Good Charlotte are famous and maybe a little rich, but they want you to know they’re not living the lifestyle.
In their new video for “The Anthem,” the follow-up to their hit “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” the Maryland foursome are going to – as they say – keep it real.
“We’re just gonna get all of our friends, and they’re gonna bring their cars and their dogs,” Joel Madden said backstage at KROQ-FM’s Almost Acoustic Christmas. “Just like a big party, kind of showing who we are and our whole culture that we live in, our own little world. And it’s kind of like celebrating that we don’t really want to adhere to or fulfill the status quo way of life, I guess the average thing you’re taught – to, like, grow up and get a job. We’re kind of showing our side of our kind of culture.”
Good Charlotte will shoot the video next week in Los Angeles with directing team Smith N’ Borin (Bowling for Soup, Uncle Kracker). And although the “TRL” audience is eager to see the group again, Joel and his bandmates, including twin brother Benji, aren’t feeling any pressure.
“You can’t control whether anybody likes your video or whether anyone likes your song,” Benji said. “We basically just have as much fun making the video as we can, because you never know how many videos you will get to make. So you just have fun, and hopefully people will like it.”
After the video shoot and a few more radio station festivals, Good Charlotte will perform at MTV’s New Year’s Eve broadcast from Times Square.
“That’s a huge deal for us,” Joel said. “That will probably be our highlight of the year, and it will be a great way to bring in our new year.”
Good Charlotte will tour Japan with New Found Glory in January and then head to Europe in February. Australia’s Warped Tour is in on the itinerary for March.