Armstrong stunned by intervention

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LOS ANGELES, March 2 (UPI) -- Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong said his first thought when confronting an intervention last year was scrubbing the band's concert schedule.

Armstrong told Rolling Stone this week he was on a pills-and-alcohol regimen that was getting out of control when he received a text message from his manager inviting him to a meeting to discuss Green Day's upcoming gig.

"I went down there, he was sitting there, and he goes, 'We're getting on a plane. We're canceling the rest of this tour, and you're going into rehab,'" Armstrong said. "I was like, 'What? What...are you talking about? I'm not going to do that.'"

"I said, 'I don't want to cancel these gigs. It just can't happen,'" he added.

But Armstrong relented and spent the next seven months kicking the habit. Entertainment Weekly said the move indeed derailed the tour and promotion of their latest album.

Green Day is getting back on the road with some performances in smaller venues around the United States, including the high-profile South by Southwest festival in Texas followed by a larger tour in the spring.