We’re not even at the end of summer yet but Californian punk heroes Green Day are already looking ahead to 2020. That’s when they’ll be returning with the follow-up to 2016’s ‘Revolution Radio’, the charmingly titled ‘Father Of All…’. Even though its release is still months away, they’ve already revealed plenty of tidbits to help build your excitement.
When will ‘Father Of All…’ be released?
Green Day will back with new goodies on your favourite streaming platform on February 7, 2020.
Have we heard anything from it yet?
Yes! The title track was released on September 10, the same day the album was announced. In the description on the track’s YouTube page, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong wrote: “this record is The New! soul, Motown, glam and manic anthemic. Punks, freaks and punishers!” He added that the lyrics weren’t about politics but “the life AND death of the party” and the “lifestyle of not giving a fuck.”
What else have the band said about the title track?
In an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s Beats 1, Armstrong suggested he wanted the song to “make [people] feel bad”. “Rock and roll sometimes has become so tame because a lot of rock acts are always trying to look for the feel-good song of the year or something,” he said. “Everything gets really watered down and wimpy, and I think rock music should make you feel bad.”
Have we seen the artwork yet?
Yep, and it’s… interesting. It riffs on the artwork to the band’s 2004 album ‘American Idiot’, zooming in on that sleeve’s arm, which is now more a shade of peach than white, with the very bottom of the heart-shaped grenade just visible in the top right-hand corner. The band and title names are scrawled over the top and finished off with a red mohawked unicorn vomiting rainbow puke over the arm.
“Our motto?? ‘Nothing says fuck you like a unicorn’,” Armstrong wrote under the YouTube stream of the title track, possibly referring to the artwork. Quite what that really means, though, is anyone’s guess.
What else is on the tracklist?
The tracklist for ‘Father Of All…’ has yet to be revealed.
Will Green Day get political on ‘Father Of All …’?
It doesn’t look like it. Speaking to Zane Lowe about what the tone of the new album would be, he said: “There’s a lot of depression, but with a sense of humour. But also just kind of the way the world works right now where we live in just the time of complete and total chaos – or else we’ve always been, but now it’s turned up to Trump. So it’s just trying to reflect what’s going on.”
He continued to say that meant “not really writing political songs, but just writing stuff [about] just the shit that you see every day.”
Confirming the lack of political themes on the album, Billie Joe described the album in a thread on Twitter.
“This record is The New!” he says. “Soul, Motown, glam and manic anthemic. Punks, freaks and punishers! The Dirty messy. The Stink. The lyrics are like a party and lifestyle of not giving a fuck. The life and death of the party. Not political. Surviving in chaos. The real shit.
“Me, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool of the Green Day cut through the bullshit. That’s how it’s always been for us. Everything else is fake. Frauds I tell ya!!
“Rock has lost its balls,” he continued. “We’re gonna teabag all these mother fuckers. The baddest rock band on the planet that gives a shit. “Glorious” or “glorious anarchy” seems to be the word that keeps coming up that reflects dancing, tribalism, anxiety, joy, violence, drugs, booze. Dangerous songs for dangerous kids!”
What else can we expect from the album?
It’s going to be fast. Armstrong revealed in his Beats 1 interview that it would clock in at 26 minutes over 10 tracks, making it the shortest record they’ve ever made (Armstrong suggested it was their shortest since ‘Dookie’ or ‘Insomniac’, however, they run to 39:38 and 32:49 respectively).
Armstrong has also said that Kendrick Lamar has an unexpected influence on the record.
“We wanted to create a dance groove with space between the drums and vocals [inspired by] the way Kendrick Lamar does things or old-school Motown music,” Armstrong explained to Billboard.
“Where it’s leading with the rhythm.”
When can I see Green Day on tour?
The band will take ‘Father Of All…’ out on tour next summer as part of the Hella Mega tour, which will also feature Weezer, Fall Out Boy, and The Interrupters. The dates will kick off in Europe, with UK and Ireland gigs taking place at the end of June. Green Day will then return to North America for a headline tour across July and August.
Green Day’s UK and Ireland tour dates are as follows:
June 2020
24 – Glasgow, Bellahouston Park
26 – London, London Stadium
27 – Huddersfield, John Smith’s Stadium
29 – Dublin, RDS Arena