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As a celebrity, he admits, “you worry about the vanity part of it.” He also got a colonoscopy. “I went into the hospital, and we’re trying to be discreet,” he says. “Nobody’s saying a word about anything, so I’m like, Cool, nobody knows who I am. They roll me in and give me the drugs and I’m out. I wake up and the doctor comes in and says, ‘Everything looks great — no issues.’” He laughs. “Then the nurse goes, ‘Just to let you know, we’re big fans, and we listened to Green Day the whole time we were in there.’” 😂

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2024-01-15/green-day-saviors-billie-joe-armstrong Some interesting new tidbits in here! BJ On Bobby Sox: But then in the next verse, I thought I should flip the script,” he says. “I’m kind of playing the character of the woman, but it also felt really liberating to sing, ‘Do you wanna be my boyfriend?’” adds Armstrong, who identifies as bisexual. “It became more of a queer singalong.” The Taco Bell ad - originally the brand wanted to use The American Dream is Killing Me: “I was like, Hmm, I don’t really think that’s the appropriate song for a seven-layer burrito,” Armstrong says. Was licensing “Look Ma, No Brains!” a tough call? Cool laughs. “We made a bet amongst ourselves that we could get Taco Bell to show the person eating a taco while Billie sings, ‘Sick boy, and I s— the bed,’” he says — which indeed the spot does. 😂 Sobriety: “There’s no party I haven’t seen,” Armstrong confirms. “So why do something where I wake up in a park the next day?” Cool turns to his bandmate, suddenly serious amid his usual barrage of jokes. “We’re both really proud of you,” he says.” 🥹 There’s so much in here, including BJ talking about he thinks he “fucked up as a father.”

Keep an eye out on Tuesday

Some really positive reviews from the web: https://blabbermouth.net/reviews/saviors 9/10 https://rockcellarmagazine.com/green-day-saviors-album-review-billie-joe-armstrong/ “its Best Album in Decades” https://riffmagazine.com/album-reviews/green-day-saviors/ 9/10

I'm actually glad the album hasn't leaked now, having these early listening party audios is good enough, it will make release day even more exciting to finally hear them properly

Agreed, not as good as the Armchair Expert episode but still solid nonetheless. I think this also shows just how many “y’knows” and “ums” must have been edited out of Armchair Expert because this episode sounded much more like Billie’s usual self 😂 Billie also sounded so proud talking about Jakob’s guitar playing. I’ve never listened to Ultra Q but I should give them a spin. You could tell Billie’s had some media training about what to say re: Joey. I feel like I need to start a playlist with all these bands/albums that Billie keeps mentioning, he truly is an encyclopedia 😵‍💫

I think it’s going to be a really special thing to hear not just a male singer, but a singer in one of the biggest rock bands, singing, “do you wanna be my boyfriend?” That’s going to mean a lot to a lot of people, and in the year 2024 it shouldn’t feel like a bold thing to do, but it does.

But then in the next verse, I thought I should flip the script,” he says. “I’m kind of playing the character of the woman, but it also felt really liberating to sing, ‘Do you wanna be my boyfriend?’” adds Armstrong, who identifies as bisexual. “It became more of a queer singalong.” We were having this discussion in the other thread about what he meant by singing girlfriend/boyfriend. I appreciate him talking about this so directly so we don’t need to speculate. I’m also glad it feels liberating to him. Living authentically is a good feeling 🥰

Kerrang review 4 out of 5 https://www.kerrang.com/album-review-green-day-saviors-billie-joe-armstrong-mike-dirnt-tre-cool-dookie-american-idiot-rob-cavallo

Agreed. I remember back in 2013 feeling like, “oh…this really big, bad thing happened stemming from addiction and he’s just gonna talk about it once and then move on?” He didn’t owe anyone his personal story then and he doesn’t now, but I was used to celebrities who had gotten sober going on to talk about how necessary and good of a change it was for them, and he just wasn’t giving that. It makes me extremely happy to hear how open and accountable he is about it now, and how he really seems to recognize sobriety is the best choice for him.

https://riffmagazine.com/album-reviews/green-day-saviors/ 9/10

Great interview! I am really happy with the quality of the interviews/podcasts they're doing for this promo

The colonoscopy story is so freaking funny. Great interview all around. Cool turns to his bandmate, suddenly serious amid his usual barrage of jokes. “We’re both really proud of you,” he says. *cries into coffee* This band is determined to make me emotionally unstable I swear. 😅

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast/id329875043?i=1000641679600

I can’t find the og comment but having listened to fancy sauce again and reading the lyrics - I really like the interpretation that it’s about rehab. The lyrics make a lot of sense and especially with Billie talking about struggling with being anonymous in AA

Happy album release week to all who celebrate x

Well said. I agree 100%. I have never understood people who will willingly diss a band they no longer like and make others feel bad about it. People have tried to make me feel bad about liking GD, Blink, and even a band like Bullet for my Valentine and I never understood why. I'm just trying to listen to music I enjoy. There's a lot out there I don't like including artists I used to love. Why put so much energy into hating it and spreading that hate online? Stating an opinion sure but don't put down others because they like something you don't.

