Following the exciting news that Green Day will be headlining BST next summer, Billie Joe Armstrong of Greenday spoke with Zane Lowe on Beats 1 last night about their Bang Bang track being a protest song, US politics, on their new album, touring plans and much more.
On dealing with anxiety:
I think with like feeling nervous or having anxiety or something like that. You know I feel everything. I think when you’re playing live it plays itself out and I realized that and it’s like wow this is life. Life is awkward and unpredictable and I think that’s probably one of the most beautiful things about it.
On writing when sober and being the most awkward guy in the room:
Green Day for me has always been those moments of clarity. You can do all the drugs that you want, you can drink all the booze that you want but when a band is at their best it’s when they're clear headed. I didn’t write American Idiot on drugs, I was clear and it felt really positive. I think that there’s an awkwardness that comes along with it. I think I’ll always have that teenage awkwardness, the most awkward guy in a crowded room. I’m pretty socially inept. The awkwardness that you feel it never goes away its just a matter of how you deal with it.
On choosing the album title Revolution Radio:
I think the song is kind of a call to arms to our fans. It’s sort of a love song to our fans and how far everyone has come in the last thirty years. But I think Revolution Radio it’s a protest song when I watched the Ferguson protests that were going on in New York and I felt compelled to jump in line with everybody. And it definitely has that connotation but it’s also a big sing along for all the weirdos to just kinda keep being weirdos. Everybody just do it together.
On his kids’ music:
I’m a fan of their music. I think Jacob is a great songwriter. It blew me away when he wrote “King of the World” I was like wow. I didn’t know he had it in him. He’s not the most talkative guy in the world, which is like talk about virtue. He’s mixing it up and playing in these great punk venues. And then SWMRS, Joey is an unbelievable drummer, he really has honed in his craft. Just everyday he’s getting better and better and he loves anyone from Keith Moon to Questlove, some of his favorites. But like Cole Becker as a songwriter I mean he’s an original. They just got weird. They came out totally rocking and sound like yeah its seamless. I wouldn't be talking about them right now. I’m really proud of them, I’m proud of both of them they’re great.
Billie Joe describes some of the tracks on the album:
If I’m at a party or something like that I tend to ask a lot more questions these days instead of just trying to come up with answers. Sometimes when you’re ignorant about something it’s sort of a virtue because it makes you curious about what’s going on. I think that’s what I do in my songs. I just stay curious about what it is that I’m feeling about, whether its personal on a song like ‘Still Breathing’ or if it’s political like a song on there called ‘Say Goodbye’ which is basically about a military state right in your living room. With Bang Bang that’s the blazer, with the rest of the record there’s a lot of peaks and valleys throughout the record, There’s a song called Outlaws that’s kinda a slower jam. There’s a song called Troubled Times that’s pretty intense. And there’s more stuff that’s more conceptual. Forever Now kinda has a feeling of mini rock opera.
On their touring plans:
We’re doing this run of theaters right now and we’re gonna come out and play arenas and stadiums and festivals. We’re gonna ride this wave because it feels really good. Every once in a while you get a record you feel is kinda like transcending. There’s no struggle with what’s going on. It’s just pure joy that’s what this record is starting to feel like. We’re gonna have a lot of fun with our Idiot Nation - it should be great.
