Photo: Mazur/WireImage
Green Day's eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, has topped charts across the globe.
A few days ago we chatted with drummer Tre Cool about their crazy week in New York City, which included SNL with Will Ferrell, club gigs at Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge, and their massive summer tour featuring opening acts Franz Ferdinand, the Rapture and Kaiser Chiefs. Check out the tour dates here. And there's even more Green Day Q&As here: Tre Cool, Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt.
On SNL:
"It was the last show of the season, so everybody came out. Will Ferrell was the host, Tom Hanks did one skit, Amy Poehler, Norm MacDonald and Anne Hathaway of all people! After we did the show, we waved bye and hugged each other, the credits rolled and it it cut to commercial. Then the producer said to us, 'Hey, if you guys want to jump on your equipment and play some more songs, we can make this a little show.' So we jumped on and played a couple more songs, and of course, here comes Will Ferrell with a freakin' cowbell, and we're doing "East Jesus Nowhere," which has some pretty complicated starts and stops, and he'd never heard it, so he was kind of a deer in headlights up there. It was great.
"At the afterparty, we were standing on the ice rink in Rockefeller Center where the ice usually is, and there was about an inch or so of water, and it was cool to see all these dudes in their new sneakers and chicks in their rad $400 Manolo shoes just cruising around in two inches of water and not giving a fuck. There were people dancing and Will Ferrell showed up in a Gucci jumpsuit with gold chains and money rings and shit, and it was pretty wild."
On Club Shows:
"We rocked Bowery Ballroom really fucking hard. That place, that's holy ground, man. That's a holy place. All of the cool bands that have gone through there, all the kickass shows, all the carrying on that has come as a result of that place's existence.
"Webster Hall is pretty awesome, too. Both places felt like they were going to cave in. We actually have footage of Webster Hall -- the ceiling is buckling and nearly collapsing. It was moving like a foot up and down. It was basically a giant wooden trampoline with a thousand people jumping up and down.
"Oh man, and we feed off of that fun and energy, especially now that the album's out. It seems like most of the kids know the words. Billie can stick his arm out into the audience with a microphone and they'll sing the lyrics for him."
On the Tour:
"We'll be going at it full force starting in Seattle in July. We wanted to get supporting bands that we actually like. The first leg of the tour is the Bravery. I've bought two Bravery records, and I'm a fan of that band so we suggested them and they were available. They'll be with us for two weeks. Then we've got Franz Ferdinand, who's going to come for another two weeks another band that we really like. If I was a concertgoer and I got to see Franz and then Green Day, I'd need a new pair of panties. And then we have the Kaiser Chiefs. It's debatable who's better of those two bands. They both kick ass in their own special way. It's a real treat!
"It's tough competition, but we always step it up. We're not worried, we'll play after anybody. We're Green Day, dude."
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- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.
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Khenn | November 23, 2009 8:12 AM
i wish i could chat with any greenday members^^
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Shannon Flynn | October 21, 2009 11:50 AM
Hi tre cool .x
Hi im shannon , im ur biggest fan , i know a lot of people say that but , i really mean it , i love you guys .xx
i tried to get to your concert in glasgow but i couldnt go , i couldnt get tickets :( .x but im trying my hardest to come to your concert , even if its next year , i will try my hardest to get tickets .xx i love you guys <3 .xx my friend samantha went to your concert in glasgow , and i was qui9te jelous :( .x oh and can you please tell billie joe to dye his hair back to black and grow it a little please , i love it in 21 guns , that was my favourite hair style of his , sorry for asking you to do that i jst love you all .xxxxx i love you guys sooooooo much xxxxxxxxxxxxx
ms cool | October 7, 2009 8:14 AM
he is so hot i luv 21 guns they r sooooo hol!!!!
Jman708 | October 6, 2009 11:37 AM
Billy Joe is so cool Green Day u Rock
shadow | September 21, 2009 7:35 PM
i think billie joe is so so hot he is a awsome singer to
shadow | September 21, 2009 7:33 PM
i LOVE East Jesus Nowhere
lorena | September 6, 2009 3:42 PM
Hi friends¡¡ i think tre cool is a great drumer, his style and energy is in another high level.I love listening and watching to play.Let´s go TRE.
