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X-clusive: Green Day Talk Bush And Rednecks
Green Day dropped into the Rock Show to speak exclusively to Xfm’s Ian Camfield. Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and drummer Tre Cool explained why they think their new album is timeless: “This record will never date because there’ll never be a lack of rednecks in the U.S.A.”
Four years since their last album, ‘Warning’ and with the career-spanning ‘International Superhits’ Greatest Hits package still on shop shelves, some may have assumed Green Day had rolled over and died. Sleeping, yes – died, no…
“We didn’t really tour much for our last record,” Armstrong admits. “But this album has probably been two years in the making.” Cool continues, “We knew we wanted to shake things up with the band and [what we were doing] just grew and evolved into something. Once Billie Joe wrote ‘American Idiot’ we said ‘Hey, we should make more like this’
The band have admitted that the new record is a snapshot of the lives of frustrated America in a climate of political unrest, but it’s not all about George W Bush.
“It’s definitely got political overtones,” Armstrong explains, “But it’s still about personal relationships. Saying that, whenever American politics is shaky, it’s always a good time for music. Since day one of the Bush office I knew I’d start writing more politically…But [while the record’s about the Bush administration] I can’t see it dating too quickly – there’ll never be a lack of rednecks in the U.S.A.”
Containing two 9-minute epic pieces, the album is a musical leap forward for a band famed for their 3-minute punk workouts. The pair explained how the idea of the lengthy tracks came about.
“Mike [Dirnt, bass player] went away one day and wrote this 30-second song,” Armstrong says, “All the instrumentation and arrangement, everything – so then I wrote one and connected them together and then Tre did one. It started getting more serious and we were trying to out-do each other.”
“Billie actually through away whole songs he’d written just to keep little bits of them [for the multi-chaptered songs]” Cool adds. “We’re part of the confusion in all of this. It’s about trying to find individuality while you’re being bombarded with useless information the whole time.
“To really follow the story you need to look at the artwork as well as the lyrics, It’s not an obvious story, like The Who’s ‘Tommy’, but it’s also open to interpretation – people can put their own lives into it.”
15 years since the band was first conceived, and the three-piece have rediscovered a sense of maturity (“Well maybe, but I hate that word,” Armstrong explains, “You may have noticed…”). Not that this stops them encouraging the youth of today into the dangerous world of rock ‘n’ roll.
“We’re getting older, but we’re not crusties,” Armstrong jokes. “We’re still the kind of grown-ups that’ll buy you cigarettes and liquor if you’re hanging about outside an off-licence.”
Green Day released the album ‘American Idiot’ this week (September 28).
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