Mike Dirnt
For the former American football wide receiver, see Mike Pritchard.
| Mike Dirnt | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Michael Ryan Pritchard |
| Also known as | Mike Dirnt, Van Gough |
| Born | May 4, 1972 Berkeley, California, United States |
| Genres | Punk rock Alternative rock Rock Hard rock New wave Garage rock Hardcore punk Pop punk |
| Occupations | Musician, Bassist, Songwriter |
| Instruments | Bass, Guitar, Vocals, Drums, Farfisa |
| Years active | 1989 – present |
| Labels | Reprise Records Lookout! Records Adeline Records |
| Associated acts | Green Day, The Frustrators, Screeching Weasel, The Network, Foxboro Hot Tubs |
| Notable instruments | |
| Fender Precision Bass Squier Precision Bass Gibson G3 Fender Telecaster Bass |
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Mike Dirnt (born May 4, 1972 as Michael Ryan Pritchard) is an American musician who is currently the bassist and backing vocalist for the American rock band Green Day. While at school, he would play "air-bass." While pretending to pluck the strings, he made the noise, "dirnt, dirnt, dirnt," so his schoolmates started to call him "Mike Dirnt".
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Life and career
Dirnt was born and raised in California. He was born to a native American woman and she gave him up for adoption. He has one sister, Myla. His adoptive parents divorced when he was seven years old. His mother remarried a few years later. When asked about his stepdad, he says, "We didn't get along for years. Later on, when I hit high school, my mom moved away from us, and me and my stepdad got real close... But then he died when I was 17."[1] Dirnt had left home when he was 17 to live out of his truck, but later rented a room in Billie Joe Armstrong's house. He attended Salesian High School (where he briefly played with the band Helder and the Heldernauts), John Swett High School, and ended up graduating from Pinole Valley High School in 1990; Green Day went on their first tour the day after graduation.
However, Dirnt almost didn't graduate. He had missed school because of work, and his mother wasn't around to sign absentee forms. Two unexcused absences caused him to lose a full grade point; and at the end of senior year, he had lowly results instead of the grades he'd worked to achieve. "I took my mom aside," Mike says. "I said, 'This is how it is. You have so much shit going on in your life, so if once every semester you ask me if I've done my homework and jump all over my case, that's not right. Have I failed yet? No. And I'm going to graduate if you stay off my back. The one time in your life you chose to have morals, and it's going to fuck me up."[1]
Dirnt met Billie Joe Armstrong in 1982, at age 10, in the Rodeo Elementary School cafeteria, a few months before Armstrong's father died of Esophageal cancer. He and Armstrong first founded Sweet Children in 1987, and they then started their current band Green Day with former Isocracy drummer John Kiffmeyer (a.k.a. Al Sobrante) and then switched to their present drummer, Tré Cool. Some years before, Dirnt moved in with Armstrong because his mother and sister moved away from Rodeo. Dirnt did not want to move away from his new-found best friend and love for music.
Green Day's Woodstock '94 gig was one for the history books: a huge mud fight ensued between the band and the audience. So many mud-covered fans got up on stage by the end of the set that one of the security guards mistook Dirnt for a marauding fan, tackled him, and broke several of his teeth while attempting to haul him off the stage.
He used to play a Gibson G-3 bass, but during Nimrod, Tré Cool accidentally broke it on stage trying to show fan Brendan Taylor how to spin a bass around his back. Armstrong then sent Dirnt's bass tech out to get him a new bass. It resulted in a '69 Fender Precision Bass. He later asked Fender to make him a custom P-Bass, and the result is modeled after the '51 P-Bass with a '59 Custom Shop "Hot Rod" Split-Coil Pickup, a BadAss II bridge and a thinner neck. It was released in early 2004.
