READ ALL ABOUT IT!: Selected pieces of news from the past two weeks

It's been a while since i posted, and quite a bit has happened, nothing too major but newsworthy nonetheless. So here they are:

Firstly: On friday it was announced (and I mentioned it in my last post) that Billie Joe would be mentoring on The Voice. The only thing we know is that he will be on Christina Aguilera's team, which is a very interesting pairing...in an interview with the pair, they were asked if they would duet on the show and Billie said he would write something...that again should be interesting. You can watch this interview below.

After reading a lot of feedback about this i can see that there are quite a lot of people who think what he is doing is bad. He has been called a sellout and slated for it. Personally i think that what he is doing is great, he has never done anything like that before. The most punk rock thing to do is to do what you want and not care about what other people think about it and that's exactly what he is doing. I think he is gonna be one of the most brutally honest mentors they have ever had! Bring it on!


Secondly: The Idiot Club posted the cover to the new single, Kill The DJ:

It has a particular 'funky punk' feel to it, the skulls from the 21st Century Breakdown era have been used once again (cue breath of relief from Green Day fans -myself included- who have them as tattoos!)
The way this cover looks tells me that the song will be retro, like 90's style rock but with the trademark Green Day sound still peaking through. The single is rumoured to be released on 14th August but has not been officially confirmed as of yet.


Thirdly: Along with the Kill The DJ cover, the Idiot Club also posted new promo shots of the band, there were seven in total but I have chosen the best two of the bunch (below). You can find the others on the Green Day Authority website: www.greendayauthority.com and follow the 'photos' link.

 Have to say, the boys are looking pretty good at the moment! Their styles have certainly changed from the 21st Century Breakdown era, they are looking less...for lack of a better word...formal! It suits them! I admit that i fangirled slightly at these pictures...moving on!


Fourthly (and quite importantly): Last Monday (30/4/12), www.altpress.com released a video premiere of Let Yourself Go, recorded from the Austin, Texas show last November - which was the first secret show in which they previewed their new material:

This track sounds a lot more like traditional Green Day than Oh Love, which will please most fans, it's aggressive, loud and utterly fantastic! It certainly shows the musical progression of the band as they approach the Uno Dos Tre era. Looking forward to the studio version! Bring it on! :)


Finally: Last night, the boys played a 'secret' show at the Echoplex in Los Angeles. Billie announced it on Twitter (i would tell you what it said but it seems he has deleted it for some reason...)

The tickets sold out in minutes, filling the 350 capacity venue. There were some rumours that they were going to play the whole trilogy back to back but they ended up playing two hours of old and new stuff, with songs such as Christie Road, Dominated Love Slave, Oh Love, Kill The DJ, Wild One and Nuclear Family.

For anyone who is curious to hear it, here is a video for Kill The DJ from said show:

I would love them to come play in Liverpool but somehow I don't think that will happen! They need to announce UK tour details soon!

So there it is, there is a lot still to look forward to in the not so distant future but until then...peace out! R&L <3

Sellouts? Really?

This is more of a rant post...here goes...

Green Day have always been called sellouts, ever since they first signed to Reprise records all those years ago. It has been going on all the way through their career, but it has started again just recently when they released their new single Oh Love, and when Billie was chosen to be mentor on The Voice. All I wanna know is why? All the band are trying to do is earn an honest living, they are one of the hardest working bands in the industry and they have made it this far without needing to be on these reality TV shows or having everything handed to them on a plate! Their new single has been completely pulled to bits, yes it is a little different from what we are used to and no it isn't the strongest of first singles ever but it is still a good song! It is something new and refreshing...they can't just stay the same throughout their career because that would be really boring! With some of the appalling music in the charts today it is nice to hear something that doesn't completely suck!

As for Billie selling out by being on the voice...how? Just because he is branching out and doing something a little different? Let's face it, his talent has finally been recognized! He isn't doing anything wrong so why criticise him? Nobody criticised Tom Jones, or Jessie J, or Adam Levine for it! I know this is all my own opinion but seriously! Leave the guy alone!!

Anyway...

Hyper Fangirl moment commence!

Today, July 16th 2012, is the day when we can FINALLY welcome Green Day back...and...what a welcome!

Oh Love has officially been premiered! Wow, what can i say other than IT'S AMAZING!
It's a fresh sound for them, clean and very polished. The beginning is smooth with the acoustic guitar but it kicks in on the first chorus. Like the calm before the storm. The guitar solo in the middle is what really blew me away...wow! I think Rob Cavallo was definitely the best choice for producing the albums, Butch Vig was OK but in my eyes no one compares to Cavallo.

The lyrics...as with every Green Day song, are awesome. It makes me wonder who he is talking about when he sings the line: "Talk my way out of falling in love, falling in love with you" I'm sure all will be revealed in time!

I think the lyrics are a lot more personal than on the last two albums, you can see that he hasn't taken the concept album route again which is good because it shows that they are headed in a brand new direction.

