“I still have one of the stars from the ceiling. It fell, and I took it home, dude…”
Mike Dirnt is excitedly reminiscing about some of his band Green Day's more notable live performances, in this case a show at one of the most lauded gig venues in the world, the 2000-capacity Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom, its star-covered ceiling lovingly maintained from its days as a dancehall. As Rock Sound informs him that David Bowie also famously pocketed one of the stars during a soundcheck, Dirnt lights up: “That is crazy because just this morning I was going down a Bowie rabbit hole, watching a lot of interviews from the 1990s!“ He is, understandably, in a reflective mood as ‘Nimrods’, the new film inspired by Green Day’s early touring days, hits cinemas worldwide. We caught up with Mike to talk life on the road in a van, the exciting next wave of pop punk and what keeps the magic of the band alive after nearly 40 years together.
ROCK SOUND: Obviously a lot has changed over the years in terms of the scale and production of your shows, but has anything about the way you approached those first Green Day gigs remained the same?
MIKE: It’s funny you ask that because I’m awash of all of that lately mentally. I think the whole band is, because after the premiere of ‘Nimrods’ in Los Angeles the other night, we went downstairs into a 200-person basement and just played for about an hour or so, really old stuff. Just me, Billie [Joe Armstrong], and Tré [Cool]. It was great to strip it all down. There were no frills, literally bass, drums, guitar, two vocal mics, let’s go. It’s important to do that every once in a while and realise that you’re not just the race car driver; you’re also the mechanic. We went down there, and we tore it up. There’s a language that we speak musically together that we established really young. We look at each other, and it’s like another language that only we speak fluently. We don’t even have to talk. We just have a dynamic and a spirit there. It’s kind of magical that we get in a room, and we get to experience it together too. So I guess that’s what stays the same the most to me. Billie had a quote the other day – old bodies, young hearts.
RS: The van that you used to ride around to those first shows in, known as The Bookmobile, is legendary in itself, having even been previously on display at the Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas. You must have a lot of fun memories of those journeys and a particular affection for that time…
MIKE: I do because we toured extensively in it. We went back and forth across the United States probably six times. We’re playing mostly squats, ramshackle clubs, sleeping on floors the whole time. But when you’re young, everything’s an adventure. I think that’s one thing I love about the spirit of this movie. Take risks, make a mess, make bonds with your friends and go after the things you want. Lead with your heart.
RS: Do you remember much about the first ever UK shows you played?
MIKE: It will have been in the winter of 1991, and we were in a flat in Walthamstow. It was a sketchy neighbourhood, man. You had to go down the street and use a payphone if you were going to call home. But somebody had an abandoned apartment next to theirs, and we just crashed out in there. No heat, no lights, no nothing. But then we also stayed with a guy named Aidan Taylor that helped book the tour. He was in a band called Joeyfat, and we stayed at his place. Those were interesting times because again, we were sleeping on people’s floors. They’re watching the Vic Reeves show, I’m trying to figure out what everyone’s going on about. ‘You couldn’t let it lie, could you?’. That’s about all I could understand. But after about three days on their floor, all of a sudden we could understand everything in the show. We were truly assimilating at the deepest level. I remember things were a lot more globally focused. When you have another country right next to you, you tend to be more of a global citizen in your mindset, and that definitely had a big impact on us. And then of course, the rich history of rock and roll and punk rock in the UK. You can’t help but be amazed and in love with the fact that you’re now putting your feet where some of your heroes were. When it comes to rock and roll, punk rock, and just musically, the UK got it right in so many ways. I mean, you could argue that the greatest bands of all time came from the UK.
RS: Speaking of influences, The Paradox are featured on the ‘Nimrods’ soundtrack, a band who have previously cited Green Day as a major inspiration. It must be really gratifying at this point in your career to see those new bands still breaking through…
MIKE: It’s one thing we’ve tried to never be jaded about. People always ask us, ‘Do you think the punk rock scene is dead?’. I’m like, ‘Look, it’s not if you think it’s dead, you’re just not in it’. Because for bands like The Paradox, their scene is very real to them. So I’m not gonna shit on their scene and be jaded – if you’re not in it, it’s just because your time in it has passed and you decided to move on. You can still love your music, but guess what? There’s always going to be a band in their garage or a band putting on a show somewhere, and as the godfathers or whatever you want to call us at this point, it’s our job to keep inspiring people to continue to do that. It’s that DIY spirit to go out and make a mess and create their own scene in their own world.
RS: That spirit is something that has always been part of your live shows too, like when you would bring some kids up on stage to cover ‘Knowledge’ by Operation Ivy together…
MIKE: Yeah, there were times when we would pull up three kids from the crowd and years later, we’d come back, and they’re a band that have actually been playing together ever since!
RS: On the subject of formative live moments, Warped Tour is now back and bigger than ever. It was so important for a lot of bands and their early careers. How do you reflect on Green Day’s time as part of that tour?
MIKE: At Warped Tour, you would get 30-minute snapshots of all of these bands that you may have never otherwise gotten to see, which hopefully would inspire people to go see them again when they come through town and actually have their own show. But it was also giving a lot of young bands a chance to get on tour and go out there and get their feet wet and expand their fan base. It was also a travelling barbecue, and there was the camaraderie there. I think everybody has fond memories of it somewhere along the line. It’s great to have a big show like that which travels. It’s not just the mega show. It’s for the kids.
RS: Incredibly, 2027 will be the 40th anniversary of Green Day’s formation, initially known as Sweet Children. Have you thought at all about how best to mark that moment?
MIKE: I see those come up online all the time. It feels like there’s an anniversary every month for Green Day at this point because we’ve such a deep history. But I don’t know. Next year is going to be 45 years of me and Billie playing together and hanging out as I met him at 10 years old. On the one hand, you don’t want to count the years, but on the other hand, you’re thankful for every year behind you and in front of you. It’s a blessing, and up until recently, we never really looked back. I think the big difference with Green Day and a lot of other bands is that we had four to six days of practice a week, every day, for twenty-something years. All that work in the woodshed came out the other night when we played as a three-piece. Each one of us probably just ran through the songs a couple of times on our couch and then stepped up on stage, and there it was. It just came back again, and that’s that. That’s the spark that keeps this thing going. It’s pretty awesome.
‘Nimrods’ is in select cinemas now. Find a screening here.
