"DESCENDENTS - All Grown Up"
Soundcheck - 2004

by Cherry Valance

       After ten years, marriage, several kids, and about a zillion cups of coffee, the DESCENDENTS are back. The founding fathers of the now inescapable "so-cal pop/punk sound" have just released Cool to Be You on FatWreckChords, and with it, prove that they still have it - sure as the caffeine pumping through their blood. Now, I grew up in a town, where back during the ‘80s, the DESCENDENTS were revered as sort of punk rock heroes. They were average guys, just like any of us, who would pass through town once in a while, and rock our worlds with their "chainsaw pop" songs about puppy love, breaking up, and being stuck in that place between adolescence and adulthood. Almost 20 years after they first started out on the road, the DESCENDENTS now write songs about marriage, their kids, and their relationship with a dying parent. The DESCENDENTS haven't grown soft. They haven't lost that espresso-driven power that marked their place in American Punk Rock History. They've just, well, grown up a bit....

SoundCheck Magazine: So why did you guys decide to work with Fat on this record as opposed to Epitaph?

Bill Stevenson: Oh, it’s probably the most obvious reason you could ever have for working with a label, which is that DESCENDENTS are Fat Mike’s favorite band, since he was a little kid. How many pictures of NOFX are there where he’s got that ripped up "I Don’t Want To Grow Up" shirt on? It's in like every picture that you see of them. He didn’t even bother to get a new one, he just had the same old one. So it is every band’s desire to be the favorite band of an owner’s label. That puts you in the ultimate position. So that worked out cool. They were just the most enthusiastic. But that having been said, Epitaph did a great job with Everything Sucks and I got nothing but good things to say about Epitaph.

SCM: What was the catalyst for you guys deciding to do a new record?

BS: As we’ve gotten older it’s just taken us longer and longer to do records. We've gotten more picky in our old age, more particular – particularly about material. It’s not like we didn’t speak to each other for six years and then went, Hey let’s do a DESCENDENTS’ album – it’s more like, O.K., we finished touring on Everything Sucks in like ’98 so by late ’99 we were throwing around demos and hey I got these songs and you got these songs, O.K., wait, wait the wife’s pregnant, I can’t do anything for six months really. And then like, Oh my wife’s pregnant….we had all these babies and then also my father – I moved my father into my house and took care of him during the last year of his life. So we kind of had all these things making it be delayed – things that when you’re just a high school band that you don’t have to worry about your father dying and things like that. I just think we moved a little slower but maybe the upside is that maybe now the quality is higher. We don’t just pump it out.

SCM: Are you guys planning touring behind this?

BS: Here’s another thing, Milo had another kid two weeks ago. Now he’s got a boy and a girl. Now Stephen’s wife is also pregnant and I’m not sure what the due date is, but after we get done with the baby stuff ….. I can’t see us climbing in the van and doing a million shows, but we’ll try to get around where if people want to see us, they can.

SCM: On the band’s website, there is a refence to the early DESCENDENTS as "hardcore." Do you think this is due to the bands you were playing with back then? (Black Flag, FU's, Straw Dogs...)

BS: Back then they used to call it chainsaw pop or like caffeine pop. I never really thought about us as being called a hardcore band.

SCM: I was kind of surprised when I read it. Hardcore would be the last word I would link to you. Are you still friends with any of the bands that you used to play with?

BS: Yeah I still keep in real good contact with most of the guys – all the guys in Black Flag and all the different singers that ALL has had, and the different guitar players. Yeah, I still get on with pretty much all of them. I think e-mail is really good that way because you don’t have to extend some huge effort to stay in contact with somebody. You drop Henry an e-mail on his birthday kind of thing; he drops you an e-mail, like if he meets Black Sabbath, you know that kind of shit. I need to get some time because there’s a few people that in high school that I was very fond of that I’d like to connect with and see what the hell they’re up to but I’ve never done any of that.

SCM: In school, were you guys massive geeks?

BS: Yeah, well not like Weezer geeks. I mean, we were like geek geeks – legit geeks, not like $150 sweater that makes people think they’re geeks….. I mean, I would be the guy that got harassed by the hotdogs thrown at their heads by the football quarterback or whatever.

SCM: Do you guys have any bands that you would love to go out on the road with?

BS: There’s a band called A Wilhelm Scream – I really like them. I like this band called Silent Drive. I’m hearing a lot of crappy shit on the radio, which is freaking me out but I’m also hearing a lot of really good bands that are sending demos all around. I think it’s kind of cool. I think the evolution of modern recording techniques has just made it to where everybody sounds exactly the same. It used to be that Karl sits kind of behind my rhythm when we play, that’s where he sits, when he plays with me, that’s how he plays with me. And that makes a certain sound. Whereas like say Hagfish – Donny sits about 20 milliseconds in front of Tony, that’s just where he sits. That’s what makes their rhythm section sound like their rhythm section and our rhythm section sound like our rhythm section. And the same can be applied to guitar and vocals and everything. But with the monitor and recording technique where everybody is just taking anything and putting it in the computer, what’s called quantizing it all, making it all perfectly tight with each other’s rhythms, it’s making everybody sound the same. Like the bands don’t sound different anymore because they’re all playing the same song anyway and now they’re all playing it the same way because of the computer. Nothing sounds different. It all sounds the same.

SCM: So which one of you in the band is the best musician?

BS: We all have our strong points – I’d say strictly from a feel standpoint, probably Karl. From a mechanical standpoint, probably Stephen – from a perfect, never makes a mistake standpoint. I mean I can play fairly accurately but I try not let it turn me into a robot. Milo in college he was actually taking music classes, so in a way, he had a more advanced harmonic knowledge than either of us did at an earlier age.

SCM: Does the concept of “ALL” still live within you?

BS: Yeah, the idea of “ALL” is just to not settle for – like one of my buddies says,"good in the enemy of the great." That’s just kind of another way of looking at “ALL.” Why settle for O.K. when you can do better. But if you become kind of compulsive, then it can get weird, too, and then you start drinking too much coffee and then you go psycho.

SCM: Well that leads me to what’s your favorite kind of coffee?

