GREEN DAY HEAD TO EUROPE BEFORE LAUNCHING FALL ASSAULT ON THE U.S.

FROM: MITCH SCHNEIDER/ AMANDA CAGAN

GREEN DAY HEAD TO EUROPE BEFORE LAUNCHING FALL
ASSAULT ON THE U.S.;

BAND LANDS TWO MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARD NOMINATIONS
FOR "GOOD RIDDANCE (TIME OF YOUR LIFE)"
AS THE SONG NOW MAKES ITS PRESENCE ON POP RADIO,
WITH A NEW LIVE VERSION RECEIVING AIRPLAY AT ALT RADIO

What's next for those volatile guys known as GREEN DAY? From August 8 through August 30, BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG, MIKE DIRNT and TRE' COOL, will mix headlining appearances with festival gigs overseas in such countries as England, Germany, Australia, France, Scotland and Belgium. Meanwhile, U.S. fans can look for the band to return to the concert trail in November where they've been garnering on rave review after another: the Los Angeles Times (which noted they stole the show at the KROQ "Weenie Roast," playing with "fire and authority"), Boston Globe ("GREEN DAY turned in a sizzler of a set"), and the Pittsburgh Post Gazzette ("I doubt I will see a more entertaining performance this year").

In tandem with the growing success of their platinum-plus and critically acclaimed NIMROD album, GREEN DAY have landed two nominations for the upcoming MTV Video Music Awards: "Best Alternative Music Video" and "Viewer's Choice," both for "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)." Though the song has already landed Top Five honors on Billboard's "Modern Rock Tracks" chart, it's now receiving more exposure via the live version–recorded in November at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia–that Reprise has serviced to alternative radio. At the same time, the studio version of the song–which received huge attention when it was heard on E.R. and the closing episode of Seinfeld–is developing as a hit at pop radio.

But let's go back to the frontlines. What's life on the road really like for GREEN DAY? Says drummer TRE' COOL: "We feed off each other. Just last night MIKE and I deconstructed a hotel room. It's not so bad; they'll invite us back. You just have to pay for things. We wreck things, and our tour manager walks around with $20 bills to cover the damage." What advice does TRE' have for any up-and-coming young punk rockers? "I'd tell the kids coming up, `Don't take advice from idiots like me. Make your own mistakes, maybe learn from them if you can.'"

For GREEN DAY, the bumps in the road are an essential part of life. In a Guitar World interview, BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG said: "That's what punk rock is all about to me–celebrating your insecurities and stuff, instead of feeling guilty about them or pretending they don't exist."

As always, GREEN DAY stay true to their roots. As MIKE DIRNT says, "We still write and practice all our songs in the same small garage and in 10 years, if GREEN DAY is still together, which I hope it will be, we'll still play for whoever wants to hear our music. Even if there's only 10 people at the show, we'll play because we love playing live."

And as Jeff Stark at the SF Weekly recently praised GREEN DAY for their performance at the Live 105 event in San Francisco: "…they're not aging in a stately, Bruce Springsteen-KFOG radio kind of way. Nor are they growing out of punk like Sonic Youth, whose A Thousand Leaves turns a baby girl into themes of domesticity and child care. GREEN DAY's change is more like the Beatles growing out of Jerry Lee Lewis cover songs and into developed songcraft, from Beatles For Sale into Help! and Rubber Soul. Back in the mid-`60s, the Beatles still bobbed their heads live and bratted the press. But those two records showed serious artistic growth and an open embrace of broader subjects. The songs were more musical; the lyrics were revealing. In a way, the Beatles had to grow out of the simple R&B love songs in order to redefine rock `n' roll. A direct analogy to GREEN DAY would be a stretch, but the band is doing something similar by mining punk for pop. The result is not as epic, but neither are our times or this confusing moment in rock history. What GREEN DAY is doing is smaller, more exacting, and probably more personally discombobulating: They're becoming ex-punks…GREEN DAY was making fantastic, celebratory teen-age music."

The overseas tour dates are as follows:

     DATE                       CITY                    VENUE
     Sat        8/8             Denmark                 Skanderborg Festival
     Tue        8/11            Hungary                 Budapest Szget Festival
     Wed        8/12            Austria                 Vienna Arena
     Fri        8/14            France                  Clermont Ferrand Festival
     Sun        8/16            Germany                 Hannover Zilo Festival   
     Mon        8/17            Germany                 Halle Easy Schorre
     Tue        8/18            Germany                 Nuremberg Forum
     Wed        8/19            Germany                 Karlsruhe NCO
     Fri        8/21            Germany                 Cologne Bizarre Festival
     Sat        8/22            U.K.                    Chelmsford Hylands Park V98
     Sun        8/23            U.K.                    Leeds Temple Newsam V98
     Mon        8/24            Scotland                Glasgow Barrowland
     Tue        8/25            London                  Kerrang Awards
     Wed        8/26            U.K.                    Nottingham Rock City
     Thu        8/27            London                  Astoria
     Fri        8/28            Holland                 Lowland Festival
     Sat        8/29            Germany                 Rock am See Konstanz
     Sun        8/30            Belgium                 Pukkelpop Festival