2020-03-01 Total Guitar

GREEN DAY

MARCH 2020 TOTAL GUITAR

GreenDaysongs,bydesign,have

generallybeencentredaround

theguitarriff.Butmuchofthe

newmaterialseemsbasedaround

rhythmsandgrooves,andowes

adebt to sounds not typically

associated with punk and rock,

including Motown and soul.

Yeah,that’strue.OnethingI wanted

todo this time was create space

betweenthevocalandthebeatmore

thanI everhadbefore.So I thinkthere

wasaconscious effort to get into the

drums and vocals and just allow that

space in between. And musically, I was

into the history of rock ’n’ roll. I mean,

I’vegota prettyvastknowledgeof rock

’n’rollmusic,andthere’sso much

thatI love about it. So a song like

Stab You In The Heart, it’sveryLittle

Richard–sounding,andalsosimilar

tosomethinglikeI’m Downby the

Beatles,whichis obviouslylike

aLittleRichard thing.

Thatsongalsoremindedme

ofHippyHippy Shake.

TheSwingingBlueJeans!I justlove

thatsortof trashy,garage‑y kindof

rocking‑outmusic.It’slike[the1960s

garage‑rockband]TheSonics.Just

old‑schoolrock’n’roll.Andthenthe

Motowninfluencereallycamein for

songslikeMeetMe On The Roof, where

Iwasmessingwithmyvocal,too.

Ireallywantedto singhigheranddo

alotmorebluesykindsof melodies.

Thatbringsupanothermusicalfocal

pointonthisrecord— yourvoice.

Itdoesseemtocarrymoreofthe

melodiccontentofthesongsthis

timearound,andit’sclearthatyou

reallypushedyourselfasa singer.

Thetitletrack,whichyousingmostly

in falsetto,wouldbeanobvious

example.Didyoufeellikeyouwere

outsideyourcomfortzone?

Oh,yeah.I rememberwedidthedemo

forFatherOf All...andI’dbeenlistening

to a littlebitof Princeandhowhe had

an amazingfalsetto.Hisfirstcoupleof

recordsareall falsetto.So I wantedto

messwiththat.AndI canremember,

rightwhenweweregettingreadyto do

thevocal,I said,‘Hey,I’mgoingto try

somethingdifferenthere,so please

trynot to laugh at me!’ Then I did the

falsettoandI waslike,‘Man,thisis so

different.Butalsoso GreenDay.’

Whenyouperformthatonelive,

youdon’tplayguitar.You’renoteven

holdinga guitar.It’slikeyou’reup

therewithoutyoursecurityblanket.

Yeah.Whenwestartedthisrecord,

IknewI wantedto mixthingsup.And

thatgavemetheopportunityto tryto

showa differentsideof us.I couldjust

jumpin deepanddo a songlikeJunkies

On A High, whereI’mliterallymessing

witha hip‑hop/

trapsortof beat,butputtingthisbluesy

melodyontopof it.

That song and Oh Yeah! are two that

embrace elements of modern pop,

both in terms of their musical

makeup and also their production

quality. There are hip-hop beats in

the former, and samples, a big

chorus and treated vocals in the

latter. You’re not so much of a punk

purist that you close yourself off

from those sorts of ideas.

Well, what I relate to is the germ of an

idea. I relate to being a kid in a basement

or a garage, and just making music. And

I think when you see a lot of what the

younger generation is doing, whether

it’s the SoundCloud thing or someone

likea PostMalone,it’skidsbasically

sittingona computerandmessingwith

a beatandputtingthesesortof hip‑hop

melodiesontopof it. I canrelateto that.

Andso withsomethinglikeOh Yeah!,

Iwas like, ‘Well, if I was going to sample

something, what kind of thing would

make sense for Green Day?’ So I used

the Joan Jett version of Do You Wanna

Touch Me. And I was like, ‘That’s cool!

That’sthewayI wouldsample

something.’Becauseit’sglamrock

andpunk, right? And then I wrote the

melody on top of it, just to see what

would happen. And three beers later,

that’s what you end up with.

That’s all it takes, huh?

[Laughs] Yeah!

When it came to the arrangements,

did you know early on that you

wantedtokeepthesesongs

concise?A fewdon’tevenhit

thetwo-minute mark.

I think it was just a matter of going,

‘Okay, I think that’s enough’ [laughs].

With some of these songs, I would do

Nuclear family

Even after 34 years

together, Green Day

refuse to stop flying

the flag for punk rock

“I just like mixing things up – It's important to not be boring...”

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