Green Day’s Tre Cool Joins Ukraine Benefit Single Lineup
A new Ukraine benefit single, featuring a who’s-who of punk rockers, will feature none other than Tre Cool of Green Day.
The effort is anchored by Eugene Hütz, frontman of the gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello. Hütz started the band in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1999, but Gogol Bordello isn’t your typical NYC punk outfit. To be sure, punk is the main ingredient of their particular flavor of punk rock stew, but Romani music and dub also feature prominently in the palate. Gypsy punk isn’t just a descriptor of their sound, either: it’s at the core of their identity. The band tours relentlessly around the world, featuring musicians from all over the globe.
So collaboration certainly isn’t a new concept to Hütz. In fact, just last year, the Ukrainian-born musician organized a Benefit for Ukraine live event at City Winery in New York City. That show featured performances and guest appearances from the likes of Patti Smith, Suzanne Vega, Craig Finn of The Hold Steady, Stephen Merritt of Magnetic Fields, and Jesse Malin of the punk rock outfit D Generation.
Green Day’s Tre Cool Joins Ukraine Benefit Single Lineup
This time around, the lineup consists of Tre Cool, Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys, Joe Lally of Fugazi, Roger Miret of NYC hardcore pioneers Agnostic Front, Sasha, Puzzled Panther, and Monte Pittman. Hard rockers likely know Pittman best as the guitarist of the band Prong, but he’s perhaps better know as Madonna‘s longtime guitar player.
Says Hütz: “Here, living legends of punk and hardcore who always meant so much to me, come together to show their much needed support for Ukrainian freedom fighters.” Listen to “United Strike Back” below. You can stream and purchase the track here. It is a benefit song, after all, so it’s the right thing to do.