FAULT Magazine Issue 19 – the Millions Issue will feature instantly recognisable rock siblings the Madden Brothers inside its Men’s section. Fresh from their reincarnation as a double act after their successes as founding members of Good Charlotte, Benji and Joel have released a new album – Greetings from California – under their own name.

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FAULT: Why have you decided to fully focus on the Madden Brothers project?

Benji: I think it was a natural progression… it would be easy to sit back and say “we can go around the world and get paid just doing stuff we’ve done for years “– but it’s not fulfilling. I want to make something new and relevant to now, and that was where the real desire was – that’s what we set out to do with this record.

Joel: [When we started Good Charlotte, aged 16] we were kids making music about shit we were going through. Well, we’re not going through that any more – I’m married with two kids and we’re living life… We’re full-grown so we have to make music which is relevant to our lives now.

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FAULT: What direction do you see Madden Brothers going in with Greetings from California and beyond?

Benji: When people heard ‘We Are Done’, most said, “Who is this?!” It doesn’t sound like anything we’ve ever released. It can go anywhere we want it to – we were talking about it recently, one of the things we’ve always loved doing is harmonies – it’s one of the things people remembered about Good Charlotte – so we decided we were going to do it properly. We worked a lot with Pharrell on the record – we wrote two songs on the record with him – he really gets the vision and supports it. Three years ago, when we decided to do this Madden Brothers thing, we told him how we wanted it to be and he was like, “Yeah the Eagles, I can see that shit.” He’s a visionary and then we started writing songs [together].

Joel: We listened to The Beach Boys, The Eagles and then, as teenagers, Sublime and then Dre’s Chronic and all these hip hop records – we’ve been in California for 10 years and while we are from the East Coast, it was [always] our dream to get to California.

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FAULT: What brought you to the decision to split the album into two sides?

Joel: The thing that brings both sides together is that California vibe. Whereas one side is more Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, the other side feels like The Eagles, Steely Dan, Steve Miller Band – it’s a trip but it oddly works!

 

The Madden Brothers’ debut single ‘We Are Done’ and album ‘Greetings From California’ are both out now on Capitol Records.

FAULT MAGAZINE ISSUE 19 – THE MILLIONS ISSUE – IS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW

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