Billie Joe Armstrong

Billie Joe was the youngest of six kids in a working-class family in Rodeo, California. His father was a truck driver and part time jazz musician who died of cancer when Billie Joe was ten, his mother a waitress and diehard country music fan. As a child, Billie would sing at hospitals to cheer patients up. He also recorded a song called "Look For Love" for the locally based Fiat Records when he was five. The first album Billie Joe bought was Elvis Presley's The Sun Sessions. Soon after a couple friends got him hooked on punk bands like DOA, TSOL, and the Dead Kennedys. At age eleven, Billie got his first guitar, a blue Stratocaster that he plays to this day. He wrote his first song, "Why Do You Want Him", when he was 14. Billie Joe is the co-founder and partial owner of the independant label Adeline Records.

Billie Joe's favorite and most famous guitar is a Fernandes Stratocaster copy he called "Blue". It has two single-coil pick-ups and a Seymour Duncan "Jeff Beck" humbucker pick-up in the bridge position, but he only plays through the humbucker pickup. He has since had a copy of "Blue" made by Fender. It is exactly the same as the original one, but with different stickers on it. He also has a Fender Jazzmaster, a sonic blue Fender Jagstang, a Gibson Classic Series ES-135 and ES-335, an SG, a Rickenbacker, and a Guild sunburst acoustic. Billie Joe mainly uses a clone of his original 1959 Marshall 100W SLP modified amplifier, with 1960 4x12" Marshall Cabinets. He has also used Fender Bassman, Hiwatt, and Leslie amps. Billie mainly uses green, custom made Dunlop Tortex Standard .88mm picks, Ernie Ball .10 strings, and GHS Boomers.

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www.greenday.ws

Mike Dirnt

Full Name : Michael Pritchard
Plays : Bass, Backing Vocals
Born : May 4, 1972
Family : fiance, Sarah; daughter, Estelle Desiree (born April 1997 to ex-wife, Anastasia)
Also Plays : Farfisa, Guitar, Drums, Baseball Bat
Has Also Played With : The Frustrators, Screeching Weasel, Crummy Musicians, Squirtgun

Mike was born of a heroin-addicted mother and was put up for adoption. His adoptive parents divorced when he was seven, at which point he began dividing his time between their separate households. He met Billie Joe in the fifth grade, and ended up working with his mother at Rod's Hickory Pit. At fifteen he rented a room on the side of Billie's house. Though he & his ex-wife, Anastasia divorced, they are still good friends, and he visits their daughter, Estelle, as often as possible.

Mike mainly plays a Gibson G-3 bass, but he has recently been using Fender '66 and '69 American Standard Precision basses. He has also used a Fender '62 Vintage Precision bass. Mike uses a Mesa/Boogie "Bassis M-2000" (MB2000) amplifier through custom made 6x10" and 1x18" Mesa/Boogie cabinets, custom made yellow Dunlop .73mm picks, and Ernie Ball strings.

TRE' cool

Full Name : Frank Edwin Wright III
Plays : Drums, Percussion
Born : December 9, 1972
Family : wife, Claudia (married May 2000); daughter, Ramona (born 1995 to ex-wife, Lisea)
Also Plays : Accordion, Guitar
Has Also Played With : The Lookouts, Samiam

Tr grew up in Willits, California, with his father and two siblings. His dad built many of the houses in that area, including that of Lawrance Livermore, their nearest neighbor and the founder of Lookout! Records. At age twelve, he joined Livermore's band, the Lookouts. Shortly after Al Sobrante left Green Day, Tr hopped aboard. Tr and his wife, Claudia, are expecting their first child.

Tr has his own signature Slingerland drumkit, the "Spitfire". It consists of a 18x22 Slingerland Bass drum, a 5 1/2x14 Slingerland Radio King Snare, a 6 1/2x14 Chrome snare, an 11x14 Slingerland mounted tom, and a 16x16 Slingerland floor tom. Though the Spitfire comes with Slingerland cymbals, Tr still uses a 19" Zildjian K Dark Thin Crash on the left, a 20" Zildjian A Medium Ride on the right, a 22" Zildjian K Heavy Ride on the bottom right, a 14" Zildjian K Medium Top, 14" K Medium Heavy Bottom Hi-Hats, and Zildjian Super 5B drumsticks. He also uses Remo Power Stroke 3 on his snare and bass drums, Remo Coated emperors on the tops of his toms, clear ambassadors on the bottoms, and Remo Falam Slam Pad on the bass drum.