Learn: Home » The 2003 Civic Tour: New Found Glory and Good Charlotte
From April 8th through June 8th of 2003, two hard-working bands — Good Charlotte and New Found Glory — crisscrossed the USA, performing for their fans coast-to-coast, promoting their latest CDs, and giving away some smokin' automobiles. The 2003 Civic tour was a raging success, and (as with Honda's previous tours with Blink-182, Incubus and Everclear) twelve customized Honda Civic Si cars — one model designed by Good Charlotte and the other by New Found Glory — were given away to 12 lucky fans across the country. Here's the 411.
The Bands:
The Cars: Twelve 2003 Honda Civic Si Hatchbacks
Honda gave away twelve Civic Si Hatchbacks: six were custom-designed by Good Charlotte, six by New Found Glory. Each Honda Civic Si was outfitted by Wings West and equipped with an $11,000 Alpine audio system! The Alpine equipment includes:
Good Charlotte's black and burnt orange car sports green neon-trimmed seat covers with the words "Hopeless" and "Young" emblazoned on the door panels to tie in with their new album. The front of the vehicle features the album cover artwork (an airbrushed nuclear explosion), with the Good Charlotte logo on the hood and band autographs on the driver's side.
Here's what Good Charlotte had to say about the experience of participating in the 2003 Civic Tour and creating a custom vehicle for their fans:
Interviewer: Are you planning on doing something special for the fans?
Billy: They're gonna get free cars. On this tour we're only concentrating on six of ourfans and those six fans are gonna get a free car. Yeah, that's what we're giving back to the fans with this tour. Just imagine being 16 and winning a great car designed by your favorite band. You can't get better than that, it's awesome!
Interviewer: Tell us why you decided to join the Civic Tour.
Joel: Working with Honda allows [us] to do things like keep our ticket prices lower. It just brought more to the tour for our fans, you know? It's made the tour that much better and it's been really cool too because now someone is going to win a really cool car.
Interviewer: Tell us about your Custom Civic Si.
Joel: What we did with the Honda 2003 Si was we lowered it, of course, about two inches more than the standard Honda Civic; and there's some beautiful chrome rims on there that are brand new, they're coming out in about a month, and there's an Alpine system in there. Wings West did the body kit, they do really good body kits and, uh, I'm hoping Wings West will hook me up — hook me up with a body kit. So. And Alpine too, you all need to hook me up with a system.
Paul: We did what every person in Waldorf is dreaming to do.
Joel: Yeah. Coming from Waldorf, if you go to Waldorf you see a lot of Civics, you see a lot of Hondas in general. They're all lowered — but none of them are as nice as this Civic. Yeah, and the interior, the seats are like racing seats inside and there's an Alpine has a navigation system all that stuff, yeah. Low profile tires. Everything you could pretty much do, it's done. [It's] a beautiful car and I really wish I was taking it home, but some lucky kid will be the winner.
New Found Glory's Civic features a unique front-to-back fade from red to black, with the NFG logo highlighting the sides and the hood, and band signatures on the driver's side. Ghost flames shoot along the sides of the vehicle, while the bands website, www.newfoundglory.com, appears across the rear bumper.
For that added touch, the interior carpet was replaced with green Astroturf along matching floor mats embroidered with the "NFG" logo. The band logo is also stitched in red along the back headrest. A gaming console was added for on-the-road entertainment. Here's what New Found Glory had to say about the 2003 Civic Tour:
Interviewer: Tell us why you decided to join the Civic Tour.
Cyrus: You know what's cool about the Honda Civic Tour is that I've seen other bands who have done it... like Incubus, Blink-182, and bands like that, and it's a cool kind of vibe going on to it. One of the things that I knew about this [tour] ahead of time...when you do the tour, they make cars for you, and that's such a cool thing. So, to get offered the tour is amazing.
Chad: You know, we've been touring for a long time and working hard and when someone comes along [and says] 'We want to help you out' and 'This is what we want to do with you,' it's cool and it's mutual.
Interviewer: Tell us about your Customized Civic Si.
Cyrus: There's actually some little hidden things. If you look at the car there's a little message with a 'Blanco Meow' on the very back next to the trunk keyhole. On the inside of the car it's awesome. There's this slick Alpine DVD system, it's one of the loudest cars I've ever heard. There's a Game Cube in there, wireless controllers and some of our favorite games.
