Random Green Day News

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

 

 

 

 

[The Grohl]

Alt Press ranks Green Day's videos

https://www.altpress.com/features/green-day-music-videos-ranked/

[Aidana]

Fucking love oh yeah video. Everyone in the video looked so good. For some reason I find the body builder hilarious, especially towards the end when he looks into the camera. 

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

 

Piece here from Ultimate Guitar about Billie taking people onstage:

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/green_day_frontman_explains_why_he_takes_people_from_audience_onstage_to_play_guitar__how_eddie_van_halen_influenced_it.html

Green Day Frontman Explains Why He Takes People From Audience Onstage to Play Guitar & How Eddie Van Halen Influenced It

"You never know what you're gonna get," Billie Joe Armstrong says.

During an appearance on WMMR, Green Day singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong talked about the band's routine of bringing up people from the audience onstage during its live shows to jam some guitar and sing.

Green Day has a new studio album out titled "Father of All Motherfuckers," released on February 7 as the follow-up to 2016's "Revolution Radio."

When the interviewer said, "I'm wondering about the process of that. You do it almost every show; can you judge who can play your guitar or sing a song as opposed to those who are going to completely fail?", Billie replied (transcribed by UG):

"You never know what you're gonna get. Either way, if someone can't play - sometimes you get someone that is just a complete shredder, and the crowd goes absolutely wild, and then you get someone that can barely put their hands on the damn thing, and still people kind of go nuts over it because it's in the spirit of connecting with everybody/

"I remember being a kid and seeing Van Halen play. I was, like, 12, and Eddie would come out, and I'd go, 'God, it would be so cool to be up there and do what he's doing.'

"So I was always keeping that in mind, subconsciously that's basically what ended up happening, breaking down the barrier between the band and the audience."

You were playing 'Jesus of Suburbia' and you brought this kid up on stage, that's not an easy song to play...

"It gave me the chills, that was so cool. It's like what more do you want out of life than that? Hearing that kid, just, pure joy.

"You know man, that's why I got into this shit, you know? Music gets you high, and you could just tell that that kid was stoned out of his brain because of rock 'n' roll music. It's great."

So this 10-song album, 'Father of All Motherfuckers,' is available on CD and vinyl. The record was originally 16 songs, but you cut it down to 10. I think at 10, it's the shortest thing in Green Day history. I'm wondering, why you cut the six songs?

"I think we were trying to come up with, like, sequencing a record is one of the hardest parts about making a record, so I had 16 songs, and I was putting them in sequence, and I was having a difficult time.

"So then I was, like, 'I need to just pick my top 10 favorites that I know that I know are gonna go on.' And I was, like, 'That's the record right there, those are the 10 songs.'

"And it's sort of a departure of what we've been doing in the past because we've done rock operas, we've done concept records, we did three albums with 36 songs on them and stuff like that, so it's the shortest album I think we've made since [1995's] 'Insomniac.'"

You said it's, like, 'All the songs were talking to each other and it felt right'?

"Yeah, we wanted to go through, like, the history of rock 'n' roll, so we loved anything from Motown to Little Richard, Chuck Berry, to all the glam rock with Mott the Hoople, and T-Rex, Joan Jett, so yeah, we just kind of wanted to really let our influences just shine a little bit more."

You borrowed an actual vocal from 'Do You Want to Touch' me from Joan Jett, and on that song 'Oh, Yeah.' You actually take a piece of her and the Black Hearts and insert it.

"Oh, yeah. I always thought someone should sample that song just because the beat is so good, and I never thought I'd ever get into sampling for some reason, I just thought it was probably outside of my ability.

"And then I just did it and I wrote the song around it. We're such huge fans of Joan Jett and the Black Hearts, so it's just the fun thing to do, it's like peanut butter and jelly."

 

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

Article from Kerrang here:

https://www.kerrang.com/features/billie-joe-armstrongs-14-best-non-green-day-songs/

BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG’S 14 BEST NON-GREEN DAY SONGS

Punk rock, folk collaborations and musical soundtracks, Green Day’s frontman has done it all throughout his career…

Billie Joe Armstrong is a man who likes to stay busy. When Green Day aren’t up to much, their frontman can often be found working on other projects, whether that’s alongside the band’s bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool, or venturing further afield in the worlds of folk and musical theatre. Here, we’ve rounded up 14 of the best examples of Billie Joe’s talents away from the day job. From working with up-and-coming UK bands to forming supergroups with punk rock legends, this guy seemingly never stops…

STRANGERS & THIEVES – JESSE MALIN FT. BILLE JOE ARMSTRONG

This 2019 collaboration between Billie Joe and singer-songwriter Jesse Malin is an energetic dose of feel-good rock’n’roll. Strangers & Thieves featured on Jesse’s album Sunset Kids, but it wasn’t the first time the pair had collaborated, with the troubadour joining the members of Green Day to form Rodeo Queens a decade ago. Together, they released one song, the punk ditty Depression Times.

