Mike Dirnt

In December 2015, Dirnt along with Billie Joe Armstrong, announced that they would launch a coffee company, Oakland Coffee Works. The company sells organic coffee beans and is the first company to exclusively use 100% compostable bags and pods.

In July 2014, it was announced that Dirnt would co-produce the Indie film Crickets, with Green Day manager, Pat Magnarella.

Dirnt was adopted; his biological mother died on January 9, 2013. Dirnt only managed to meet her one month before her death.

In 2012, during the iHeartRadio Music Festival, Dirnt and Armstrong smashed their respective bass and guitar after Armstrong became agitated onstage and ranted about Green Day's set being cut short for Usher.

On March 14, 2009, he married Brittney Cade in a private ceremony in Brittney's hometown of Ojai, California. Dirnt has two children with Cade: a son, Brixton Michael (born October 11, 2008), and a daughter, Ryan Ruby Mae (born November 29, 2010).

In 2004, he married girlfriend Sarah Garrity in a private villa in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The two divorced that same year.

While performing at the 1998 KROQ Weenie Roast in Irvine, California, Third Eye Blind bassist Arion Salazar ran onstage and "bear-hugged" Dirnt, who was caught off-guard. The incident escalated into an on-stage scuffle before security escorted Salazar away. After the performance, Dirnt confronted Salazar backstage, and as the two argued, a beer bottle struck Dirnt in the head, causing a small fracture in his skull. Eyewitnesses later attributed the bottle throwing to a fan of Third Eye Blind. Salazar and the band's management soon released a statement: "I am sorry that my attempt at doing something I thought would be funny escalated into Mike getting hurt. That was never my intention. I simply had too much to drink and made a very bad decision. If I had been in Mike's place, I am sure I would have acted similarly. My heart goes out to him and I hope he recovers quickly."

Dirnt married his first wife, Anastasia Serman, in 1996; they divorced in 1999. Anastasia and Dirnt had a daughter together, Estelle Desiree, who was born on December 20, 1996. He won full custody of his daughter in the summer of 2008 and took her to live in Oakland.

While at Pinole Valley High School, Dirnt and classmate Armstrong formed a band called Sweet Children. Dirnt's mother struggled to provide for him and his sister as a single parent, and eventually had to leave Rodeo in 1987 to look for work. Unwilling to leave Sweet Children, Armstrong and Dirnt convinced each other's parents to allow Dirnt to move into Armstrong's garage. After drummer John Kiffmeyer, who was also known as Al Sobrante, joined the group and replaced original drummer Raj Punjabi, Sweet Children began performing at 924 Gilman Street. The band performed several well-received sets, which encouraged Armstrong to drop out of high school to focus his energy on music. Dirnt, however, worried that he needed a backup plan and continued his studies. Bass player Sean Hughes, who was not as dedicated to the group as the other members, left Sweet Children, leaving Dirnt to play bass. Dirnt often brought his bass to school, and the plucking noise of the unamplified strings led classmates to jokingly call him by the onomatopoeia "Dirnt". After changing its name to Green Day, the band recorded its debut album 39/Smooth over the 1989 Christmas holiday break and went on its first van tour in June 1990, leaving the day that Dirnt graduated from high school.

In the cafeteria in Carquinez Middle School, ten-year-old Dirnt met Billie Joe Armstrong, with whom he bonded instantly. Armstrong began to play guitar with Mike, and the two spent much time at Armstrong's house in 1984 and they played songs by various artists, most notably the Ramones, Ozzy Osbourne, Def Leppard, Hüsker Dü, AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Replacements, the Who and Van Halen. At the age of 14, they formed a group named "Sweet Children" with Billie Joe singing and playing lead guitar, Mike playing rhythm guitar, Sean Hughes on bass and Raj Punjabi on drums.

Michael Ryan Pritchard (born May 4, 1972), known professionally as Mike Dirnt, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder, bassist, backing and occasional lead vocalist of Green Day. He has also played in several other bands, including the Frustrators. His stage name was originally a nickname that his friends from grade school gave him, as he constantly played "air bass" and made a "dirnt, dirnt, dirnt" noise while pretending to pluck the strings.

Dirnt sings lead vocals on "Governator," part of the third verse of "Outsider" on the Shenanigans album, the "Nobody Likes You" subtrack of "Homecoming." He also sings the subtrack "Modern World" from the medley "American Eulogy" from 21st Century Breakdown and sings lead for exactly 10 seconds in "Sex, Drugs, and Violence" from ¡Tré!.