Billie Hoe Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 So I received concert tickets from ticketmaster yesterday (not Green Day) and noticed earlier that there was a little magazine in the envelope with Green Day on the cover The interview is in German, but I'll try my best to translate it "Green Day on Revolution, Donald Trump and the Wild West" "We wanted to be loud" From the impressively huge suite of the Fairmont hotel in San Francisco you can see it all: the Golden Gate bridge on the left side, and the prison island Alcatraz on the right. But Green Day don't deign to look at the sights. They know all of it already after all, because they were born here, or rather in Oakland on the other side of the bridge, and still live here to this day. They'd much rather talk loudly and passionately about their gripping and already twelfth new studio album "Revolution Radio". Did you have a plan for "Revolution Radio"? Billie Joe Armstrong: We wanted to give a really strong statement. Our goal was to remind people how great of a band we are. We wanted to be loud. We wanted to be fast. But we also wanted to be intimate. I think we did a good job. Your album trilogy "Uno!", "Dos!" and "Tré" came out in 2012. Did you plan to not release an album for four years? Tré Cool: We planned to take a nice long break. It was necessary, you need a little space sometimes. Billie wasn't so well, Mike's wife was seriously ill, we had to take care of these things too. For the first time in many years we pulled the plug and could take a stock of ourselves [note: ?] without tours and recordings. We were just men for a while, I got married for example and enjoyed the free time. Armstrong: We all went home and lived our lives. We very consciously didn't want to immediately dive into work again. Which didn't work out for me very well (laughs). I recorded an album with Norah Jones pretty quickly, we covered the songs of the Everly Bothers on it. The new album has a very fresh and unspent sound. It doesn't sound like the twelfth record of a band in their mid-fourties who have spent their entire adult life together at all. How did you do that? Cool: We threw away the user manual. We completely left out the opinions and influences and ideas from the outside. I didn't even have a technician for my drums in the studio, I did it all myself. I hadn't been my own drum tech since we recorded "Dookie". It was awesome. We found our very own sound and flat out followed our ears. Do you like the phrase "Back to the roots" to describe the new album? Cool: That description fits. We're true to our roots at least, we honor them. Nowhere on this record have I been replaced by a drum computer and we didn't invite any guest rappers (laughs). And no DJ! Armstrong: A volcano has been seething inside us since year one. Ever since our early days more than 25 years ago in the punk club Gilman Street over there in Oakland we have been this musical earthquake that could blow up anytime. Why did you produce "Revolution Radio" yourselves and not with top guys like Rob Cavallo or Butch Vig? Armstrong: We didn't want anyone to be part of this. We wanted to do this ourselves. I love Rob Cavallo, he understood that, and we'll certainly work together again in the future. But: This time it was better this way. Just the three of us in a studio, last time we had that was in 1991 with "Kerplunk". Where did you record? Cool: In our new studio that we built two years ago. It's in Oakland just like the old one and we called it Otis. We're also the first and only band that has ever recorded there. And we'll probably always be the only one. Armstrong: We previously had been in the Jingletown studios in Oakland for 15 years, we needed a change. The small Otis studio has its very own, really fantastic sound, its own atmosphere. When Tré got started, the room always sounded like it would explode at any moment. The new songs are more direct, louder and less rock opera-like than the last times. Is "Revolution Radio" a conscious reflection of the core of Green Day? Cool: For us, it's the right album and the right time. After the trilogy in 2012 with about 40 songs we couldn't keep spinning the wheel towards gigantism. On the other side we have the feeling that many people long for rough guitars and robust, strong sounds. Even in rock music the breezy, casual, soft songs worked pretty well, people are sick of this fluffiness and want something hard. This album sounds more like the work of a 24-year old than a 44-year old. How do you manage sounding so lively? Armstrong: Well, I feel young. I look young (laughs). I am young! Is "Revolution Radio" a political album? Armstrong: It's a thematic album. We're just as confused as everyone else as to why black people are being shot by the police with impunity, why Donald Trump is allowed to run for president, why all of this chaos is happening everywhere. I'm trying to sort all this crap for myself in my brain somehow. In "Bang Bang" you put yourself in the head of a crazed gunman. That sounds frightening. Armstrong: It was. I live in California, San Francisco is a very liberal, open-minded metropolis, so is New York where I have a second home. I imagine the character from "Bang Bang" as someone who lives somewhere between the coasts, and it's often downright eerie there. My mother is from Oklahoma, it's a different world. States like Utah are practically run by ultra-religious Mormons, you have Texas where the people are so conservative and xenophobic that they would love to just form their own country and separate themselves from the USA. It's all crazy, but as a songwriter it gives me ideas. In the end you still notice that America used to be the Wild West. Is it true that you wrote the title song "Revolution Radio" after you participated in a demonstration in New York? Armstrong: Yeah, we were stuck in traffic on the 8th Avenue and I just went out and marched. I just wanted to be part of this protest, and that's also punk rock to me: punk means that you criticize the system, question it and try to get people out of their comfort zone. Punk means more to me than "Fuck The System", it's much more constructive than a slogan like this. Will Donald Trump be a footnote in history in a few months? Armstrong: Does he even want to be president? Everything he does is to push his brand. Trump this and Trump that. Soon he'll probably want to start a channel, Trump TV. Whatever he does, I ascribe low instincts and corrupt motives to him. Trump is greedy and in my opinion