Tre Cool Facts
Deep cut trivia from this corner of the GDA facts archive.
Tre Cool Facts
Tre's friends jokingly called him 'Wavy Gravy' after the founder of his summer camp, Hugh 'Wavy Gravy' Romney.
Source: https://theava.com/archives/12151
The Foxboro Hot Tubs were born when Tré bought a Rogers drum kit from the 1960s. Inspired by the history of the kit, he started playing older songs, and then Jason White joined him with an old Gretsch guitar. The rest of the band followed.
Source: Modern Drummer, November 2017
Tré briefly dated Winona Ryder in 1997.
Source: Nobody Likes You by Marc Spitz, p.129
At a show in Boston on October 5th, 2000, Tré cut his hand open on a falling cymbal while playing "Blood, Sex & Booze." He had to go to hospital but came back to meet fans and sign autographs.
Tré wore the exact same "lucky" clothes, including socks, to record every song on Saviors.
Source: Kerrang, 2024
After Green Day recorded Warning, Tré left meat in the walls. No-one found it for two months. Another band left because of the stench.
Source: Teen People, October 2000
"At many a party, Tré played on pots and pans and cardboard boxes as well." — Mike Dirnt
Source: Kerrang, 2005
Tré was homeless before Green Day, but never sold his drums. He said they kept him going.
Source: Crossbeat, May 1998
Tré grew up in Mendocino County, which was so remote that his first band, The Lookouts, "used to jam with solar panels and a fuckin’ Peavey amp."
Source: Rolling Stone, 1996
Tré once bought a diner in Willits, CA for his father. Green Day was always playing and the walls were covered in merch and posters.
Source: Crossbeat, May 1998
In high school, Tré set his hair on fire and burned it all off.
Source: Crossbeat, May 1998
Tré took conga lessons in Cuba after the American Idiot Tour.
Source: laut.de, 2009
Tré played jazz before Green Day. He struggled to adjust since he was always told to play quieter in jazz.
Source: Crossbeat, May 1998
Tré was on crutches while recording 21st Century Breakdown.
Tré was hitchhiking when he joined Green Day. He had everything he owned with him when Billie Joe and Mike pulled up in a van with a hole in it.
Source: Tutto Musica, 1995
Tré hopes that if if the band does star in the American Idiot movie, he gets to dress in drag.
Tré made his first records with The Lookouts when he was 12.
Tré dressed up as Benji Madden of Good Charlotte for Halloween, 2004.
Tré dressed as a priest at a gig (in Dublin). It was probably in reference to Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio) who is a big fan.
On MTV's Wildest moments of the VMA's there's a short Clip of Tré with David Grohl from The Foo Fighters (and previously from Nirvana) singing to Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People".
Tré's dad was a Vietnam helicopter pilot.
In an interview, they were asked what kind of music they liked, and Tré answered, " I like Fisher Price music, nursery rhymes, and the alphabet song"................Mike "seconded the motion".
Tré is the godfather of Billie Joe's kids.
Tré once caught a shark on accident, and after beating it with a baseball bat multiple times, it finally died when he hit it with the stump of the bat.
In an interview on Trio, Tré has said that if he were any female celebrity he would be "that chick from the Golden Girls, because she's old and loose".
Tré uses the same drumkit, Slingerland, as the drummer from The Who does, which is Keith Moon. This is also of course Slingerland, and oddly the two drummers have the same wild and crazy stage antics.
Tré actually went to a clown college before the band got big which explains his wild antics.
Tré's dad built Lawrence Livermore's house.
Tré played violin in the second grade.
Tré only has one testicle. He lost the other one in a tragic unicycle accident. He was riding it on a stage at a high school near his home town when suddenly he fell off the stage and landed on the unicycle. His testicle went inside his body, and the doctor examining him took one look and said "hmm... translucent scrotum..."
Tré loves to golf.
Tré is the only person to ever climb the Universal Studios ball (their trademark) in Orlando, Florida. He climbed the ball at the 1998 MTV Music Awards. It landed him in the top 100 red carpet acts.
Tré was class president for a time when he was in high school.
Tré once milked a dog because he wanted milk for his coffee, and the house he was staying in didn't have any.
Tré has his left nipple pierced.
In the Walking Contradiction video Tre is chased by a bread truck.