Seeing as it’s Tré Cool’s birthday today, we present to you 10 lesser known facts about the Green Day sticksman. Buckle up.
- Tré Cool was born in Frankfurt, Germany.
- His real name is Frank Edwin Wright III. His nickname Tré is derived from his surname, while Cool was given to him by his neighbour Larry Livermore – founder of Lookout! Records, one-time home of Green Day.
- He made his first recording with Livermore’s band The Lookouts, aged 12. He appears on their 1987 debut, One Planet One People.
- On The Lookout’s second album, Tré performs lead vocals on That Girl’s From Outer Space and Sonny Boy.
- He joined Green Day in 1990 as a temporary replacement for John Kiffmeyer, who left the band to study at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. Tré joined the band permanently and made his debut on their 1992 album, Kerplunk.
- Cool’s father, Frank Co–, sorry Frank Wright, refurbished an old mobile library for Green Day. He acted as their driver for three tours. “On their first tour or two, it was more of a party than anything else. I still scratch my head and say, ‘How in the hell did they make it?’” remembers Frank.
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- He has a daughter Ramona and a son, Frankito, which sort of means Little Frank.
- Tré is the godfather of Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong’s children, Joseph and Jakob Danger.
- After selling millions of records for Green Day, Tré is yet to realise one of his other ambitions. “I wanna survive an avalanche,” said Cool. “I wanna be one of those people a dog finds buried under a ton of snow.” Cool story, bro.
- For reasons known only to himself, in 2007 Tré uploaded a cover version of YouTube personality Tay Zonday’s viral hit, Chocolate Rain. Enjoy.
Green Day’s new album, Revolution Radio is out now.
