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Home , Billie Joe Armstrong, Foxboro Hot Tubs, Green Day, Mike Dirnt

(from left) “After , we thought, well, what heartbreaking ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’), are: can we do?” explains the 37-year-old frontman. while Dirnt’s complex family issues resulted in him Tré Cool, “With that album, we raised the bar higher than living on the couch at his childhood friend’s home and . ever. So, we wanted to raise it again. We were for a substantial period of time. arrogant enough to say, ‘Let’s beat American Idiot,’ “Our musical tastes were evolving and we and we were humbled in the process.” became very close,” recalls Armstrong. “We started The new album is certainly a musical tour de getting into punk-rock at the same time.” force. As with their previous work, it’s something of The pair started hanging around Gilman Street, a rock opus, the track list comprising a whopping 18 in nearby Berkeley, which had a thriving music scene songs, with themes of chaos, confusion and anxiety well-known for its hardcore bands and resolutely coursing through it. Armstrong says he approached anti-establishment ethos. It represented everything the project as if his life depended on it. Armstrong and Dirnt had been looking for as a “It drove me crazy and made me happy at the creative outlet to express their disenchantment. same time,” he recalls of the recording process. “We saw what was going on and were able to “Those are good reasons for knowing you pushed see music being played in its most raw form,” says yourself to the absolute limit.” Armstrong. “We were really lucky to be part of Produced by (the man responsible a scene like that.” for Nirvana’s Nevermind, and the in They started the as 15-year-olds, eventually Garbage), some of the album’s early sessions were settling on Cool – now 36 – as drummer after they conducted at Green Day HQ in Oakland. Indeed, met him through the Gilman Street music scene and tracking down Armstrong, Dirnt and Cool today discovered shared musical interests. Their early meant travelling over Oakland Bay Bridge, away gigs were interesting, to say the least. Those were from and into the heart of the the days when they played alongside such oddly staunchly blue-collar community. named bands as Sewer Trout and Nasal Sex. There’s nothing obviously glamorous about “Those bands,” says Armstrong with a laugh, Oakland, save for the glittering waters of “are no longer around.” in the background. Reach the bridge’s end and “Yeah, but Nasal Sex had a really good stage there’s the small matter of finding your way to the prop,” adds Dirnt. “They had a big nose that blew Green Day hub – an expedition akin to conquering smoke. And it wasn’t working great the night we a maze. You have to travel under huge concrete played with them, so it was more of a runny nose.” overpasses, around nameless shopping malls, In 1990, the band released a couple of EPs and “After that album we thought, well, what can we do? We were arrogant enough to say, ‘Let’s beat American e Idiot,’ and we were humbled in the process” h what they hop The time of day are ba cktheir wit lives , green cks a lengthy hiatus punk-rock tra after us of tenacious past grungy kids hanging out on street corners, an album called 39/Smooth. But it was their second their magnum op will be then down a dead-end street, where a towering release, Kerplunk, in 1991, that hinted at the bigger kker story Tiffany Ba barbed-wire encrusted gate keeps the Green Day things to come. The album only sold about 50,000 compound secure. copies but, for an indie-punk band, that was As the gate slides open, I’m given a glimpse tantamount to massive numbers. A few years later, of a very private space. The band purchased the sold 12 million copies and took Green Day premises a few years ago as a place to create music out of Gilman Street and into the global arena, on their own terms. Classic cars fill the studio’s car complete with headlining stadium gigs. park, while Banksy-inspired graffiti of the band’s All three were in their mid-20s when the massive latest lyrics adorn the building. Inside, guitars hang fame hit, but all three were also married with young on the walls and there’s a magnificent Tiki bar, children. (Dirnt and Cool have since divorced and which, by all accounts, is put to good use. have new partners; Armstrong remains married to “Surely, it’s time for a VB,” chuckles Armstrong Adrienne, his wife of 14 years and mother of his (a self-proclaimed champion of the Aussie beer), sons, Joey, 14, and Jakob, 10.) as he takes a seat on a leather couch in one of the Their next two albums, Insomnia (1995) and ecently, on a wet and blustery Tuesday and who, in the ensuing 20-plus years, have sold most popular bands in the world, filling stadiums They were so apprehensive, they only decided to many recording rooms. Nimrod (1997), were successful, but fell short of night in San Francisco, three men with some 65 million records worldwide. This is the and recording songs alongside the likes of . go ahead with the secret show (advertised on their Dirnt and Cool join him, and I notice that all Dookie’s acclaim. And, in 2000, it all nearly went a great many tattoos and carefully trio who burst from their anarchic Californian roots Yet, on that night in San Francisco, they hadn’t website) at 5pm on the day. three are surprisingly slight for men with such spectacularly wrong. Green Day’s rootsy inspired spiked took to the stage at a small and, in 1994, went gangbusters globally with the played a gig as Green Day for three-and-a-half years “We played the new album from front to back, monumental stage presence. Not so surprisingly, sixth album, Warning, not only didn’t sell as well as Rclub, which, on a good night, could cram decade-definingDookie , afterwards struggling (although they continued with their lesser known which is always kind of nerve-racking,” chimes in each of them is decked out in varying shades of its predecessors but, more worryingly for the band, in a couple of hundred punters. Nothing unusual with embracing mainstream popularity to the musical side projects, and The Armstrong. “When you’re playing a show, people black and substantial amounts of hair product. it just didn’t connect with the die-hard fans who’d about that; you’ll find bands trying to catch a break point where they almost threw it all in. Network), instead opting to take an extended break usually know the material and they’re jumping Up close, despite being in their late-30s, they look greeted each previous release with glee. At one in cramped beer-stained corners from That was until the 2004 album American Idiot after the mammoth American Idiot tour, which around and going crazy, but a lot of people [at this barely out of their 20s. point, the trio even found themselves supporting to Manchester on any given night of the week. transformed them – particularly singer and chief ended in late 2005. show] were just taking it in. I stood there, closed my Oakland remains home to the band members. Blink 182 – considered by fans to be a vastly inferior But the three men who played on that cold night songwriter Armstrong – into a sort of George W Bush- “Most bands that haven’t played a gig for over eyes, sang every song and hoped they wouldn’t boo.” It’s where Dirnt and Armstrong met as 10-year-olds Green Day imitation. – Tré Cool, Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt – bashing political megaphone for the masses. The three years have probably broken up,” laughs bass For Armstrong, Dirnt and Cool, the band’s new and bonded over a mutual apathy of school. Both Then came September 11 and the beginning of comprise one of the world’s biggest bands: Green album resonated with the anti-establishment zeitgeist player Dirnt, 36. “But we played for three hours, album, , is their most had difficult teenage years. Armstrong lost his dad the Bush era. With it came Armstrong’s realisation Day, the punk-rock prophets who formed in 1987 and, in the process, Green Day became one of the which is actually the longest we’ve ever played.” important yet. to cancer (a topic he explored in American Idiot’s he could no longer keep his opinions on mute. >

16 SUNDAY MAGAZINE SUNDAY MAGAZINE 17 lyrics he’s written. initially approaches his bandmates any with new of apprehension even manifests itself when he greater world. He explains same that weight it hard awayto step and let it go out into the and he acknowledges now, right that, he’s finding and a new administration.” of hope because of Obama – hope for a new face juxtaposition is everyone that has new this sense future’sthe going to be but, atsame the time, the of Americans feel way. that No one knows what facing, and chaos just and confusion. I athink lot are about desperate times and different issues we’re “but I feel as though a lot ofsongs the onrecord the new one begins.” one era ended, now we’re watching to see how the era and beginning the of another. We know how record is about,” he says. “It’s about end the of an cautious and a little wary. ofObama the era, though he admits he remains I’d gained confidence the to say more.” Warning of America. state onwar the in Iraq and confused the and anxious and getting stoned, he was now voicing opinions perma-adolescent who sang about Where he’d been perceived assnotty the nosed his presidency, it was to inspire him creatively. If Bush did anything positive for Armstrong during The new album is toostill close to Armstrong, “I am optimistic extent,” to a certain he continues, “It’s a confusing time, and that’s what new the Armstrong is currently enjoying beginning the “I’d to talk more started about social issues with now. It’s been so long, it’s like making someone “I’m chomping at the bit to go back on tour right stop doing their favourite thing in the world” ,” he says, “but I [bythink American Idiot American

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(Warner Music), is out May 15. May out is Music), album, (Warner new Day’s Green I that’sthink a good thing.” music. And we don’t take it for granted – any of it. we love of it, we history the love new music and old challenge ourselves,” says “We Dirnt. love rock’n’roll, of rock’n’roll we’ve been bestowed andwith, we do don’t beyond last five years.” like to hang out. And that’s rare, because most bands We have common respect for each other and we and downs, but happens that in any relationship. says Armstrong. “We’ve definitelythrough gone ups – both musically and personally. achievement remains durability the of bondtheir three members of Green Day agree greatest their side of your brain a while.”after world. That, in itself, can psychoticcontribute to the someone doing stop favouritetheir inthing the now,” he says. “It’s been so long, it’s like making wait to play in front of an audience again. take up ofyear. most the Armstrong, for one, can’t a world tour (Australia is oncards) the should that lyrics,” adds Cool. “I can’t keep up him.” with drive you a little loco, you know?” you have no idea what people will think. It can “I’m proud offact the we’ve honoured gift this looks at Dirnt his childhood and friend nods. “I’m really proud offact the we’re together,”still More 20 than years band the formed,after all “I’m chomping atbit the to go back on tour right For now, band though, the are looking ahead to “I’m discoveringstill hidden meanings in Billie’s “It’s difficultthat in you’re baring yourself and 21st Century Breakdown Century 21st S M

Photography: marina chavez