Benji and Joel Madden have experienced gold and platinum records, smash songs, sold-out arenas, hung with the biggest rock stars and enjoyed all the perks of fame and stardom with Good Charlotte. Yet, ask the twin brothers and they both say adamantly having successful marriages and being present as dads is, by far, their biggest success in life.

The fact that, at 46, they both realize this with such clarity is what makes them real rock stars. They have it figured out. As a result, they are having more fun than at any point in their career and making their best music yet. Motel Du Cap, their first new album in eight years, is a superb start to Good Charlotte 2.0.

Benji and Joel are the same great guys, but in their older, wiser versions singing songs that are relevant to who they are now – 46-year-old husbands and dads, musicians, industry veterans, mentors. I spoke with them about all those roles and how this is just the beginning of their second act.

Steve Batin: I wanted to start with a two-part question. First, are there people that you've learned the most from doing Artist Friendly? And then the second part of it, so much of music is subconscious. So, when you go back and listen to this album are there things you hear in there that maybe you didn't even notice at first were influenced by other artists that you spoke to?

Joel Madden: I’m really happy that you even noticed that I'm doing Artist Friendly because it's my favorite thing that I do. I love getting the chance to sit with people and get a sense of them in the flesh. The thing about Artist Friendly, you have to come to the studio in Burbank and take your time to sit down in the chair and hang. So, the people that come and participate, I really appreciate their time because I know how busy everyone is. And I'm the worst. I barely have time to do anything. I learned from everyone, but I got to sit with Cameron [Diaz], Benj's wife, I got to sit with The Rock, I got to sit with Adam Levine. I would say these people that stand out, Noah [Sebastian] from Bad Omens, who's very focused on his music. He's not that interested in press. It’s not how his brain works. I've found that the people making art at the highest level are very present. They get in the chair, and they're as locked in as me. They're ready to go and ready to participate. They're present and I've found that they're wholly themselves. I think there's this presence that people with experience and maybe people that have executed things at a high level to what maybe satisfies their artistic vision. There's like a presence and a focus they have that I've taken away to be more present and more focused. Like when I go on stage now, even I'd say going back to Good Charlotte, I go on stage, I'm fully present, fully focused, fully locked in and there's no confusion. I'm not second guessing. And I used to do that a lot. I think it was an experience thing. Lainey Wilson is one that stands out. I remember talking to her and feeling really present, really locked in and like she knows herself. I've got such a list now. That's one thing that I've taken away across all these people is a real acceptance of self and present and focused. Then I find with the music artists, which is my favorite, that's the core of the show, we’re a music show. I saw it with Chase Atlantic. I've seen it with so many different people, like Hit Boy, I talked to him, and I felt the same way. There's a real music first attitude and that keeps you making the right decisions and staying true to something that you're fighting for, that you believe in, that you're passionate about. And I think that there is another thing that's a through line that I keep pulling away as I find that the artists who continue to follow the music, follow their own vision, their own idea of what that means. There's a clarity there that I really like. So, I do feel the show has changed my life. I really do feel like I've learned so much from all these people.

Baltin: When you talk about the idea of being more present, I also think that's easier as you get older. And you are not forced to do anything anymore. Now you’re making a Good Charlotte album because you want to.

Benji Madden: That's it. And I'm really lucky I get to watch Joel do his thing with the podcast, from a pedestrian point of view, which I really enjoy. And I really like that whether we're partnered with artists and we're working with them in some aspect of their career or we're building something, I really love to have a pedestrian view of things. Just like walking around in the world, seeing how it feels to me as a fan, it's fun to still be a fan. And you’ve got to protect that in some way to not get jaded. And I think that's something that you're right, with age and having the experiences you start to see how valuable certain things are that when you're young, you don't quite have the perspective. When you're young, you don't care if you live or die sort of. You're just running through the world, and you don't realize what it takes to age and to continue on. And I think we have this amazing perspective. We get to relive all these things with artists that we work with in MDDN where it feels like we are helping someone make decisions. We have this really unique way of being able to put ourselves in the band and say, “What would I want? What would I want from an agent? Or what would I want from the label? What would I want from the manager? Then what do I know now about how the game actually works? And how can I marry the reality and the information with the need to be protected and make smart decisions?” All this experience has given us such a great place to exist in our own with our own thing where we have real gratitude for the career that we've had, we have real gratitude for the ability to still do it. Then also an understanding of the game and understanding to protect the art while it's being made. Don't let the commerce come into the studio. Then once it's made let's go and talk about strategy. Then let's go see what we have and see how you feel about it. Being able to do that and learn that allowed us to go have a creative space that no one gets to touch. Not the fans, not the industry, not the marketing, not the commerce, none of it gets a touch. We get to create whatever we're going to do with it. We can hit delete afterwards. Whatever we're going to do with it, we get to throw paint on the canvas. We get to just create. And then we're protected. Then we can go and talk about strategy. We came into it that way just out of sheer ignorance, which is a beautiful thing, man, like youthful unknowing of just wanting to charge forward.

