began working on new material

In an interview with Carson Daly , Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson revealed that the band’s drummer Butch Vig would be producing Green Day’s forthcoming album. The span of nearly five years between American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown was the longest gap between studio albums in Green Day’s career. The band had been working on new material since January 2006. By October 2007, Armstrong had 45 songs written, but the band showed no further signs of progress until October 2008, when two videos showing the band recording with producer Vig were posted on YouTube. The writing and recording process, spanning three years and four recording studios, was finally finished in April 2009.