Green Day’s Mike Dirnt: ‘We had to put the life of our friend in front of everything’
Green Day bass player Mike Dirnt has spoken out in the wake of frontman Billie Joe Armstrong‘s public meltdown and subsequent visit to rehab.
Speaking earlier this evening to Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1, Dirnt said that the punk pop trio had cancelled ‘everything’ over the coming few weeks as “we had to put the life of our friend in front of everything.”
Armstrong checked himself into a clinic for substance abuse treatment last month after an onstage meltdown during the band’s performance at iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas.
Speaking about the pressure that the band were under during the build-up to the release of their new album, ‘iUno!’, Dirnt said: “Hindsight is 20/20… it was a tremendous undertaking… It catches up with you a little bit. We definitely jumped off a moving train.”
Of the Las Vegas incident, he added: “All that inertia. There were signs of things hitting the fan, we hadn’t slept in forever.”
Dirnt went on to add that he now hasn’t seen Armstrong “in weeks”, as his bandmate spends time in rehab and with his family, adding that this is the longest time in the past 20 years that they have not hung out.
Despite Armstrong’s current issues, Dirnt says he is adamant he will pull through, and said: “We’re still getting ready for the next phase.”
:( They're all obviously such good friends and this shit is so depressing. I hope Billie Joe will be okay. He's not had it easy.
Also, ¡Uno! is a great album.
Kill the DJ's video wasn't much better.
¡Uno! is such a brilliant album and I'm looming forward to ¡Dos! So much more after hearing Stray Heart.
Oh and I agree with the comments above about the 'Oh Love' video. Such a mess. Sam The Bear was way off with that one.
That being said, I was super underwhelmed with Uno!. Idk, it was really repetitive to me. I'm hoping that Dos! will be better.
I really like "¡Uno!" Some of it sounds like "nimrod," and some sounds like "Dookie."
And, yes, the "Oh Love" video sucks. But all the videos released so far have sucked. All of them seem like afterthoughts.
And ia about the videos.
Except with that hair. That's just...no.
in the way that i could see he was hot when he was younger.
But good for him if he wants rehab but js what happen to rock?
Also, Mike Dirnt is a good man and an awesome friend.
All of my friends associate me with Green Day and it was ridiculous hearing over and over again, "Hey, I hear Billie Joe had a meltdown. What happened?"
I don't know him personally, so how am I supposed to know the details of his personal life? I know Billie has dealt with addiction in the past and I can only hope that he gets his act together.