Steve: It's especially good if you live in L.A., considering there's so much traffic. You can just like turn on the video games while you're driving.
Interviewer: Last night in the car I turned up the sound system — that Alpine system is ridiculous cool. Besides impressing the guys in the NBA with that, why did you guys go with Alpine for the sound system of the car?
Jordan: I mean Alpine is just a name that you hear, like, all the time, you know.
Steve: If you're having a car like that you've got to be, you know, ghetto fabulous when you're riding down the street. You need to like show off your car, you know. It's like you're advertising, you know, you're driving a car with these bands on it, you've got to drive by and make sure everybody's looking.
Ian: Kind of like, when Steve was in high school, he used to turn the CD up right at the perfect point of the song, like the cool part of the song, and drive past the front of the mall.
Cyrus: With the sound turned up.
Steve: I didn't have a CD player in the station wagon. Jordan would sit—
Jordan: —with the boom box.
Steve: And we had the boom box and we'd put it out the window.
The Sweepstakes: September 18, 2003
But wait, there's more! Honda will award two more of these ultra-decked out Civics (along with some Alpine CD receivers) to lucky fans on September 18, 2003. Enter the sweepstakes at civictour.com so you can win one of these excellent prizes. Good luck!
Contest winners photo gallery
Click to enlarge.
Special thanks to Alpine for providing content and pictures.
The Bands:
- Good Charlotte: Benji Madden (guitar/vocals), Joel Madden (vocals), Paul Thomas (bass), Billy Martin (guitar).
Headed up by twin brothers Benji and Joel Madden, Good Charlotte roared out of Waldorf, Maryland four years ago and never looked back. Their song "The Little Things" made its way to Philadelphia's modern rock station WPLY (Y100) and set a record on the station's "dueling songs" show. "For fifteen nights we won 'til they had to retire us," says Joel. The buzz on Good Charlotte was undeniable — after being pursued by several labels, they signed with Epic Records. Their first CD, "Good Charlotte" (Epic), hit the stores in September of 2000, followed by a sophomore release, "The Young and The Hopeless" (Epic), in 2002. Their pop-punk sound is powerful and melodic, with lyrics aimed at the young and disaffected.
- New Found Glory: Jordan Pundik (vocals), Cyrus Bolooki (drums), Ian Grushka (bass), Chad Gilbert (guitar), Steve Klein (guitar).
Rising in 1997 from the ashes of several Florida bands, New Found Glory's music combines straight ahead rock'n'roll, punk energy, and pop song structure. In 2000, MCA Records released the band's highly successful self-titled album — featuring the hit "Hit Or Miss" — which received heavy airplay on rock radio stations across the USA, resulting in certified gold sales. The second MCA disc, "Sticks and Stones," produced by Neal Avron (Everclear, The Wallflowers), was released in June, 2002, selling over 90,000 copies in the first week and quickly going gold. Their sound blends mature, melodic songwriting, hook-laden melodies, and powerful lyrical content.
The Cars: Twelve 2003 Honda Civic Si Hatchbacks
Honda gave away twelve Civic Si Hatchbacks: six were custom-designed by Good Charlotte, six by New Found Glory. Each Honda Civic Si was outfitted by Wings West and equipped with an $11,000 Alpine audio system! The Alpine equipment includes:
- CVA-1004 Mobile Multimedia Station (AM/FM receiver with motorized 6.5-inch monitor)
- DVA-5205 In-dash CD/DVD Player
- TUA-T020XM XM Satellite Radio Tuner
- NVE-N852A DVD-ROM GPS Navigation System
- SPR-176A Type R Component System (6-3/4" woofer, 1" silk dome tweeters) — front
- SPR-174A Type-R 6-3/4" coaxial speakers — rear
- Two SWR-1021D Type-R 10" Dual 2-ohm Subwoofers
- MRV-F340 4-channel Amplifier (55 watts RMS x 4 channels)
- MRD-M500 Mono Subwoofer Amplifier (500 watts at 2 ohms)
Good Charlotte's black and burnt orange car sports green neon-trimmed seat covers with the words "Hopeless" and "Young" emblazoned on the door panels to tie in with their new album. The front of the vehicle features the album cover artwork (an airbrushed nuclear explosion), with the Good Charlotte logo on the hood and band autographs on the driver's side.
Here's what Good Charlotte had to say about the experience of participating in the 2003 Civic Tour and creating a custom vehicle for their fans:
Interviewer: Are you planning on doing something special for the fans?
