Many punk, pop, and hardcore bands consider the Descendents one of the major influences on their music. The band itself started in 1978 and ended in 1988 when the lead singer, Milo Aukerman, left to complete his college degree. At that point, the band recruited a new singer and changed their name to All. Two more singers later, All continued to be fairly successful, but not in the same way that the Descendents were. Recently, after a long academic hiatus, Milo decided to get involved with music once again and got back together with the band. With a new release on Epitaph Records as the Descendents and a non-stop tour schedule, the band has proved they’re not growing stale with age. I had a chance to talk to the drummer, Bill, before their show at the El N’ Gee on Dec. 11, 1996.

DM=Dave Michaels (that’s me)
BS=Bill Stevenson

DM: Tonight, the Descendents are playing the El N’ Gee in New London. Next to me is Bill Stevenson, the drummer. Say "Hi" Bill.

BS: How’s it goin’?

DM: You sound like you got a sore throat or something, but I guess it doesn’t matter because you don't have to sing too much. Milo’s back on the mic and everyone’s psyched. Bill, let me start by asking you some generic questions. Influences? Who are they? I’ve heard you guys refer to the "Last" often.

BS: When we first started the band, our biggest influences were the Last, the Alleycats, and Black Flag.

DM: You were in Black Flag, right?

BS: I mean, before I was in it, when we started as kids.

DM: Since then, how many records have you guys put out?

BS: Around eight as Descendents, and then there’s the All records, that’s another seven or eight. It’s kind of a lot.

DM: For those that don’t know, the Descendents started out around ‘78.

BS: Yeah, we started back in 1978

DM: And then Milo, the original singer, went to college...

BS: Milo’s "went" to college several times in his life. But now he’s back in music.

DM: Well, it’s known that that Descendents are the roots of pop-punk and they’re back together, is this a permanent thing? Is Chad (the singer for All) coming back?

BS: Well, Chad never left. We are also still All with Chad. We’re basically moving forward with both bands at this point.

DM: Very cool...

BS: If you noticed, Chad did most of the backing vocals for the new Descendents album. So, it’s kinda like a two-headed baby scenario. Sorta like two bands that are heavily interconnected.

DM: How’s the current tour going?

BS: It’s going very good except for our van blew up so we’ve been driving around in the back of this U-Haul that doesn’t have any heat and so we all got kinda sick, but the tour itself has been real fun. It’s just the mechanics of the tour that has been kind of tedious.

DM: Is this the famous "Van" that’s been sung about and has been with you since the beginning?

BS: The van you’re talking about is "Nelly." We retired Nelly in 1991.

DM: God rest her soul...

BS: Then after that we bought another, sort of a small school bus thing that we’ve been using. But it blew up so now we’re looking into getting our third vehicle, whatever that may be.

DM: The new album, as you know, is doing great. Has the increase in success affected you guys at all?

BS: We don’t really notice it too much. It’s been really gradual along year after year of touring and practicing. We’ve managed to build somewhat of an audience out there out of all of it. So it really hasn’t been an over-the-night thing.

DM: The new album stands up to any of the old albums and, in my opinion, maybe is the best album yet. Now that punk is more mainstream, does anyone think that you guys have, or will, change your sound?

BS: That’s not very logical. If punk’s getting big, why would someone think we’d change our sound?

DM: I guess it goes along with the whole "selling out" thing. A lot of bands are getting signed to majors, which I think is can be a cool thing. I personally think a band sells out only when they change their sound or image to please the label. But, you guys have stayed consistent for almost twenty years. That deserves a lot of respect.

BS: We just play the music we enjoy and don’t have a lot of regard for the marketability concerns other people may have. We’ve been playing for 18 years and can’t really do anything other than play the music we enjoy.

DM: I was curious about the song "Thank You" on the new album. The song is about thanking a particular band for inspiration, but doesn’t mention who...

BS: It was intentionally left anonymous so that each person that heard the song could apply it to their own situation. It’s written about whoever’s favorite band, without saying who it is.

DM: Future plans? Milo is married now, is that gonna affect the band’s status at all?

BS: As far as future plans go, we’re gonna be on tour all next year and basically going all over the world wherever they’ll have us. There’ll be another All album in the fall with Chad. About Milo, yes he is married, how would that tie into future plans?

DM: I was just wondering if being in the band again would conflict with any ideas he may have of being the "family-man" any time soon?

BS: Everyone adjusts to different situations.

DM: Well, there’s a few bands opening tonight: the Swingin’ Utters, who didn’t show up...

BS: Yeah, what happened to them? What’s goin’ on?

DM: I don’t know.

BS: It better not be ‘cause they’re sick. ‘Cause we’re all f#*king sick and we’re still playing!

DM: The Bouncing Souls are here though...

BS: They’re sick too...

DM: Maybe they won’t show either. But BlowPop is playing right now and you guys seem excited to play despite your ailments. Bill, thanks alot, is there anything else that should be known?

BS: Naw, that about covers it, thanks a lot!