From the Editor's Floor: Green Day Part 2

In the first installment of our web-exclusive interview with GREEN DAY, frontman BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG revealed what went into the making of their upcoming follow-up to American Idiot. In part two, Armstrong talks about the bigger picture.

There was a lot of tension in the band going into American Idiot, to the point where you guys ended up in a sort of group therapy.
It wasn’t group therapy—we never had group-therapy sessions. It was more about opening up communication with each other a little bit more. We did that on our own, though–we didn’t need a therapist to come in and do that, and fuck that. If it ever comes down to where we need a therapist, then obviously you know this is just not fun anymore.

How was the health of the band coming into this record?
I would say our relationship with each other is better than it’s ever been. We get along pretty well, and the fact that we do give each other space, I think, is important. When we have any kind of problem, it’s mostly from being stressed out from music or being burned out or being confused about what the process is, but then we give ourselves time to go hang out outside of the studio, too, you know–it’s like you go to have some drinks together or go ride motorcycles together or something like that. I’m so into the pack idea behind a band, you know? I’ve always had an image of bands where I thought there should be a gang mentality or a family mentality, and I want to keep our band together in the same way.

If you just look at things in terms of sheer time, you’ve been around twice as long as the Beatles.
[Laughs.] Yeah.

What have you been surrounding yourself with this time–any items from home you’ve brought into the studio?
I don’t know–going and buying records at Amoeba (Records in Los Angeles) has been really great. I’ve been buying vinyl a lot. I pretty much listen to nothing but vinyl nowadays. I do have an iPod and shit like that, but it’s really been fun just going and grabbing new records and used records and 180-gram records or whatever; I think that’s the ultimate thing. It’s like bringing books back into the studio or something-you’re just bringing in like a body of work to share. You can put a Beatles poster up on the wall; you’re never gonna be the fuckin’ Beatles. So it’s fun to have some records around just that you can kind of put on and you can hear the cracks in it and it sounds good.

Are you listening to a lot of contemporary stuff?
God, I always try to remember who I’ve been listening to, but I always forget when I’m asked.

Based on the Foxboro Hot Tubs songs, it sounds like you guys haven’t been listening to a lot of new records.
Yeah, but we’ve just kind of digging into our own mental catalog, too. I mean, the Hot Tubs stuff was just like we pushed the record button and that’s the way it sounded. So let’s just riff on anything that sounds like the Kinks or the Who or the Zombies and shit like that. But you know, I love everything from the British invasion to, like, the Fratellis; I think they’re a good band. I like some stuff that’s even more underground, though–we did a Pinhead Gunpowder show at Gilman, and there was a band called Carnal Knowledge that played out of New York, and they were really good. They were the first band I saw at Gilman in a long time, and it was pretty amazing. Another group called This Is My Fist I think is really good, and there’s another band that the Tubs played with, Mystic Knights Of The Cobra, that’s just this freak show of a band that’s from my hometown, [Rodeo, California]. That was really inspiring, to see a band doing stuff that’s far more creative than anything I’ve seen in a really long time, and they’re from this shit town that I’m from. It was just really fun to watch.

When AP interviewed you during the American Idiot sessions, we asked how you felt about all of the contemporary pop-punk bands who’d taken Green Day as an inspiration. What about today-when you look out at the punk landscape, do you still see all these different versions of yourselves?
You know what, man? I have no idea. I think we were so adamant about carving out a niche for ourselves and “having our own sound,” whatever that means, that I just don’t know. I think a lot of those bands were just part of what you always see: A record will come out that’s big, and five or 10 years later there comes a generation of bands that sound like that or are influenced by that. And I think that’s what you saw when Dookie came out [in 1994]. But I think the interesting thing is that when you look at what happened on our last album, it’s gonna take another five to 10 years for all that stuff, all the young kids that got inspired by that to do something with it. It’s kind of crazy, and I don’t mean this to toot our own horn-but this band, what I think we’ve been able to do, is inspire people from a couple of different generations, and honestly inspire them with albums that mean something. It’s not just this thing where people are going back and liking a record from 20 years ago because it happened to come out when they were a certain age.

You guys draw different reactions from every generation that discovers you.
We do. Arguably, there are a lot of people who’ll say that [1992’s] Kerplunk is the best record we ever made. But that’s cool, you know what I mean? It’s just a lot of different people, a lot of different tastes, a lot of different eras.

With American Idiot, you successfully made the shift from very popular punk-rock band to stadium-packing, world-class rock band. Is there a part of you that’s afraid of…
Becoming rock royalty? I hope we never become rock royalty, to a certain extent, because I just have a desire to make great albums. All I ever wanted when we signed to a major label was the ability to make great records for the rest of my life, and that’s what I feel like I’m trying to fulfill. There’s a lot of pressure with that, but I’m glad to take it on, and I want it.

Dookie polarized the punk fans who didn’t want to share you guys with the rest of the world. American Idiot, on the other hand, was the record that everybody wanted to share. That’s a huge contrast.
I think you work so hard and you put so much of yourself into making a record like American Idiot and the one we’re working on now that you have no time for hang-ups. I was done with trying to be exclusive to one genre of music and one type of people that are into a specific thing. I think the reason why we’ve taken the steps we have is not just because you want to write music and make great records for the rest of your life, but you want to be one of the best rock bands of all time, you know? And I’ll die by that sword–I mean, fuck it. You’ve got one chance to live life, and you work your fucking ass off, and you try to just go for it; there’s no time to worry about shit you don’t need to worry about. If you just sit there, you’ll be chasing your tail for the rest of your life, and fuck that.

Do you think you should’ve won the “Album Of The Year” Grammy for American Idiot?
U2 think so! [Laughs.]

Is that motivating you with this record?
Nah, you know, if that shit happens again, that’s awesome. But I’m still in the process of making this record. We’ll see what happens. Beyond that, who knows? —Aaron Burgess