Green Day Cranking Out Songs

Green Day are at work in Los Angeles with longtime producer Rob Cavallo. They plan to release a new album late this summer or early this fall.

"We've got about thirty-five songs we're going to record," says frontman Billie Joe Armstrong. "It's a lot of material. We're trying to get one theme throughout the album, because we're in the album business, not in the business of making singles."

This will be Armstrong, bassist Mike Durnt and drummer Tre Cool's first album since 2000's Warning -- or their first under the Green Day moniker. Last year, a synth-pop group called the Network -- featuring such mysterious members as Snoo, Fink, Van Gough, Captain Underpants and Z -- released its debut on Adeline Records, owned by Armstrong and his wife. Though Green Day won't cop to their alter-ego, there's little doubt who was behind the Network.

There will be no such confusion this time around, as the new record will proudly bear the Green Day name, and, according to Armstrong, the Green Day pop/punk style.

"We're really excited about it," he says. "And hopefully we can make some sense out of it."

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Song Stories

“Time to Pretend”

MGMT | 2008

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”

More Song Stories entries »

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