!!!Benji Article in Kerrang!!!

because life is loud... this is a gift from me to y'all, my gcww boardies this issue is particularly great cuz it's reflecting on 2005 and has sooo many great idols in great bands of '05: foo fighters, angels and airwaves, blink 182, my chemical romance, simple plan, fall out boy, avenged sevenfold, green day, trivium, bullet for my valentine, funeral for a friend, lostprophets, HIM, slipknot...and good charlotte of course

so on to the article; it's hot stuff and has a rather handsome pic of benjaboo, a little old (the good days of his labret and wearing a bandana under his cap) but it's mighty HOT. here's the juiciness:

How was 2005 for you?
"It was a great year. We had some challenges, like changing our drummer, but we've come through it."

Was that a bad moment?
"Losing Chris [Wilson,ex-drummer] was very bad. We're still friends and we still talk now and then but his decision that he wasn't able to play with us and that he wanted to concentrate on himself was very bad to deal with. But Dean [Butterworth-new drummer] has been brilliant."

What about the high points?
"The entire rest of the year was a high point! Our third album came out and, just to have it do as well as it did, was amazing. It was a change for us and it means we've got a good platform to go and make another record. We also toured the world and the reaction from everyone was humbling because all our fans treated us really well. What was amazing was that, even when we were playing with bands like System of a Down, Marilyn Manson and Green Day, their fans treated us really well too."

Do you feel like you've grown up?
"We definitely went through a growing period on 'The Young and the Hopeless' and there were some people that were very unsure of us, who really didn't want to get into the Good Charlotte thing. But, on this record, it feels like we've won-we came through the difficult stage victorious. You critics haven't always been the easiest on us and a lot of people were waiting to see if we were the real thing or not."

You've got quite a car collection. Any new ones?
"Probably the most extravagant thing I bought this year was a Harley. I also got a 1964 Chevy Impala, too. I've been ragging that around a lot. When I'm home, I definitely take full advantage of the things that I've bought. I'm living the dream!"

You bought your brother Joel a diamond watch for Christmas last year. How are you going to top that?
"I was wondering what to do this year. I might go back to basics. Christmas should be about family, so maybe I'll just write him a really heartfelt card."

If he gets you something really expensive, do you think he'll be p!ssed off with just a card?
"No, Joel's cool. That stuff really doesn't matter to him. Although, if he buys me a Ferrari, I'd better come up with a pretty amazing birthday present for him!"

Favourite place you played this year?
"Bogota, Columbia. In America, Columbia has this really bad reputation. The government convinced us not to go and play in Indonesia because they said it wasn't a safe place. We regretted not going. We weren't going to make the same mistake with Columbia and it was amazing down there.The show was insane and the people were really nice."

You didn't get chased through the city by bandits, then...
"Not at all! Hanging out in Bogota was so cool-I'm going back there on vacation. They told us we were going to get kidnapped but we didn't see any of that."

What was your worst experience?
"We did a lot of charity stuff for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. That was very hard emotionally because some of those kids were in a really bad way. Some of them didn't make it through the year. It's hard to work out why these kids didn't get to experience all the things that everyone else gets. There's no real answer to it and that's a hard thing to learn."


ps. : notice what Benji feels about the concert cancellation in Indonesia! ;-)