No Expectations Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong Won’t Try To Defend The Band - He Just Wants To Keep Playing Music In It
‘I don’t want to come across as being the spokesperson for anything,” says Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong. “That’s the last thing I need hanging on my head.”
On the phone from Canada, Armstrong, 23, spoke about the release of the band’s latest album, “Insomniac.” More than 10 million copies of Green Day’s “Dookie” have been snapped up by fans who identify with their vision. “Insomniac,” entered the Billboard album chart at No. 2 when it was released last month.
Is Armstrong worried about what people expect from him and the band since they’ve joined that exclusive group of artists who sell millions of records? Not really.
“People shouldn’t expect anything,” Armstrong says. “The thing is, I don’t really care. I write songs and that’s it. I don’t consider myself anything else. I’m not a politician; I’m a musician; and I have a hard time even thinking that sometimes.”
Contrary to Armstrong’s declarations, Green Day does care a great deal about making sure its fans can still see the band. It may only be 10 miles from Gilman Street in Berkeley, Calif., to the Oakland Coliseum Arena, but it’s a long way for a musician. The band will end its North American tour in the Coliseum on Dec. 15.
“We try to cut out as many of the middle people as we can,” Armstrong says. “We pretty much manage ourselves. No one really knows what we want except for us. That makes it simple for us to concentrate on putting on a show for people who have paid money to come see us play.
“We still have low ticket prices for arena rock. It’s not the same as playing a club. You can get into clubs for, like, $5. We cover our expenses and take a lower cut. This is the price ($10-$12) we think we’re worth. If people want to spend it, go ahead. We’re not trying to set any standards.”
Besides musical success, the biggest change in Armstrong’s life was the birth of his son, Joey. Armstrong is getting used to parenthood, but it hasn’t been easy.
“It’s lot of hard work,” Armstrong says. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I have to concentrate on keeping myself in check, trying to create a nice, sound atmosphere for Joey. Adrian (Armstrong’s wife) helps out a lot. She does most of the work, to tell you the truth. She keeps me in check. I don’t exactly make a lot of noise at home.”
Does this mean the next Green Day record will be a laid-back, acoustic affair?
“Yeah, we’re going to sound like Hootie and the Blowfish,” Armstrong says. “I’ve taken up golf lately, too.” He quickly assures the interviewer that he is joking.
For some people the fate of Armstrong’s band has been no laughing matter. Underground music publications such as Maximumrocknroll have dissed the band for deserting the punk scene that nurtured it.
Those broad attacks are not exactly on the mark. Unlike some bands on the Big Time express, Green Day has made sure to bring its pals along. How else can you describe having homocore pioneers Pansy Division open the band’s first American tour? This time out, the Riverdales are doing the honors.
However, Armstrong is surprisingly charitable to the demimonde zealots.
“To a certain extent, those opinions are valid opinions,” he says. “If it wasn’t for magazines like Maximumrocknroll, the world would be a boring place. Or music would be, anyway. You need that totally radical left opinion. (The editors of Maximumrocknroll) have done a lot of great things for the punk scene. I don’t have anything against them personally. But we don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things about music. They’re journalists and I’m a musician. I don’t really tend to like much rock journalism at all. People are entitled to their opinion. If they need me as a scapegoat, so be it. I will still keep putting my music out no matter what their opinion is.”
Armstrong doesn’t seem to wallow in false modesty. He never dreamed big, which was consistent with growing up as one of six kids whose mom worked as a waitress.
“When we first started playing this kind of music, we never thought there would be a lot of people into it, you know. When we started playing gigs in October 1988, the last thing we ever thought is that we were going to get famous from doing it. We thought we would be able to tour and have some fun and meet people - interesting people, creative people that come out of places like Gilman Street. That was pretty much the extent of it. When Nirvana got successful, we kind of looked at each other and said, ‘Maybe things aren’t as bleak as we thought they were.”’
Green Day has been able to crystallize the feelings of aimlessness and frustration that are a large part of life in the ‘90s. Armstrong may write about bored, lazy suburban kids, but that’s not who he is.
“A lot of that stuff is mockery,” Armstrong says. “I take my music very seriously. I consider myself a songwriter. That’s my career. I’ve considered it my career since I was 16. I’ve never really sat on my ass at all.
“I come from a working-class, blue-collar background. My mother was a waitress and she raised six kids by herself and managed to keep things alive. When I was, like, 17 and was still living at home, my gig money was going to pay rent.
“I knew I didn’t want to work like a good steady, Joe Schmo job. I was a little too out of control to actually have a job. Music was a great thing for me. When I started getting paid for it, my mom said, ‘You have to pay $300 a month to live here.’ I said, ‘(Bleep) that. I’m gonna go live in a … warehouse for $50 a month and spend the rest of my money on Top Ramen.”
Has Armstrong graduated to fancy restaurants since “Dookie” took off?
“Well, I dip a little caviar in my Top Ramen once in a while,” he jokes. “I still eat fat slice pizza. If I got into a four- or five-star restaurant, I wouldn’t know what anything was.”
Armstrong remains close to Lookout Records founder Lawrence Livermore. The Berkeley-based label put out the band’s first two albums.
“I have a lot of respect for Lawrence Livermore because he’s a great writer and he has a good label. I still go over to Lookout all the time and sit around and chew the fat.”
So why did Green Day leave Lookout for Reprise?
“We wanted to go in a different direction,” Armstrong says. “I wanted to experience music in all aspects. I don’t want to limit myself to one thing. I wanted our records to be available in places like Hungary. We’ve played in Hungary and Prague and stuff like that. If you’re on the label and like the amount of distribution they have, that’s great. Our time on Lookout was a great time for us. I wouldn’t change it for the world. But it was time to do something different.
“If things had (bleeped) up, we would have gone to Reprise and got canned from there. No matter what, I would still be playing music.”