Descendents

Not to be confused with The Descendants (disambiguation).

The Descendents
Descendents performing in Austin, Texas on November 7, 2010.
Background information
Origin	Hermosa Beach, California
Genres	Punk rock, melodic hardcore
Years active	1978–1983, 1984–1988, 1995–1997, 2002–2004, 2010-present
Labels	New Alliance, SST, Epitaph, Fat Wreck Chords
Associated acts	All, Black Flag, Only Crime
Website	www.descendentsonline.com
Members
Milo Aukerman Stephen Egerton Karl Alvarez Bill Stevenson
Past members
Frank Navetta Tony Lombardo Ray Cooper Doug Carrion

The Descendents are an American punk rock band from Hermosa Beach, California. As of 2011, they have released six studio albums, three live albums, three compilation albums and three EPs. The Descendents broke up and reformed several times over the years, sometimes with different musicians. The band's current lineup is singer Milo Aukerman, guitarist Stephen Egerton, bassist Karl Alvarez and drummer Bill Stevenson.

History

Early years (1978-1983)

The Descendents were formed in 1978 by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson. Their first release—the only one with this lineup—was the new wavish single "Ride the Wild"/"It's a Hectic World".

In 1980 they enlisted Stevenson's old schoolfriend Milo Aukerman as a singer, and reappeared as a punk band, becoming a major player in the hardcore scene developing in Los Angeles at the time. Their first release with Aukerman, 1981's Fat EP, was a furious six-minute barrage of teen angst and humour, featuring such songs as "My Dad Sucks" and the eleven-second "Weinerschnitzel".

Their debut album the following year, Milo Goes to College, was more melodic than many other hardcore records of the time. They sang about being (and wanting to be) rejected ("I'm Not A Loser", "I Wanna Be A Bear", "Parents"), girls ("Hope", "Myage", "Marriage", "Kabuki Girl"), fishing ("Catalina"), and other emotionally sensitive subjects. Songwriting was shared among the band members.

First hiatus and reformation (1984-1986)

Milo Aukerman really was off to college, embarking on an education that would take him as far as a doctorate in biochemistry, while Bill Stevenson became the drummer for Black Flag. The Descendents did not record again until 1985 with the album I Don't Want to Grow Up. Much of the song-writing on this LP was much more sensitive than the band's earlier records, despite being peppered by songs such as "Pervert" and "No FB".

The band's lineup changed during the recording of I Don't Want to Grow Up. Navetta departed to become a fisherman in Oregon, and Lombardo left because touring was incompatible with his career as a postal carrier. Ray Cooper, who had originally replaced Milo as vocalist, then replaced Navetta on guitar upon Milo's return, and Doug Carrion (formerly of ANTI) replaced Lombardo on bass.

Enjoy!, their next album (released in 1986) was not well received by critics. It was a mix of silly songs ("Enjoy", "Kids", "Orgofart", etc.), and emotional, mature songs such as "Get The Time" and a cover of "Wendy" by the Beach Boys. The band even experimented with thrash metal on "Hürtin' Crüe".

After the Enjoy! tour, Ray Cooper got a job working in the emerging software scene and Doug Carrion left for other projects, eventually ending up in Dag Nasty. Stevenson invited Stephen Egerton and Karl Alvarez of Salt Lake City's Massacre Guys to replace them, and the now permanent lineup of the Descendents was in place.

All (1987)

The group released All in (1987), which, despite "Van", "ALL-O-Gistics" and the one-second "All", was the Descendents most mature 1980s album, and featured emotional songs such as "Coolidge", "Cameage" and "Clean Sheets". This would be the band's final album before their seven-year hiatus. On the reunion tour, the band that five years before had claimed that they "couldn't sell out a telephone booth" were selling out nearly every show.

With the release of All, the Descendents introduced to the world the driving concept behind their career's work, from which the album derives its title, the philosophy of ALL. The song ALL was actually written at the time of the philosophy's conception around 1980, in the midst of the song-writing fury that produced a number of the tunes from the "Fat" EP, including "I Like Food." Stevenson co-wrote these songs with best friend/fishing buddy/Descendents "Fifth Member," Pat McQuiston. The two came up with the concept while working a late night on the water, and fishing and coffee (Enjoy's "Kids" and Everything Sucks's "Coffee Mug") remained themes for Descendents songs and spiritual aids in the quest for ALL, which they define quite conventionally as "the total extent." The idea of ALL as a concept beyond this conventional definition is one of endless self improvement. "The total extent" is an all-encompassing greatness, the pursuit of which is endless and impossible, but which is also the source of all real happiness. Thus, "No, All!," speaks to the fruits of this "endless quest," and "happiness is the pursuit of ALL" is the viable credo which is often lost in the midst of the Descendents' slightly more conventional dual-motif of off-beat humor and girls.

