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

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I had trouble fitting in, in a musical sense. A lot of drummers get sidetracked by the instrument. It can engulf you. You start opening these doors — different ways of setting up your kit, these metal guys with all of these drums set up in a circle around them — and you get addicted to it. When I started, I had too many drums. I was a little reggae-happy and into fancier beats than was needed. It took me awhile to get it: Play the song, don't play the instrument. I started figuring out how to make the band a stronger unit, to make it jump.

That has to do with rocking with Mike, once we were locked up — my foot and his fingers. He's got his own style. It's really rhythmic. There are a lot of in-between notes — grace notes and movement. My job was to make him sound better, instead of playing more fills.

Mike said that on your early tours with the band, your exuberance was hard to take the first thing in the morning, especially if he'd been driving the van all night.
I did more driving than Mike [laughs uproariously]. C'mon! He did more driving before I was in the band. Billie maybe drove once, for a couple of hours. He was smart. "Eh, I don't want to drive. I'll just piss in the Gatorade bottle in the back." My hyper activity and high energy — that's all I know. I'm still pretty much of a nutball, when I wake up 'til I pass out.

Do you feel albums like American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown validate punk rock as an art form? Do they prove the music is not just about physical and emotional release?
After all is said and done, we were right. When I was 12 years old, I had patches on my jacket and fucked-up hair, earrings and shit. People were spitting, trying to fight me, yelling stuff. But we were right. Look at all these punk bands out there. They're successful. Some punks say it's almost too big. But I think that's great, man. Punk rock has become another viable art form. It always was. But now it's like everyone's doing it.

Do you think that, in a way, you represent your punk-rock generation the way the Who sang for their peers, British and American teenagers, in the Sixties?
The Who were never hippies. They came from a working-class street background, similar to Green Day. What is different is we are still a part of that background. They went grander and bigger. They were keeping up with what was happening, trying to stay modern and relevant.

I thought it was interesting that in a soundcheck yesterday, you were playing "Shakin' All Over." And there are Who-ish references all over your new album.
I saw the Who last year, and they were so awesome. I'd never seen them before. I wanted to go see them as a kid. I was invited, and my parents were like, "You don't need to see the Who with those people." So I didn't get to go. In hindsight, they were right [laughs].

What impressed you the most about that show?
That Pete Townshend can play the fucking guitar! It's incredible. The records are great, but to see him do a solo live — it's like he's yelling, "Yeah, fuck you!" at the crowd as he's bashing his instrument. He is not a young man anymore. But he has that teenager spirit. "My Generation" still speaks to my generation. It speaks to my kids' generation. Pete is timeless like that.