In case you missed the news, Billie Joe Armstrong recently announced that he has a new side project band called The Longshot and the band just released a new self-titled EP with three songs.
Over the last few weeks, Billie Joe Armstrong revealed in a series of posts on his personal Instagram account that he was launching a new band called The Longshot. Shortly after a Longshot Instagram account was also created to give fans a preview of their upcoming new album called “Love Is For Losers.”
A release date for “Love Is For Losers” has yet to be revealed, however, the band’s Instagram bio says it’s “coming eventually sooner or later. Probably sooner.” In the meantime, us fans can enjoy their debut EP, consisting of three songs “Love Is for Losers,” “Taxi Driver” and “Chasing A Ghost” all of which are out and available for streaming or download now.
Yesterday I was working late at 107.7 The Bone and while sitting at my desk I saw some Instagram posts from Billie Joe Armstrong saying The Longshot was playing a show at Thee Parkside next Tuesday. I was able to buy a couple tickets and thought to myself this is awesome I can’t wait to see and be apart of The Longshot’s first show next week, but later on in the evening I saw another Instagram post that announced The Longshot were going to be playing a surprise show within a couple hours at 1-2-3-4 Go! Records in Oakland. After seeing this news I debated on going over there or not, one because I already had tickets for next week’s show and two, I anticipated the record store to be crowded by the time I got over there. Since I live in Alameda, I was like I’ll drive by and see how it looks, once I got into Oakland and drove by the record store, to my surprise the store and sidewalk area looked very quiet and empty. I told myself if I see a parking spot open near by then I’ll walk in and as if it was my destiny to go to this show I found a spot across the street. I walked inside the store, the guy at the counter told me the show wasn’t sold out and to head to the back where the stage was. The room was full but still room to fill a few more people, I bought a ticket for the show and hung out in the store to kill some time before The Longshot hit the stage.
After some time passed I heard the crowd cheering so I walked back inside the stage room and saw Billie Joe Armstrong and the rest of the guys from The Longshot on stage. Finally, after weeks of speculation we got to see who the rest of the mystery band members, of course, Billie Joe Armstrong on vocals and guitar, Jeff Matika on bass, Kevin Preston on guitar and David Field on drums. For Green Day fans, we all know Jeff Matika as apart of their live band. Kevin Preston and David Field are from Prima Donna, also Kevin is in Foxboro Hot Tubs, Green Day’s other side project band with Billoe Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Tre Cool, Jason White and Jason Freese.
Billie Joe said hello to the crowd and introduce themselves as The Longshot and they kicked off their set with “Kill Your Friends” a song from their upcoming debut album. Since I was exhausted from a long day at the radio station I lucked out by posting up against the wall in the back. I looked around the room and saw a lot of people with their phones out documenting the first song performed live by The Longshot at their first show. Everyone in attendance began to bob their head up and down, tapping their feet and some were dancing. The Longshot’s sound pays homage to the great punk rock/post-punk bands of the 80s, catchy up-beat love songs that make you wanna dance. I wonder if these new songs Billie Joe wrote were inspired from the songs Billie Joe recently covered with his other recent side project The Coverups. The Longshot played some covers as well, including David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” and The Nerves “Walking Out On Love.” The cover songs the band performed were same ones Billie Joe’s played recently with The Coverups, which I saw twice in concert earlier this year. The Longshot also covered Green Day’s “Fell For You.”
Overall, it was a very fun set and loved how intimate the show felt in the backroom of 1-2-3-4 Go! Records in Oakland. I can’t wait to hear the full album when it comes out in the near future. On the way out I bought their limited edition 7″ picture disc. Thank you to The Longshot for a great, last minute night out. I’ll see you again next Tuesday.
Here is The Longshot’s setlist:
1. Kill Your Friends
2. Devil’s Kind
3. Taxi Driver
4. Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie cover)
5. Cult Hero
6. Body Bag
7. Fell For You (Green Day cover)
8. Soul Surrender
9. Love Is For Losers
10. The Last Time
11. Walking Out On Love (The Nerves cover)
12. Happiness
13. Turn Me Loose
14. Kiss Me Deadly
15. Chasing A Ghost
Click here to download The Longshot’s new EP.
Here are some photos Baby Huey took from The Longshot’s set:
Here are some videos Baby Huey filmed from The Longshot’s set.
Listen to The Longshot’s new song “Love Is For Losers” below.
Listen to The Longshot’s new song “Taxi Driver” below.
Listen to The Longshot’s new song “Chasing A Ghost” below.
Follow The Longshot on Instagram: www.instagram.com/longshot