Second hiatus and reformation (1988-2003)

Milo left after the back-to-back "All" and "Finall" tours in 1987 and the remaining Descendents reformed with singer Dave Smalley (later replaced by Scott Reynolds, who was followed by Chad Price) and reformed under the name All, and continued the legacy until 1995, when they reformed again with Milo Aukerman, now a full-time research biochemist, to record and tour in support of the album Everything Sucks, a bit of a return to their early-80s punk style (with Frank Navetta and Tony Lombardo making appearances on "Dog House" and "Eunuch Boy"). A reunion of sorts occurred at All's quasi-annual Stockage festival in Fort Collins, Colorado, in the spring of 2002. Frank Navetta joined Tony Lombardo and Bill Stevenson to play songs from when they were a trio, before Aukerman joined the group.

Recent history (2004-present)

In 2004 the band released the 'Merican EP and their newest full length Cool to Be You, which is among their more emotional releases to date. Containing songs not just about the regular Descendents lyrical themes, but also political commentary ("'Merican") and a more mature view on relationships, ("Talking", "Anchor Grill") and break-ups ("She Don't Care").

Until 2010, the future of the Descendents was uncertain, as the Descendents now are scattered all across the country. Aukerman apparently is living in Newark, Delaware, Stevenson and Alvarez live in Fort Collins and Egerton lives with family in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Stevenson currently runs The Blasting Room recording studio in Fort Collins while Egerton hones his recording chops at Armstrong Recording Studio in Tulsa. 'Merican's "I Quit" leaves only question marks as to whether Milo will ever return again to record or tour with the Descendents. Meanwhile, All remains dormant with two albums left on the back burners as works in progress. Bill Stevenson is drumming for his new band, Only Crime as well as an outings with bassist Alvarez in The Last and Evan Dando's Lemonheads.

The Descendents had collaborated with Vans in mid-2006 to create a Descendents signature shoe.

In November 2006, Tony Hawks Downhill Jam was released for Nintendo's Wii console sporting a rerecorded version of the song "Myage", originally released on the Descendent's debut album, "Milo Goes to College." This has raised more questions as to the band's recording of a new album, as it was supposedly recorded in 2006. According to the forum administrator of DescendentsOnline.com, the band's official website, "we initially planned to use the original version of myage, but as the deadline grew near, and for whatever reason, SST Records had not responded to the Tony Hawk people's inquiries about using the original, Bill put this new version together just in time using Milo's vocals compiled from various alternate recordings of "Myage" that we had on hand, and Bill just playing everything else himself, due to the deadline." All instruments on this version were performed by Bill Stevenson.

In October 2008, founding member Frank Navetta died after "becoming ill over the course of a few days".^[1][2]

As of August 2010, according to their official website, the Descendents have reunited again and will be playing one show in Austin, TX, in November and three shows in Australia in December on the No Sleep Til Festival. It was the band's first Australian visit.^[3]

On October 29, 2010, Transmission Entertainment announced that the Descendents would be headlining the 5th annual Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin Texas November 5–7, 2010.^[4]

The band was booked to replace the Sunday headlining spot previously held by Devo, who had to cancel due to injuries to guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh.^[5]

On November 17, 2010 it was announced that the Descendents have been confirmed to play the Groezrock Festival-2011. The festival will take place in Gestel, a part of Meerhout, Belgium. The event is set for April 22 & 23. The Belgian festival is celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2011. The Descendents will also be playing two shows in England at the Sheperd's Bush Empire on the 25 and 26 April, which will be their first visit to the UK since the "Everything Sucks" tour.^[6]

On December 19, 2010 Descendents played an historic set at Brisbane's RNA Showgrounds. Aukerman's voice had blown out after performing the previous two shows on the No Sleep Til Tour. To help with vocals, the band invited Fat Mike and Eric Melvin of NOFX, Matt Skiba and Derek Grant of Alkaline Trio, Al Barr of Dropkick Murphy's, Jay Whalley and Tom Crease of Frenzal Rhomb and Descendents road manager Jason Allen to help sing some songs, the fans dubbed it All Star Punk Karaoke and Descendents Karaoke. Aukerman also crowd surfed and let members of the audience sing. The band then proceeded to play an encore of two Black Flag songs (Nervous Breakdown and Jealous Again) with Alvarez on vocals, Aukerman on bass, Stevenson on guitar and Egerton on drums.^[7]

It was announced that the Descendents would play at the Long Beach Arena opening for Rise Against. This show was the band's first performance in the Los Angeles area since 1997. The line-up for the show was be Four Year Strong opening, with the Descendents as the main support for Bad Religion and Rise Against. The band was confirmed to be playing the 2011 Riot Fest Festival in Chicago, IL.^[8]

The Descendents played New York's Roseland Ballroom on Friday, September 23 and Philadelphia's Riot Fest on September 24, 2011.

