I don't really give a f**k about the mainstream. The mainstream doesn't offer me anything. Why would I offer it anything? I love the world I have. I love the sort of subculture that Green Day represents.

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.

Be yourself. Unless you have the option to be Batman, then always be Batman.

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.

I don't really give a f**k about the mainstream. The mainstream doesn't offer me anything. Why would I offer it anything? I love the world I have. I love the sort of subculture that Green Day represents.

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

I look at my kids as the Harry Potter Generation. There's a sense of justice about that, in beating Voldemort. It's a classic tale of good versus evil. To have a role model like Harry Potter that says you can defeat evil, but still be a complicated human being. That gives me a lot of hope.