So it’s been almost four years since the release of Green Day’s Grammy winning comeback album American Idiot with extensive touring and promotion, I think it’s fair to say that most people figured Green Day would probably take it easy for awhile after thhat album. Though I’ll still bet plenty of fans are wondering “When are they going to do another album?” well I got news for you, they actually already have and it’s available right now.
This story starts in December of 2007, when word began to spread about a mysterious Garage Rock band on the web by the name of the Foxboro Hot Tubs. With a raw 60s inspired sound and their catchy two minute rock songs, questions soon arose as to the identity of this band. Similarities were soon drawn to the Pop/Punk Music stylings of Green Day and soon enough Green Day confirmed to be this band. Though this band ain’t just Mike, Billie and Tre as there a few other musicians tagging along for the ride. Jason White and Jason Freese (two musicians who’ve recently accompanied Green Day on tour) are members and Kevin Preston (singer/guitarist of Prima Donna) is also a part of the group.
Personally I’m a pretty casual fan of Green Day. I enjoy their music to some extent, (All I’ve really heard is Dookie) but seeing this band successfully utilize another genre of Rock is impressive, and I rather enjoy the results. For this side project really shows versatility in Green Day’s musical abilities and creativity. It’s also nice to see Green Day pay tribute to some of their 60s inspirations showing hints of The Kinks, The Stooges and Tommy James and the Shondells while also borrowing some similarities to modern Garage bands like The Strokes and The Hives. Though it is unfortunate that in order to experiment with other stylings, Green Day must take on another alias to do so, but I suppose it’s for the best. I mean they don’t want to piss off any fans by straying to far from their trademark sound.
As for the music they’ve recorded and release, there is currently a six song E.P. and a full length album (both entitlled “Stop Drop and Roll!!!”) that was released on May 20th. I currently only have their six song E.P. but I enjoy it nonetheless with some of my favorite tracks being “Red Tide” and their lead single “Mother Mary”. One thing is for sure is that it’s refreshing to see this band reinvent themselves in order to show that they haven’t run out of ideas. As for another Green Day album I read that Billie Joe is hoping to release another by the end of the year or early 2009, but until then I’d say that the Foxboro Hot Tubs might be something nice to tide fans over until than.