Good Charlotte’s latest incarnation? Pop-punk

Good Charlotte is officially a pop band.

Not that the TRL-happy quartet hasn’t always been pop, but its expected brand of pop always has been hyphenated with clear-cut punk.

But since its 2002 breakthrough, “The Young and The Hopeless,” Good Charlotte has progressed to encompass many genres and influences.

The latest example of its evolution is more extreme than the tattoos and dyed hair that became the band’s calling card. “The Chronicles of Life and Death,” released this month on Epic records, ventures into more of an indie-rock radiance along the lines of “Sunny Day Real Estate” and a surprising turn to programmed beats and bass-heavy grooves that bows to Dr. Dre and the Neptunes.

The catchy hooks and bouncy guitar lines, and at times Cure-

turned-Rage-Against-The-Machine- like essence, have been gelled with bassist Paul Thomas stroking

the cello and guitarist Billy Martin dropping in synth melodies.

Expect that kind of mixture to cut in on the punk-rock anthems on Sunday at the Spokane Arena’s Star Theatre. Lola Ray opens the show. (For more on Lola Ray, go to www.spokane7.com/soundwave.)

Maybe the boys in Good Charlotte are maturing musically. Maybe they are bending over to appease an even wider audience.

Either way, “Life and Death” goes far beyond the simple pop-punk formula that drove “Young and Hopeless” to three-times-platinum success.

And although the essential, introspective lyrical content remains heavy, it still manages to be universally appealing.

One half of the Madden brothers songwriting duo, lead singer Joel, appears comfortable in his inked skin.

“We have nothing to prove,” he states in a news release. “Once we realized that, it opened a lot of creative doors for us to go to other places with our music.”

Good Charlotte – Joel and his guitarist brother Benji, Martin, Thomas and drummer Chris Wilson – has indeed proved itself with numerous magazine covers and wild popularity with MTV kids, including “The Anthem” winning the 2003 Viewers Choice at the Video Music Awards.

Going with a more eclectic approach, Good Charlotte won’t be satisfied until its used-to-be-just- hi-energy hooks and singalong harmonies reach outside of simple classification.

“I’ve always looked at Outkast as a group that I wanted to model Good Charlotte after,” Joel Madden said. “They’re comfortable being themselves, and they’ve never been afraid to take their music wherever they want to go. People are always lumping us in with the whole pop-punk thing. Well, if we’re going to be a pop-punk band, then I want us to be the Outkast of pop-punk.”