Green Day will be performing at Emirates Stadium, London - June 1, 2013. Tickets onsale September 28, 2012 at 9:30am Stay tuned for more info

“IT’S always been us against the world,” says Billie Joe Armstrong.

“Three albums, like this, it’s never been done before and proves how free we are as a band in our approach.”

The Green Day singer is in characteristically defiant mood.

And no wonder. The Californian trio are about to release THREE new studio albums, called ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré! (“Yes an album named after me,” jokes drummer Tré Cool.) All will be released within four months, six weeks apart, and if there are any nerves about this tall order, they’re not on show today.

SFTW are at the Bren Events Center at Irvine University, California, where the band from Oakland are taking a break from rehearsals to chat.

They’ve been holed up in a nearby house for the past few weeks as they prepare for upcoming live shows across Europe including a surprise appearance at Reading Festival this weekend, to play their breakthrough 1994 album Dookie in full.

They’re off the booze and have been working out, looking healthy and lean.

“We have a mammoth task ahead,” says Billie Joe. “We usually have five weeks of rehearsals up to the release of an album but this time it’s ten weeks including promo and production as we have three records in one. We don’t make things easy for ourselves.”

Not that he seems fazed by what lies ahead.