See Trailer For Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ Documentary, ‘Heart Like A Hand Grenade’

Last week, Green Day’s long-awaited American Idiot documentary, Heart Like A Hand Grenade, finally got an official release. A full eleven years after the iconic Grammy-winning album first came out, Heart Like A Hand Grenade will be in theaters across America on October 15th. In the years since American Idiot took the world by storm, Green Day has released four more studio albums, two live albums, a couple of documentaries, and a musical adaptation of American Idiot. They were also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on their first year of eligibility.

Heart Like A Hand Grenade comes at a pivotal time in Green Day’s impressive career, and not a moment too soon. Though the film was only shown once before, to a small Hollywood crowd back in 2009, this will be the first widespread release of the documentary. The date is getting closer, and now we have an exciting trailer to build up the anticipation. You can see the Heart Like A Hand Grenade trailer below:

In a lengthy statement, John Roecker described how Heart Like A Hand Grenade started:

I went to a small club called The Berkeley Square. There I saw for the first time the band Green Day. When I saw them I knew the revolution had returned. Later I had met Billie Joe Armstrong the lead singer of Green Day and a friendship began. We would speak on the phone exchanging thoughts and ideas and he was going to be in my film “Live Freaky Die Freaky” a very controversial film about the Manson murders done in stop motion animation, and he was going to embark on a new musical journey. I told him he should document the recording of the album and he said they had tried and it never worked. I suggested that he set up tripods around the studio and just have cameras run so it would not be too invasive of the process of the recording (I was hoping he would get my hint!). Then I got a phone call on a Friday night and he said he and the band will be in Los Angeles on Monday and why don’t I be the tripod. Thus began my Nine months with Green Day.

I would have total access to the band and could film everything. During this time Metallica released their film “ Some Kind of Monster” a film that showed a band on the verge of artistic collapse and infighting. I told Billie about the film and he thought because there was no drama going on with the band I did not want to continue with the film. I was thinking the opposite. This film does not contain high drama or fighting. It shows a band on top of their game creating incredible music. It is a film that inspires. It is also a very small film. All it took was a box of tapes and one camera. Going back to the D.I.Y. Ethic that I was raised with. It was also a risk for the band because this album was either going to take them to a higher level or sink them. Either way I was going to document it.

After the recording was finished they booked a small theatre and performed the album in its entirety, which is included in the film (Fun fact! This was eleven years ago folks and the camera phone was not invented so this is the only way you can see this legendary concert!) This movie is like a fly on the wall art house piece. It is the first time Green Day allowed someone into the studio to film them. I am so happy I answered Billie’s phone call. This was eleven years ago and the film you are about to see has never been seen. It became a lost film, an urban legend in some ways. Some fans thought it was not real that it was some sort of prank the band and I created. And finally the little film that could is being released.

There is currently no information about a physical or digital release of Heart Like A Hand Grenade. With any luck, the documentary should be released on DVD and digitally later this year. Considering Green Day’s other recent documentaries – ¡Cuatro!, about the making of their 2012 trilogy of albums, and Broadway Idiot, about the how the American Idiot musical developed – have been released on DVD and digitally, there is a good chance Heart Like A Hand Grenade will, too.

Green Day is also busy working on a pre-Dookie documentary, as well as executive producing East Bay: By The Punx, For The Punx, About The Punx, which chronicles the East Bay punk scene from which Green Day and many other punk and alternative bands arose. Additionally, Billie Joe released a covers album called Foreverly with Norah Jones, acted in the film Like Sunday, Like Rain, wrote songs for the musical These Paper Bullets, and opened a guitar store. Mike Dirnt is working on producing a film called Crickets.

We only have a few weeks left until Heart Like A Hand Grenade will be in theaters. Keep checking back here for all the latest Green Day news, and be sue to check out the full list of Heart Like A Hand Grenade theater showings below:

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