Many Kiwis first got a taste of the pair as X-Factor Australia judges. Others, a little bit older, played the CDs on boom boxes and watched them as MTV staples.<\/p>\n
They always came across as such chill dudes \u2013 and they still are. Perhaps, I would say, even the most courteous lads in show business.<\/p>\n
Before belting out hits such as The Anthem and I Just Wanna Live in front of a packed Auckland Domain, the brothers were gracious to anyone they met backstage, offering chairs and making sure they said hello to everyone they met.<\/p>\n
Joel Madden and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte perform during the first stop on the Motel Du Cap World Tour on February 17, 2026, in Perth, Australia. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also a new era of music for the pair as well. Still fun, still punchy, still fresh, but with years of experience \u2013 and fatherhood \u2013 to guide them (both have children with respective partners Cameron Diaz and Nicole Richie).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not trying to go back and act young. We love being right where we\u2019re at. To be able to be right where we\u2019re at and do this is a privilege,\u201d Joel, 46, says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if we thought we wouldn\u2019t be doing it [back in the early 2000s], but I think back then, if you asked me what we\u2019d be doing at 40 or 45, that sounded so far away. You kind of go, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m going to still be doing this at 45, but today it feels really natural. And I think that\u2019s because we\u2019re getting to do it on our own terms,\u201d Benji adds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think also with the new record [their eighth album Motel Du Cap], we really did make a record that we wanted to make right now at this age, where we weren\u2019t trying to relive something.\u201d<\/p>\n
But don\u2019t get me wrong, they\u2019re still absolutely stoked there\u2019s an appetite for nostalgia and grateful for a whole new legion of fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past year and a half, we\u2019ve done some of the biggest shows of our career, and we see the people that are coming are every age,\u201d Joel says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYoung people who\u2019ve never seen us play, and even young people who just got into rock music. Then we have older people who grew up with us who have been to multiple shows and bring their kids and everything in between.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re a better band than we\u2019ve ever been, so we\u2019re putting on a better show,\u201d his brother adds.<\/p>\n
Fans flocked to see the Madden brothers at the Auckland Domain. Photo \/ Annaleise Shortland<\/p>\n
The new album also ended a long hiatus. Both agreed it was a good time to reset and refocus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that was really valuable for us to just be able to go and live our lives,\u201d Benji says.<\/p>\n
Naturally, being identical twins, I ask the pair if twin telepathy is a real thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like you would think, but it is a thing. It\u2019s not as explicit as people put it,\u201d Joel says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like you hear their thought, but you know their thought.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting older has also come with another bonus. They \u201cvery rarely\u201d get sick of each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we were younger, I don\u2019t know if we knew how to communicate as well. Now we get along great. I mean, we hang out all the time. We hang out when we don\u2019t have to,\u201d Benji adds.<\/p>\n
Both say they feel honoured to still be able to do the job they loved, and thanked fans for showing up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no better feeling than being up there and everyone being together singing and having a good time, and when you feel that with a crowd, it definitely keeps you coming back,\u201d Joel says.<\/p>\n
Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte with reporter Mitchell Hageman. Photo \/ Annaleise Shortland<\/p>\n
And if you want to chase that Lifestyle(s) of the Rich & Famous, the brothers say don\u2019t focus on the result<\/p>\n
\u201cFocus on the work and the process. Just take it one day at a time and work hard,\u201d Benji says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou gotta just show up every day. You gotta, you know, believe in what you\u2019re doing. If you don\u2019t, you really have to ask yourself if you believe in what you\u2019re making versus what you want. Some bands have it upside down, they want the result, and so they\u2019re just making things to try to get to that result instead of focusing on the music and the process and the art they\u2019re making first,\u201d Joel says.<\/p>\n
\u201cMake something that you would bleed for, and it\u2019ll take you somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald\u2019s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke\u2019s Bay Today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many Kiwis first got a taste of the pair as X-Factor Australia judges. Others, a little bit older,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[255016,617,64,46190,63,53644,21575,255013,1700,255011,32366,82699,59799,39598,755,99189,1644,255012,126809,26914,4717,255015,92811,31165,255014,64026,3127,35062,7790,1697,23932,1771,85,47867,37806,230399,132132,254975,1928,44944,51394,38862,43159,16090],"class_list":{"0":"post-508421","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-2000s","9":"tag-and","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-aucklands","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-band","14":"tag-before","15":"tag-benji","16":"tag-best","17":"tag-charlottes","18":"tag-domain","19":"tag-dose","20":"tag-finding","21":"tag-friday","22":"tag-golf","23":"tag-golfing","24":"tag-good","25":"tag-groove","26":"tag-hageman","27":"tag-healthy","28":"tag-in","29":"tag-injecting","30":"tag-joel","31":"tag-madden","32":"tag-maddenfronted","33":"tag-mitchell","34":"tag-new","35":"tag-night","36":"tag-nostalgia","37":"tag-nz","38":"tag-returned","39":"tag-rock","40":"tag-sports","41":"tag-stage","42":"tag-talk","43":"tag-talked","44":"tag-tara","45":"tag-telepathy","46":"tag-their","47":"tag-they","48":"tag-theyre","49":"tag-think","50":"tag-twin","51":"tag-twins"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}