Over the course of more than two decades, Green Day have been a work in progress, a punk band that became a major-label sensation, embraced folk and pop, became political firebrands, transformed into an arena-rock juggernaut and finally settled down as world-weary era-definers.

Which is why, for those who have followed them every step of the way, their latest evolution might be surprising: On the upcoming ¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tre! trilogy, Green Day are practically devolving, ditching the politics for the party and seemingly delighting in playing fast, loose and without repercussions. Though, to the guys in the band, it's just business as usual ... because as they explained during the premiere of their new "Oh Love" video, they've never been one to do the same thing twice.

"For us, it was always a slow evolution through time. After our first records on [the label] Lookout!, and Dookie and all the way though 21st Century Breakdown, it was always about taking the right kind of risks," frontman Billie Joe Armstrong told MTV News when we sat down with the band on Wednesday's "MTV First." "But, not trying to do something where you're pushing too hard to try to evolve into something that you're not. It takes time, and we always listen to younger bands; we really like a band called the Biters, and Best Coast. ... It's just a matter of letting yourself evolve."

And while their latest evolution involved losing the political edge they'd honed on Breakdown and its predecessor, American Idiot, Green Day aren't completely forgoing their recent past. Instead, they're embracing it on the upcoming trilogy tour, which will take a little from their early days and a lot from their run as one of the biggest bands on the planet. And they're going to love every minute of it.

"The full tour, we'll probably do about 3,000 [shows]," bassist Mike Dirnt laughed. "Right now, we're just warming up and getting ready to go out there, start swinging. The sky is the limit right now," he added. "We're just going to keep going. We want to play a lot of small clubs, a lot of theaters, a lot of arenas, and then who knows what else."

What do you think of how Green Day has evolved so far? Share your thoughts in the comments!