Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong opens up about addiction problems

As Green Day prepare to return to touring, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has given his first full interview about the drug and alcohol addictions that put the band's plans on hold. "Life got real serious there for a while," he told Rolling Stone's David Fricke. "Going through withdrawal and watching [the album] Uno come out was not exactly what I had in mind."

Armstrong, 41, described the years of self-medication and black-out drinking that led to his meltdown at last September's iHeartRadio festival. "I've been trying to get sober since 1997," he recalled, "but I didn't want to be in any programmes."

What started with marijuana and hard partying turned into cocktails of unnamed anti-anxiety and insomnia drugs. "I started combining them to a point where I didn't know what I was taking during the day and what I was taking at night," Armstrong said. "My backpack sounded like a giant baby rattle [from all the vials inside]."

On top of this, the singer added alcohol. Lots of it. At a gig in Austin, Texas, Armstrong began the habit of drinking heavily before shows. "It started with two beers. Then it went to many more after that. Liquid courage – it made me loosen up and not give a fuck."

Armstrong says he grew up seeing alcoholism around his home and "didn't realise how destructive" he was becoming. "I thought everybody was in on the joke. But I was the joke."

After the show in Las Vegas, when Armstrong smashed his guitar and shrieked at the crowd, Green Day's manager insisted he check into rehab. "The sick part of it is I wanted to get all of the narcotics out of my system so I could start drinking [again]," said Armstrong.

Despite a recovery plan based on "meditation through prayer", withdrawal was "gruesome". Much of it took place at home, so Armstrong "could be around my loved ones".

Armstrong is now clean and Green Day are going back on the road: three club dates, a gig at SXSW, and a full tour. They play London's Emirates Stadium on 1 June. But it's not going to be easy.

"Sometimes I'm not sure I'm ready," said Armstrong. "There is still the obsession for alcohol. There's also sleepless nights."

And there's Green Day's own crowds: "At least 70-75% of the people in the audience [will] have been getting a drink on," he said. "I've got to watch my step."