an even worse politician and a much more atrocious human being than George W. Bush. You've been members of the "Hall of Fame" for a year now. Is the band being perceived differently? Cool: We're surfacing on the radar of music fans who are older than us now. That's new for us. Until now we've always played mainly for a crowd in our age or younger, while for some reason there have been new 16-year old punk-loving kids in the front row reliably with every new album. But now fans of classic rock are discovering us for the first time too. I hope the translation makes sense I tried my best but there were some phrases I wasn't sure how to translate into English Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan86 Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Cool, thanks for translating Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizziebix Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Nice job. Thanks for sharing and translating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marki. Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 This was a nice read, thanks for taking the time to translate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerjeezus Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Great job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddie86 Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 thanks, that was great! I like that someone asked them about Rob. also, Tre said Green Day is the only band that recorded there, but didn't SWMRS record there? and Jacob? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billie Hoe Posted October 16, 2016 Author Share Posted October 16, 2016 6 minutes ago, Kyle Serlington said: thanks, that was great! I like that someone asked them about Rob. also, Tre said Green Day is the only band that recorded there, but didn't SWMRS record there? and Jacob? It was just Jakob on his own I think, without his band Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimpshrine Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Billie should run something for the son of a bitch Trump like PunkVoter that Fat Mike did against Bush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haushinka! Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Thank you for translating this for us! Overall, it was a great interview...except this answer kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. 5 hours ago, Billie Hoe said: In "Bang Bang" you put yourself in the head of a crazed gunman. That sounds frightening. Armstrong: It was. I live in California, San Francisco is a very liberal, open-minded metropolis, so is New York where I have a second home. I imagine the character from "Bang Bang" as someone who lives somewhere between the coasts, and it's often downright eerie there. My mother is from Oklahoma, it's a different world. States like Utah are practically run by ultra-religious Mormons, you have Texas where the people are so conservative and xenophobic that they would love to just form their own country and separate themselves from the USA. It's all crazy, but as a songwriter it gives me ideas. In the end you still notice that America used to be the Wild West. I can't stand when people talk about how "open-minded" they are, then proceed to judge others for having different beliefs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UNICORN VOMIT Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 1 hour ago, Haushinka! said: Thank you for translating this for us! Overall, it was a great interview...except this answer kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. I can't stand when people talk about how "open-minded" they are, then proceed to judge others for having different beliefs. Do you think he is judging though - isn't it a generalisation of the area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haushinka! Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 1 hour ago, Tinkle said: Do you think he is judging though - isn't it a generalisation of the area. Well I think he was generalizing and judging. He generalized the people of Texas as being xenophobic. Then, he goes on to mention mormons and conservatives, and says: "it's all crazy". So yes, I felt like he was definitely judging. I'm not religious, but I don't judge people who are. He associated those beliefs with the mind of a crazed shooter. I think that's the biggest problem I have with it. I hate to be that annoying person that overanalyzes things, but I found his answer disappointing. I love him too much to fault him for it, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RougeRogue Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 1 hour ago, Haushinka! said: Well I think he was generalizing and judging. He generalized the people of Texas as being xenophobic. Then, he goes on to mention mormons and conservatives, and says: "it's all crazy". So yes, I felt like he was definitely judging. I'm not religious, but I don't judge people who are. He associated those beliefs with the mind of a crazed shooter. I think that's the biggest problem I have with it. I hate to be that annoying person that overanalyzes things, but I found his answer disappointing. I love him too much to fault him for it, though. I don't tend to take much of these kinds of answers too seriously though because how in-depth can you really be when you're doing an interview that, ultimately (especially a written one) has to be given an answer that's able to be condensed into a few sentences. All the while knowing you, as a famous individual, have parameters you can't stray from for publicity's sake. In other words, I'm sure he's got a much better, more in-depth opinion than that and I wouldn't really judge his political stance on something so brief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermione Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 14 hours ago, Haushinka! said: Thank you for translating this for us! Overall, it was a great interview...except this answer kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. I can't stand when people talk about how "open-minded" they are, then proceed to judge others for having different beliefs. Being open minded doesn't just mean thinking everything is fine and not challenging any beliefs or attitudes you disagree with though, being tolerant doesn't include tolerating intolerance. He might be guilty of generalizing but if someone's "different beliefs" really do include being xenophobic or otherwise hateful towards others based on who they