I was like “Billie just say he plays drums and move on PLEASE.” 😂 Marc was probably like “huh that was weird.” He talked openly about everything else and then got cagey about if his other kid is a musician lol. He has always been open about it and you’re totally right, it did get brought up a bunch during RevRad where he was asked to reflect on iHeart and talk about Still Breathing. I’ve even seen interviews from when he was much younger where he admitted it was a problem. I guess I just feel a slight shift in how he talks about it now — like he sounds more confident or realistic about sobriety, or something, and overall just very positive about feeling healthier. But honestly, part of my reaction to him talking about it so openly is just happiness to the contrast of how he was talking during FOAM, more along the lines of, “eh, iHeart was cool and who’d my drinking really hurt anyway?” It’s really refreshing and hopeful to hear him back to a healthier mindset.

Just finished listening. Good on Billie's side, but I kept going, "let him talk!" when Marc kept interrupting him. Billie would be saying something about Saviors, and Marc would bring it back to Dookie, or Billie's childhood, stories we've heard a million times. And then ended the interview abruptly when Billie was in the middle of talking about Saviors' songs. I have to say, I feel Billie has always been open about his issues. He may have said in that one 2013 Rolling Stones article that that would be the only time he'd be talking about it, but he was asked a million times about it during RevRad, and always answered. And answered the couple of times he was asked during FOAM. I think he was always honest about how he felt at that time.

The way he describes how Rob Cavallo works with them with regards to his lyrics and breaking it down to make sure he says what he means to say, helping Billie to be his best, what a producer 🥰

It’s great how level headed and thoughtful he sounds these days

Totally agree with you. Again I was thinking who are you that you’re talking so much about you and what an odd intro to Billie, made it sound like he was supposed to be difficult! Love to hear him talk and laugh, again interesting about his family and he was an uncle at 8, that’s wild. Thought there would be more about Mike, Tre and Green Day but they clearly connected over music so that was interesting. He’s being so open about his alcoholism, sounds like he has finally, properly accepted it, I know this has been said before when discussing Dilemma and during the Armchair Podcast but hopefully it’s all positive. Again would have liked more about the writing process and songs but enjoyed it, I was pretty good. Want an interview with all three bouncing stuff off each other, they can be gold.

Ehhh I didn’t really love Marc as an interviewer actually. He didn’t seem like he did much research and didn’t always appear to be listening (how many times Billie repeat that Neil Young’s guitar is black lol). I also found it bizarre how he introduced the interview by saying “some people have a reputation with interviewing, but I did a few things in the beginning to ground him” or whatever. I interview people (not celebrities) for a living, and I’m always kinda subconsciously judging famous people by how nice they are to journalists and how easy they seem to interview. When Green Day was younger they were definitely a challenge to wrangle lol, but for many years Billie has come across as a pretty warm and thoughtful interviewee. But anyway, in terms of the actual convo, loved the talk about Billie’s family that felt like it covered some different ground from the Armchair Expert interview. One thing I found particularly interesting was Billie saying he’s always searching for more of his dad — he always comes across as interested in his family history, always sharing old photos on Insta and stuff and it makes sense that it stems from wanting to know more about his dad. Also really loved the talk about the studio recording process and working with producers, dealing with fame, as well as the stuff about Father to a Son.

"If any of your readers have pee-pee fetishes,” Cool offers, “Billie Joe is your man.” Well, duh?? Piss kink is his jam!

Kerrang is always going to give GD a favorable score so I don't trust them lol.

Dude the album kicks dicks you're going to love it!

A...trilogy?

What @Flynn wrote. I also read that CDs are more expensive in Japan, this is why they get exclusive bonus tracks on many CDs.

In Australia we say (or used to say) 'hitting the sauce' when talking about drinking or getting drunk or you tell someone to stop drinking by saying 'stay off the sauce tonight' I would see it as: stay off the expensive alcohol if you said 'stay off the fancy sauce tonight' So I see the title Fancy Sauce as possibly referencing expensive or high quality alcohol.

Weirdly enough , I think Suzie Chapstick is growing on me and might become my personal favourite from Saviors. Sorry Suzie, I've said bad things about you

You know what stuff like this PISSES ME OFF! They did that on purpose! They were give the album and all they had to do was play it from start to finish. Somebody there doesn't like Green Day so they felt they were sticking it to the fans by pulling that shit. What's stupid is your fragile ego is so bothered that you would rather crap on your consumers because you don't like a certain band or music. Frankly I would never shop there moving forward because at that point that's all you can really do. Straight middle finger to that store and i'm sorry that your experience was F#cked up!!

