Green Day Working On New Songs

Green Day have started working on the follow-up to last year's 21st Century Breakdown and have reportedly been demoing new songs in Europe.

You might be thinking to yourself, "But 21st Century Breakdown hasn't even been out a year yet. Isn't it kind of early to be working on new stuff?"

That's kind of the point. Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong told Kerrang! magazine the band are working on the album now so they can have it out faster than 21st Century Breakdown, which was released five years after 2004's American Idiot.

"We did some demos in Berlin, some in Stockholm, some just outside of Glasgow and some in Amsterdam," he told the magazine. "We wanted to get [the new songs] down in some early form."

Although there's no confirmed information, we've been given some of the track titles by an anonymous source. Here are some of the titles with a bit of descriptive info about each of them:

"Won't Get Fooled Again"
This is an eight-minute long epic (think "Jesus Of Suburbia") with a synthesizer intro (new for them!) and lyrics that are actually about revolution. Ooooh! Tre Cool gets an extended drum solo.

"Pinball Wizard"
This one's about a deaf, blind, mute boy who can somehow still play pinball despite his disabilities. Think "St. Jimmy." This one may be a political metaphor, too, but we aren't totally sure.

"The Kids Are Alright"
This one seems like a simple tune with a I-IV-V chord progression, but it's got some sweet harmonies thrown in from bassist Mike Dirnt. It appears to have a Mod influence.

"My Generation"
You've got to have a protest song about apathetic youth in there somewhere, right? Billie Joe is tired of you not giving a damn about politics! This is apparently the call and response version of "Know Your Enemy."

"Substitute"
This one is basically a huge "fuck you" to everyone who says Green Day are a poor man's version of The Clash.

"Baba O'Riley"
We heard a rumour that this one's got an extended violin solo at the end. That's also new for them!

Maybe you can hear Green Day play some of these new songs here:

May 29 Landsgraaf, Netherlands @ Pinkpop Festival
May 30 Hannover, Germany @ Hannover Tui Arena
June 2 Skive, Denmark @ Skive Festival
June 4 Oslo, Norway @ Oslo Ulleval Stadium
June 5 Gothenburg, Sweden @ Ullevi Stadium
June 8 Helsinki, Finland @ Helsinki Kylasaari
June 11 Munich, Germany @ Munich Reitstadion Riem
June 12 Nickelsdorf, Austria @ Novarock Festival
June 16 Manchester, England @ Lancashire County Cricket Club
June 19 London, England @ Wembley Stadium
June 21 Glasgow, Scotland @ Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre
June 23 Dublin, Ireland @ Marlay Park
June 26 Paris, France @ Parc Des Princes
July 1 Mainz, Germany @ Mainz Messepark
July 2 Werchter, Belgium @ Rock Werchter Festival
July 4 Venice, Italy @ Jammin Festival