Rock and Roll!

How the hell do you follow up a monolithically successful album like American Idiot? You can hardly blame Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool – better known collectively as Green Day – for wanting to do something a bit different, and in their case, that something involves casting aside the political punk/cabaret schtick in favour of a homage to the 60s garage bands that provided the original blueprint for punk rock.

Considering the huge popularity of the trio’s ‘day job’ band, the release of Stop, Drop And Roll!!! has been relatively low-key; with the band releasing a few tracks for free over the internet, long before their identities were revealed. Even now, their record label is, refusing to acknowledge FHT as a Green Day side-project, despite the cat being well and truly out of the bag.

Still, the good news for fans of the trio is that their ear for an addictive tune has not deserted them. Lead single Mother Mary is unashamedly catchy; combining jangling guitars and Billie Joe’s distinctive vocals with a superb sing-along chorus. Like most of the tracks on offer here, it’ll make you want to get up and dance. After selling out arenas for the past few years, these guys are clearly in the mood for something rawer and more down-to earth; and indeed, you can almost imagine them ripping through the likes of The Pedestrian in some dusty Midwest bar, to a crowd of grateful drunkards.

They certainly aren’t shy to acknowledge their influences – hell, the chorus of the (suitably) short and snappy Alligator blatantly borrows the riff from The Kinks’ You Really Got Me. But even if Stop, Drop And Roll!!! amounts to little more than Foxboro Hot Tubs’ salute to their musical roots, they’ve made a damn fine job of it. Any chance of a few UK shows, guys?