Mike Dirnt (actually, Michael Ryan Pritchard) was born in California on May 4th, 1972., to a heroin-addicted mother. When Dirnt was seven, his adoptive parents divorced (since then, they have gotten back together), and Dirnt bounced between the two until finally settling in with his adoptive mom and older sister. That, too, was short lived, and soon Dirnt struck out on his own, working, among a handful of jobs, at Rod's Hickory Pit where future bandmate Billie Joe Armstrong's mom was a waitress.

He had a difficult childhood but let's say it this way, Billie Joe brightened up his life. They met each other in the school canteen at the age of 10 and Mike used to go to Billie Joe's house to play guitar. Mike and Billie Joe did a load of covers together and Mike decided to switch to bass.

Dirnt rented a room on the side of Billie Joe's house when he was 15. Unlike Billie Joe, who was expelled from 2 schools and eventually dropped out, Mike got good grades in school, and even completed a few courses at a local community college. In 1986, Mike and Billie Joe founded their first band called Sweet Children which, in 1989, changed its name to Green Day.

Eventually Billie Joe and Mike moved out and lived in a punk rock commune called Seventh Street (some sources say that they dedicated a song called Welcome To Paradise to that place). Family Mike married his girlfriend Anastasia in August of 1996, they now have a daughter named Estelle-Desiree born in April 1997. The pressures of being in Green Day have become to much for Mike and Anastasia' marriage to withstand and they got divorced.

Unfortunatelly, they couldn't patch the things up but they are still good friends and Mike visits their daughter, who he has nicknamed "hero", as much as he can. Mike also re-married in 2004 to Sarah, but that too was cut short, because he was "spending to much time in the studio." Other bands He also played for Screeching Weasel, Crummy Musicians, Squirtgun, and still plays with The Frustrators, who are signed by Adeline records, the company co-owned by fellow band mate Billie Joe. But Green Day needed him the most.

Mikes Caffeine mad!Many fans know that Mike loves Starbucks coffee. He actually opened a café in Oakland, California and sells coffee.

Guitars The Mike Dirnt Precision Bass has been designed to Mike's unique specifications and comes in three colours: Two Colour Sunburst, Black and Vintage White. He also uses the Fender '62 Vintage Precision Bass, Fender '66 and '69 American Standard Precision Bass and a Gibson G-3 Bass. He also uses a Mesa/Boogie "Bassis M-2000" amp and custom made 6x10 and 1x18 Mesa/Boogie cabinets.

He plays Ernie Ball strings, and has custom made yellow Dunlop, .73mm picks.

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