Billie Joe Armstrong’s new band, the Longshot, unveiled their debut EP featuring three songs, “Taxi Driver,” “Love Is for Losers” and “Chasing a Ghost.”
All three tracks find Armstrong working in familiar rock and roll territory. “Taxi Driver” is a chugging punk anthem with a strong hook about escape that finds Armstrong putting his own spin on a classic rock trope: “Taxi driver, I’m rolling/ Taxi driver, I’m rolling like a stone.” On “Love is for Losers,” Armstrong offers lessons on heartbreak as well as a couple searing guitar solos.
Armstrong hasn’t revealed too much information about the Longshot. In February, an Instagram account for the band appeared, and in a recent post, the group said their first album would be called, Love Is for Losers (a release date has yet to be announced).
Armstrong has issued several side projects throughout his career, including Pinhead Gunpowder, the Network and Foxboro Hot Tubs (the last of which was essentially an alias Green Day used to book smaller gigs). In 2013, he partnered with Norah Jones for an album, Foreverly, in which they reinterpreted the Everly Brothers’ Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. As for Green Day, the band released their last album, Revolution Radio, in 2016.