Pinhead Gunpowder

About

Pinhead Gunpowder is the East Bay punk side project where Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong takes a back seat, letting drummer Aaron Cometbus drive both the songs and the creative vision. Formed in Arcata in 1991, the band has always operated on its own unhurried timeline, releasing a handful of EPs and albums across three decades while keeping shows rare and regional. Cometbus writes the bulk of the material, sometimes pulling tracks from his other obscure bands and folding them into the Pinhead Gunpowder catalog. The name itself came from a brand of green tea found during one of Cometbus's dumpster diving trips. The lineup solidified when Jason White, later Green Day's touring guitarist, stepped in for original member Sarah Kirsch in 1994. Influences range from the Ramones and Cheap Trick to Joni Mitchell and the Replacements, a mix that gives the band a scrappier, more personal feel than anything Armstrong does in his day job. After years of quiet, the band returned in 2024 with a new album called Unt, showing they still have no interest in playing it safe or predictable.