I thought it was the 1820s but it turns out Colorado wasn't even a thing back then, much less Murder Hornets. Haha

I haven’t been to a listening party and I’ll wait until Friday to hear the album but I’m really glad to read all the positive reactions in this forum. I feel like it’s gotten nearly impossible for Green Day to please fans and certain critics after the release of AI. Most of the albums that came out after AI received generally positive reviews. Even FOAM wasn’t completely hated by music journalists. Sure, it was polarizing, but despite some of the hate it got, it also received praise. Yet some people act as if the band hasn’t done anything good in the last 20 years and I just don’t agree with this assessment. I feel like the band has become a bit of a punching bag for music elitists and gatekeepers who hate them for reasons I can’t quite explain. Maybe it’s because they associate AI with teenage anxiety which is automatically uncool for some people? Or maybe it’s because they believe that middle-aged men shouldn’t make punk rock anymore? That’s obviously silly, but there seems to be this consensus among a certain group that post-AI Green Day just isn’t worth listening to anymore. Take 21CBD for example. That album won a Grammy and people still talk shit about it all the time. RevRad had some of the band’s best songs ever (Bang Bang, Forever Now) and yet it doesn’t necessarily have the best reputation. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you’re not allowed to dislike the new album or criticize the band, I’m just really happy to see so many excited fans right now. Because ultimately, that’s the most important thing. It’s a great time to be a fan. Is this the band’s best album since 21CBD? I think it’s difficult to say. I remember a lot of fans saying similar things about RevRad when it came out so I guess we’ll have to wait and see. In general, I think it’s really difficult for any artist to meet people’s expectations after having a massive record like Dookie or AI. Many of us were teenagers when these records came out, meaning that some of the songs hit extra hard because this is a period of life where we are just super impressionable. Plus, these albums are 30 or 20 years old and we all had plenty of time to build an emotional connection with specific songs. You can’t do that with a record that just came out. That’s why I don’t believe that every band is automatically past their prime once they turn 40. But the fans get older and maybe we’re just not as easy to please as we were when we were 15.

So I was watching cuatro and guess what? These are two songs left off from the greenday.fm page on the trilogy sessions: dropout and miss judgement day. How I found these you may ask? Well since the trilogy boxset is expensive where I live, I watched the archive.org version of cuatro and slowed it down and came across these gems. Also yes, I heard dropout was on the hypothetical cigs and vals.

So what about your other son does he play music? Billie: He’s um…uh, well…he was…a drummer…I mean he plays drums and now…he…well… Nice try Billie 😄 I guess this would fall into the “where I fucked up as a dad” category

people really think the band has no say in their songs being used in commercials via LA Times

I got this Japanese FOAM from eBay, it arrived this morning. Also, an European Stray Heart Promo CD is coming!!

It’s possible 1981 is just promo for Punk Bunny Coffee and that’s what the video is for. Shooting a commercial?

Forgot to say, I loved the comment from Norah Jones about his singing. I am so desperate to hear the full album again, properly in peace as my general impression is still that Billie sounded awesome. Surprised also to hear that he’s got more nervous about singing!

Great interview, wish it had been filmed and longer. The photos though, every time I try to enlarge them they are just rubbish quality, shame. Loved the bit about Taco Bell. I think I know what they mean about Foam though, because it wasn’t a hit, they didn’t feel they could bring it out and start playing it two years down the line, life had moved on. Loved Mike’s comment about his Ferrari 😂

I really like the interviews they have done recentley. I admire Billie Joe for being so open and vulnerable about addiction and fatherhood. And when Tré said they were proud of him. 🥹 I have read two interviews so far were they talk about Father of all and covid. If it makes them feel better oh well. They don't have an old mind set and I love that. Even though they have to get colonoscopies now. If you get one were I live you don't get anesthesia, just pain killers, if that would have been the case he could have been listening to Green Day too.

Kerrang says One Eyed Bastard is the final single 😞 I thought we were just getting STARTED. .. Well, time to open up Album 15 speculation.. Saviors is over.

Well it wasn’t as fun as the other podcast he recently did but it was a cool listen!

Usually the biggest difference in sound quality comes in the mastering stage, but more weight should help around the margins.

Can we all stop discussing the album until I've heard it? In return I'll bake you all some delicious bread

Only one - two at a stretch - songs are worth rescuing from that album... So it would basically be Saviors plus Graffitia.

They shoud keep graffitia for this album with this production, and don't use that great song in that horrible experiment

Weakest track maybe. But it was the perfect choice for a lead single. Can't deny that

god strange days are here to stay is such an amazing song, it's such a trilogy sounding song (dont like comparing other albums usually) but it's executed so perfectly. If this was the teaser 10 song then I can definitely see how this is interesting in the same way Letterbomb is interesting.

Same! So excited promo week is here. The more shows they're on, the better