ve had the pleasure of going to twice on this album. And then also hit some places we’ve never been. For example, the next tour that we go on, we go to Russia and we’ve never been. I’m really excited about it.
POZ: Is that with P!nk?
Deano: Well, one show in Moscow and then one show in St. Petersburg with her, but it’s always fun to go to new territories.
POZ: Is that nerve wracking at all? You guys have fans out there, but you’ve never actually played in front of them.
Deano: No, we’re going to go and crush it.
Billy: I’m more nervous about other things in my life then when I’m on stage. When the five of us go on stage, that’s probably like when I’m most comfortable.
Deano: That’s our comfort zone.
Billy: I feel like if you put us in front of anybody and give us an opportunity to do what we do best then I think we’re going to come through every time.
Deano: I don’t say that like out of being arrogant, but I just believe that there are people there that truly want to see us, but we just haven’t had the chance. And now that we’ve gotten it, we’re hungry to go everywhere and have a great time doing it.

To wrap things up, you guys got onto the scene ten years ago or whatever it was. And now being on this tour especially, to be on with a band like All Time Low, is it kind of like a full circle experience to see the newer band taking your route?
Billy: I think this is the first time we’ve experienced anything like that. We came on the tour and all these bands came up to us and were like, “Dude, it’s so cool to meet you guys. I saw you when I was like twelve years old. It was my first concert. It’s weird that we’re on tour together.” And that was the first time I was thinking, “Alright, we’re kind of getting older.” We were always the young band on tour. I swear, like every tour we did the age gap just got bigger. Like we toured with MxPx and that was like a band that was big when we were in high school. Or meeting Goldfinger and touring with them and that was another band that had like hits on the radio. Even though the time gap kind of gets like closer and closer then new bands would come out like a year after us, but they weren’t growing up on us. They knew our music, but they weren’t like high school kids, so now that that gap has stretched to ten years its like that next generation. But it kind of feels nice to have a band come up to you and say, “You were my first concert and that was the reason I wanted to be in a band.” And freaking, kids love All Time Low. We come here thinking like, how could we get All Time Low’s fans, because they’re young and they love All Time Low and they kind of know Good Charlotte, but they didn’t grow up with it. They were like five when our record came out, so it’s definitely a whole new thing. I think a lot of bands get to that weird point where you’ve been around for ten years and the next generation doesn’t get your band and they’re like, “Oh, this is frustrating.” And they fight about shit and they break up. You’ve got to like find a way. Look at Green Day, Dookie was a huge record and then they went through some growing pains in the middle and their stuff wasn’t as big. They waited it out for ten years and said, “Okay, let’s make an amazing record and be like that new band for these next kids who don’t even know who Green Day is. They’ll think Green Day is some cool new band who just came out.”
Deano: American Idiot was huge.
Billy: So you’ve just got to put that time in and work really hard. Some bands would be like, “I’m not opening up for All Time Low.” You know what, that’s not the way it works anymore. You take a minute off and somebody else is going to take over your role. You can’t just hop back in after two years and think you can play the same shows you did before. That’s the way the industry is, especially in America. Just the fact that we got asked to be on this tour we were like, “That’s the tour we need to be on. We need to get in front of these young audiences and show them what Good Charlotte does.” So, it’s cool.
Deano: And it’s great to like see All Time Low. They’re really great.
POZ: They’re great live, too.
Deano: Yeah, they are and we usually go up every night and we all hang out. And all the other bands too. It’s just been really fun. It’s just fun hanging out. All the drummers hand out behind each other’s drum kits when we’re playing. It’s just fucking awesome.

Thanks for everything, is there anything else you’d like to add?
Deano: We want to thank you for taking the time today man.