BS: The rules for coffee have changed so much since the DESCENDENTS’ “Coffee Song” heyday – it used to be you couldn’t get good coffee just any old way – you had to hunt it out, you know. Now you can get good coffee everywhere. But at the time it was either crappy coffee that your dad made out of Folger’s or whatever that you wanted to shoot yourself or else you had to go on a mission to get good coffee. I mean my coffee, I just like it the darkest, greasiest most disgusting beans – those are my favorites. So just like a dark Italian roast.

SCM: If you could only have one book, one album, and one person in your life, what would they be?

BS: Wait a minute – you’re asking me to choose like my wife OR my son or daughter?

SCM: No, that can all be one.

BS: I can’t win then.

SCM: Your family, your wife and kids can count as one.

BS: Oh, O.K., well in that case I can choose We Sold Our Soul For Rock and Roll. So I’ll choose that instead of just Paranoid. O.K., you’ve got my family, you’ve got We Sold Our Soul For Rock and Roll, and the book The Royal Path of Lives maybe. No, wait. Unbearable Lightness of Being maybe...

SCM: I’m actually reading “Identity” by Milan Kundera right now. The book “Immortality” changed my life. It just changed the way I look at things...

BS: Well let’s go with a collection of Kundera works then.

SCM: What’s your biggest fear?

BS: Not being able to take care of my kids.

SCM: What’s the first thing you think about when you wake up?

BS: See first question about what I’m afraid of. I have a three-year-old and a six-year-old and I spent the first 15 years of my adult life saying that I’ll never have kids, I don’t want kids, and now I’ve spent the last six years of it going man, I wish I would have kids ten years older when I had a little more piss and vigor in me and I could work two jobs or whatever without it killing me.

SCM: Are they the last thing you think about at night?

BS: Yeah, I mean most of the time they’re on top of me! If I’m working all day they don’t see me enough so they’ll get up out of their beds and come pile up on me.

SCM: If God were to speak to you right now what would He say?

BS: He would say, Don’t let materialism or vanity get in your way and cause you to neglect the things that you have to take care of.

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"The Dirty Dozen - 12-Question Celebrity Sexamination with Milo Aukerman"
playboy.com - 2004

by Antonia Simigis

       "I wanted her cherry/I got sour grapes." That's just one of the many musical gripes about love from Milo Aukerman, who has made a punk rock career out of not getting any. As frontman for the DESCENDENTS, the bespectacled singer has spent the last 20 years acting as spokesnerd for sexually constrained nice guys everywhere. "We weren't looking to use our music to get laid," he explains. "We just wanted to have an outlet to express our frustration at not getting laid."

       Over the years, Milo has lived up to his lyrics. Leaving the groupies to his bandmates, he opted instead to increase his daily caffeine intake to levels that would kill a bull, complete a Ph.D. in biochemistry, and even get hitched along the way. As the DESCENDENTS release their first album in eight years, we thought we'd quiz Milo about his sex life (and lack thereof).

1. We heard you started a band because of frustration with the opposite sex.

Milo Aukerman: I didn't know how to talk to girls, and I was convinced they thought they were too good for me. What then developed was a pretty typical case of teenage misogyny -- you know, You're not gonna fuck me, so fuck off! In retrospect, if I hadn't been so clueless about girls, I might have gotten laid a few times and then I wouldn't have been so pissed off.

2. What advantages do nerds have when it comes to women?

MA: Nerds can do their girlfriends' trig homework for them. Plus, all nerds have to hope that some women are put off by "macho" jock behavior, and will try out a more "sensitive" male. Although there's no reason to believe that a nerd would be any more sensitive to a woman's needs than a jock.

3. Do chicks dig glasses?

MA: Yeah, the ones who need to get their trig homework done.

4. Who was your ultimate teenage fantasy?

MA: I was really hot for Exene Cervenka of X. She wore sexy dresses and wrote great lyrics. To a 17-year-old virgin like myself, she seemed very dangerous.

5. How did you lose your virginity?

MA: I was 18. It was the first time for both of us, and it was terrifying. I had no clue, and didn't for a few more times. Then it got fun.

6. If you were a woman for a day, what would you do?

MA: I'd spend a lot of time playing with my new equipment.

7. Do scientists get laid a lot?

MA: There's nothing sexy about a scientist. We don't have science groupies or anything like that. Many scientists spend their evenings at the lab rather than in bed, so that's a thrill-killer. Then again, some lucky scientist invented Viagra, so they know a thing or two about getting off.

8. Does caffeine enhance the sexual experience?

MA: It can, if you do it right. Initially, caffeine will make you jittery, which is obviously not going to work well -- the "quick squirt" phenomenon. But if you drink a few pots of coffee and stay up all night, the next morning you will have a coffee boner. I have heard many a tale of marathon sex sessions due to the fortitude and longevity of the coffee boner.

9. Which DESCENDENTS song has the unlikeliest sexual connotations?

MA: I would say "Enjoy." It's a song about farting, but I used the word "queef" in it, not knowing that it's used to refer to post-sex vaginal expulsion of air.

10. What's the craziest thing a girl's ever done to score you?

MA: Show me her tattoo of my likeness on her crotch. It didn't work. Sex is already funny enough without having to look at a cartoon of yourself while doing it.

11. Do you have any nicknames for your dick?

MA: The pink palomino.

12. What's better than sex?

MA: When the sex is good, nothing. Sometimes ice cream can be better, but that's rare.

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"DESCENDENTS"
AMP (American Music Press) Magazine - 2004

by Dane Jackson

      When I was approached to interview Bill Stevenson for AMP, I said yes without any hesitation. It’s not everyday that you get to speak to someone who was so instrumental in developing the kind of person you are today and who helped you through some of those rough times as a teenager. If you don’t know who Bill Stevenson is and you’re reading this magazine, you should be ashamed of yourself. He’s only played drums in some of the more influential punk bands ever such as Black Flag, ALL, and DESCENDENTS. When he’s not spending his time with one of the few bands he’s currently in, Bill also serves as a producer and engineer at The Blasting Room, his recording studio. It was an honor for me to speak with Bill for this magazine and hopefully you, the reader, will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed conducting it. When you’re done reading this, don’t forget to go out and buy DESCENDENTS new EP ‘Merican, and pre-order their first full-length of original material since Everything Sucks. In my opinion, the band’s upcoming album, Cool To Be You, may just be the most anticipated album of 2004. Below is my interview with Bill Stevenson, a man who after speaking with him for 45 minutes, I feel like I’ve known him for years.

