Green Day: Band Working On 12th Studio Album, Billie Joe Armstrong Debuts New Film At Tribeca

It’s been almost four years since legendary punk trio Green Day put out a studio album. With the band dealing with personal issues and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, rumors had been circulating that Green Day would finally release a new studio album.

Well, there’s good news for you die-hard Green Day fans — the band is currently in the studio. The new yet to be titled album will likely drop sometime this fall. As a matter of fact, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong posted the following to his Instagram account back in January.

Speculation on a new Green Day album has been making the waves since early in the year. This all began when a long-time member of Green Day’s forum had bumped into Armstrong in Oakland a few weeks ago and confirmed to them that Green Day was in the studio recording a new album. Armstrong even tweeted that he wanted to “put and end to the phrase pop-punk.” This lead many to believe that the new album might hint at Green Day going back to its roots.

my mission for 2016? to destroy the phrase “pop-punk” forever

— Billie Joe Armstrong (@BJAofficial) December 31, 2015

Green Day’s longtime publicist Brian Bumbery confirmed to Newsweek that the band was indeed releasing a new album later this year but didn’t know when it would be released.

“As for when the record might be released, that part remains a mystery. Green Day Community user Insomniac186 wrote that Armstrong told him it should ‘hopefully be out in the fall.’ Bumbery couldn’t confirm a release date when contacted by Newsweek.”

Green Day released a trio of albums back in 2012 aptly titled ¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré! as a trilogy released during separate months. Green Day was slated to go on a world tour later that year, but after Armstrong suffered a meltdown during the iHeartRadio awards after the band’s set was cut short in favor of Usher getting more stage time, the tour was canceled. Armstrong would later cut out during a performance of their 1994 hit “Basket Case” and lambasted artists such as Justin Bieber and then proceeded to trash his guitar on stage. Bandmates Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool would later join in on the destruction.

Green Day would later take a mini-hiatus while Armstrong checked himself into rehab to combat issues of substance abuse. The band would later regroup to honor some of the canceled tour dates but not all of them. Green Day was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year. The band will celebrate it’s 30th anniversary as a trio this year, making a new album a big possibility.

Recently, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong shared the stage with fellow 2015 Rock and Roll Inductee Joan Jett with a five-song set in New York during the Tribeca Film Festival. Armstrong premiered his new film aptly titled Geezer to major fanfare during the festival. According to Entertainment Weekly, Armstrong performed two original songs written for the film.

“Armstrong bookended the performance with two original songs he wrote for Geezer. But he also performed the 1997 Green Day deep cut ‘Scattered’ and was joined by Jett for a rendition of ‘American Idiot’ and her classic, ‘Bad Reputation.’ Though Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt was absent, the band’s Tré Cool backed Armstrong on drums.”

Geezer is a fictional account of a former punk rock singer having difficulty adjusting to life as a middle-aged man no longer involved in the music scene. The film features Armstrong in the lead role with Fred Armisen, Judy Greer, and a cameo from Joan Jett.

[Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images]