I just re-read the RS interview for the first time in years - is the equipment we have seen so far indicative of this sound.... (remember I am musically DUMB)
I can only take it one song at a time. I just want to write good songs that people love, which is a tough thing to do. It would be great to do another rock opera, but using more low-fi technology. I love shitty-sounding records [grins]. I'd love to do more stuff with Green Day that is 100 percent live. Sometimes I wish we would have recorded our last records that way — that Exile on Main Street feel, where you just get some good tones and go.
One thing I can't do is do anything half-assed. I want to make sure everything is right, that the song is fully realized. I think of the first Ramones album and the first Clash album — those songs are fully realized, well played. You can almost hear them doing it in a practice room. You can tell how time goes on, when you fast-forward to [the Clash's] Sandinista! You know all that stuff was done in the studio.