When I listen to songs, I can smell a rat. I like songs that speak to me with some deeper truth. Mike Dirnt More Quotes by Mike Dirnt More Quotes From Mike Dirnt Sometimes you need coffee, and sometimes you need a Bloody Mary. Mike Dirnt coffee sometimes needs Listen to the silence. Listen to your life. Be present, not just think about what's going on next week, next month. Mike Dirnt silence next-week thinking I always said that the world is a better place because of Joey Ramone Mike Dirnt ramones said world A turtle does come in it's own bowl Mike Dirnt bowls turtles doe Grab life by the balls and squeeze. Mike Dirnt balls I have a daughter and she's the greatest thing that ever happened to me. She gives me a good excuse to watch cartoons. Mike Dirnt daughter mother giving I love our country. My dad served in the army. I always grew up with a song sense of belonging as an American. But I was also in the counterculture and I was coming from a place of fearing the police. So I was anti-establishment, but also loving your country. It's kind of an ironic sort of upbringing. Mike Dirnt dad song country I hate saying that youth is wasted on the young since it's so f**king stupid, but I think you realize if you're fortunate enough to realize what you have, you don't want to sleep as much or squander any time. It's weird, but early in your career you don't stop to smell the roses since you're too busy picking them. Mike Dirnt hate stupid kings For me, when you get to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there's a side of me that goes, "What does that mean? Are you still relevant after that? Do they put you on the shelf along with the award?" I don't know, but that's the last thing we wanted. Mike Dirnt rocks awards mean I look at my kids as the Harry Potter Generation. There's a sense of justice about that, in beating Voldemort. It's a classic tale of good versus evil. To have a role model like Harry Potter that says you can defeat evil, but still be a complicated human being. That gives me a lot of hope. Mike Dirnt evil giving kids When people start writing songs for award shows, there's a very limited palette you can use. You end up not sounding like you. You end up sounding like somebody else. You end up getting what the record company thinks they can market. Mike Dirnt writing song thinking There's no way you could get me onstage with someone that I didn't like. No way. I would never do that. We have our gripes and stuff like that. All bands have their drama, but life is too short to be miserable around somebody that you don't like. Mike Dirnt life-is-too-short band drama For me, it's important to get back to fundamentally what it feels like to be an American. We all come from different backgrounds, but we come together and create this world. It's like a microcosm for the rest of the world. I want people to feel unity when they come to a show. Mike Dirnt unity important people First and foremost, I want people on concerts to have a really great experience away from the negative press and negative stuff that you see on the news and Facebook. I don't even like seeing people's cell phones. Let's have a human experience and rub up against each other, you know. Mike Dirnt phones cells people I think we have an obligation to put on a fun show and put on a concert that's memorable, that's energetic and that spreads joy and open-mindedness. If being open-minded and joyful is against your political beliefs, then you know, f**k you. Mike Dirnt memorable fun thinking It makes me extremely proud to make punk rock the biggest music in the world right now. Mike Dirnt rocks proud world I'm an optimist, so I believe in some sort of life after death; I don't know what kind. Mike Dirnt life-after-death kind believe