Baltin: How did all of this influence the making of Motel Du Cap?

Benji: We have careers that don't look anything like anybody else, and we've learned to take a lot of joy and pride that we are us, we can only be us in this lifetime. The best thing we can do is just be the Madden brothers. So, being able to make a record with all that experience and all that, even from the last eight years, where we spent all of our time, in a lot of ways in service of other people, which is amazing. You learn so much and you gain so much. And then also just figuring out who are we because when we made this record it was a feeling. Joel said, “I got some stuff I feel like I need to write some songs.” And I was like, “Me too you know. We should try and write one. We have the safety of our own studio, we don't know what's going to come out. It doesn't matter, like I said we can always hit delete.” We made the song “Rejects” and it felt really good. We didn't even know what it was about.” And that was a goal of ours was to not control what came out, to just see what comes out, you know? And that was the whole point of the record was to see where we're at right now because being comfortable in our own skin is really important to us at this point. We're 46, going to be 47. We just want to be us. This is my favorite era of my life. We just express ourselves honestly, I think that was the first goal. The first goal was to just make something we could share with our families and friends and ourselves. This feels good. And at 46, 47 years old, I feel comfortable playing these songs and singing these songs. It feels natural to me. It was as simple as that.

Baltin: My last int with Ozzy he said it was fun being Ozzy Osbourne. Do you feel at this point that it's fun being the Madden brothers?

Joel: I do. Ozzy's such a great example of someone who figured it out. We watched him say goodbye to the world, not knowing we were watching that. But you saw the love that his family has for him. When you think about someone who's achieved great success, great fame, great fortune, all the fantasies they sell us of why you do this, why you want to be a rock star, it's actually a lie. The truth is, it’s actually what you give the world. It's how you make the world an easier place to be. It's how you make the world suffer less. It's how you make the world a more exciting place or fun place or easier place or a more beautiful place, a place that sounds better. And if you can do that and keep love, keep a family, you win. To me, that was the greatest legacy that Ozzy left.

Baltin: When does it start becoming the most fun?

Joel: I think that's actually when it becomes fun though, is when you get in your own skin and you live in your real life and you have memories with real people who love you and you love them. And I could say that I have teenagers and I'm like every other parent trying to raise teenagers. It's all kinds of things. You're in a range of emotions because they're becoming adults and you're letting go of them a little bit and it's really emotional. You're just sad because those wonderful years of having little kids who are so cute and fun. I'm glad I didn't miss them. That was worth all the time off the road and all the time away. The number one reason was my family.

Baltin: What are the hopes for the next chapter of Good Charlotte?

Joel: I think the thing that kept the heartbeat of that always pumping was the people who love it. There was always a club. I'd see them every day I go out. I meet one person who's like, “Your second record or your third record, this song” or they share a memory or a family story. It's pretty crazy how that happens every day of my life. I meet one person in the world that tells me Good Charlotte meant something to them. That is a heartbeat that's always been beating and has always stayed alive. And then going out more recently and doing some of the biggest shows of our lives, we feel it too. We see it and we feel it. It's crazy to feel that.

Benji: I think it's very possible for us to win a Grammy in the future. I do. I think we're writing our best songs ever. I think we're continuing to find our way and tell a story, and I think the art is telling stories. I look at Bruce Springsteen. I look at people that are my heroes, people that I admire, Ozzy and they never stop telling stories. They never stop captivating our imagination with their point of view, with their storytelling, with their perspective, with their songs. I look at Dylan, I look at Springsteen, I look at bunch of bands that I love, and I go, "Oh, there's still another chapter, another era and more stories to tell." And our perspective is going to be our perspective. And I do think that there's a lot of possibility for our band. I really do. I think there's a lot that's possible and I'm excited about it.