Green Day has been around for a while. My sister (who is few years older than me) heard of them in second grade, and still remembers the girl who told her about them. I remember who introduced me to them: a kid named Joe Pucconi, who liked bands like Green Day, the Butthole Surfers and movie stars like Pamela Anderson. It's kind of amusing to me now, because when I first heard them . . . I didn't like them. I only kind of liked Brain Stew, because it was such a different way of playing a song (now there are a bunch of songs in the same style), and I liked Walking Contradiction because I saw the music video and it was hilarious.

A few years later, I heard them again and actually liked them. I heard them again a bit after Nirvana, so I was prepared for the heavier stuff. Brain Stew moved from being an 'okay song' to 'cool headbanging song,' and a classic in our group of friends. We even play it in our band right now as one of our cover songs, along with Welcome to Paradise, Longview and Walking Contradiction. I actually learned some Green Day stuff on the guitar as well.

When their new CD came out, I was impressed by how much they progressed. I saw an interview with them on TV, and Billie Joe was saying how they were just playing music for the sake of playing now, which meant they could take longer to make a song, so it would be exactly how they wanted it, instead of just trying to crank out half-completed songs. I was kind of glad to hear that.

I personally have never seen them in concert, but I've heard great things. What they do is they play a few songs from a set list, and then stop and take requests from the audience. After a little while, they stop doing that as well, and then take people from the audience, and actually make a band onstage. I think it's marvelous that a band as big as they are can be that casual about playing concerts. That's the sort of performer I want to be.