What made you want to use Fat Wreck Chords for your next two releases?

Fat Mike has been a huge DESCENDENTS’ fan since he was quite young, and he just was the person of all the labels that expressed the most enthusiasm. It just seemed like a natural choice.

Besides his enthusiasm, what did he offer that other labels couldn’t?

I feel as though, in the music business, that enthusiasm is really it. If you’ve got the owner of the label saying he wants to put out a record by what is probably his favorite band of all time, that’s rad. That’s the best possible position for a band to be in.

With the new album, how do you feel about it now that it’s done?

I’m stoked. I feel like the DESCENDENTS getting anything on tape that even remotely sounds like what they sound like is great. I feel very, very successful with this one in that way.

What kind of problems have you been having in that department?

Oh, well let’s see, where do we start? Milo Goes to College is maybe the closest one. I Don’t Wanna Grow Up sounds like all weird, reverby, crazy 80's shit. Enjoy is basically the drums are ten db’s too loud and you can’t hear the guitars and bass. DESCENDENTS All is like maybe the second best. Everything Sucks is pretty good too in that it’s real satisfying in the guitar department, but it doesn’t have the rhythm section elements that made the band known in the first place in All and Milo Goes to College. The new one’s got everything! Exactly the way I wanted.

Speaking of that. What is it like to produce your own band?

It can get weird. You tend to take longer because you sort of have to analyze everything by wearing two different hats. It can be tricky, but the fact of the matter is, I started recording, producing, and engineering, so that I could do my own band because I didn’t like the way people were doing it. So I started engineering and producing just for the sole reason of doing my own band. The DESCENDENTS isn’t really an elaborate production. To be honest, we played everything live together without any overdubs. Then the vocals were just done on top of that. So, there’s not layers of things, and reverbs and effects. It’s a pretty straight forward approach. I mean, there may have been one or two songs where we had to overdub a guitar solo or something, but by in large, we played the shit live together.

Do you think it was important to put out that EP before the album comes to give people a taste of what you’re about still?

It’s funny because, from the old DESCENDENTS fan’s point of view, it’s kind of like “What? Why did they put out this EP? It doesn’t even have the best songs on it. I waited seven years for this?” But from the newer kids perspective, it’s more like, hey let’s try to introduce this new decade of kids to DESCENDENTS so it’s at least on the tip of their tongue when the album comes out. So I can see the upsides to it, and the downsides.

What about the song “I Quit” though? They’re going to think you don’t want to be in a band anymore.

That’s the beauty of DESCENDENTS. We just tell it the way it is. If it’s about farting, it’s about that. If it’s about waking up one day and being fed up with the music business, it’s about that. That’s just the way we tell it.

Do you think people may get the wrong idea about that song?

No, I don’t. Most of the reviews I’ve seen, they actually take it as an attack on the annoying and cliche elements of being in a band, rather than seeing it like we want to quit.

That’s how I took it. I gave the EP a five out of five star review. Hope you don’t mind.

Fuck dude. That’s great. I’m 40, and you know, it’s so weird. I know when most bands get older, I know they start to suck. I’m sure in our own ways, that’s happened to us at times too. So, whenever we put out a record and people like it even a little bit, I always go wow, I’m so fortunate that I still have some ability to relate to people.

See, I think your release is one of the most anticipated of this year though.

Yeah, I’m really happy with it. I love the energy. I’m stoked, but that doesn’t mean anything because I made it.

Are you going to tour for it?

I can’t see us crawling in the van all year, but I know we’ll do some selected shows.

Like Warped Tour or something?

I don’t know. We’ll see what comes up. One thing is that Milo’s second baby is due the week the album comes out. It’s great for Milo. It’s wonderful that he’s having another kid.

How do you view the music climate today as opposed to when Everything Sucks came out?

It’s maybe similar, where as in ‘99 or 2000 it was kind of different. It seems like in some ways, people are receptive to what we do and it seems like there’s at least some amount of open-mindedness towards what we do. When you compare to say, the 80's when it was Bon Jovi and what have you.

Do you think it’s important that you’re still around and you’re still very influential, since you’re one of the older bands in the scene?

(Laughs) I don’t know. For me to think of us as important-for me to think of our band as important, is- I just think of it as fun and I hope people enjoy it. I mean the world would probably be okay without DESCENDENTS. I hope people enjoy it though. I suppose in our lyrics we try and have our own version of some kind of a positive message. We’re definitely not saving the whales or anything, right? (Laughs)

You were talking how Fat Mike is a big fan of yours. Who are you proud to say you’ve influenced?

Proud to say we’ve influenced? Probably that band Shapes Apart. Or another band called My Name from Tacoma. They broke up years ago.

Is Shades Apart still around?

I think Shades Apart may have broken up too. I can’t think of any new bands who claim us an influence of whom I’m proud.

Uh Oh.

No, I don’t mean that in a weird way. I just can’t think of one off the top of my head. I’m sure as soon as I hang up the phone, four or five will come to mind.

Is it kind of hard to do double duty with ALL and DESCENDENTS now that DESCENDENTS have an album coming out?

Well, it’s not really double duty because ALL and DESCENDENTS are the same people except for one. So, obviously they never happen simultaneously. So, it’s just split duty, not double duty. That part of it’s fine. When one band’s active, the other one isn’t. Plus, to tell you the honest truth, I’ve started another band.

What band is this?

I have a new band called Only Crime and Only Crime is me and Russ from Good Riddance and Zach from Hagfish, and Aaron from Bane. That’s been real fun too. I guess we’ve been doing that for five months now. (I hate to butt into somebody else’s interview here, but Russ sent me a couple of ONLY CRIME songs, and I haven’t been this excited about a band since, well, maybe Black Flag. This band is unbelievable!!- Scoot)

What kind of stuff is that?