are don't they deserve to be judged for it? Although he doesn't put it very well I don't think he's really talking about all religious people or people from Texas, only those with extremist beliefs. Thanks so much for the translation @Billie Hoe! Good read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stories and songs Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Also we don't know specifically how he worded it because it's translated (wonderfully by @Billie Hoe). Overall the dudes sound slightly different from how they usually speak, per usual for translated articles, so I would definitely leave some wiggle room for how something may have been said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billie Hoe Posted October 17, 2016 Author Share Posted October 17, 2016 1 minute ago, stories and songs said: Also we don't know specifically how he worded it because it's translated (wonderfully by @Billie Hoe). Overall the dudes sound slightly different from how they usually speak, per usual for translated articles, so I would definitely leave from wiggle room for how something may have been said. Yeah exactly I'm not sure I translated it as wonderfully as you said, so something might have been lost in translation. I mean it has been translated from english to german and back to english. I knew this part of the interview would spark controversy again when I posted it. :/ I don't know, what he says seems pretty clear to me. Of course he doesn't mean that all religious people are terrible or crazy or that all Texans are xenophobic. I don't think he's wrong in judging what is to be judged appropriately. You don't have to be open-minded to narrow-mindedness or tolerant of intolerance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stories and songs Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 And unfortunately, a lot of people who live on the east and west coasts have certain ideas about middle America. Which isn't an excuse, obviously. It doesn't make it true or correct or respectful in any way whatsoever, but I'm just as guilty of stereotypes. It's not coming from a hateful place, it's just generalizations that we have of certain areas, as I'm sure other states have about us. (I'm from freaking New Jersey, people definitely stereotype us and that's ok lol). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chin for a Day Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 10 minutes ago, stories and songs said: (I'm from freaking New Jersey, people definitely stereotype us and that's ok lol). Me too, I knew there was a reason I liked you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billie Hoe Posted October 17, 2016 Author Share Posted October 17, 2016 Oh my fucking god. Did Billie give him ideas? Can he predict the future? 19 hours ago, Billie Hoe said: Will Donald Trump be a footnote in history in a few months? Armstrong: Does he even want to be president? Everything he does is to push his brand. Trump this and Trump that. Soon he'll probably want to start a channel, Trump TV. This article is from today. http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/17/media/trump-tv-donald-trump-tv-network-speculation/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haushinka! Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 6 hours ago, Hermione said: Being open minded doesn't just mean thinking everything is fine and not challenging any beliefs or attitudes you disagree with though, being tolerant doesn't include tolerating intolerance. He might be guilty of generalizing but if someone's "different beliefs" really do include being xenophobic or otherwise hateful towards others based on who they are don't they deserve to be judged for it? Although he doesn't put it very well I don't think he's really talking about all religious people or people from Texas, only those with extremist beliefs. Thanks so much for the translation @Billie Hoe! Good read. Of course people who are xenophobic will be judged negatively! However, ridiculing states because they aren't liberal like NY or CA doesn't sound very tolerant or open minded to me. I wish he would have been more specific and focused on extremism or even mental illness regarding mass shooter mentality. I've seen him answer the same question multiple times already and I thought his previous answers were fine...maybe he just went off on a tangent here. That wouldn't surprise me! 6 hours ago, stories and songs said: And unfortunately, a lot of people who live on the east and west coasts have certain ideas about middle America. Which isn't an excuse, obviously. It doesn't make it true or correct or respectful in any way whatsoever, but I'm just as guilty of stereotypes. It's not coming from a hateful place, it's just generalizations that we have of certain areas, as I'm sure other states have about us. (I'm from freaking New Jersey, people definitely stereotype us and that's ok lol). Very true! I live in Texas and I agree that stereotypes are generally harmless. However, it gets personal when the stereotypes are: racist/xenophobic hillbillies. I don't know what could be worse than that! Haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermione Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 13 hours ago, Haushinka! said: Of course people who are xenophobic will be judged negatively! However, ridiculing states because they aren't liberal like NY or CA doesn't sound very tolerant or open minded to me. I wish he would have been more specific and focused on extremism or even mental illness regarding mass shooter mentality. I've seen him answer the same question multiple times already and I thought his previous answers were fine...maybe he just went off on a tangent here. That wouldn't surprise me! Very true! I live in Texas and I agree that stereotypes are generally harmless. However, it gets personal when the stereotypes are: racist/xenophobic hillbillies. I don't know what could be worse than that! Haha. Yeah he definitely was guilty of generalizing about it, agree with you there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mar Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Just don't try to actually follow up on that publicity and buy Green Day tickets on Ticketmaster firsthand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grohl Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 Thank you for translating. It was a nice read Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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