Sam | July 27, 2009 11:11 PM
hey i have no idea id its actuly you guys mike bille and tre but that the hell i love you all the same XD you guys changed my life
cissa | July 10, 2009 9:29 PM
Hey Studs,
Billie Joe does not live in Piedmont, he lives in North Berkeley near Tunnel Road and Tre lives in the Oakland hills. Expensive addresses, yes, but not Piedmont. I'm not sure about Mike, he might live in Piedmont. We don't sell maps to star's homes here in No Cal. Does it matter? This goes back to the whole Gilman Street BS. They are a success so they have money. Does that make them artificial? To me, it doesn't. To others, it obviously does. Billie Joe said that he was going to have to get back on his bike and move forward. Maybe you should too.
Green day fan | June 29, 2009 4:19 PM
I loooooove you tré<333 I love green day, you guys are so awsome!!
TRE FOREVER | June 29, 2009 3:42 PM
god tres so hott this may not mean much to ya tre but you are my roll modle green day saved me from being a contry freek and a preep
ms tre cool | June 28, 2009 12:39 AM
will you be my dominated love slave?
ms tre cool | June 28, 2009 12:38 AM
hey, baby. whats up. i love your drumming
will you be my boyfriend. plz.
i maybe 13 but i have a major crush on u
really. i wish you were my boyfriend
i love you snuggle bear. love you kiss kiss.
p.s. will you be my dominated
love slave?
acha | June 23, 2009 8:49 PM
go green day and always make anew song oke!!
ms tre cool | June 21, 2009 1:03 PM
hey, tre whats up. one thing whats with the red stick you had in your hand
Roxy | June 4, 2009 3:26 PM
GO GREEN DAY!!! TRE COOL, BILLIE JOE, & MIKE DIRNT ROCK MY FUCKING AWESOME STRIPED SOCKS!!!! xD. I LOVE 21st Century Breakdown!
Mike | June 4, 2009 2:57 PM
They all came from very hard lives, Billie's dad died when he was young, and he was from a very poor family growing up right outside of Oakland. His mom worked 2 jobs just to pay the bills. Yes, they got rich because of thier music, and I really don't think anyone reading thinks they live in small little houses in a ghetto. THEY ARE ROCKSTARS, THEY LIVE IN NICE HOUSES. I don't understand how thats unacceptable. Its expected. You can make amazing music and live in a nice house, so please just shut up, you sound stupid.
StudsLonigan | June 3, 2009 3:25 PM
@TheCoz : I did not call anyone's wife a "trophy wife" you did not understand my comment.
I mentioned how the insipid author attempted to paint Piedmont, one of the whitest , richest suburbs in the world, as being a "neighborhood near East Oakland". That's like saying "Monaco is a neighborhood near Compton". Piedmont has always been a proud whitey white city separate from the rest of the Bay Area's diversity especially Berkeley, where Green day is supposed to be from. It isn't remotely "punk" to live in Piedmont. With great areas, really nice and safe, in the Oakland and Berkeley Hills I'm just a bit disgusted they chose the Republican City and home of Robert McNamara.
If Townshend is really Billie's idol, perhaps he should take a page from Pete and look at how he still lives only a few miles from where he and The Who grew up in London and not in some isolated racist community of stepford people.
TheCoz | June 2, 2009 1:56 PM
@ Studs Lonigan
Have you ever seen Billie Joe's wife? She's pretty but I certainly wouldn't call her a trophy wife. They met before Green Day got huge and she's a real woman, not some former Playboy Playmate. Get over yourself. Next time, get some facts to back up your ranting and raving.
Anonymous | June 1, 2009 5:58 PM
Hey Studs Lonigan Shut the fuck up cause no one cares :D Maybe if you acually did something with your life then someone would care but untill then Shut up
GHOSTPLAYR | June 1, 2009 2:23 PM
ANOTHER EXSAMPLE IS RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS AT LEAST THEY QUIT THEY KNEW IT WAS DEAD TIME FOR REINVENTION
ghostplayr | June 1, 2009 2:20 PM
not saying there bad!!! but reaaly were is the front page material .so many same beats same rythym just diffrent strokes hey eminem same thing just nothing new were's REM, PHISH , CREED , BANDS NOW EVEN U2 HAS BOMBED AND I LOVE THEM ALL SHOW ME A MANDOLIN SOLO AGAIN OR SOMETHING STEVIE RAY VAUGHN
GDlover | June 1, 2009 1:48 PM
go Green Day. Love you <3
IheartTreCool | May 31, 2009 1:08 PM
GO TRE!!!!!! the best drummer in the WORLD!!!!