TURN ME ON – MATT GROCOTT & THE SHRIVES

In 2015, UK rockers Matt Grocott & The Shrives released their jolly single Turn Me On. The track was recorded at Green Day’s Jingletown Studios, and featured Billie Joe on bass, as well as his son and SWMRS member Joey Armstrong on drums. Despite that star-studded collaboration, however, it appears as though The Shrives are now sadly inactive, since their sole album Back In The Morrow dropped in 2017

IF THERE WAS EVER A TIME – ARMSTRONGS

Getting together with Joey, Rancid’s Tim Armstrong and the latter’s nephew, Rey, Billie Joe and co. formed a kind of punk supergroup, the Armstrongs in 2017. The band released just one song, If There Was Ever A Time, but it’s a ripper. A raucous, beer-in-hand ode to friendship, proceeds raised by the track were donated to legendary California punk venue 924 Gilman, where their bands cut their teeth in the early days.

THESE PAPER BULLETS! SOUNDTRACK

One of Billie Joe’s more surprising ventures was that of These Paper Bullets!, a musical inspired by Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, for which he wrote the soundtrack. Having already tried his hand at Broadway for the adaptation of American Idiot, Billie Joe penned a number of Beatles-esque songs for These Paper Bullets!, whose story was set in 1960s London and followed the fictional band The Quartos.

BROKEN WORLD – THE INTERRUPTERS

Billie Joe has a writing credit on this excellent cut from ska heroes The Interrupters’ 2018 epic Fight The Good Fight. Recounting the writing experience in an interview with Dying Scene, Interrupters guitarist Kevin Bivona explained, “We were in Santiago, Chile, and we played a show [with Green Day], and there were a couple of hours before we had to go to the airport, so we were hanging out with Green Day and their families. It was an amazing experience. And [Billie Joe] goes, ‘Hey, I have an idea for a song that I think could be a really cool Interrupters song.’ And he grabbed a guitar, and he kinda pulled Aimee [Interrupter, vocals] and I aside and he played it for us, and he said, ‘I don’t know, I think this would just be a kind of cool thing for you.’ And he played it for us and we said, ‘Yes! We love it!’”

THE BOO EP

The Armstrong family are a talented bunch, something evidenced by The Boo, a band made up of Billie Joe and Joey, as well as Billie’s wife, Adrienne, and son Jakob. Their self-titled EP came out in 2011, and is made up of four spiky pop-punk tracks that see Billie Joe revert from guitar to bass. Above all, The Boo is proof that the Armstrong gang are one of the coolest families in rock.

UNFORGIVEN – THE GO-GO’S

Another Billie Joe writing credit, this time in the form of a collaboration with pop-rock outfit The Go-Go’s, who’ve been at it since 1978. Unforgiven dropped in 2001 and was a part of the band’s fourth album, God Bless The Go-Go’s, marking the first time the five-piece had released new music in seven years. The song itself is another typically buoyant piece of songwriting from Billie Joe built around some rollicking guitars.

LIFE DURING WARTIME – PINHEAD GUNPOWDER

Punk rock outfit Pinhead Gunpowder formed in East Bay not long after Green Day got together. Among their ranks is Jason White, Green Day’s long-time touring rhythm guitarist and unofficial fourth member. Pinhead Gunpowder have only released one full-length album, 1997’s Goodbye Ellston Avenue, with the stand-out track being Life During Wartime, a boisterous slab of ’90s pop-punk fury.

MOTHER MARY – FOXBORO HOTTUBS

‘Foxboro Hottubs’ was the moniker used by Green Day to book secret shows before they released a full album under said name, Stop, Drop And Roll!!!, in 2007. The side-project deals in a sound that leans more towards garage rock than Green Day’s core material, something evidenced by the single, Mother Mary. Billie Joe and Jason White perform under aliases in Foxboro Hottubs – the former going by the name ‘Reverend Strychnine Twitch’, while Jason plays as ‘Frosco Lee’.

