Editing 1,000 Hours (section)

==Background==
[[Billie Joe Armstrong]] and [[Mike Dirnt]] became school friends in 1983.<ref>Myers 2006, p. 24</ref> After a shared interest in music, and learning that Armstrong played guitar, Dirnt himself got a guitar.<ref>Myers 2006, pp. 24–25</ref> With Armstrong taking to writing his own material, the pair started a band.<ref>Myers 2006, p. 27</ref> Sean Hughes played with them on bass; he joined for fun, while Armstrong was serious about creating music. Though they had other members, Raj Punjabi was the most frequent drummer in the line-up. They went through several names before sticking with [[Green Day|Sweet Children]].<ref>Spitz 2010, p. 16</ref>{{#tag:ref|They named themselves Sweet Children after an Armstrong-written track of the same name, and, as Myers wrote, in part as a "sarcastic pre-emptive strike to would-be critics thinking of patronizing the three fifteen-year-olds."<ref name=Myers43/> The song later appeared on the [[Sweet Children (EP)|1990 EP of the same name]].<ref>Myers 2006, p. 66</ref>|group="nb"}} Armstrong and Dirnt worked security at [[Punk rock|punk]] club [[924 Gilman Street]] in [[Berkeley, California]], a position they used to analyse the various punk bands that performed there.<ref>Spitz 2010, p. 35</ref> Despite having jobs at the venue, they were unable to play there as Sweet Children as owner [[Tim Yohannan]] did not think the band sounded punk enough.<ref name=Spitz42/>

Around this time, Dirnt moved in with Armstrong's family, allowing the pair to spend further time on the band.<ref name=Spitz42>Spitz 2010, p. 42</ref> One day, they invited [[John Kiffmeyer]], drummer of Gilman performers [[Isocracy (band)|Isocracy]], to jam with them.<ref>Spitz 2010, p. 43</ref> Kiffmeyer helped refine their sound, and give them a work ethic of recording music as cheaply and quickly as possible, in homage to the acts that influenced them, such the [[Buzzcocks]] and [[Ramones]]. Further inspiration was drawn from bands that performed at Gilman, where Armstrong mostly saw shows.<ref name=Myers43>Myers 2006, p. 43</ref> Sweet Children played their first show at Gilman in November 1988,<ref>Gaar 2006, p. 30</ref> supporting [[Neurosis (band)|Neurosis]].<ref>Spitz 2010, p. 45</ref> They started gaining a following at Gilman in addition to playing house parties. During this time, Hughes left and Dirnt moved to the bass role. The latter latched on to the instrument quicker than he did guitar, practicing it at school during break periods and lunchtime.<ref>Spitz 2010, p. 49</ref>