Studs Lonigan | May 30, 2009 3:00 PM
I just finished the article and was a bit disgusted that the author referred to Billie Joe’s home as “perched on a hill in a neighborhood just East of Oakland..”
Yo, that is no neighborhood, that is a city called “Piedmont”, one of the whitest, richest little cities in the US. So by mentioning East Oakland numerous times in attempt to give props to Green Day, the author played the Vanilla Ice card which is pretty pathetic.
Piedmont is about as “punk” as Victoria Beckham’s closet. If Billie Joe and his drummer are so concerned about “always being Punk” why are they living with the Trophy Wives, Stepford kids and bankers in one of the most affluent suburbs anywhere?
That’s ROCK STAR not Punk.
By all means, live where it’s safe when you are rich but don’t whitewash it (pun intended) as someone bohemian cell of urban creativity.
The album is ok but that Who cover is atrocious! BJA did not download the lyrics and it does not stand up to anything Mushroom (East Bay, Who cover and prog rock band) does.
They are “pop core” now which is sad because American Idiot is a masterpiece par excellence.
Luukerjan | May 29, 2009 8:13 AM
that was @GHOSTPLAYR ofcourse..
anyway, I love the new album
And I am suprised how the interviewer managed to have a normal interview with Tré
Luukerjan | May 29, 2009 8:10 AM
'THE REAL INSTRUMENT PLAYING BAND'S GOO' I'm sorry, what?!
eggsmcgee | May 29, 2009 3:16 AM
Tre is rad. They should let him write more songs. I had no problems with Dominated Love Slave. Haha
Micah | May 28, 2009 10:29 PM
Man, I love Tre'. He is such a kickass drummer!
sk8trgirl3290 | May 28, 2009 10:19 PM
Tre seems to get left out of a lot of interviews. Everyone wants to talk to Billie Joe. Don't get me wrong, I love Billie Joe and am interested in what he has to say just as much as the next person, but I fuckin love Tre. He's amazing and it's great to see an article with just him. He's always the one I watch during performances. You never know what he's going to do. Well, that and he's totally hot.
Lee | May 28, 2009 8:50 PM
Webster show kicked ass.
Rocks ballz | May 28, 2009 6:08 PM
Tre, thanks 4 coming to our fucking movie...;)
hugs and love~
Bob | May 28, 2009 6:05 PM
Shhh.... This is top secret!
I'm your uncle
Don't tell anyone
mary | May 28, 2009 5:53 PM
lol...I love Tre' :)
McCabe | May 28, 2009 5:40 PM
Great to see Tre do a peice. He has got to be the funniesat guy in the band, always spontanious, always doing an interview that he actually did well not anything weird just straight-forward intelligent answers(for once). Go Green Day!!!!
aguy70 | May 28, 2009 4:01 PM
god i saw that snl, the stuff they do when the cameras aren't rolling I FREAKIN' MISSED THAT SHIT!!
@GHOSTPLAYR | May 28, 2009 3:17 PM
hey, have you even HEARD the new album? Or AI? Neither of those have a single song that is only three chords, and the new album is one of the most musical punk records ever recorded. For seriously.
shelbo | May 28, 2009 12:18 PM
by the way, tre' is mega cute! ;D
shelbo | May 28, 2009 12:17 PM
i agree with spizz: they finally had tre' talk in an interview for once. way to go! gd rocks! \m/ >.< \m/
GHOSTPLAYR | May 28, 2009 11:59 AM
WOW ANOTHER 3 CHORD BAND WITH THE SAME HOOK WERE DID THE REAL INSTRUMENT PLAYING BAND'S GOO
Jerry | May 28, 2009 11:58 AM
Great piece always love to hear what Tre has to say and glad RS talked to him
Molly Swagger | May 28, 2009 11:02 AM
Wow. Tre did an interview properly. I am mildly surprised. The reason they hardly ever talk is because when they do, some of the most unusual quotes I've ever heard come out. The same reason he should never be allowed to touch a guitar, lest we get another song like "Like a Rat Does Cheese," strange things happen when the interviewers ask him questions...
TheCoz | May 28, 2009 9:51 AM
I always viewed Tre Cool as Green Day's version of Teller from Penn & Teller. Extremely entertaining but hardly a word coming from his mouth.
TreRoxMySock!s | May 28, 2009 8:30 AM
YAY!Go Tre!!
spizz | May 28, 2009 7:47 AM
yay they finally let tre' talk! it's about time!