MIKE DIRNT

Listen to the silence. Listen to your life. Be present, not just think about what's going on next week, next month.

I think that's the most important thing you can do to be a real person - is to be honest with yourself.

I'm an optimist, so I believe in some sort of life after death; I don't know what kind.

When I listen to songs, I can smell a rat. I like songs that speak to me with some deeper truth.

I'm an optimistic agnostic. I think the second we die, within a matter of seconds, everybody else arrives, and that's the party, and you live your hell on earth.

I have a daughter and she's the greatest thing that ever happened to me. She gives me a good excuse to watch cartoons.

All my religious beliefs are based on Star Wars.

I have nothing to prove. I just want to follow the music. I love making records. I love playing live. That's it. There's nothing outside of that. I look forward to the weirdness that's in front of us every day.

I think we have an obligation to put on a fun show and put on a concert that's memorable, that's energetic and that spreads joy and open-mindedness. If being open-minded and joyful is against your political beliefs, then you know, f**k you.

First and foremost, I want people on concerts to have a really great experience away from the negative press and negative stuff that you see on the news and Facebook. I don't even like seeing people's cell phones. Let's have a human experience and rub up against each other, you know.

Early on I learned to question everything. But I feel like everything is so divisive right now. Going against the grain would be to not be divisive and be inclusive. That's the disruptive way to go about it.

I hate saying that youth is wasted on the young since it's so f**king stupid, but I think you realize if you're fortunate enough to realize what you have, you don't want to sleep as much or squander any time. It's weird, but early in your career you don't stop to smell the roses since you're too busy picking them.

Bush, as far as I'm concerned, is a war criminal. With Trump, we have no idea. Right now it's just a freak show.

When people start writing songs for award shows, there's a very limited palette you can use. You end up not sounding like you. You end up sounding like somebody else. You end up getting what the record company thinks they can market.

I started playing bass for the same reason everyone else does – I’m a lousy guitarist.

Sometimes you need coffee, and sometimes you need a Bloody Mary.

I love our country. My dad served in the army. I always grew up with a song sense of belonging as an American. But I was also in the counterculture and I was coming from a place of fearing the police. So I was anti-establishment, but also loving your country. It's kind of an ironic sort of upbringing.

We work super hard to not have to work

Dogs are gonna take over the world. It's a known fact for those who believe it, kinda like the Bible.

There's no way you could get me onstage with someone that I didn't like. No way. I would never do that. We have our gripes and stuff like that. All bands have their drama, but life is too short to be miserable around somebody that you don't like.

At the end of the day, if you follow the music, it'll take you on a really, really great journey

As long as each day comes with a nice fresh cup of Oakland Coffee then everything will be alright.

For me, it's important to get back to fundamentally what it feels like to be an American. We all come from different backgrounds, but we come together and create this world. It's like a microcosm for the rest of the world. I want people to feel unity when they come to a show.

It makes me extremely proud to make punk rock the biggest music in the world right now.

If you start planning too far ahead, the next thing you know you forget you're living today