Good Charlotte can't complain about their rich and famous lifestyle

By GRAHAM REID

Billy Martin can't complain - not when his band Good Charlotte are on MTV with Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, a snappy poke at stars who complain about fame: "All they do is piss and moan inside The Rolling Stone, talking about how hard life can be."

That makes it impossible for this spiky pop-punk four-piece outfit from smalltown Maryland to complain about anything.

Guitarist Martin agrees and says since relocating to Los Angeles they have been thrown into the same social circuit as many of the rich and famous and don't feel they fit.

"So the song is about what we don't want to become. If you write songs like that you can never be like that, otherwise people will say you're a hypocrite. It puts that mark on us so we never go there."

Of course, 20-year-old Pete Townshend of the Who said he hoped he died before he got old, and he's now 57. Billy takes the point and admits these days - especially on the back of their new The Young and the Hopeless album - they have nothing to complain about. "We're more famous than rich right now, but starting to prove ourselves. We have a big fan base but I haven't bought a house or a car."

Not that he would have time. They have barely been home in two years. Their relentless touring brought them here 18 months ago and they have won college audiences in the States. Good Charlotte touch a chord with disaffected high-school kids: Hold On reminds them life gets better and school isn't everything, and The Anthem is directed at "the so-called losers" in school.

"I used to go to school with my nails painted and wearing eyeliner, with dreadlocks and dressed in black because I wanted to be in band and that's what I was thinking about. Kids would say, 'You're gay' and that. They see you dressed like that, talking about your band and how you're going to be big one day.

"You're 15 and you've got a goal and they're thinking, 'Man, I don't have anything like that. I just drink beer with my friends on the weekend'. They make fun of you to feel better about themselves.

"So many kids think they aren't cool in high school and think they are always going to be not cool. The day you graduate none of that matters. We want kids to know that."

Young and Hopeless gets the message across with power-pop economy honed by Eric Valentine who has pushed production buttons on albums by Queens of the Stone Age and Smashmouth. Some have accused the band of going too poppy.

"Pop music stands for popular music and there's nothing wrong with being a popular band. It's everyone's dream. We wanted to be MTV."

He hasn't forgotten how New Zealand embraced Good Charlotte and looks forward to getting back here and not just for the fans.

He's a Lord of the Rings fan and plans to try to get to the film locations and the Te Papa exhibition.

"I have the inscription that's inside the ring tattooed around my wrist. I read The Hobbit when I was young but I'd never read the others until I saw that first film. The words were too big and I'm not much of a reader."

Where and when

Good Charlotte at The Edge Summer Jam with Zed, Nesian Mystik, Taxiride, Rubicon, Carly Binding, Elemeno P

Queens Wharf Events Centre Sunday March 9

North Shore Events Centre Friday March 14

Waikato Stadium, Saturday March 15