MONEY MONEY 2020 – THE NETWORK

Yet another Green Day distraction, The Network was the new wave project put together in 2003, resulting in their only album (so far), Money Money 2020. The Network perform in disguises, but Billie Joe’s unmistakable vocals are clear and audible throughout. And it’s not hard to work out who might have been behind a band who opened shows for Green Day in the early ’00s. This one has now been laying dormant for many years now, alas.

ROVING GAMBLER – NORAH JONES AND BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG

Possibly Billie Joe’s most intriguing non-Green Day venture, his 2017 collaborative album with singer-songwriter Norah Jones, Foreverly, is a delightful collection of folk songs based on material by The Everly Brothers. Foreverly’s opening track, Roving Gambler, is a fine example of the kind of magic the duo captured – a charismatic tale of a time gone by, the pair’s voices combine beautifully to elevate the song to new heights.

LOVE IS FOR LOSERS – THE LONGSHOT

The Longshot specialise in punky power-pop in the vein of Green Day’s more carefree material, captured in all its glory on the band’s joyous 2018 debut LP Love Is For Losers. The record’s excellent title-track is just one such example of the quality to be found across its 10 original songs, but the surprising cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s Goodbye To Romance showcased a band with a talent for reinterpretting a classic, too.

AGAPE – THE LOOKOUTS

Tré Cool was in rough-and-ready punk outfit The Lookouts before he joined Green Day. They released a couple of albums and EPs during the late 1980s, all of which were brought together on the 2015 compilation Spy Rock Road And Other Stories…. Billie Joe played guitar and offered backing vocals on a few of The Lookouts’ songs, most notably this rowdy standout, Agape.

LOOK FOR LOVE – BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG

We’re rounding this list off with an honourable mention for Billie Joe Armstrong’s earliest recorded material – the stand alone 1977 single Look For Love, which the future Green Day star produced when he was just five years old! The charming ditty was actually released by Fiat Records and a limited number of vinyl copies were made, which, given Billie Joe’s subsequent global stature, are probably worth a pretty penny in 2020.

LINKS TO SONGS WITHIN ARTICLE

 

[Beerjeezus]

Didn't know about the Go Go's song!

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

2 hours ago, Beerjeezus said:

Didn't know about the Go Go's song!

It's a great track - I really like it

[jengd]

Just now, Rumpelstiltskin2000 said:

It's a great track - I really like it

I have it on my jogging playlist! 

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

1 hour ago, jengd said:

I have it on my jogging playlist! 

3 hours ago, Beerjeezus said:

Didn't know about the Go Go's song!

I also love the track "The angel and the jerk" that Billie did with Penelope Houston (I think it was used for the "Friends" soundtrack) 

[Beerjeezus]

4 minutes ago, Rumpelstiltskin2000 said:

I also love the track "The angel and the jerk" that Billie did with Penelope Houston (I think it was used for the "Friends" soundtrack) 

I'm listening to Unforgiven right now, and yeah - it's a Billie song! Love it

[Little Boy Named Booze]

18 minutes ago, Rumpelstiltskin2000 said:

I also love the track "The angel and the jerk" that Billie did with Penelope Houston (I think it was used for the "Friends" soundtrack) 

Wow I'm a big Friends fan and I didn't know that!

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

3 minutes ago, Little Boy Named Airplane said:

Wow I'm a big Friends fan and I didn't know that!

You should check it out

Check out this old cover story from SPIN magazine:

https://www.spin.com/2014/09/green-day-2004-american-idiot-cover-story/

Or this article from Magnet magazine:

http://magnetmagazine.com/1993/10/13/punk-in-silk-pajamas-jawbreaker-green-day-and-j-church/

Another article about Billie's side projects here, this time from Rock Sound magazine:

https://www.rocksound.tv/features/read/here-are-all-of-the-musical-projects-billie-joe-armstrong-has-been-involved

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

Article here from Playbill:

http://www.playbill.com/article/in-honor-of-billie-joe-armstrong-look-back-at-american-idiot-on-broadway

In Honor of Billie Joe Armstrong, Look Back at American Idiot on Broadway

The Green Day front man, who also stepped into the role of St. Jimmy, celebrates his birthday February 17.

Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong celebrates his birthday February 17. In honor of the rock star's birthday, Playbill is looking back at his Broadway debut, American Idiot.

