Tré Cool

Tré Cool
Background information
Birth name Frank Edwin Wright III
Also known as
Born (1972-12-09) December 9, 1972
Frankfurt, West Germany[4]
Origin Willits, California, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • composer
Instruments
  • Drums
  • guitar
  • vocals
  • piano
  • accordion
  • violin
Years active 1985–present
Labels
Associated acts

Frank Edwin Wright III (born December 9, 1972), known professionally as Tré Cool, is a German-born American drummer, best known as the drummer for the American punk rock/pop punk band Green Day. He replaced the band's former drummer John Kiffmeyer in 1990. Cool has also played in The Lookouts, Samiam and the Green Day side-projects The Network and the Foxboro Hot Tubs.

Life and career

Frank Edwin Wright III was born in Frankfurt, West Germany, to American parents Frank Edwin Wright II and Linda Wright. He lived in Willits, California with his father and his elder sister Lori. He has German heritage, and his father was a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War.[5][6] Wright's closest neighbor was Larry Livermore, who at the time was the singer of the punk band The Lookouts. When Wright was 12, Livermore recruited him as the drummer of The Lookouts. And Tre took on the name of "Tré Cool",[6] relying on both the French word "très" (meaning "very") and the English word "cool" as a way of saying he was "very cool". However, the silent "s" has been dropped in the spelling, as a play on the "third" in his name. During his acceptance speech at the 2015 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Tre credited Larry Livermore as the person who gave him his nickname, Tre Cool, when he was young.

When Green Day's drummer, John Kiffmeyer, left the band, the group recruited Tré Cool to be their drummer. In his second year, Tré Cool dropped out of high school and opted to earn a GED. He began taking classes at a local community college but would later drop out as well as the band became a more time consuming priority. During this time the band considered breaking up because it took a long time to adjust to playing with Tré Cool.[6]

Tré Cool's father was supportive and overhauled a bookmobile to transport the band. He would later say: "I watched them go from a bunch of kids to a group of musicians with work ethic", also adding: "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.'"[7]

In 1998, after Green Day won a "Moon Man" Trophy at the MTV Music Awards, Tré Cool famously scaled the Universal Globe at Universal Studios. Tré Cool has been the only person to ever do so.[8]

In December 2012 Green Day released the third of their trilogy albums entitled ¡Tré! in honour of the drummer. The song "Fell For You" on Green Day's album ¡Uno! was originally entitled "Fell For Snoo" (Snoo being Tré Cool's nickname), as seen on the documentary making of the trilogy, ¡Cuatro!.

Tré Cool won "Best Punk Drummer" in DRUM! Magazine's 2011 Drummies, which recognizes some of the best drummers across music genres.[9] He was also featured in the Nitpick Six: The Six Best Drum Fills and ranked in at number 6 for the intro to "Basket Case".[10]

Musical style

Before joining Green Day, Tré Cool employed a more intricate drumming style. He explained that "When I started, I had too many drums. I was a little reggae-happy and into fancier beats than was needed. It took me a while to get it: Play the song, don't play the instrument. I started figuring out how to make the band a stronger unit, to make it jump."[11] After playing with Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt, Tré Cool adopted a more rhythmic style with fewer drum fills to match Dirnt's bass riffs.[11]

Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune referred to Tré Cool as "Green Day's most potent weapon", adding that "His monstrous kick-drum wallop evokes John Bonham, while his manic fills make him punk's answer to Keith Moon."[12] His stage persona has also been compared to Moon.[13] Sound engineer Neill King, who worked with Green Day on Dookie, noted that Tré Cool shares Moon's "wild animal approach" to playing drums, and explained that the band encountered difficulties while recording "Basket Case" due to his unpredictable style: "It’s not that Tré wasn’t a good drummer, but in terms of his performances we wanted the best of the best...So, although we wanted him to do all of his wild fills and crazy drumming, we couldn’t just let him go. He’d drift in and out of time, which is terrific live, but which was unacceptable on radio at that time."[14]

Personal life

Tré Cool was the first member of Green Day to become a father on January 12, 1995 with the birth of his daughter Ramona Isabel. Tré then married his longterm girlfriend Lisea Lyons, a photographer with a degree in English Literature and a Masters in Fine Art in March. Lisea and Tré divorced the following year and Lisea moved with Ramona to New York.[15][16] Ramona recently appeared as a Kit Kat girl in the Brandeis Theater Company's production of Cabaret. In 2000 Tré Cool married Claudia Suarez (Bovino) and Tré Cool's second child Frankito (meaning "Little Frank") was born on March 26, 2001.[15] He is the godson of Billie Joe Armstrong. Tré Cool is also the godfather of Armstrong's two children, Joseph and Jakob. Tré Cool and Suarez divorced in 2003 and Claudia has primary custody of their son Frankito. In 2003 Tré began dating Torry Castellano - drummer from The Donnas - and he told Kerrang when they later split in 2004 it was due to his inability to remain sober in L.A. Tre then began dating MTV host Ruri Hegarty whom he dated for many years. Tré Cool dated model Cara Provenzano attending many award shows and events together in 2009 and early 2010. In 2010 Tré began dating New York ballet dancer and fashion designer Dena Roberson. Cool had her name tattooed on his chest. Tré Cool was engaged to Dena at Supperclub in San Francisco on March 31, 2011 announced the news Facebook some days later.[17] In 2012 Tré Cool began dating New York based model and artist Karli Henneman. Henneman appeared briefly in the Green Day documentary Cuatro and a photograph of her legs was posted by Tré Cool posed in front of his car with the hashtag "Lita"[18] (Henneman often signs her paintings using this name[19]). Tré Cool began dating Zurich based (South African born) model and business woman Purista Blenk in the summer of 2012. In January 2013 they attended the screening of Cuatro together at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado.[20] Purista also joined Tré Cool on Green Day's 99 Revolutions Tour in 2013 and the couple were filmed enjoying a day off in Sweden at a theme park on June 28, 2013.[21] Tré was engaged to 28 year old former Miss Supercross and paddock girl Sara Rose Lipert in January 2014, and they were married on October 11, 2014.[22][23]

