Patient wait for Good Charlotte fans

Good Charlotte band members.
Good Charlotte band members.
Fans of rockers Good Charlotte have been a patient bunch, considering the band's last CD of original material was Good Morning Revival in 2007.

Since then, all that has come fans' way was a remix collection the following year while awaiting the band's next CD, Cardiology.

Now, they're waiting even longer.

After taking a year to write and record Cardiology, Good Charlotte didn't feel good about it and scrapped the whole thing.

The band re-recorded everything, and now the album is due out this northern autumn.

"It was worth it. We don't regret it at all," Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden says.

"The music industry these days is crazy. To be able to make another record is a blessing."

The Maryland band is about to celebrate its 10th year together, and Madden points out this record fiasco is just one of the many ups and downs Good Charlotte has weathered.

"Everything that happens has been like a roller-coaster," he says.

"And everything that happens is for a reason, and it's a good thing, even when it's a challenge."

Madden said the problem with the original Cardiology, which the band might release sometime in the future, was that its producer used a heavy hand.

"We really wanted it to be a feel-good record, but the producer we were working with put it in a negative state of mind," he says.

"It didn't have the uplifting, positive vibe I wanted."

For the second take on Cardiology, the band went to Don Gilmore, who produced its first and fourth albums.

Gilmore also has worked with Linkin Park and Dashboard Confessional.

"Working with him is the most fun we've ever had making a record," Madden says.

"It's amazing how much someone can affect the vibe of a record."

The new version of Cardiology was inspired by, of all things, the children of Good Charlotte's members.

"[The kids] dictate what's going on," Madden says.

"They pick the singles, and they have their favourite songs, and they react to them.

They'll start dancing or say, `Yeah, Daddy, that's the one'."

The title track is the last one on the CD.

Madden says it reflects the band spending its lifetime "figuring out our heart, not just in love but in how we work and what works for us".

"And we ask the question: `Can science and medicine explain the heart?"'.

- St.Louis Post-Dispatch

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