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The Californian trio Green Day are about to release three new studio albums, called ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré!
All three albums will be released within four months, six weeks apart.
The Oakland rockers prepare for upcoming live shows across Europe where they will play their breakthrough 1994 album Dookie in full.
Front-man Billie Joe said: “We have a mammoth task ahead. We usually have five weeks of rehearsals up to the release of an album but this time it’s 10 weeks including promo and production as we have three records in one. We don’t make things easy for ourselves.”
The American Idiot singer explained the instinctive process behind the upcoming albums: “There was no planning for these albums. We even took the three album cover photos of us on our iPhones. And it’s the first time we’ve got sex, love AND politics here. It’s what the whole record is about.
And described the themes for each album: “The first record is back-to-basics power pop, classic Green Day. But done with a new sound. It’s like getting the party started. Then the next record is the party going wild and you’re deep into the hell of it. Then the third one is about love and reflection.”
And Billie Joe brings sex to the new Green Day albums, he said: “We have songs on there like Oh Love, Wild One, Makeout Party and F**k Time which are about sex because sex is fun. We’ve hinted at it before in songs but now it’s just more direct. Instead of implying it, we say, ‘It’s f**k time’. You can’t be more direct than that!”
Green Day have sold over 55 million albums under their belt and have a career spanning 23 years.
The band have the task of learning 37 new tracks for their live set-up.
“We’ve actually been able to attain a ‘no-think’ approach,” revealed Billie Joe.
“We got the songs really tight and rehearsed them before we recorded them. So we didn’t have to think about it when we were recording them. They just came out so fluid and natural and we were like making it up as we went along, just like in practice we knew how it was going to sound.
“And we play as if we were all sitting in the room. Rehearsing together, we play so loud it’s almost like fighting to be heard. And this time, going back to that approach, it was more listening to what each other had to say and everybody getting their input.
“It really is like a trip around the world. Doing what the music was calling for and shooting from the hip, using my voice as an instrument too.”
He added: “We never fight. And it’s the relationship between the three of us that’s the catalyst and where our music starts. And that’s why we’ve been doing this nearly 23 years.”
The final track on ¡Dos!, Amy, pays tribute to Amy Winehouse, who the band never met. Billie Joe explained: “it is our way of sending flowers.”
Billie Joe said: “Her death was a big loss. I didn’t know her but I was a fan of her music. She brought the old soul and first wave of ska into a modern era. She was an unbelievable talent, so the song kind of wrote itself.” Amy’s not the only tribute song on the albums. On ¡Tré!, the song X-Kid was written for an unnamed friend who recently committed suicide.”
¡Uno! is out on September 24 followed by ¡Dos! in November and ¡Tré! In January.