Billie's voice is sounding stronger than ever, I think the Broadway stint has done him tonnes of good! He seems to be able to hit the notes much better! I can't wait to hear it live properly!

If you want to hear it, here it is below! I wanna know what you all think!

*aaaaaaaand breathe*

(Just an after thought, if Billie was on twitter at the same time as the single was released, i wonder how he would react to everyone's tweets? I reckon he would find it hilarious how hysterical we all were! haha!)

Oh Love happened here July 16th

So, in other news

With Oh Love being released to the masses in just 6 days time, the boys have confirmed the artwork...tah dah!:

No Green Day teaser release would be complete without a trailer...a 14 second trailer to be exact, here it is:

The trailer made me laugh. It has been made as a sort of parody to Youtube videos and their adverts that disrupt your videos, and i'm sure many fans (myself included) tried to click the cross! It's official, we have been trolled by Green Day! Bazinga!

The snippet of the song sounds amazing, the riff is so powerful - sounding unlike any Green Day song i have heard before. At first I was unsure about the choice for the single but i feel as though this could be a strong one and could end up being huge.

As for the artwork, I like it! It's clever and has that bombastic punky style that carries right through the trilogy of covers.

Oh Love is expected to be played at 6:00 pt, which i think is about 2:00pm here, so set your alarms!

 Oh and Kerrang will feature the boys on the cover of their July 18th issue so save some pennies!

Boys On Film...

Well today has been a great day for Green Day news.

The first came this morning when it was confirmed that there will be not one but TWO documentaries released next year. The first will be the making of the album trilogy - filmmakers Tim Lynch and co will follow them around when they are rehearsing for the various shows they will be playing and filming a sort of 'day in the life of three rockstars' type thing.

Billie told Billboard.com (where the news was confirmed) :
"It's not going to be the sitting down, head shot of me going 'We started out blah blah blah'. We wanted to get into the lifestyles of rock n roll and playing rock n roll and letting the story kind of tell itself rather than create revisionist (history)"

The boys are also said to have teamed up with Samuel Bayer, who directed the videos for American Idiot, Boulevard Of Broken Dreams/Holiday, Jesus of Suburbia and Wake Me Up When September Ends, and he also directed their live DVD 'Bullet In A Bible'.

The second of the documentaries is made up of footage from Dookie Era so it will be interesting to go from one era to the other with the documentaries - as a way to compare how they were when they first worked with Rob Cavallo and how they are now.

Executives at Warner Bros are hoping that they will be ready by the beginning of next year just in time for the Sundance Film Festival. So fingers crossed!

In the meantime we have so much more to look forward to...definitely making up for lost time!

(My next post will reveal the other stuff announced today so stay tuned!)

Excited? Yes!

When i heard about the three albums being released i didnt really know what to make of it! I mean, I was very happy about it but i was shocked that they were going to take this big step. I thought, how are they going to pull this off? Why are they releasing three albums? What are they going to sound like now?

The thought of new Green Day music is great, i think because it has been three years since 21st Century Breakdown it has been nice to experience all of the hype again, especially with the studio updates and constantly being kept guessing.

Now that the first single 'Oh Love' has been announced, it is becoming more real to me that it is finally happening. I am LOVING the fact that they have chosen that for their next single because it was my favourite from the secret show in Texas last year. I am curious more than anything to hear what it's going to sound like as a proper studio song.

The other thing (and possibly the main thing) that is exciting me about the new albums is the tour! I cannot wait to see them live again. The last time they played in Manchester was quite possibly the best gig i have ever been to, (and i have been to quite a few in my time) just thinking of that night gives me the biggest smile on my face. I just know that the three albums are going to give us the best tour they have ever done! I am so excited for it all to begin!

I would like to hear what everyone else thinks about the albums/tour/single. So, if you want, please leave a comment and tell me. It will be interesting to see the reactions!

Thanks! and thanks for reading my blog. It means the world to me!

RAGE n LOVE! <3

Tre! Cover Revealed!

This afternoon saw the unveiling of the album cover for the final in the trilogy. Yes, Tre was released...carrying on the 'album cover every thursday' pattern that they have been following.

Here is the cover:

"I'm feeling bluuuuuuuuuuueee!" - could this have been a hint?
This cover was actually leaked through the photograph that Billie tweeted earlier in the week (as shown in my last post) so this release was no surprise, however it is still good to see it officially out there. Out of the three covers this is my favourite. The photo of Tre really stands out and...well, i like the colour!

As with all of the other covers, there was a trailer showing the guys doing all different things such as surfing, skateboarding and jamming in the studio. The song in the background is unknown but is sounding really good. Very heavy on drums but different again to the Green Day sound we have gotten used to.

If you look closer at the end of the trailer you will see that the date to pre-order the albums off the band's website is 16th July, which is the same day as Oh Love has been confirmed to be released. Also people have already been pre ordering Uno from Amazon which is amazing!

With all of the trailers out of the way, the only thing i am wondering now is....what is going to be released next week?