On August 11, 2016, Green Day dropped Bang Bang out of nowhere. A three-minute cherry bomb of hyperactive punk, with snarling guitar and lyrics that dealt with the rise of mass shootings in America, it didn’t just announce that they were back, it firmly exorcised the ghost of ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré!, and saw the band storming into the public eye as a force to be reckoned with once again.
The intervening years had been relatively quiet. With Billie Joe Armstrong having checked into rehab in September 2012, following his infamous “One fucking minute” iHeartRadio incident, things moved more slowly than they had in years. On top of that, Mike Dirnt’s wife began treatment for breast cancer – something she is, thankfully, now clear of.
There were tours – including headline slots at Reading & Leeds 2013 – but they were not long, and with extended breaks in which to unwind. Teaming up with U.S. singer Norah Jones, the frontman released an album of acoustic Everly Brothers covers in 2013, Foreverly, just for the hell of it. And when it came to Green Day business, there was the small matter of their 2015 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Three days prior, as a warm-up to their performance at the ceremony, the band played their first show in over a year under their original name Sweet Children, with founding sticksman John Kiffmeyer joining them to boot. Afterwards, for the purposes of a benefit show, 924 Gilman Street lifted their ban on Green Day for a night.
But what they concentrated on most was to take their first proper break since, well, ever.
“I think we had to just kinda do nothing for a while,” Billie Joe mused. “It’s great to be home in Oakland. I found the biggest piece-of-shit 1962 Ford Falcon, just to bring it back to life. Every day I was in the garage with it. I got bloody knuckles and got pissed off with it and just rebuilt this car. It was fun. And I got to spend time with my family, watching my sons become young men, sitting shotgun with my wife on some of the [charity] things she does.”
Through all this, though, as ever, Billie Joe continued to write songs. Not for anything, just songs. Until he came up with Bang Bang, and Somewhere Now.
Working in their own studio, Otis in California – where Billie Joe himself admits, “We didn’t know if that would work because it’s so small, but we got in there and nailed the first songs and went, ‘Well, sounds good to me!’” – the band described the sessions as having the vibe of Kerplunk, “but with more time”.
“We simply thought,” said Tré Cool, “‘Let’s just fucking be Green Day.’”