Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong Offers Thoughts On Forthcoming CD


Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong has begun stoking expectations for the band’s forthcoming CD. Topping the success of 2004’s American Idiot will be a monumental task, but in a recent interview with Alternative Press, the Green Day frontman assured fans that the group’s new disc will not disappoint.

“I'm not saying I can go for it this hard every time -- there might be times when I want to have something that's a little bit more spontaneous and off the cuff -- but with this record, the feeling's been that you've got to just go for it,” Armstrong told the magazine.
The veteran rocker also praised producer Butch Vig, whose work behind the boards mixed well with the band’s approach.

“I think he's just got a lot of integrity and a lot of class,” Armstrong said, “and one of the things I really respect about Butch is that he doesn't just go for things that are going to be million-sellers, or something that's gonna be massive for the sake of being massive, or is gonna look flashy on his resume or something. He works with a lot of different kinds of bands, and it could be a platinum band, or it could be more of a garage band. And he's got a long history of that.”

Armstrong went on say he especially enjoys messing around with arrangements.

“I always try to look at the possibilities of how you write power-pop music, “he said. “You know, it's like, how do you take something--and it could be anything from the Creation and the Who to the Beatles to Cheap Trick to the Jam--and try to expand on the idea of what is supposed to be three-chord mayhem? And how do you do it in a way where the arrangements are just unpredictable? So I'm pushing myself to be progressive in songwriting and being a songwriter.


To read the entire interview, click here: http://altpress.com/features/273.htm

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