Green Day

Credit: AP Photo

Isn’t it about time for a new Green Day studio album?  A mighty good sign that we’re getting close came earlier this week when the band previewed 15 new tracks at a surprise show this week in Costa Mesa, Calif., including “Carpe Diem,” below.

"This next song is about fucking being alive, every single one of us,” says lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong as way of introducing “Carpe Diem,” (which we all learned from “Dead Poet’s Society” is Latin for “seize the day).

It’s a straight-forward propulsive tune that asks “aren’t we all too young to die.” It’s too fuzzy to make out all the lyrics, but it may be anti-war since there are some parts in there about killing or it could be about today's youth, whom Armstrong refers to as "generation fuse." Love that.  The best part is the guitar solo about two-thirds through. Otherwise, it’s a chugging tune that is catchy, but not as dynamic as we’ve come to expect from the trio. Does the chorus remind you a little bit of Elvis Costello?

[More after the jump...]

The band has suggested that its ninth studio album will not be a concept set like “American Idiot” or “21st Century Breakdown,” although there certainly have been enough fascinating recent current events for them to change their minds.  At the same show, according to NME, the band also played its Amy Winehouse tribute, “Amy.”

 Go here to hear six performances from the show.

What do you think of “Carpe Diem?”