Harder than DESCENDENTS or Good Riddance, but not quite hard as say - let’s say, somewhere between DESCENDENTS, Good Riddance, and Black Flag. Somewhere in there. Definitely harder music. Not as much emphasis on melody, but it’s not hardcore. It’s not metal or hardcore.

Any releases any time soon with that band?

Yeah, I’d like to think we can get something recorded and put out by the middle of the summer.

I was talking to Jay from Suicide Machines and you wanted to take his bass player away. He said that he was one of the best bass players you’ve heard in a while.

I like Rich’s bass playing a lot. At some point, I’d like to do some recording with him. He’s into some of the same stuff I’m into, King Crimson, weird things like that. I like the way he plays bass for sure. I produced their new record. I wouldn’t try to rip their band apart.

No, I don’t think he meant it like that. He said because you were so in awe of him.

I really like Rich’s bass playing. He’s one of the best younger bass players in punk rock that I’ve seen.

Speaking of all the bands you’ve produced., what was your favorite album you did last year?

Last year? I did this band. They’re so amazing… they’re called Wilhelm Scream. At the time, I did the record for a little teenie label. The record came out so cool, that Nitro bought it up and they’re going to put it out. Their arrangements are, it’s like listening to three bands at one time kind of. It’s got all the three and four part harmonies say of like Bad Religion, but then they have these very intricate guitar arrangements and very intricate song arrangements. It’s just fun to listen to. It’s just so cool.

What made you want to start The Blasting Room? Was it just to produce your own stuff, or did you want to produce other bands from the get go?

The truth is, when we started Blasting Room, it was just to record us. Just so we could have our own studio. As soon as we got it built, bands heard that we were building it, and they started calling and they wanted us to record them. It just had wings or legs of its own, and it just blew up into something that, at this point, I spend a good deal of time making records for other groups nowadays.

How does someone go about getting booked to The Blasting Room?

They can just call up here and we’ll talk and see what we need to do to get things going.

What do you offer that other recording studios don’t?

Well, to a group such as a hip hop group, I offer nothing. But to a group that is in some way connected with the music scene that I have, for so many years, been a co-contributor to, I offer them the experience of my years and my musical knowledge, as well as a good sounding studio.

What is it about the drums that made you want to be a drummer?

That’s probably one of those baby things, when you’re pounding on shit and beating on everything. Then somebody sticks a toy drum in front of you, and then you get a little older and then you’ve got a snare drum in front of you. Oh, he’s banging on things, let’s get him an instrument. And I just always found myself playing air drum with the KISS records, so it just seemed like I was born to be a drummer.

Is Peter Criss your favorite drummer then?

No. When I was very young, KISS was at the forefront of pop, so they were my favorite group for a little while. Then I got just a little bit older. Once I heard Black Sabbath, that eclipsed every other rock band for many, many years for me, until I heard Black Flag.

Speaking of Black Flag, what was it like being able to be a part of that band?

Now that band, referring to something you mentioned a while ago, you used the word important. I felt that Black Flag was an important band as opposed to DESCENDENTS. That may sound like blasphemy coming from me. DESCENDENTS is a fun band. Black Flag is an important band. I don’t mean the Black Flag I played in. I mean the one that I used to go watch when I was a little kid. I loved Black Flag. It meant more to me than anything in the whole world has ever meant to me. I’ll always have a special feeling about Black Flag and what great effect those lyrics and that music had on me as a young person trying to find my personality and trying to escape the one my Dad was trying to put on me, my Dad being a very conservative person. I embraced what Greg and Chuck had to say, and that enabled me to find inside of me, an open-minded person, a liberal person. Not someone who, like my father, seemed to have a negative thing to say about everyone who wasn’t like him.

You consider yourself a liberal person. What did you think of the State of the Union last night?

I can’t fucking believe that person is even - he shouldn’t even be allowed to be - he should be locked up somewhere.

Are you going to contribute to the Rock Against Bush comp that Fat Mike is putting out?

I contributed to it a lot. I recorded three of the songs, plus we’re putting a DESCENDENTS song on there. I gave him an Anti-Flag song, and a Rise Against song, and a DESCENDENTS song.

How do you feel about that project?

The sooner we get rid of him, the better. It’s we who are old enough to know better, but not too old to quit giving a fuck. It’s we who have to do it. I’m not a very political person and I’m not particularly an intellectual person. You know, neither is Fatty, but he’s like “You know Bill. I have to fucking do this. Someone’s got to do it”.

Do you think the Democrats have a chance of getting him out this year?

Yes.

Which guy?

That’s a good point you’re making. Let’s put it this way. I hope someone can stand out. Who knows what’ll happen. Necessity is the mother of invention I guess. We’ll see what somebody can do. I’d rather have one of my asshole friends running the country than Bush. Pick somebody you know, anyone. He is a scary man. All the stupidity aside, he’s a scary dude.

When he finishes a speech, he always looks like the proud little boy who just took a shit by himself for the first time. He always has that little smirk on his face.

(Laughs). Yeah. I know what you mean. That’s funny.

Going back to Black Flag, how did you feel about that little show they did over the summer?

I was in the middle of working on an album when they did that, so I didn’t see it, so I didn’t know how it went. I talked to Greg and Dez and Robo during the week, because we called each other since they were in town. It sounded like they had fun. I heard a lot of different reports as far as how it came off, but as long as those guys had fun, mission accomplished.

Does Milo having a PhD intimidate you at all?

Milo’s my best friend in the whole world. I watched him struggle through his degree for a better part of a decade. I’m happy for him. I’m so happy that he found Robin too, his wife. Now they’ve got one kid, Owen, and they’re having another kid. I’m just happy for him that he found something he was able to immerse himself in so fully.

With the new album, what’s your favorite thing about it?

My favorite thing about it? Oh boy. Okay, my personal favorite thing about it is probably the song “One More Day”.

Why’s that?

