Bad news for Good Charlotte

Reuters

BLACKLISTED: Benji Madden says his band, Good Charlotte, has been blacklisted from Big Day Out.

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Rockers Good Charlotte claim they have been blacklisted from Big Day Out.

The US band, fronted by twins Joel and Benji Madden, have never played New Zealand's biggest music festival despite having a huge following both here and in Australia.

And they reckon unless organisers change their attitude, they'll never appear in the touring event held every year in Auckland.

"The guy who runs Big Day Out doesn't like us for some reason I don't even know why," Benji told Sunday News.

"We do all the other festivals and we enquired about it.

"Who knows maybe he'll eventually crack, but maybe not.

"We're just going to keep knocking on his door late at night saying, `Come on dude!"'

Local acts who only play Big Day Out in New Zealand are organised by Campbell Smith but international artists are booked by Aussie producers of the event, Ken West and Vivian Lees.

Sahara Herald Shepherd, national event coordinator for BDO, responded to Good Charlotte's claims by telling Sunday News that all acts are booked at the organisers' discretion.

"Since the very first Big Day Out in 1992 we've viewed our job as not just providing what the kids think they want to hear, no matter how popular the artist, but rather exposing them to what we believe they should be listening to," said Sydney-based Shepherd.

"We feel a responsibility to stimulate, educate and challenge them so they hopefully leave the show with a broader horizon than when they arrived."

The omission comes in spite of the band's popularity in Australasia New Zealand gave the five-piece their first ever platinum record for their self-titled debut in 2001.

They're hoping their new album, The Greatest Remixes, released tomorrow and featuring fresh versions of some of their most popular songs, will match that early success.

"Every time we go to New Zealand it gets harder to leave. Everyone's always treated us like we're at home," Benji said.

The guitarist was headline news last week amid reports he has broken up with girlfriend of 10 months, Paris Hilton.

He hooked up with the blonde bombshell around the time his brother Joel became a dad with her Simple Life co-star Nicole Richie.

Unwilling to confirm the relationship is completely over, the 29-year-old revealed it has been hard having a relationship with one of the world's most famous women.

"No one writes about the music," he admitted. "You just have to ignore it.

"I kind of live by this old thing that time will tell, whether people are going to write about this or that all we can do is be who we are and make records we love and everything else will sort itself out."

But in a turn-around from his recent euphoric "I'm very open about how in love I am", Benji told Sunday News he and the hotel heiress are on comfortable terms but he is far from thinking about settling down with babies.

"(Paris and I) we're all good," he said quietly. "I feel like I'm young, right now I can focus on the record and later on in life I'll focus on kids and all that.

"Right now it's all about the music. The baby I'm about to have is this record. When you're making an album it's kind of like having a baby. You have to really put everything into it."

Quizzed about Paris hooking up with her ex Stavros Niarchos last weekend, Benji simply said: "It's entertaining for people.

"You can complain about all the crap that comes (with fame) but I'm so appreciative of the life I have it's hard to find anything to complain about."

He also denied he has been working on music with his 27-year-old lover, who recently recorded a song My BFF for her new reality TV show.

"I feel that can be bad for any kind of relationship to work too closely," he said.

"I've lent my advice and hooked up meetings with some people but that's as far as I would ever take it."

For more on Benji's relationship with Paris Hilton and how it's fallen apart, see today's Stars magazine, inside Sunday News.