Singing and songwriting

Tré Cool sang and played guitar on the tracks "Dominated Love Slave" and the hidden song on F.O.D. "All by Myself", from Kerplunk and Dookie, respectively, both of which he wrote and composed (on "Dominated Love Slave", guitarist and vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong played drums). He wrote and sang 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 for Green Day's fifth studio album Nimrod (1997) and was due to be released on the compilation album Shenanigans in 2002, but was omitted and can only be found online.

During a radio interview at Washington DC's alternative station DC 101, Tré Cool sang and played acoustic guitar on a short song entitled "Like a Rat Does Cheese," a song about the pleasure of fellatio.

Several live tracks also exist, usually from 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.

Tré Cool had also recorded a version of Tay Zonday's "Chocolate Rain." It was posted on YouTube on August 1, 2007. His cover was mentioned in several news journals.[24]

Discography

DVD

The Lookouts

Foxboro Hot Tubs

The Network

Other media appearances

Equipment

Tré Cool has used drums of different companies over the years, including drums built by DW (Drum Workshop), Ayotte, Slingerland, Sherwood, Ludwig, Leedy and Gretsch Drums. He currently uses SJC Custom Drums,Remo Drumheads, Zildjian Cymbals and Zildjian Trè Cool Artist Series Drum Sticks/ Stickbag.

See also

References

  1. ↑ The spelling Tré is used in the opening and closing credits of the Bullet in a Bible DVD.
  2. ↑ This article on the Bullet in a Bible DVD repeats the Tré spelling found in the credits.
  3. ↑ Owen, Chess. "Names -> Music Performer Pseudonyms -> S". Retrieved 2008-05-12. The Snoo, Frank Edwin Wright LXI, Tré's cover name when he plays in the band The Network
  4. ↑ Tre Cool Biography. Greendayauthority.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-26.
  5. ↑ "Band – Biography". GREEN DAY INC. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 Tre Cool Biography. Greendayauthority.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-26.
  7. ↑ Rolling Stone, January 26, 1995
  8. ↑ "Tré Cool Climbs The MTV Globe". November 26, 2006.
  9. ↑ Tré Cool wins "Best Punk Drummer" in the 2011 Drummies. Greendayauthority.com1-07-07). Retrieved on 2013-03-19.
  10. ↑ Wasoba, Ryan. (October 24, 2011) 2 The Six Best Drum Fills – St. Louis – Music – FTomusic – Page 2. Blogs.riverfronttimes.com Retrieved on 2013-03-19.
  11. 1 2 Fricke, David (May 15, 2009). "Tre Cool on Growing Up Punk and Finding Green Day's Groove". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  12. ↑ Kot, Greg (September 26, 2004). "Review: American Idiot – Green Day". The Chicago Tribune (Tribune Company). Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  13. ↑ Paulson, Dave (July 30, 2009). "Green Day surprises with age". The Tennessean (Gannett Company). Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  14. ↑ Buskin, Richard (February 2, 2011). "Green Day: 'Basket Case' – Classic Tracks". Sound on Sound. SOS Publications Group. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  15. 1 2 http://www.greendayauthority.com/band/tre.php
  16. ↑ http://www.geekstinkbreath.net/greenday/article/tres-support-system/
  17. ↑ http://www.greendayauthority.com/news/2326/
  18. ↑ http://instagram.com/p/PqNNPbxy-2/
  19. ↑ http://www.thecarlosreidgallery.com/s/cc_images/cache_937499206.jpg?t=1399159808
  20. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8LXJFYe_c8
  21. ↑ http://tv.aftonbladet.se/webbtv/noje/musik/article14775.ab?service=embedded&statsAutoStart=false
  22. ↑
  23. ↑ http://m.vitalmx.com/photos/member/Miss-Supercross-2008,2171/Miss-Supercross-2008,7817/BrownDogWilson,146
  24. ↑ Joal Ryan (August 9, 2007). "The "Chocolate" Reign of Tay Zonday". Retrieved 2007-08-10.

External links

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