Tré Cool
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| Tré Cool | |
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 Tré Cool playing drums on Sessions @ AOL.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Frank Edwin Wright III |
| Also known as | Tré Cool, The Snoo[1] |
| Born | December 9, 1972 Frankfurt, West Germany |
| Genre(s) | Punk rock Pop punk Alternative rock New wave Garage rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Drummer |
| Instrument(s) | Drums, Guitar, Vocals, Accordion |
| Years active | 1985–Present |
| Label(s) | Reprise Records Lookout! Records |
| Associated acts | Green Day The Lookouts The Network Foxboro Hot Tubs |
Tré Cool (born Frank Edwin Wright III, December 9, 1972, in Frankfurt, West Germany) is the drummer of the punk rock band Green Day. He replaced the band's former drummer Al Sobrante.
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[edit] Biography
Frank Edwin Wright III was born December 9, 1972 in Frankfurt, West Germany, making him the youngest member of Green Day. He lived in Willits, California with his father and his two older siblings. His father, a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War, decided to move the family there to insulate them upon his return to the United States.
Wright's closest neighbor was future Lookout! Records owner Larry Livermore, who at the time was the singer of the punk band The Lookouts. At age 12, Livermore recruited Wright to join The Lookouts, and gave him the name of Tré Cool, which he believed to mean "very cool" in French (the French word for "very" is très [2]). When Green Day's drummer Al Sobrante left the band they recruited Cool to play drums. Cool decided to drop out of high school his sophomore year. However, he passed an equivalency test and earned his GED, and began taking classes at a nearby community college. He had to drop out of college however, when the demands of Green Day's touring intensified.
Cool's father, who owned a small company, overhauled a used bookmobile, and even served as the driver on three separate tours. "I watched them go from a bunch of kids to a group of musicians with work ethic," says Cool's father, Frank Wright II. "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?' They used to practice in my living room here — a lot of the songs they did on Dookie. You hear it coming together, and you don't expect people are going to go out and buy it. But when it does, you just say, 'Wow, that's so cool.'"
[edit] Singing
Tré sings and plays guitar on the tracks "Dominated Love Slave" and "All by Myself", from Kerplunk! and Dookie, respectively. He wrote the subtrack "Rock and Roll Girlfriend" from the medley "Homecoming" featured on the album American Idiot. He also sang and composed the track "DUI" ("Driving Under the Influence"), which was recorded during the Nimrod sessions, and was due to be released on Shenanigans (a compilation of B-sides), but was omitted on the US version of the album. It was, however, released on the Japanese version.
During a radio interview at Washington DC's alternative station DC 101, Tré sang and played the guitar to a short song titled "Like a Rat does Cheese", a song about the pleasure of fellatio.
Several live tracks also exist, usually from early dates around 1993, such as "Food Around the Corner", a song from the 1943 Elmer Fudd cartoon "An Itch in Time". Another live track "Billie Joe's Mom" was also recorded.
Green Day recently recorded a version of Tay Zonday's "Chocolate Rain" with Tré Cool singing and Billie Joe on drums. It was posted on YouTube on August 1, 2007. His cover was mentioned in several news journals.[3]
[edit] Personal life
Tré married his long time girlfriend Lisea Lyons, a photographer, in March of 1995 and had a child, Ramona Isabelle, born January 12, 1995. They divorced sometime after. In May 2000, he married again to a woman named Claudia. They later broke up in 2003. They had one son together, Frankito ("Little Frank"), born in 2001.
[edit] Equipment
Tré currently uses Ludwig drums and Zildjian cymbals.
Drum kit: Ludwig Classic Maple in gold sparkle
- 18"×22" Bass drum
- 11"×14" Tom
- 16"×16" Floor Tom
- 16"×18" Floor Tom
- 6.5"×14" Snare (Black Beauty Supra-Phonic)
Cymbals: Zildjian
- 14" K/Z Special hi-hats or A/Z Combination hi-hats
- 20" K Crash/Ride
- 20" Oriental China Trash or Oriental Classic China
- 19" A Medium Thin Crash or A Custom Projection Crash
- 19" K Dark Crash Medium Thin
- 22" A Ping Ride or K Ride
Drumsticks: Zildjian Tré Cool Signature
[edit] References
- ^ Owen, Chess. "Names -> Music Performer Pseudonyms -> S" (in English). Retrieved on 2008-05-12. "The Snoo, Frank Edwin Wright III, This is Tré's cover name when he plays in the band The Network"
- ^ très Reverso French-English Dictionary
- ^ Joal Ryan (August 9, 2007). "The "Chocolate" Reign of Tay Zonday". Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Tré Cool |
- Green Day Official Website
- Green Day Idiot Club Official Fanclub
- Tré Cool at the Internet Movie Database
- Tré Cool at DrummerWorld.com
- Tré Cool at BehindTheDrums.com contains discography and equipment list
- Tré Cool at Zildjian.com
- Youtube Chocolate Rain as performed by Tré Cool
