Tre Cool on Growing Up Punk and Finding Green Day's Groove

For David Fricke's feature "Green Day Fights On" check out our new issue, on stands now.

Few may have predicted it 15 years ago, but the scrappy NoCal punks behind 1994's blockbuster Dookie grew up to become America's most ambitious rockers. For our new cover, David Fricke visits Green Day at home in Oakland to get the story behind their epic new punk opera 21st Century Breakdown. In the third of our exclusive Q&As with each bandmember, Fricke speaks with drummer Tré Cool about growing up punk, loving the Who and finding his groove.

The general impression of your childhood is that you, Billie and Mike all came from stressed-out homes. But you all have rich family lives and speak honestly but respectfully of your parents.
I didn't have a normal childhood by any means. But it was what it was, and I appreciate what my parents did for me.

Such as letting you join a punk band, the Lookouts, at the age of 12.
Back in '93 and '94. when Dookie was being made, my dad built this tour bus for us, out of a bookmobile. We toured in it for the first year. It was a really bad idea, by the way. Kids, if you're listening to this at home [leans towards the tape recorder], if you're gonna go on tour, don't build your own tour bus. It was super-bouncy.

But it was awesome. We rolled up to Lollapalooza next to 20 tour buses with a fucking bookmobile. We were parked in Oregon one time, buying a bag of weed off some guy. Some woman pulls the [back] door open, and goes 'Woah! This isn't a bookmobile! Sure smells good in here, though."

We still have the bookmobile. It's on my dad's land. Maybe we'll do something with it someday. He was really supportive. When we were in pre-production for Dookie, we all went up to my dad's house — he still lives in the woods — and set up our gear in his living room. I remember going through 'Welcome to Paradise" and perfecting the middle part up there. Me and Billie got lost in the woods on a hike — seriously lost in the deep-ass woods. We finally found a strip of road to walk down. That was fun.

The cliché about punk rock is that it is supposed to be anti-parent, anti-authority, whereas Green Day's records are a mix of nuances — about confronting convention yet being emotionally connected.
We had to break free. But that changes as you get older and especially when you start having children. We're a family. We gotta reconnect, get close together. I've been working on my relationship with my parents and my sister over the years. We have become more close. I think having kids makes you want to keep the gang together.

When you joined Green Day in 1991, was it hard for you to fit in with Mike and Billie? They had been tight for so long.
They went to school together. They grew up together. They were constantly talking about people I didn't know. Then I started meeting these people: "Oh, I heard a story about you." I think I now know every person in their circle — that they still care to know [laughs].