American Idiot opened at the St. James Theatre April 20, 2010 after beginning preview performances March 24. Featuring a score from Green Day's "American Idiot" album with a book by Michael Mayer and Armstrong, the musical played 422 performances before closing on April 24, 2011. The musical garnered three Tony Award nominations, winning for Best Light Design of a Musical and Best Scenic Design of a Musical.

American Idiot starred John Gallagher Jr., Stark Sands, Michael Esper, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Christina Sajous, Mary Faber, Tony Vincent, Declan Bennett, Andrew Call, Gerard Canonico, Miguel Cervantes, Joshua Henry, Van Hughes, Brian Charles Johnson, Joshua Kobak, Lorin Latarro, Omar Lopez-Cepero, Leslie McDonel, Chase Peacock, Theo Stockman, Ben Thompson, Alysha Umphress, Aspen Vincent and Libby Winters.

Armstrong eventually replaced Vincent in the role of St. Jimmy, another character’s rock star alter ego. Armstrong sang “St. Jimmy,” from the original album, “Last Night on Earth,” and “Know Your Enemy,” which were interpolated into the Broadway score.

There's a slide of photos within the article too

[pacejunkie punk]

I don’t think we’ve seen this one yet:

 

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

37 minutes ago, pacejunkie punk said:

I don’t think we’ve seen this one yet:

 

At this point I don't remember what I have and haven't seen and on so many of them they're sat on the same sofa!

[The Grohl]

Whenever I get my interview with Green Day I'm just gonna sit on the phone and wonder what faces Billie is making on the other end

[pacejunkie punk]

3 minutes ago, kaylubd said:

Whenever I get my interview with Green Day I'm just gonna sit on the phone and wonder what faces Billie is making on the other end

Do a FaceTime and if you're lucky he'll be in bed drinking coffee 😉

[Slave To The Network]

4 hours ago, pacejunkie punk said:

I don’t think we’ve seen this one yet:

 

Ooooh, could we make this downloadable somehow?

[desertrose]

 

[Beyza]

11 hours ago, Green Day In Seattle said:

Ooooh, could we make this downloadable somehow?

Translation of the questions btw:

1. After 70 million records sold, more than 30 years as Green Day and being one of the most influential bands of all time, do you still think the same thing about 'rock' as you thought when you started this?

2. And after so many years of career do you still remember what your first rehearsals as a band were like?

3. Now you come with "Father of All Motherfuckers", this album lasts approximately 26 minutes. How did you choose which songs remained in this album so concrete?

4. Making short and distorted songs for an entire album seems to return to the roots of rock. Was that what you were looking for?

5. What do you think is the role of rock in keeping people connected to reality?

6. Billie, I think you have a great fatherly sense, your Instagram is full of videos of kids rockin', what do you feel when you see a boy with a guitar rockin' hard?

7. And speaking of guitars, it is known that when you invite a fan to go on stage to play with you at the end you almost always give him your guitar, do you remember the first time you did it?

8. And speaking of the audience, what is your favorite thing about the Mexican audience?

9. You have achieved everything, you have sold millions of records, you are considered one of the best punk bands in history, you have a broadway musical, what else do you need to do?

[The Grohl]

Looks like the boys will be on the cover of the March issue of the free Chicago publication Illinois Entertainer! 

 

 

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

Contest here to win a GD prize pack:

 

 

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

 

[LaughingClock]

On 2/17/2020 at 6:13 AM, Aidana Shyngysbayeva said:

YOU know you’ve made it when Rolling Stones wishes you happy birthday. I don’t even get a call from my relatives, luckily 😁

I get your point and I laughed but I would be remiss if I didn't say to everyone "You've know you've made it when you smile and say 'I love my life'", regardless of what you do, how much money you make, and everything in between. I know people with millions who would shoot themselves if they didn't have other depending on them and the happiest person I know doesn't have two dimes to scrape together and lost his fiance at 22. 

I don't mean to preach, and I know your comment was benign but I am feeling transcendent today here as I do my weekly read through the posts.

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

Think the press just picked up on the AI movie being shelved from recent interviews with the boys but couple of articles here:

https://www.kerrang.com/the-news/the-green-day-american-idiot-movie-adaptation-has-been-pretty-much-scrapped/

https://loudwire.com/green-day-american-idiot-movie-scrapped/

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/american-idiot-movie-green-day-musical-billie-joe-armstrong-tom-hanks-broadway-a9326561.html

https://www.nme.com/news/music/green-days-american-idiot-movie-has-been-pretty-much-scrapped-2606874