Followers

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Billie Joe Armstrong gathers his 'No Fun Mondays' covers series songs together for an album

Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong is set to release his YouTube covers series No Fun Mondays into a 14-song collection on November 27 via Reprise/Warner Records, on vinyl, CD, and digital.

No Fun Mondays sees Armstrong putting his spin on songs by John Lennon, Billy Bragg, Johnny Thunders and others. In the run-up to No Fun Mondays’ official release, a different track from the album will be made available on streaming services every week. Additionally, limited baby blue colored vinyl will be available at U.S. independent music retailers. Pre-order No Fun Mondays HERE.

The No Fun Mondays series launched in March on Green Day’s YouTube channel. Like many musicians, Armstrong expected to spend much of this year on the road, touring in support of Green Day’s chart-topping February album, Father of All… However, once the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to put those plans on pause, Armstrong got busy with a different kind of work.

"While we’ve all been in quarantine I’ve been reflecting on the things that matter the most in my life: family, friends, and, of course, music,” he says. “I figure if we have to spend this time in isolation at least we can be alone together."

Armstrong treated fans to a new home-recorded cover song each Monday, accompanied by a DIY video. Beyond paying respects to his punk-rock forefathers (The Avengers’ “Corpus Christi,” Dead Boy Stiv Bators’ “Not That Way Anymore”) and working-class heroes (John Lennon’s “Gimme Some Truth,” Billy Bragg’s “A New England”), Armstrong also indulged his love of sugary pop through versions of The Bangles’ “Manic Monday” and the Beatlesque theme to Tom Hanks’ 1995 film That Thing You Do! The latter was performed in tribute to the song’s writer, Adam Schlesinger, who passed away from COVID-19 complications in April.

Track listing: 

I Think We’re Alone Now
War Stories
Manic Monday
Corpus Christi
That Thing You Do!
Amico
You Can’t Put Your Arms Round A Memory
Kids in America
Not That Way Anymore
That’s Rock ‘N’ Roll
Gimme Some Truth
Whole Wide World
Police On My Back
A New England

No comments: