Pinhead Gunpowder, the band featuring Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and touring guitarist Jason White, have announced a new album titled Unt. In advance of its October 18th release, the punk outfit has unveiled the title track, its first new song in 16 years.
In addition to singer-guitarists Armstrong and White, Pinhead Gunpowder’s lineup is rounded out by drummer Aaron Cometbus and bassist Bill Schneider.
The band issued the following statement regarding their long hiatus and the new album:
“Pinhead Gunpowder started writing songs in 1990 and made our first 7” the following spring.
But since 2010, we’ve been playing just for ourselves, something bands forget to do. Rather than ‘writing for the new album’ or rehearsing to get ready for tour, we went back to the basement every year. We lived in the house we’d built, remembering how we’d made the music for each other in the first place. We played all over the world — well, at least Oakland, Singapore and New York — but only for each other. We worked on the reissues of our back catalog, too, and found ourselves fonder of each other and more family-like than ever.
A new record was only a matter of time, but between the members’ other bands, projects, and families that was hard to find. When we finally did, we were all surprised. We think it’s our best yet — our catchiest, most collaborative, and most poignant.”
The song “Unt’ doesn’t stray too far from the Green Day playbook musically, with Armstrong’s familiar voice singing lyrics like, “We geta sermon/ Riding the subway/ The preacher’s spewing poison/ At the crowd/ We’re going nowhere/ Waiting for saviors/ And if no one else/ Will shut him down… It’s up to me.”
Overall, the album Unt contains 14 songs. It was produced by Chris Dugan (Green Day, Weezer, Iggy Pop) and mastered by Nick Townsend (Cheap Trick, Bad Religion, Iron Maiden).
Meanwhile, Green Day are in the midst of their North American “Saviors” tour celebrating the 30th and 20th anniversaries of their albums Dookie and American Idiot, respectively, Pick up tickets to the remaining dates here, and read our review of their recent show at Citi Field in Queens, New York.
Check out Pinhead Gunpoweder’s new song “Unt,” as well as the album artwork and tracklist, below. Pre-order Unt via 1-2-3-4 Go Records at this location.
Unt Artwork:
Unt Tracklist:
01. Unt
02. Difficult But Not Impossible
03. Scum Of The Earth
04. Oh My
05. Nothing Ever Happens
06. Draw It In
07. Shine
08. ¡Hola Canada!
09. Here Goes The Neighborhood
10. Mumbles
11. Green
12. Chowchilla
13. Trash TV
14. Song For Myself