Personal life
Dirnt has a daughter, Estelle Desiree, who was born in April 1997 (with first wife Anastasia) and has the nickname "Hero"; he won full custody over her in the summer of 2008 and took her to live in Oakland. In 2004, he married his then girlfriend Sarah. The two divorced that same year. Dirnt also has a son named Brixton Michael with Brittney Cade, born on October 11, 2008. Brittney and Mike were wed on March 14, 2009 in a private ceremony in her hometown of Ojai, California.
Dirnt is part owner of Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, a diner in Emeryville, California.[1] The diner likely gets its name from a song by punk band The Clash entitled "Rudie Can't Fail," off of their album London Calling.
After the album Warning was released, Dirnt needed surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.[2]
Equipment
Basses
- Mike Dirnt Precision Bass (in several different colors including: black, white and a two-tone sunburst)
- Fender 1969 Vintage Precision Bass (w/ a BadAss II Bridge, Seymour Duncan Antiquity Pride II Pickups) aka "Stella"
- Fender Standard Precision Bass
- Fender American Jazz Bass (used with the S-1 Switch "down")
- Fender 1966 Vintage Precision Bass
- Gibson G-3 Bass
- Peavey Patriot Bass (no longer used)
Amplification
- Mesa/Boogie M-2000 Head (x3)
- Mesa/Boogie 6x10 Custom Cab (x2+)
- Mesa/Boogie 1x18 Cab (x2+)
- Mesa/Boogie 2x10 Cab (x2+)
- Fender Pro 1200 Head (x2)
- Fender Pro 800 Head (x1)
- Fender Pro 810 Cab (x3+)
Misc
- Fender Medium Nickel Plated Bass Strings
- Shure ULX Wireless
- Custom Audio Electronics Switcher
- Custom Moody 2.5" Signature Leather Straps
- Custom "Dirnt" Dunlop Tortex Picks .76 mm and .88 mm
- Zinky Master Blaster Boost Pedal
- Zinky True Grit Overdrive Pedal
Dirnt plays exclusively with a pick as opposed to plucking the strings with his fingers.
Songwriting and lead vocals
Although Billie Joe is Green Day's primary songwriter, Dirnt has written "Emenius Sleepus", "J.A.R.", "Scumbag", "Ha Ha You're Dead", and the subtrack "Nobody Likes You" from the medley "Homecoming." He also co-wrote "Panic Song", "Best Thing in Town", and "Sweet Children" with Billie Joe. Dirnt sings the song "Governator", which is featured on the "American Idiot" single, and he also sings the second part of 21st Century Breakdown's "American Eulogy" (Modern World).
Discography
Green Day
- 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours (1991) -- bass, backing vocals
- Kerplunk! (1992) -- bass, backing vocals
- Dookie (1994) -- bass, backing vocals
- Insomniac (1995) -- bass, backing vocals
- Nimrod (1997) -- bass, backing vocals
- Warning (2000) -- bass, backing vocals, farfisa on "Misery"
- International Superhits! (2001) -- bass, backing vocals
- Shenanigans (2002) -- bass, backing vocals
- American Idiot (2004) -- bass, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Nobody Likes You"
- Bullet in a Bible (2005) -- bass, backing vocals
- 21st Century Breakdown (2009) -- bass, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Modern World"
The Network
- Money Money 2020 (2003) -- bass, backing vocals
- Omega 3000 (TBA)
Foxboro Hot Tubs
- Stop Drop and Roll!!! (2008) -- bass, backing vocals
The Frustrators
Bass and Backing Vocals on all
- Achtung Jackass (2002) -- bass, backing vocals
- Bored in the USA EP (2002) -- bass, backing vocals
Screeching Weasel
- How to Make Enemies and Irritate People (1994) -- bass, backing vocals
Squirtgun
- Squirtgun (1995) -- bass, backing vocals on "Make it Up"
Bands
- Green Day
- The Network
- Foxboro Hot Tubs
- The Frustrators
- Screeching Weasel
- Squirtgun
References
- Fender Australia: Mike Dirnt Precision Bass
- Metal Hammer Green Day Collectors Issue
External links
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