Ben Lee got a major shout-out from Joel Madden on a recent episode of his podcast Artist Friendly.
“I don’t know if Good Charlotte would have existed if it weren’t for Ben Lee,” Madden told fellow musician Ben Kweller during the chat.
Madden recalled discovering the Sydney singer-songwriters’s early work, specifically the albums Grandpaw Would and Breathing Tornados, calling them formative. “Those records informed my idea of songwriting,” he said.
The Good Charlotte frontman then shared a story from when he and his brother Benji were 16 or 17. Lee, who was opening for Cracker at the time, invited the aspiring twin musicians backstage, demo cassette and stickers in hand.
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“Ben was one of the few people who was like, ‘Woah, cool — come backstage.’ And we were like, ‘Woah.’” Madden remembered Lee having an acoustic guitar with him. “We asked if we could play one of our songs for him. Now that I think about it, how many people would have said yes to that?”
That moment stuck with him. “Even more importantly, meeting him and him bringing us backstage, it lit a spark that kept us going. Most kids with talent don’t make it because they quit,” said Madden.
“He showed us it was possible. That moment was confirmation — we’d been backstage once, so we knew we’d be backstage again. No one could tell us otherwise.”
Madden credits Lee with more than just inspiration. “I give Ben a lot of spiritual credit. There are very few people like that in my career. They don’t always realise that one action, one word, can change someone’s entire perception of what’s possible.”
He added: “He also taught me to take the time to talk to some kid or whatever. Now I always do.”
Ben Lee responded to the clip on Instagram.
“So many feelings came up watching this clip of my friend @joelmadden telling my other old friend @benkweller about the role I played in his journey,” he wrote. “Obviously, hearing nice things said about yourself is lovely. But this clip also affirms the belief I’ve had my whole life — that when you spot genuine creativity and enthusiasm, it’s your opportunity to open up to it and support it, and that can lead somewhere magical.”
Lee added that it was Madden’s “intuitive genius” that made the moment meaningful. “We all get opportunities, but we don’t all walk through the door.”
He closed with a plug for Kweller: “My buddy, the brilliant songwriter Ben Kweller’s new album Cover the Mirrors is out Friday and deserves all the good vibez people are sending its way. Take a listen.”
Looking back to the early days is fitting, as Lee recently announced a nationwide tour to mark 20 years since Awake Is the New Sleep came out.
The 2005 album launched commercial hits like “Catch My Disease” and “We’re All in This Together”.
The tour will hit major cities across Australia this spring, with shows in Canberra, Newcastle, Sydney, Byron Bay, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Castlemaine, Torquay, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Fremantle between September 25 and October 18 (see full dates here).
Madden has previously featured Australian artists on his Artist Friendly podcast, including an in-person episode with G Flip.
