Billie Joe Armstrong: "Trump Gives Me Diarrhoea. I Don't Want To Write A Song About It!"

It's not always a guarantee that Green Day are going to get political in their new music, but frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has revealed to Kerrang! that the band's forthcoming record Father Of All… has some political nods "in there" – though it wasn't inspired in any way by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“It’s coming from a place of feeling like you’re out of control, and you’re not in charge of your own body anymore," the vocalist and guitarist explains of his lyrical standpoint. “It paints pictures or vignettes of what life is like for me and for other people that, I feel like, are desperate. And I mean that in an empathetic way, where people in America have become very desperate with their situations. There’s factories being shut down, gentrification…”

And while 2016's brilliant Revolution Radio (several songs of which reflected the political situation at the time) was released just a month before the presidential election on November 8, the songwriter didn't use Trump whatsoever as an influence on album number 13.

“I mean, I draw no inspiration from the President of the United States, because he’s just… there’s nothing," says Billie Joe. "Trump gives me diarrhoea (laughs), you know? I don’t want to write a song about it!

“It’s just more about trying to empathise with people’s situations. It’s just a crazy time. When I was a kid, my parents had six kids. My dad was a trucker and my mother was a waitress, and they bought a home in California in the ’70s with five kids living in the house. That is an impossible thing to do right now in California – if not in other places. And that’s what scares me a little bit more – what’s going to happen to people in the future. Millennials trying to buy a home, or to have something that they can call home, because everybody’s being kicked out of their homes…”

“…because they decided to get educated and they spent rest of their life in debt," adds bassist Mike Dirnt, "or they broke their arm and didn’t have insurance. There’s so many things.”

Father Of All… is due out on February 7 via Warner Records.

Read this next: 20 things you probably didn’t know about Billie Joe Armstrong

Green Day are featured in the new issue of Kerrang!, which is on sale now. You can get it anywhere in the world through Kerrang.Newsstand.co.uk right now, or if you're a UK resident then it's available from all good newsagents.

Catch Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Weezer and The Interrupters (U.S. only) on the Hella Mega Tour next summer. Tickets go on sale September 20 at 10am local time.

The Hella Mega Tour 2020

June

13 Paris, France, La Defense Arena,
14 Groningen, Netherlands, Stadspark
17 Antwerp, Belgium, Sportspaleis
21 Vienna, Austria, Ernst Happel Stadium
24 Glasgow, UK, Bellahouston Park
26 London, UK, London Stadium
27 Huddersfield, UK, The John Smith’s Stadium
29 Dublin, Ireland, RDS Arena

July

17 Seattle, WA, T-Mobile Park
21 San Francisco, CA, Oracle Park
24 San Diego, CA, Petco Park
25 Los Angeles, CA, Dodger Stadium
28 Commerce City, CO, DICK’s Sporting Goods Park
31 Arlington, TX, Globe Life Field

August

01 Houston, TX Minute Maid Park
05 Miami, FL Hard Rock Stadium
06 Jacksonville, FL TIAA Bank Field
08 Atlanta, GA SunTrust Park
11 Minneapolis, MN Target Field
13 Chicago, IL Wrigley Field
15 Pittsburgh, PA PNC Park
16 Hershey, PA Hersheypark Stadium
19 Detroit, MI Comerica Park
21 Washington, DC Nationals Park
22 New York, NY Citi Field
24 Toronto, ON Rogers Centre
27 Boston, MA Fenway Park
29 Philadelphia, PA Citizens Bank Park

Read this next: Green Day’s 15 best videos, ranked in order of greatness