Discography Albums Green Day |
InterviewFlipside Magazine, 1992 Pictures: 1, 2 Introduction: A couple of weeks prior to doing this big Pacific Northwest/Canada kinda tour, Green Day came down for the weekend to play shows in San Louis Obispo and in Hollywood (At Rajis, of course). I found out that they'd be staying at ex-Flipsider Joy's twenty bedroom mansion in Pasadena (Former Flipside writers always retire in style) and so I jumped at the chance to interview singer/guitar player Billie Joe, bassist Mike and drummer Tre Cool. With five releases out, they're not really that young of a band anymore but believe me, they haven't lost their youthful whimsey. We started out by laying the groundwork for the definitive Green Day joke book, but unfortunately, they ran out of jokes...... Or alcohol..... Both, really. Here's what we ended up with: Tre Cool: Unfortunately, this isn't a funny one 'cause it's P.C. But: There's these two simpletons who were driving down HWY 101. The simpleton driving said to the passenger "Duh, check and see if my turn signal's working." The passenger said "Duh, ok." And he rolled down the window and stuck his head out. He looked and he said "Duh, yeah it's working. No, it's not. Yeah, it is. No, it's not. Yeah, it is. No, it's not...." Billie Joe: Mine's a riddle and you can turn to the last page and see how it comes out. A man and his son went out jogging. They go off a cliff and the man dies, but his son survives. The ambulance comes and they take him to the hospital. They bring him to the doctor and the doctor says "I can't operate this boy, he's my son!" What's the answer? Tre Cool: Zing! Mike: It was his mom! Tre Cool: What was Mr. Chicken's favourite composer? Bach! Mike: How many guitar players does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A hundred: One to do it and the rest to say "I can do that." Billie Joe: What do you call guys that hang out with musicians? Drummers! Tre Cool: What do you do if your kid can only count to four? Buy him a drum kit and call him gifted! Mike: How many punk rockers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Tre Cool: How many? Mike: Uhh... um... um... Let me think...... Two! One to screw in the lightbulb and the other to suck my dick! Tre Cool:You have to put every single "Uh" and "Um". Mike: I want everyone at home to know that Joy Aoki just laughed so hard she showered me with spit. Bob: Ok, next topic: Hippies.... Tre Cool: I knoew this one hippie, Nerlene. She lived in this shack that was built by this dude. It was an old tar paper shack. And she had, like five kids. All of her kids, every single one of them, was allergic to milk. These children always put water on their cereal. You know, like, Corn Puffs. One time, my dad went down to Narlene's house and he asked her little daughter Sabrina "Is Narlene around?" and Sabrina said "No, she's down at the secret garden." Bob: Any other hippie stories? Mike: No, we don't associate with hippies anymore.... Billie Joe: Once I got slipped some acid from a hippie when I was in South Dakota. We were staying at this hippie people house and this guy comes up and he goes "Here." And he put these two stupid little pills in my hand. I go "What's this?" And he goes "Two will do ya." and he walked away. We crushed 'em up on the porch....and everyone in the van was waiting for our trip to come on....but nothing happened. Mike: I dropped acid one time....You don't have to print that. My mom might read it and flip out. I'm kidding. My mom doesn't read Flipside. It's no bid deal. If you were Rolling Stone, my mom wouldn't read the magazine..... Tre Cool: Your mom can't read. Bob: New topic: Europe. What did you guys do to make everyone rave about you like that? Mike: Walked around dressed like girls. Tre Cool: I walked around naked. Billie Joe: What do you mean we walked around dressed like girls? We walked around in our own clothes. They just happened to be dresses. Mike: We played in our underwear, once..... Billie Joe: When we were coming out of Spain, I don't know if I was having an anxiety attack or what, but I just freaked out! I didn't say anything to anybody. It was weird. Bob: What do you think caused it? Billie Joe: I don't know. I had just become a vegetarian. I lost alot of weight. It was like.... I couldn't understand anybody. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But, I loved the way the women danced in Spain.... Tre Cool: They shake their asses. Billie Joe: I met this girl named Pili. Hopefully she'll read Flipside. It was my only romance in Europe. She had the same name as me, almost. Bob: Are Green Day records getting over to Europe ok? Mike: Just mail order. Bob: Did people know who you were? Mike: Some people did. There are mail order punks everywhere. That's rad. Bob: It seems like "Paper Lanterns" has emerged as the quintessential Greem Day song.... Billie Joe: What does that mean? Tre Cool: Like, the epitome of a Green Day song... Bob: Is it the most popular? Billie Joe: It's one of the funnest ones to play. As far as the lyrics go...at that time, for Green Day.... Tre Cool: Pretty weak. Bob: Do you get alot of shit for doing mostly boy-girl type songs? Billie Joe: That's a fallacy. Our songs are just like....life. They're not personal. Mike: It's not the impact of our songs is going to be a person hearing it and going out to change the world. It's an idea. A feeling that comes across in a song. If a person relates to it, then right on. Ok, cool. Maybe that person's going to resolve their own thoughts. Billie Joe: All those things do happen. I do have one of the shittiest love lives on this side of the earth. Mike: What's wrong with girls? Billie Joe: Nothing. I dig 'em. Bob: Has the band been approached by any major labels yet? Tre Cool: No. Next question. Billie Joe: We've thought about doing an L.A. Gear commercial. I asked 'em for a free pair of shoes and they said "No way!" So we said "Fuck that!" Bob: Did you guys just come down for the weekend or are you starting a tour? Billie Joe: No. We just played in San Luis Obispo. At this Rock - Film festival. Mike: San Louie a Go-Go. What a great place! Billie Joe: We played with this band that was kind of a Teenage Fanclub kind of thing. Mike: We played in L.A. last night with a band called Tit-Dick! Tre Cool: They were the Melvins! They had to be... Billie Joe: Dick-Tit.... Mike: I'll tell you how they got the name: The singer was watching Barney Miller and he looked at Wojohoitz and went "Dick-Tit!" That's really what he told me! Bob: What's the story on "The Diary of Laurie L" thing that appears on the album insert? Billie Joe: I thought it was kinda lame. The story is great. Totally hilarious. But it was too mush. Kind of like turning us into a parody of ourselves. Tre Cool: A little too ridiculous..... Billie Joe: Too goofy. We're very goofy people but.... Bob: I thought it was funny, but I didn't give it any second thoughts. Who wrote it? Billie Joe: It was something we did. But why keep pushing a bad joke? Bob: On the new album there's a Catcher in the Rye thing. A song about Holden Caulfield..... Billie Joe: It's a song about forgetting what you're going to say. Tre Cool: Forgetting things in general. Billie Joe: It's trying to get motivated to do something because your elders tell you, you have to get motivated. So then you get frustrated and you think that you should do something but you end up doing nothing. But then you enjoy it. Mike: And then feeling bad because you got clubbed politically. Billie Joe: I haven't had a job in two years. Mike: I haven't had a job in seven months. Bob: How do you get by? Billie Joe: I'm not living anywhere, really. I have my stuff at my mom's house. I drive around and hang out with my friends and kind of end up where I end up that night. I don't live on the street. I hang out. I have places to go. Mike: Places to go, people to meet. Bob: Do the rest of you guys have homes? Mike: I live in a crack house. Billie Joe: It's ugly. Mike: Actually, we've moved three times in two months, so we're like, total rock stars. Tre Cool: Ever since we got that jet..... Bob: You guys said before that you used to be into heavy metal.... Billie Joe: That was stuff we were into before we started Green Day. We were into shitty metal....we were twelve years old. Now, sometimes I listen to those bands and the guitar sound isn't quite as full. Tre Cool: Not as amazing....as mysterious. Billie Joe: Back then, it was like, "Wow, that's amazing! How did he do that?" Now I listen to it and it sounds kind of wimpy. Like, I always liked Ozzy Osboum's (!!) first two albums...... Bob: What are your favourite songs? Mike: I like "Help" by the Beatles. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a rad song. No matter how much they play it. Billie Joe: I have to admit...."Bohemian Rhapsody" is a good song. Bob: Not just because it was re-popularized in a movie? Mike: No. Fuck that! You have to look past all that bullshit. Music is music. You have to look past Wayne and Garth. Bob: So what are your favourite records? Mike: Something on Lookout. My favourite record..... Probably the Saturday night fever soundtrack. Billie Joe: As far as punk rock goes, Screeching Weasels have a good record out. Tre Cool: They rock totally hard. Bob: Do you guys still get a mostly eighteen and over audience? Billie Joe: Yeah. The people that come to our shows are really young. Mike: If we played a 21 and over show in Berkely...there'd probably be no one there. Bob: How do you guys think you'll do in three years? Billie Joe: I don't know. You can't always predict what's going to happen three years from now. Mike: I can. We'll all have killed each other by then. Billie Joe: I'm going to point a gun at Tre. Tres' going to point a gun at Mike. Mike's going to point a gun at me. Mike: We're going to count to three and pull the trigger. Back to top |
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