Green Day are back today with their new album "Father Of All …". There is something for everyone: from tracks with the sound of recent years ("Father Of All …"), to direct, socially critical announcements ("Oh Yeah!"), To gaudy punk songs, like in their old ones Times ("Sugar Youth").
Green Day will present the new songs, and certainly also some hits from over 30 years of band history, live in Germany in June. In addition to the festival appearances at Rock am Ring and Rock im Park (June 5-7), a solo concert is also planned in Berlin (June 3). Green Day fans should have these nine facts ready at the next concert.
It started in school
Singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong (47) and bassist Mike Dirnt (47) have already attended Pinole Valley High School near San Francisco. At the tender age of 15 they founded their first band. Drummer Tré Cool (47) only found his way to the group in 1990. The 47-year-old was born in Frankfurt am Main and grew up three hours by car north of Pinole Valley in the Mendocino Mountains.
Dirnt, Dirnt, Dirnt
This may not be obvious to Germans, but bassist Mike Dirnt's "last name" is a nickname. He liked to play air guitar in the school yard and always made noises that should have sounded like "dirnt, dirnt, dirnt". That is why his friends gave him this nickname, which has remained until today. Real name "Dirnt" is Michael Ryan Pritchard.
The sweet little ones
Green Day was not always called Green Day. Before they missed the world-famous name in 1989, they were on the road for two years as Sweet Children. At that time Tré Cool was not yet part of the band – the drummer at that time was Al Sobrante (50) and stayed until 1990.
What the band name is all about
The name Green Day comes from the American slang of the west coast and denotes an uneventful day that you spend stoned in a park. The members of Green Day were obviously big fans of it. It is also quite easy to explain why Billie Joe Armstrong published a punk magazine text in 1989 on "How to Become a Couch Potato".
A mobile library as a tour bus
When Green Day went on their first US tour in the early 1990s, they still had to use a makeshift tour bus. Tré Cool's father rebuilt a mobile library so the boys could drive through the states. Then he was the driver of the band.
Ban for (almost) always
Green Day's success included the legendary punk rock house "Alternative Music Foundation" at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California. After the band signed a contract with Warner Music in 1993 prior to the release of their breakthrough album "Dookie" (1994), they were from now on undesirable in the club simply called "Gilman" by fans. Because hiring from a major label was frowned upon in the punk scene. In 2001 they played a surprise concert that was not agreed with the location, but the official return was only in 2015 for a benefit concert – after 22 years.
They sound like Green Day
Many listeners may have been surprised when they heard The Network's album "Money Money 2020" (2003). Even though Mike Dirnt did not officially confirm "Rolling Stone" until 2012, many were sure beforehand that it was Green Day – but concerts were only masked. The record "Stop Drop and Roll !!!" was a little less mysterious. (2008) of the Foxboro Hot Tubs. In the same year, Armstrong told the music magazine "NME": "The only thing that Foxboro Hot Tubs and Green Day have in common is that we are the same band."
An "American Idiot" hit has a personal story
"Wake Me Up When September Ends" from the album "American Idiot" (2004) was a real hit, which also went up and down on German radios. It is about Armstrong's father, who died of cancer in 1982 when the future Green Day front man was only ten years old. In contrast to the other songs in rock opera, it is a bit out of line.
The fourth band member
He's been on board for a while, but Jason White (46) has been unfamiliar to a long time. Although he has always been on stage with the trio since 1999, he only became a full band member in 2012 and was then also in the studio. However, the Green Day Quartet did not last very long – White moved back to the second link in 2016. In addition, Jason Freese (46, since 2004) on the keyboard and Kevin Preston (since 2009) on the rhythm guitar support the band with live performances.