It’s about my father. He and I always had a terrible relationship. We spent a good part of my adult life being somewhat estranged from each other. He became ill and I took care of him for a little while. And then he died. That song is just about his and my relationship. Just to get that out of me and not holding it inside anymore, is a huge relief for me. I’m all fucking upset now.

I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get you upset.

No, it’s not you. It’s just that whole situation that does it to me. Every single time I hear that song “One More Day”, it just freaks me out. I’ve never, ever written a song that’s freaked me out that much. It’s just weird.

Did you find it necessary to put it on the album?

There’s a long history of me subjecting our listeners to all of that vulnerability. Like “Clean Sheets”, or “She’s My Ex”, or “Silly Girl”. That’s my trademark (Laughs). So yeah, I did want to put that song on the album, even though it would probably just bum everyone out and depress them. I guess everyone has those kinds of feelings inside them.

Is that the kind of thing you can play out live then?

Sure.

When you’re playing live, is it one of those things where you distance yourselves from the song and just pay attention to what you need to be doing?

No, often times I just sit back there and scream (Laughs). Fucking scream. I don’t have any imagination. I’m not a very creative person and I don’t have any imagination, so the way I connect myself with songs and art is tapping into to what I feel and what’s real for me. A lot of times, it’s that stuff. That’s how it is.

Do you see it more as entertainment or therapy?

It’s therapy. Only. Totally. Only therapy, not entertainment at all.

I mean for other people. Is it more important to be entertainment for them, or therapy for you?

Oh. Well, you know what. Maybe it can be therapy for them a little bit too. We get letters all the time from kids saying “Your lyrics got me through high school. These girls dumped me” and that whole thing. Maybe it can be a little bit of both.

Is there anything that you haven’t been able to cover in this interview that people should know about?

Let’s talk about ALL for a second. ALL hasn’t had an album in a while. Both DESCENDENTS and ALL, we’ve been getting used to being, some of us have become parents recently. People are used to ALL putting out an album every year or two, where as they’re used to DESCENDENTS not putting one out very often. Just let everyone know, that even though ALL’s been working a little slower than we sometimes do, a lot of it has to do with the fact that we’ve been studying other kinds of music and trying to grow a little bit.

Where do you see ALL going with the next album then?

The next thing I want to do is going to be largely instrumental, or at least not so vocally-oriented. The Minutemen comes to mind. A quasi-be bop structure to it ala Charlie Parker and Dizzy’s first recordings, but then with some of the very, very advanced harmonic notions of Ornette Coleman. Obviously, we’re not playing jazz, but take that be bop structural template, but maybe some of the free jazz looser harmonic descriptions and trying to do an album with guitar, bass or drums in that way.

Okay, so you wouldn’t use brass or wind instruments?

No. When I say be bop, I mean structurally speaking. So where you establish a theme in the beginning over the next times you play the part, and then maybe you return to the original theme at the end.

Is it a conflict of interest to have ALL on Epitaph and DESCENDENTS on Fat?

ALL isn’t with Epitaph anymore.

That live album was the last thing?

Yeah.

Do you think Fat Mike would put ALL on Fat?

I know that Mike isn’t as fond of ALL as he is of DESCENDENTS, so we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it. ALL will always be the band guilty of not being DESCENDENTS, no matter how good we are.

Do you think that’s fair?

Sure, it’s fair enough. I judge people all the time in similar ways. Why wouldn’t they judge us? It’s not necessarily complete or accurate, but I don’t mind being judged in that way. Every single thing I touch can’t be famous and huge.

Does that make you want to work harder at ALL because you have to live in DESCENDENTS’ footsteps?

From the inside, from where we sit, it’s really all one band. So, there’s not that kind of competition if you will.

Is it hard for you to distinguish the ALL sound from the DESCENDENTS sound when you go into do an album?

No. There fully isn’t at all. If DESCENDENTS were doing an album in 1998, you could bet that “World on Heroin” would have been on a DESCENDENTS album. If ALL was doing an album, “One More Day” would probably been on an ALL album. It just depends on what we’re doing at the time. We don’t write ALL songs and DESCENDENTS songs. It’s just kind of songs.

Here’s a cheesy mascot question. Who would win in a fight, ALLroy, or Milo?

If we try to personify the little cartoons, we assume the Milo guy is smarter, so that would mean the ALLroy guy is a little more physical. I’ve never thought of it.

Would he ever hit a guy with glasses though?

If the guy with glasses was trying to deter him in his quest for ALL, he might just hit him.

Do you have any last words for the fans and the critics and whoever you want to have last words for?

(Laughs) He who laughs last, laugh - No, I think we covered it pretty well. We did launch our web site. I’ll give the thing in there. We just launched it a week ago. It’s descendentsonline.com.

It’s no longer an offshoot of the ALL site?

No. We got our own site up now finally after 25 years.

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"Ten Questions With Milo"

-Dane Jackson

      Because Bill, Karl, and Stephen make up the musical backbone of both DESCENDENTS and ALL, the main distinction between the two bands becomes the lead singers. Chad Price sings for ALL, while Milo Aukerman has vocal duties for DESCENDENTS. As a supplement to my interview with Bill, Milo sat down to answer a few questions as well. Read on if you’re curious about some things from Milo’s perspective.

I spoke with Bill the other day and he said you have a baby on the way. How do you feel about being a dad?

This baby is actually number two for me; I have a son who's one and a half years old. I guess you could say the DESCENDENTS have finally grown up! Now all of our songs are about adult life, like having kids ("Maddie"), or watching your parents die ("One More Day"), but we still like potty humor ("Blast Off"). Being a dad is great because there's plenty of potty humor to deal with. Like describing my son's efforts, "was it a cowpat or soft serve?" So I'm digging it.

It's been a while since the last DESCENDENTS' album came out. I know the other guys also play in ALL, but did you personally feel a bit rusty when laying down the tracks?

I tried to prepare for the sessions by singing on my own, so I wasn't completely rusty. Plus, many of the songs I had been singing (by myself) for the last few years, so those were easy to do. The frustrating thing is that I tend to sing really hard and then very quickly lose my voice. So we had to spend several days in between each vocal session to let my voice rest.

