Alternative Press Segment #2

Here is the second segment from the same issue of Alternative Press (October 2004) and the topic is about the Green Day copycat bands who were around at the time and how Green Day felt about them. Written by Tom Lanham.

When They Come Around (Again)

Rob Cavallo is the first to point out the obvious. All you have to do is switch on MTV, VH1 or any allegedly alternative radio station, and you'll witness echo after Green Day echo. So many, in fact, that it seems almost criminal. "Just look at all those copycat soundalikes out there," the producer growls. "You can't point to one—at least in the modern era—that actually came before Green Day." But how do the boys feel about such blatant plagiarism? They weigh in on the issue:

[Tré] Cool: "My thing about that is, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. But these bands might need time. When we were doing Dookie, that's what we sounded like. So you've gotta give [the new bands] a chance to develop."

[Mike] Dirnt: "I'll give you a good example. I think the new New Found Glory single is a really good song. It's a poppy melody, but they're actually saying something. And myself, I really love the Dickies, but I discovered 'em—believe it or not—after we recorded Dookie. And when we finally met 'em, they naturally assumed that we knew their band, but I was like, 'Dude, I was too poor to buy records!' But they were probably thinking, 'Hey, those guys totally ripped off our songs!' But actually, I was probably ripping off Crimpshrine more than anyone. Them, and the Replacements and Hüsker Dü."

[Billie Joe] Armstrong: "Well, the thing about the pop punk bands is, there are so many, and they're all getting signed to major deals right from the beginning, with no time to develop their craft. So they have a bit of a formula before they even develop a formula. I don't like baggin' on the pop punk bands, though; I know what it's like to be on the receiving end, where people were slagging me off.

"So, what I've decided is that these bands need time to develop, so let's see what happens to 'em five, six years down the line. In 2009, a band like Good Charlotte isn't gonna be the same Good Charlotte that they were in 2003. And it's not up to me whether or not they last; it's gonna be up to what kind of music ends up coming out of 'em. They say all the right things, and it seems like their heart's in the right place. But it all depends on if they've got the talent and that ability to just say, '[__] it! I'm gonna do whatever I want!'" [TL]

Alternative Press Segment #1

This segment was in the October 2004 issue of Alternative Press. This was part of the main interview I posted a while back but it was featured on the side. There's also another segment which I will post later. The first one is about something Tré Cool did at a hotel where Green Day were staying during the recording sessions for American Idiot. Written by Tom Lanham.

The Time Of Their Lives

"We wanna grow older and we wanna be men and we wanna do it in style," asserts Mike Dirnt. "We don't wanna have to be bratty punk rock kids for the rest of our lives."

Fortunately, Green Day's metamorphosis into maturity isn't taking place overnight. Lest you think punk's most playful pranksters have gotten, y'know, boring, we offer this little run down of some of their recent feather-ruffling shenanigans which occurred at the Hollywood hotel where they'd been staying during the five-month American Idiot sessions.

Although he's the breadwinning father of two, Billie Joe Armstrong readily admits that, "My life feels really split down the middle lately, because there's this other side of me that's like this raging lunatic. So it's been hard to balance the two at the same time. So, all the trouble usually happens out of Tré's hotel room, and about 80 percent of the time, I'm there in the room with him. I'm no longer the instigator."

What kind of trouble? There was the evening when the drummer of a respected British band was occupying the suite next door to Cool. The snooty arteest wanted to sleep; Cool and his kooky minions wanted to party. Suffice it to say, it didn't turn into the meeting of percussive minds you'd expect. The enraged guest burst into Cool's room (the door being regularly left ajar to keep the parties flowing) and yelled, "Turn down the music! I've got a gig tomorrow!"

"So I hear from hotel security the next day that one of this band's guys got locked in his room during the night," cackles Dirnt. "Somebody apparently tied a rope around his door handle, then tied it to a nearby handrail." How could someone perform such a trick? Cool's eyes are already twinkling. "See, you just do a slipknot on the doorknob," he explains. "Then you pull it really tight against the handrail, and do a good sailing knot. I've got a boat and stuff, so I'd know to tie a knot like that really good."

"And you can come back a year later and know that knot's still gonna be there," praises Dirnt. "So, this famous guy got locked in his room, and then he had to endure having his own music intentionally blared at the party next door."

Dirnt has also taken in his fair share of decadent hotel life. "It was 2:30 in the morning the other night," he wistfully recalls. "And this gal comes in from next door, and she looks just like the gal from The Bourne Identity and Run, Lola, Run. I'd swear it actually was her. She was in boxer shorts and a T-shirt, and she comes in and says, 'Could you please quiet down? I've really gotta get some sleep!' So I went back in and said, 'Okay, guys, you're gonna have to quiet down, or the really hot girl from next door is gonna come over and complain again!'"

Cool, who hadn't heard this story yet, then pounds knuckles with his partner in prankster crime. "I like the way you operate, my man! Nice one!" [TL]