Billy: They're gonna get free cars. On this tour we're only concentrating on six of ourfans and those six fans are gonna get a free car. Yeah, that's what we're giving back to the fans with this tour. Just imagine being 16 and winning a great car designed by your favorite band. You can't get better than that, it's awesome!
Interviewer: Tell us why you decided to join the Civic Tour.
Joel: Working with Honda allows [us] to do things like keep our ticket prices lower. It just brought more to the tour for our fans, you know? It's made the tour that much better and it's been really cool too because now someone is going to win a really cool car.
Interviewer: Tell us about your Custom Civic Si.
Joel: What we did with the Honda 2003 Si was we lowered it, of course, about two inches more than the standard Honda Civic; and there's some beautiful chrome rims on there that are brand new, they're coming out in about a month, and there's an Alpine system in there. Wings West did the body kit, they do really good body kits and, uh, I'm hoping Wings West will hook me up — hook me up with a body kit. So. And Alpine too, you all need to hook me up with a system.
Paul: We did what every person in Waldorf is dreaming to do.
Joel: Yeah. Coming from Waldorf, if you go to Waldorf you see a lot of Civics, you see a lot of Hondas in general. They're all lowered — but none of them are as nice as this Civic. Yeah, and the interior, the seats are like racing seats inside and there's an Alpine has a navigation system all that stuff, yeah. Low profile tires. Everything you could pretty much do, it's done. [It's] a beautiful car and I really wish I was taking it home, but some lucky kid will be the winner.
New Found Glory's Civic features a unique front-to-back fade from red to black, with the NFG logo highlighting the sides and the hood, and band signatures on the driver's side. Ghost flames shoot along the sides of the vehicle, while the bands website, www.newfoundglory.com, appears across the rear bumper.
For that added touch, the interior carpet was replaced with green Astroturf along matching floor mats embroidered with the "NFG" logo. The band logo is also stitched in red along the back headrest. A gaming console was added for on-the-road entertainment. Here's what New Found Glory had to say about the 2003 Civic Tour:
Interviewer: Tell us why you decided to join the Civic Tour.
Cyrus: You know what's cool about the Honda Civic Tour is that I've seen other bands who have done it... like Incubus, Blink-182, and bands like that, and it's a cool kind of vibe going on to it. One of the things that I knew about this [tour] ahead of time...when you do the tour, they make cars for you, and that's such a cool thing. So, to get offered the tour is amazing.
Chad: You know, we've been touring for a long time and working hard and when someone comes along [and says] 'We want to help you out' and 'This is what we want to do with you,' it's cool and it's mutual.
Interviewer: Tell us about your Customized Civic Si.
Cyrus: There's actually some little hidden things. If you look at the car there's a little message with a 'Blanco Meow' on the very back next to the trunk keyhole. On the inside of the car it's awesome. There's this slick Alpine DVD system, it's one of the loudest cars I've ever heard. There's a Game Cube in there, wireless controllers and some of our favorite games.
Steve: It's especially good if you live in L.A., considering there's so much traffic. You can just like turn on the video games while you're driving.
Interviewer: Last night in the car I turned up the sound system — that Alpine system is ridiculous cool. Besides impressing the guys in the NBA with that, why did you guys go with Alpine for the sound system of the car?
Jordan: I mean Alpine is just a name that you hear, like, all the time, you know.
Steve: If you're having a car like that you've got to be, you know, ghetto fabulous when you're riding down the street. You need to like show off your car, you know. It's like you're advertising, you know, you're driving a car with these bands on it, you've got to drive by and make sure everybody's looking.
Ian: Kind of like, when Steve was in high school, he used to turn the CD up right at the perfect point of the song, like the cool part of the song, and drive past the front of the mall.
Cyrus: With the sound turned up.
Steve: I didn't have a CD player in the station wagon. Jordan would sit—
Jordan: —with the boom box.
Steve: And we had the boom box and we'd put it out the window.
The Sweepstakes: September 18, 2003
But wait, there's more! Honda will award two more of these ultra-decked out Civics (along with some Alpine CD receivers) to lucky fans on September 18, 2003. Enter the sweepstakes at civictour.com so you can win one of these excellent prizes. Good luck!
Contest winners photo gallery
Click to enlarge.
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Special thanks to Alpine for providing content and pictures.
