GREEN HAZE are a GREEN DAY tribute band who have become a highly demanded & booked band around the UK. Today the bands Stevie Joe Armstrong, singer of the band takes the time to speak to Metal Temple editor Jojo Hamilton.

GREEN HAZE, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for performing this interview tonight for Metal Temple magazine. I’ve got to say, I really enjoyed the gig as did my friends, you guys are on point! Would you like to say something to our readers that sums up GREEN HAZE?

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Hi Jo! Thanks for the interview. Summing up GREEN HAZE – basically our mission is to be the best GREEN DAY tribute on the circuit, as closely following the style of the GREEN DAY members themselves in terms of mannerisms and stage presence, coupled with the right sound. Basically this means we have the modern stage show combined with the old-school punk energy of a 1994 GREEN DAY.

So how long have GREEN HAZE been together & how did you guys go about forming the band?

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We’ve been a band now for 8 years this year! Time flies. It all started back in April 2012 when I (Stevie Joe) decided to get back to music again and took myself off to a practice room and basically played guitar over some GREEN DAY backing tracks and sang along – just to see if I could do it and whether I wanted to. After a couple sessions it felt right and so I put ads out to start a full band. The rest is history lol.

You guys are building up quite a fan base, how many gigs have you guys played in the UK since you started touring?

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Yes, things are going from strength to strength and the sizes of crowds at venues grows year on year. We actually have quite a loyal fan base which we call the ‘Haze Family’ and folk travel all over the UK to come and see us play, which is really awesome and humbling. We always take the time to chat with the family whether it be online or at shows, we appreciate every single person who enjoys what we do and comes to support us. This has always been a thing we wanted to ensure – that we’re there for the fans. Total shows? At a guess I’d say somewhere over 300 by now.

When you came together as a band, what inspired you to become a GREEN DAY tribute band?

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I (Stevie Joe) have been a GREEN DAY fan since school, back from the Dookie days and so I always enjoyed playing GREEN DAY songs, not only because they mean so much to me at various stages of my life but because they are just such great songs. Becoming a full on tribute band as opposed to just a covers band came fairly early on and it just made sense to go the full hog and do it properly lol. Each member of GREEN HAZE is a big GD fan, so we all come from the same place of love and respect for Billie, Mike and Tre.

How long have you been performing gigs around the UK now and do you feel you are building a good solid fan base through it?

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We’ve been performing from year 1! Always on tour, never stop. We’ve become the most in-demand GREEN DAY tribute band on the circuit with around 45-50 shows per year with many more offers that we have to turn down due to time & availability - as we do this in our spare time, we all have day jobs and families! That said, I personally feel that limiting the number of shows we play in a year benefits not only us but the fans too – as we’re able to give our live shows 100% energy and attention and really put on a live GREEN DAY ‘show’ each and every time. If you don’t come off the stage dripping in sweat and slightly in pain, then you haven’t put on a true GREEN DAY show lol. That wouldn’t be doing the people who pay good money to come and see us any justice. We always strive to make folk come away from the night with a happy smile on their faces and satisfied that they have just witnessed the next best thing to GD and hopefully even on par with the real GD (on a budget of course). In fact, we get told this all the time that we are, which must mean we’re doing it right 😊


When your not performing or recording, what do you do in your spare time? Do you have any hobbies you indulge in?

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Outside of our day jobs and spending time with family, the band tends to take up most of the other weekends so there is not too much time remaining lol. That said, our Matt Dirnt enjoys a spot of indoor rock climbing and also plays with a couple of other original bands. Jordan White is an avid gamer & our Tre Col likes going to gigs and travelling. I myself (Stevie Joe) enjoy movies and listening to other music and going to gigs (always nice to go to a gig where I don’t have to work lol).

GREEN HAZE, do you see yourselves touring outwith the UK in the future or will you continue to tour around the UK?

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We’ll always have the UK as our main touring base as most of our fans are over here and we need to ensure we reach as many UK cities and towns as we can. We are heading further afield though as well and are off to Germany twice this year for 2 big festivals over there. We also played The Rugby 7's 50th Anniversary celebration event last year in Dubai which was a great experience!

What do you plan for the future as a band? Do you have any plans to release an EP Or an album of your covers?

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The future’s bright. The future’s Green 😊 We’ll continue to tour as often as we can, shows are getting bigger and better and it’s showing no signs of slowing down and we’ll continue to do this as long as we possibly can for sure. No plans to release any EP or anything, we’re all about the live stage show. We did hit the studio for fun a few months ago though and recorded a couple of songs professionally. Hoping to release those very soon via our Sound Cloud & YouTube accounts. Stay tuned!

You guys have toured all over the UK. Where has been your favourite place to perform and why is it your favourite?

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Oh man, so many good venues & festivals that it would be hard to pick just one. Some of our favourite ones are ones that we have played many times and continue to go back and play – such as The Fleece in Bristol, Tavistock Wharf, Robin 2 in Bilston to name just a few. All of these venues are geared up to allow us to put on our full, Green Day show without limitations and the crowds are fairly big too.

GREEN HAZE, I’d like to thank you for performing this interview tonight for Metal Temple magazine. It has been an absolute pleasure to meet you all & to see you guys perform. May I wish you guys all the best for the future.

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