Last year, Green Day band mates watched as Billie Joe Armstrong had a public meltdown onstage. Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt stated that he wasn’t surprised by what Armstrong had to say.
Mike Dirnt agreed to an extremely candid interview to Rolling Stone. In the interview, Dirnt described what Armstrong was like leading up to that moment.
“We all turned a blind eye to it. Everyone, deal with your own s**t. Because we were working so hard”, Dirnt said.
Green Day was performing at the iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas when the producers signaled they had one minute left in their set. Billie Joe Armstrong reacted violently by smashing his guitar on stage.
Armstrong screamed, “You’re going to give me one minute? One f***ing minute? I’ve been around since f***ing 1987 f***ing eight and you’re going to give me one f***ing minute. I’m not f***ing Justin Bieber, you mother***ers.”
Dirnt reacted to Armstrong’s rant saying, “Truth be told, I agreed with what he said, outside of mentioning anybody else. I know that’s not Billie.”
“But the bigger side of it, I actually agreed with the rant. But I was watching my friend and going, ‘You’re out of your f**king mind.’ And we were dealing with an s**tshow.”
Billie Joe Armstrong spent 20 years abusing alcohol and drugs, however the singer and writer is now clean and sober. He is getting ready to go out on tour as the front man for Green Day.
In closing at the interview, Dirnt said, “The backstage doesn’t need to be a bar. And that’s OK with me. That’s just time-killing, coping mechanisms. Also, we don’t have to say yes to every opportunity in front of us.”
“We did something like 228 shows for “American Idiot” and 190 for “21st Century Breakdown.” And that doesn’t include band practice five days a week in between.”
“My thing is, good, bad or ugly, I gotta support my boy. I’m gonna back him up, and then I’m going to take it the next step further with him. And we’re gonna do it offstage, too.”
Be sure to check out Kelly’s other columns:
National Family and Parenting Examiner
National Sports Celebrity Examiner
Sex and Relationships Examiner
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