What has changed about you as a person and as a musician since Everything Sucks?

With Everything Sucks I was really looking for an outlet for my frustration. I'm not so frustrated right now -- I have a career in science that I enjoy, and a family. So my motivation lately is more purely creative, like the lyric from Dry Spell: "I just want to create, it doesn't matter how I do it." I enjoy creativity in music, and in my scientific career. So I'm having a blast right now, doing both!

Do you feel people view you as a role model because you're a lead singer? How do you feel about that responsibility?

I've always thought that was a bunch of crap. I know some people view me as the leader of the band, because it's a natural tendency in pop music to focus on the singer. But as many DESCENDENTS fans know, Bill is the major motivator and creative force behind the band. What I do is provide the geek quotient, and I'm damn proud of that. So if I feel any responsibility, it's to give all the geeks and nerds out there hope.

What message are you trying to get across with "I Quit"? Are you afraid people might take it the wrong way?

I can't even count the number of times I've quit this band, dating back to 1982 and Milo Goes to College! Like most of my songs, "I Quit" is my attempt to capture those emotions that come and go, the transient ones. Those types of emotions, to me, make for the best songs because they tend to be extreme! So there is no "message" to the song, just me spewing about the negative aspects of band life. At the time I wrote the song, I really did want to quit. I don't really care how people take the song; as the line says, "I don't give a flying fuck what you think of me." You can say oh boohoo poor rich rock star, but no. 1, I'm not a rock star and I don't make millions of dollars (I make more money in my current career for example), and no. 2, the singer catches every disease possible on the road, especially if he shares his mic with the audience! That's no fun. I absolutely love playing live, but the tours are less fun when you're sick or you miss your family.

Are you using 'Merican as sort of a reintroduction of the band for people?

The 'Merican EP is the appetizer for the main course, the Cool To Be You full length CD coming out in a few months. I don't know if "reintroduction" was what we had in mind; more like "check out what we're doing NOW”, because there's no part of the 'Merican EP that is a retread of anything we've done in the past. Some of the songs are major departures for us, like "Here with Me," and the hidden track "Alive." Even the title song is actually a stretch for us; if you look back on all the songs we have done, there are very few that have any "political" content in them. Nevertheless, the music has the same DESCENDENTS energy we've always had, so that's still the same.

Do you think it's hard for the other guys to switch gears from ALL back to the DESCENDENTS?

I don't think so; whenever we do a live show together everyone has a blast. They are such great musicians, it's really not hard for them to switch.

When it's all said and done, what do you feel is your greatest accomplishment as a musician?

Probably helping to destroy the misconception that you had to dress cool, be good looking or take lots of drugs to have a successful band. Just being myself on stage and in recordings meant that my nerdiness became part of the equation, and I'm happy that it's a defining quality of our band. My music publishing name is "Nerdcore," for example. I think nerds make the best punks, anyway; all that spastic energy!

Now, besides being in a band, you also have a PhD. What's a bigger rush- knowing that you finally finished your schooling and earned your PhD or recording and releasing an album?

To be honest, finally embarking upon my scientific career has been the bigger rush, because of the many years of toil that went into it. Music has always, and will always be a hobby for me and not a career. Nonetheless, I got a lot of creative satisfaction out of the release of 'Merican and Cool To Be You. To be able to have music as a hobby, but still be able to record music and have other people hear it, is to me a great situation, and I feel extremely lucky. All in all, the last few years have been some of the most exciting of my life, because all these different creative pursuits -- science, music and (the ultimate one) spawning a rugrat -- came to fruition at the same time.

What does the future hold for the DESCENDENTS?

I will always be best friends with the rest of the band, so you will never see an "ugly breakup." That much is clear, but in terms of playing live and recording, the future is not clear. The "music as hobby" notion tends to limit our activities. I can envision the occasional show, but no big tour. Another album is a possibility, but nothing is certain.

Any last words?

Stay away from the chili verde.

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"It's ALL Or Nothing For THE DESCENDENTS"
MUSIC (News * Music * Interviews) - June 18, 1987

by Bill Templeton

      As a hard-core band, The DESCENDENTS have always managed to sidestep the inherent redundancy of the limited musical form by incorporating pop substance and variety into their high-speed mesh. On albums like Milo Goes To College (1983), I Don't Want To Grow Up (1985), Enjoy (1986), and their latest, ALL, The DESCENDENTS have balanced an all-out musical aggression with an irreverent lyrical attitude, melodically stinging guitar lines and inventively anchored drumming, to force critics and fans alike to invent new categories with which to define them.

      They're far too energetic for mere rock (check their gregarious cover of The Beach Boys' "Wendy" for proof of that) yet their arrangements and execution are much more musically inclined than typical hard-core (see the new LP 'ALL'), but they still appeal to both camps with a refreshingly uncalculated mixture of both.

      The band played Chances Teen Club in Tampa last week as part of their '"FinALL tour.'" Lead vocalist Milo Aukerman will be leaving the band after this tour, though guitarist Stephen Egerton, bassist Karl Alvarez, and drummer Bill Stevenson will carry on with new vocalist David Smalley (of Dag Nasty) as a new band, entitled ALL.

      Music chatted with 23 year-old spokesman/songwriter/producer and drummer Bill Stevenson about the new band and its intended direction.

So this is the final tour for The DESCENDENTS?

Yes. We're going to be re-forming the band with my friend David Smalley who's going to be singing with us. He was with Dag Nasty.

Basically, Milo is leaving, David is joining the band and you're changing the name of the band to ALL! Why change the name?

Well, basically, I've been wanting to work with David for a long time; but at the same time, Milo has stuck with me for almost nine years now, so I wouldn't exactly feel right about just continuing to call us The DESCENDENTS. In a sense that would be kind of like discrediting Milo's nine years worth of effort. It's kind of like, "Let the DESCENDENTS be my and Milo's sacred thing," or whatever. Who knows, at some point later on we might decide that we want to get together and record something.

From a friendship standpoint that sounds like a noble gesture; but from a business standpoint, wouldn't it be in your best interest to hang onto a name that's built a solid reputation?

Well, I guess I don't really care much about the business application because the whole reason I play music in the first place is for fun. I see that side of the whole thing, but I've been wanting to change the name of the band to ALL for eight years. And I'm going to do it now. I'm really into "ALL"' and I've waited a long time to unleash the whole concept on people. And now I'm going to do it.

What exactly is the concept?

It's just a way of thinking, in which there are extremes and there is this goal called 'ALL.' It's a way that I created in dealing with achievement and satisfaction and how the two relate. Basically just to avoid stagnation... going for "ALL" and never being satisfied and just wallowing in your own sameness.

How about stability? The DESCENDENTS have always seemed to have an on/off kind of a career. Will that change with the new band?

No, I don't necessarily see that because I've never ever seen that in any band I've ever been in. Musical groups are like being on a merry-go-round. You get on and off and somebody else gets on, it goes up and down... you never really know who you're going to be in a band with. I guess I just haven't run into quite as many people who are as committed to a given musical project as I have been. Maybe I'm just a little cynical but when it comes to the concept of a stable band... I'll believe it when I see it.

Does the name change represent a shift away from any kind of hard-core affiliation?

Not consciously. We don't worry too much about the image, good or bad. I mean we don't wear any clothes or hairdos that would put us in line with any given musical genre and I don't think that we play music that would put us in line with too many of them either. A lot of those (hard-core) bands have sort of clung to some of the stuff that we innovated, in a way, so now I guess we're sort of associated with it. But when we started, I didn't even know what punk rock was. We just played in a band called The DESCENDENTS. It kind of came to us, I think, and that's OK... I kind of like that. I don't mind being associated with punk rock but I would mind being associated only with punk rock.

You've built up a good rep as an aggressive pop band with a hard-core attitude. Does that categorization accurate to you?

It sounds accurate, but it doesn't sound complete. I think that we do all kinds of music, particularly more so now with the new record. We've broadened our horizons a lot more with this one. It's the kind of record I've always wanted to do but we've always fell short-Hopefully we will always continue to be open-minded and diversified mentally, opening up to new ideas musically and lyrically.

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"20 QUESTIONS WITH MILO AUKERMAN"
JUICE - SOUNDS, SURF, AND SKATE MAGAZINE - September 1995

by Charles Glover

      Front man from the caffeine-filled, pioneering punk gods the DESCENDENTS sheds some light on his life with the world’s coolest band ever, as well as his perspective on music nowadays and a general recap on what he’s accomplished in the last eight years or so.

      Fill up your Bonus Cup and ENJOY!

1. You joined the DESCENDENTS in 1980, the year after the release of their debut single (Ride The Wild/It’s a Hectic World), which they released as a three piece. How did your addition come about?

Bill went to my high school and used to peddle the single during nutrition and lunch. My friend Jeff bought a copy; I listened to it and was hooked. So the next weekend, Jeff and I went to watch the DESCENDENTS practice. At the time they had a female singer who wasn’t showing up to practice – so I said, "here, I’ll sing 'Hectic World'!" It wasn’t an audition, since they already had a singer, but I guess it got them thinking. Bill later said I didn’t initially impress them as a singer, but I had plenty of spastic nerd angst – and that was enough. The other singer, Celeste, went on to other L.A. music projects (I’m drawing a blank here on the names…).

2. What was the ambition or goal of the early DESCENDENTS?

Personally, I was just looking for catharsis. For me, the band was an outlet for a lot of pent-up frustrations. Lyrically, it’s pretty obvious that we were all outcasts. We absolutely refused to play the stupid high school popularity games, and a lot of our early songs comment on that. I guess our earliest ambition was to annoy the hell out of all the people in school that treated us like shit. Musically, we wanted to play as fast and tight as possible, with as much melody as we could muster at the time. The issue of ‘major label deal’ just never came up, because the L.A. underground scene at that point was self-sustaining; we could get gigs through the SST crew, and the Minutemen helped us put out records.

3. What inspired or instilled that ambition inside you?

The best way I can describe this period is with one word: Coffee. Other inspirations were people in our school (as I said above), and cool music occurring in L.A. (Germs, X, Black Flag, Last).

4. Was that ambition ever lost or altered as a result of the constant lineup changes in the DESCENDENTS?

Actually, the ambition became more of an ‘us against the world’ thing with me and Bill. As people left the band, we actually bonded tighter and became even more determined to document our frustrations in music.

5. Now with you as the front man, the DESCENDENTS released their first EP and LP on SST – Fat and Milo Goes To College – classics indeed! You then went to college, right? Where did you attend and degree did you earn?

I went to UC San Diego in 1982, and got a B.A. degree in Biology in 1986.

6. While you were in school, which was also the period that the I Don’t Want To Grow Up LP [1985] was released, were the DESCENDENTS an item? How much were you able to play? I know Bill also joined Black Flag… were the DESCENDENTS put on the back burner during that period or did you guys still try to keep a rhythm?

During 1982-1983 the DESCENDENTS actually continued without me for a short period, with Ray Cooper singing. But he actually wanted to just play guitar, so I would come up to L.A. to play the occasional show. Then Bill joined Black Flag and the DESCENDENTS were on hiatus – no shows or recordings during 1983-1985.

7. The DESCENDENTS then released Enjoy (1986) and ALL (1987), as well as two live LP’s recorded in 1987 – Liveage and Hallraker. Following the last DESCENDENTS tour how did your exiting come about? It seems like the DESCENDENTS were reaching their peak. What led up to the split and how did the rest of the band handle it?

This is a difficult subject, because it’s hard to explain why I would give up one passion (music) in order to explore another (science). It would have been just as easy to give up science and stay in music. I think that what tilted the scales was that, at the time I was making this decision, I wasn’t very confident about music, especially composing, and it was making me somewhat miserable. In retrospect, I’ve realized that anything creative that you really care about is going to drive you nuts, regardless. At any rate, I made a decision to at least explore the science option in 1986, then told Bill and the guys, who completely understood. Bill has a healthy respect for nerd-like activity in all forms.

8. I understand that you are now a Post-Doctoral Trainee at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, working in the Biochemistry department?

Yes, I’m currently doing a post-doc at UW; I got my Ph.D. in San Diego in 1992.

9. What sorts of things are you focusing your life on now? What is your ambition or goal now?

Well, I recently got married, so that is an important focus of my life. I would also eventually like to get a faculty job. One thing I would really like to do is get back into music somehow, but obviously not as a full-time deal. Trying to figure out how to juggle music and science has been my number one frustration of the last ten years…it drives me crazy sometimes, because I would love to be in a band now but have ZERO time to commit to it.

10. Dave Smalley, Scott Reynolds, and Chad Price have all furthered the ALL achievement list as front men. Chad’s been singing for a few years now, isn’t it time for someone new [jokingly]?

No way! Chad’s the young whippersnapper of the band; he’s doing his growing up in public. He’s only just begun on his quest for ALL. Now, he may eventually become jaded or settle for some, or even none. But I think he’s taken the band in a new direction (i.e. heavier), so it would be really disappointing if they didn’t continue exploring that sound further.

11. What is your perspective on ALL? Do you think they have gone on to actually achieve ALL? Are they riding the wave the DESCENDENTS paddled out for?

No one actually achieves ALL, if you did you’d probably vaporize into pure spazoid energy… but it is something to always strive for. And I think ALL (the band) is staying true to the course. Aside from being my best friends, I really think they hit a groove with Pummel, especially in songwriting. They have been accused of being too much like the DESCENDENTS, but when you like to write certain types of music (i.e. pop punk), it’s reasonable that you should continue doing that under a new moniker, as they have done. Plus, the music has definitely progressed from what the DESCENDENTS were doing.

12. I was talking with a friend of mine who interviewed Goodbye Harry – this is 3rd generation information, so I can only assume it is true – my friend said that Scott Reynolds left ALL because he (Scott) felt that ALL was losing focus of why they were in a band. Scott felt that he just wanted to write songs and have fun and that to ALL each song had to be THE song. He didn’t have a problem with wanting to write a good song, but he said they were trying to be rock stars or something. Again, this isn’t directly from the source, so correct me if I’m wrong or shed some light!

Well, it’s true that each song has to be THE song – that was the modus operandi from the start, and I think it’s a worthwhile approach to songwriting. Especially if you want to achieve ALL! So it almost sounds like Scott was objecting to the intensity of their creative process. I don’t know many details behind Scott’s leaving, but I doubt that ALL wants to be rock stars – although they may be obsessed with writing the perfect pop song, a completely different ambition. I would admit to that obsession myself.

13. You’ve sang back up on some ALL records, and I’ve met people that have been at the one or two lucky shows a year where Chad will throw his voice out and you’ll fly in to do the set. Does that make you miss everything? Do you ever regret stopping when you did?

I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss it. I do sometimes regret leaving, but I still think it was the best decision for me. Like all decisions, you take the good with the bad and there has been plenty of both.

14. A friend of mine has a copy of the record from the band you were in after the DESCENDENTS… I can’t recall the name. What was that all about?

The band was called Milestone; we played together for about a year in San Diego, 1988-1989. The bootleg floating about is a live radio show we did – we never recorded in a studio. It’s now out on CD – caveat emptor, this is live, and I was singing out of a guitar amp!

15. Are there any new bands in your future or in your present?

Nothing planned. After Milestone, I had to admit to myself that being a research scientist and being in a band are not very compatible with each other… maybe I’ll figure out some way of doing both, someday…

16. Do you have a favorite era of DESCENDENTS life? A favorite release, or song? Do you still keep in touch with old band members and friends?

The best days were when we were playing around L.A. and up in the Bay Area with all the SST bands, there was a real camaraderie that in retrospect was very unique. That was in 1980-1982. The later years were more noteworthy for the grueling three-month tours, but these really solidified my friendship with Bill especially. Having spent many days in a sweaty, stinky van together, we have a lifelong kinship. I see him as often as possible, several times a year. At Christmas we go caroling together.

17. You’ve mentioned before that you don’t feel like a veteran of the punk rock scene, instead you feel like a naïve participant. Is that mainly because the majority of current punk rock or music in general is Big Business and not about playing music with friends and having fun?

Although it is obvious that punk is Big Business these days, I’m sure the same camaraderie and DIY spirit that I experienced is out there in the local scenes. However, when a band like Green Day makes it big, do you think some kid is gonna say, "I wanna start a band and go apeshit wild and say fuck the world," or are they gonna say "I wanna start a band, and get real popular." Bands these days may pay lip service to the notion of DIY, underground, etc., but with the examples of other hugely successful bands now imprinted on their brains, I think it’s impossible (or at least) impractical to be as naïve as I was back then.

18. Is that what SST stood for – starting a network with friends and their bands and having fun – and as a result of correct motivation and hard work being successful? Was success even a consideration for SST and the people involved?

Success has to be an issue for any record company. SST was no different, but to them success was, "There are all these cool bands around, let’s give them an outlet for their music!" Of course, a lot of those cool bands happened to be their friends, too. Monetarily, they didn’t do so well, but more than any other factor they epitomized the DIY spirit that existed in the ‘scene’ at that time.

19. If you wanted people to remember anything from the DESCENDENTS what would it be? Or would you rather they just listen and ENJOY?

Listen and ENJOY, definitely. Hopefully, our manifesto comes out in the music. "Join us if you’ve got the energy!"

20. Who do you consider to be the current flag-bearers of punk rock’s original purpose?

Unfortunately, the true flag-bearers are bands that I probably haven’t even heard of! I just saw Goodbye Harry a few weeks ago, and the club was completely empty. Scott just rolled up to the mic and started belting, full-on energy level. One reason for the small (nay, nonexistent) turnout was undoubtedly that Face To Face was playing across town. The point is: punk rock is about being outcasts, and consequently no one knows who you are or goes to see you play, but you still rock hard, because you’re doing it mostly for yourself. Personally, I would call Goodbye Harry a flag-bearer, and Face To Face is… well, a good band.

Last Words?

I really like Hagfish. That’s it!

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