Asked in October 2011 whether the Descendents will record new material, drummer Bill Stevenson replied, "We've always got new songs; the big question is, when we are going to have time to do that, just because this year we are playing about 18 shows." In the same interview, vocalist Milo Aukerman said, "Basically, I have limited amount of time I can do it, vacation days basically. Any recording we do would be at the expense of shows, so it's kind of one of these things like, well do you want to do more shows or do you want to sit down in a room and record? At some point, we will have to cross that bridge when we come to it, but for now we are just enjoying the shows so much. We do all have songs, I have written a few and I've never been that big of a songwriter, so if I can come up with two or three I'm pretty happy."^[9]

Discography

Main article: Descendents discography

Studio albums

• Milo Goes to College (1982)
• I Don't Want to Grow Up (1985)
• Enjoy! (1986)
• All (1987)
• Everything Sucks (1996)
• Cool to Be You (2004)

Band members

Descendents lineups
The left column lists releases recorded by each lineup (excluding compilations).

1979 "Ride the Wild" / "It's a Hectic World"	Tony Lombardo – bass, vocals Frank Navetta – guitar, vocals Bill Stevenson – drums
1980–82 Fat EP Milo Goes to College	Milo Aukerman – vocals Tony Lombardo – bass Frank Navetta – guitar Bill Stevenson - drums
1982–83	Ray Cooper – vocals, guitar Tony Lombardo – bass Frank Navetta – guitar Bill Stevenson - drums
1985–86 I Don't Want to Grow Up	Milo Aukerman – vocals Ray Cooper – guitar Tony Lombardo – bass Bill Stevenson - drums
1986–87 Enjoy!	Milo Aukerman – vocals Doug Carrion – bass Ray Cooper – guitar Bill Stevenson - drums
1987-88 All Liveage! Hallraker: Live! 1996–97 Everything Sucks Sessions Live Plus One 2002–04 'Merican Cool to Be You 2010–present	Karl Alvarez – bass Milo Aukerman – vocals Stephen Egerton – guitar Bill Stevenson - drums

Current members

• Bill Stevenson – drums (1979–83, 1984–88, 1995–97, 2002–04, 2010–present)
• Milo Aukerman – vocals (1980–84, 1985–88, 1995–97, 2002–04, 2010–present)
• Karl Alvarez – bass guitar (1987–88, 1995–97, 2002–04, 2010–present)
• Stephen Egerton – guitar (1987–88, 1995–97, 2002–04, 2010–present)

Past members

• Tony Lombardo – bass guitar (1979–84)
• Frank Navetta – guitar (1979–84)
• Ray Cooper – guitar, vocals (1982–87)
• Doug Carrion — bass guitar (1986–87)

References

1. ^ "Frank Navetta of the Descendents (-2008)". Punknews.org. http://www.punknews.org/article/31088. Retrieved 2010-03-23. 
2. ^ "The official site for the DESCENDENTS". DESCENDENTSonline.com. http://www.descendentsonline.com/. Retrieved 2010-03-23. 
3. ^ "> The official site for the DESCENDENTS". DESCENDENTSonline.com. http://www.descendentsonline.com/. Retrieved 2011-07-01. 
4. ^ "Descendents Unite to Headline Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010". http://funfunfunfest.com/news/14621. 
5. ^ by Greg(ctrl). "Devo forced to cancel due to injury, Fun Fun Fun Fest Booking ??? Replacement : Fun Fun Fun". Funfunfunfest.com. http://funfunfunfest.com/news/13561. Retrieved 2011-07-01. 
6. ^ "O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire | Descendents | Event information". O2shepherdsbushempire.co.uk. 2010-01-21. http://www.o2shepherdsbushempire.co.uk/event/23234/descendents-tickets/Details. Retrieved 2011-07-01. 
7. ^ "Descendents at No Sleep Til festivals, Australia â€" Gig review and photos from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane". Music Vice. 2011-01-03. http://www.musicvice.com/reviews/live/descendents-at-no-sleep-til-030111. Retrieved 2011-07-01. 
8. ^ "> The official site for the DESCENDENTS". DESCENDENTSonline.com. http://www.descendentsonline.com/. Retrieved 2011-07-01. 
9. ^ "Descendents Inteview - Bill Stevenson and Milo Aukerman". ThePunkSite.com. 2011-10-08. http://thepunksite.com/interviews.php?page=descendents. Retrieved 2011-10-30. 

External links

• Descendents at Allmusic
• Descendents Online
• Flipside Interview - Descendents interview from 1986
• Suburban Voice Interview - Descendents interview from 1985