Green Day Grows Beyond Punk On 'nimrod'

LOS ANGELES--Growth and maturity aren't words one usually associates with punk trio Green Day, but with the release of 'Nimrod'--the band's third Reprise album, due worldwide Oct. 14--those two words are frequently popping up in discussions.
Included among the album's 18 tracks are the string-laden acoustic ballad 'Good Riddance' and the orchestrated surf instrumental 'Last Ride In.' No Doubt's horn section guests on 'King For A Day'; singer Billie Joe Armstrong blows harp on 'Walking Alone'; and the album's first single, 'Hitchin' A Ride,' opens with violin strains courtesy of That Dog's Petra Haden.
'I spent a lot of time in the studio while they were recording,' says Reprise Records president (U.S.) Howie Klein, 'and what I realized immediately is that they had seemed to mature in their musical direction. It wasn't just more of the same. There was so much growth in the band.'
While some of 'Nimrod' does show newfound musical development, make no mistake: Green Day is still, first and foremost, a punk band.
'I still love punk rock,' says singer/ guitarist Armstrong. 'I'm only 25 years old, and I still love it. I don't want to abandon it. It made me who I am, but we're capable musically of doing a lot more . . . We wanted to leave ourselves vulnerable and sort of let it happen.'
While such bands as the Clash and the Replacements were noted for growing beyond their punk roots, Armstrong says it was indie punk band Bikini Kill that inspired Green Day's growth.
'I really liked the way Bikini Kill's last record came out,' he says. 'They challenged themselves more. They have some really rough punk rock songs and these delicate pretty songs. I was into the way they did it, and since they come from the same background, it was easier to relate to than something like 'London Calling.' That record was done in a completely different era.
'The way we think of this band is that we're sort of the last rock'n'roll band on the planet,' Armstrong adds. 'Everybody is getting into electronic and folk kind of music, and nobody is really bashing it out. We're a garage band, no matter which way you look at it.'
It was in 1994 that Green Day--now managed by Atlas/Third Rail's Bob Cavallo and Pat Magnerella--became more than just a garage band. After recording two albums and three EPs for the Berkeley, Calif.-based Lookout Records, the trio--which also includes bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool--made the leap to Reprise. The group's 1994 major-label debut, 'Dookie,' has sold more than 6.2 million copies to date, according to SoundScan.
'Insomniac,' the band's 1995 album, has sold 1.6 million--a disappointment only when compared with the incredible sales strength of 'Dookie.'
'I love the last record,' Armstrong says of 'Insomniac.' 'It did a lot better than I thought it was going to do. We were prepared for what people were going to say. From the sound of it, we knew it wasn't going to sell as much as 'Dookie.' It is very much the opposite of what we did with this album. It had a sort of one-track mind. It was very aggressive through the whole thing. It was relentless. It sold 4 million worldwide, and that's great. Bands dream of selling that many records.'
For 'Nimrod,' Armstrong wrote 40 songs before narrowing down the field to the 18 tracks--published by Green Daze Music, administered by WB Music Corp./ASCAP--that appear on the album. With Rob Cavallo once again serving as co-producer, the band spent four months recording the album, twice as much as it spent on 'Insomniac' and 'Dookie.'
Quips Armstrong, 'We spent a little too much time playing pool and foosball, but we really bled over this record to the point of straight-up delirium. Now I have this big sense of relief, because I can listen back to it and feel really good by knowing that all the hard work had a payoff.'
The confessional ballad 'Good Riddance,' which was written after 'Dookie' about a breakup with an old girlfriend, is not the only song on the album that's about Armstrong's life. 'Hitchin' A Ride' is about falling off the wagon.
'Actually I'm on the wagon right now and feeling pretty good,' he says. 'It's about finding that balance between being responsible and being a lunatic, to find a nice convenient place in between, that's what I've had problems with.'
Part of that desire to be more responsible has come with the fact that Armstrong is married and has a young son. 'If I didn't have a kid, God knows what I'd be doing right now,' he says.
His coming to terms with growing up and life as a husband and father inspired several tracks on the album, including 'The Grouch,' 'Worry Rock,' 'Redundant,' and 'Scattered.'
