For the former American football wide receiver, see Mike Pritchard.
| Mike Dirnt | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael Ryan Pritchard |
| Also known as | Mike Dirnt, Van Gough |
| Born | May 4, 1972 Berkeley, California, United States |
| Genres | Punk rock New wave Garage rock Hardcore punk |
| Occupations | Musician, Songwriter, Bassist |
| Instruments | Bass, Guitar, Vocals, Drums, farfisa |
| Years active | 1987 – present |
| Labels | Reprise Records Lookout! Records Adeline Records |
| Associated acts | Green Day, The Frustrators, Screeching Weasel, The Network, Foxboro Hot Tubs |
| Notable instruments | |
| Fender Precision Bass, Gibson G3, Fender Telecaster Bass | |
Mike Dirnt (born Michael Ryan Pritchard; May 4, 1972) is an American musician who is currently the bassist and backing vocalist for the American punk rock band Green Day. While at school, he would play "air-bass." While pretending to pluck the strings, he made the noise: "dirnt, dirnt, dirnt," so his schoolmates started to call him "Mike Dirnt."
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Dirnt was born and raised in California. He was adopted by a Native American mother and a white father. He has one sister, Myla. His parents divorced when he was seven years old. His mother remarried a few years later. When asked about his stepdad, he says, "We didn't get along for years."[1] The one thing my family did give me is blue collar morals. But he died when I was 17."[1] Dirnt had left home when he was 17 to live out of his truck, but later rented a room in Billie Joe Armstrong's house. He attended Salesian High School (where he briefly played with the band Helder and the Heldernauts), John Swett High School, and ended up graduating from Pinole Valley High School in 1990, and Green Day went on their first tour the day after graduation.
However, Dirnt almost didn't graduate. He had missed school because of work, and his mother wasn't around to sign absentee forms. Two unexcused absences caused him to lose a full grade point; and at the end of senior year, he had lowly results instead of the grades he'd worked to achieve. "I took my mom aside and I said to her, 'This is how it is. You have so much stuff going on in your life, so if once every semester you ask me if I've done my homework and jump all over my case, that's not right. I haven't failed yet, have I? And I'm going to graduate if you stay off my back. The one time in your life you choose to have morals, and it's going to mess me up."
Dirnt met Billie Joe Armstrong in 1982, at age 10, in the Rodeo Elementary School cafeteria, a few months before Armstrong's father died of Esophagus cancer. He and Armstrong first founded Sweet Children in 1987, and they then started their current band Green Day with former Isocracy drummer Al Sobrante (a.k.a John Kiffmeyer) in 1989 and then switched to their present drummer, Tré Cool. Some years before, Dirnt moved in with Armstrong because his mother and sister moved away from Rodeo. Dirnt did not want to move away from his new-found best friend and love for music.
Green Day's Woodstock '94 gig was one for the history books: a huge mud fight ensued between the band and the audience. So many mud-covered fans got up on stage by the end of the set that one of the security guards mistook Dirnt for a marauding fan, tackled him, and broke several of his teeth while attempting to haul him off the stage.
He used to play an old Gibson G-3 bass, but during Nimrod., Tré Cool accidentally broke it on stage trying to show fan Brendan Taylor how to spin a bass around his back. Armstrong then sent Dirnt's bass tech out to get him a new bass. It resulted in a '69 Fender Precision Bass. He later asked Fender to make him a custom P-Bass, and the result is modeled after the '51 P-Bass with a '59 Custom Shop "Hot Rod" Split-Coil Pickup, a BadAss II bridge and a thinner neck. It was released in early 2004.
Dirnt has a daughter, Estelle Desiree, who was born in April 1997 (with first wife Anastasia) and has the nickname "Hero", whom he won full custody over in summer 2008 and took her to live in Oakland. In 2004, he married his then girlfriend Sarah. The two divorced that same year. Dirnt also has a son named Brixton Michael with Brittney Cade, born on October 11, 2008. Brittney and Mike were wed on March 14, 2009 in a private ceremony in her hometown of Ojai, California.
Dirnt is part owner and chef of Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, a diner in Emeryville, California.
After the album Warning was released, Dirnt needed surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.[2]
Basses
Amplification
Misc
Dirnt plays exclusively with a pick as opposed to plucking the strings with his fingers.
Although Billie Joe is Green Day's primary songwriter, Dirnt has written "Emenius Sleepus", "J.A.R.", "Scumbag", "Ha Ha You're Dead", and the subtrack "Nobody Likes You" from the medley "Homecoming." He also co-wrote "Panic Song", "Best Thing in Town", and "Sweet Children" with Billie Joe. Dirnt sings the song "Governator", which is featured on the "American Idiot" single, and he also sings the second part of 21st Century Breakdown's "American Eulogy" (Modern World).
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Mike Dirnt (born Pritchard Johnton on May 4, 1972, in San Diego, California) is the bass guitar player from the punk rock band Green Day, he also sings back up vocals.
Mike was adopted. His adoptive parents divorced when he was 7, and both are now remarried. Mike owns a restaurant in California called "Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe". Mike married his long time girlfriend Anastasia in 1996 and their daughter, Estella-Desiree, "Stella", was born in April 1997. Mike loves his daughter very much, and his nickname for her is "Hero". Today, Mike and Anastasia are separated, but still remain very good friends. He recently was remarried in 2004, however his wife left him because he spent too much time in the studio recording American Idiot.[needs proof] Mike is currently married to girlfriend Brittney, and resides in Oakland, California.
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