tre grew up in Willits, California, with his father and two siblings. His dad built many of the houses in that area, including that of Lawrance Livermore, their nearest neighbor and the founder of Lookout! Records. At age twelve, he joined Livermore's band, the Lookouts. Shortly after Al Sobrante left Green Day, tre hopped aboard. Tre and his wife, Claudia, are expecting their first child. 

Tre has his own signature Slingerland drumkit, the "Spitfire". It consists of a 18x22 Slingerland Bass drum, a 5 1/2x14 Slingerland Radio King Snare, a 6 1/2x14 Chrome snare, an 11x14 Slingerland mounted tom, and a 16x16 Slingerland floor tom. Though the Spitfire comes with Slingerland cymbals, Tre still uses a 19" Zildjian K Dark Thin Crash on the left, a 20" Zildjian A Medium Ride on the right, a 22" Zildjian K Heavy Ride on the bottom right, a 14" Zildjian K Medium Top, 14" K Medium Heavy Bottom Hi-Hats, and Zildjian Super 5B drumsticks. He also uses Remo Power Stroke 3 on his snare and bass drums, Remo Coated emperors on the tops of his toms, clear ambassadors on the bottoms, and Remo Falam Slam Pad on the bass drum.