But those delving for deep meaning in Armstrong's songs may be a little disappointed. The infectious 'Uptight,' which sounds like Green Day performing a cross between the Smashing Pumpkins' '1979' and Blondie's 'Dreaming,' has repeated references to suicide. 'I think the word 'suicide' just sounded really good,' Armstrong says. 'And the line, 'I'm a son of a gun.' It made sense, but I can't really explain why it made sense. It just sort of does.'
Elsewhere, the horn-flavored 'King For A Day' takes on cross-dressing, with lines like 'Who put the drag in drag queen?' But Armstrong hopes the subject matter will be lost on a segment of the band's audience.
'It sort of sounds like an Oi! anthem,' he explains. 'It would be funny for a bunch of macho fraternity guys to be singing along and, little do they know, the song's about being in drag.'
In keeping with the band's punk image, part of Reprise's marketing campaign will involve guerrilla marketing.
The album's cover art features head shots of two suit-and-tie-wearing men whose faces are obscured by circular stickers bearing the word 'nimrod.' Using that theme, Reprise is distributing circular 'nimrod' stickers to retailers in late August to affix to the faces of various stars featured on stand-up displays.
Says Linnea Nan, director of artist development and creative marketing for Reprise (U.S.), 'We're encouraging retail accounts to recycle existing POP and promotional materials in stores. We're not telling them to sticker POP for hot new releases, but we're leaving it at the store's discretion and hoping that they'll have some fun with it.'
Nan is optimistic that the sticker campaign will spark curiosity and intrigue with consumers, before it is revealed later in the campaign that 'Nimrod' is the title of the new Green Day album.
The single 'Hitchin' A Ride' went to radio in late August. 'We had every intention of releasing it the first week of September, but historically Green Day tracks have somehow been leaked,' Nan says.
To counteract the possibility that the track would be leaked and some stations would be left without the single over the Labor Day weekend, Reprise shipped the track early.
'It was a last-minute strategy that worked real well,' Nan says. 'The good thing is that when the album comes out, it will have been at radio a good seven weeks.'
Modern rock radio is already reacting favorably to the track. This issue, the song is No. 12 with a bullet on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, with 74 stations spinning the record for the week ending Sept. 7, according to Broadcast Data Systems.
Modern rock WBCN Boston music director Carter Alan calls 'Hitchin' A Ride' a 'refreshing and solid single. It's requesting real well, and it fits in with our tapestry of sound--from punk and ska to Portishead.'
Per Reprise's plan, the initial rush at radio is likely to translate to sales at retail.
'We expect to do very well with it,' says Bob Bell, new-release buyer for the 231-store, Torrance, Calif.-based Wherehouse Entertainment. 'Being on the West Coast, we have a great history with their type of punk-pop. The airplay out-of-the-box has been outstanding.'
Anticipation for 'Nimrod' will likely heat up when MTV world-premieres the 'Hitchin' A Ride' video, directed by Mark Kohr, on Tuesday (16). Nan says the clip has 'a crazy vaudeville-like flair' and features a 'demented Tim Burton-esque set.'
On Oct. 12, Green Day will guest on the syndicated radio program 'Modern Rock Live.' In addition, the band will also likely make an appearance on Howard Stern's syndicated morning show.
On the TV front, Green Day will perform on 'Late Show With David Letterman' Oct. 14 and on 'Saturday Night Live' on a date still to be determined.
Green Day will also celebrate the release of 'Nimrod' with a performance at the Tower Records at Fourth and Broadway in New York, either on Oct. 14 or the day after the album's release.
Green Day has a European promotional jaunt planned for mid-September, which will include a surprise club show in London and possibly a date in Germany.
On Oct. 19 or 20, the band will kick off a U.S. tour, which will run through December. The trio will perform in 1,200- to 3,000-seat venues, rather than arenas. The act is booked by Rob Light at Creative Artists Agency.
'We're re-establishing the core audience and being realistic about it,' Nan says, 'and we're introducing Green Day to a new audience.'
In addition, Reprise is focusing its marketing efforts on high schools, with the band committing to some interviews with high school newspapers and inviting journalism students to review its shows. The label will also support contests with radio stations.
While retailers may be eyeing Oasis' 'Be Here Now' and 'Nimrod' as the great rock hopes of the season, Armstrong already has his mind made up about who's tops. 'I know one thing's for sure--Oasis is the second best rock'n'roll band.' So Green Day's No. 1? 'Well,' says Armstrong with a laugh, 'yeah.'
(c) BPI Communications, 1997 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED