Descendents
Descendents are an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Manhattan Beach, California, by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson as a power-pop/surf punk band.[1] In 1979, they enlisted Stevenson's school friend Milo Aukerman as a singer, and reappeared as a melodic hardcore punk band,[1] becoming a major player in the hardcore scene developing in Los Angeles at the time. They have released eight studio albums, three live albums, three compilation albums, and four EPs. Since 1986, the band's lineup has consisted of singer Milo Aukerman, guitarist Stephen Egerton, bassist Karl Alvarez, and drummer Bill Stevenson.
Not to be confused with Descendants (2015 film) or Descendents (2008 film).
Descendents
- 1977–1987
- 1995–1997
- 2002–2004
- 2010–present
- Tony Lombardo
- Frank Navetta
- Ray Cooper
- Doug Carrion
- David Nolte
History[edit]
Early years, Fat EP, Milo Goes to College, and first hiatus (1977–1984)[edit]
In 1977, friends Frank Navetta and David Nolte began writing songs on acoustic guitars with the intention of forming a band.[2] They initially called themselves "The Itch", until Navetta came up with the name "Descendents".[2] By the end of the year they had failed to attract any more band members, so Nolte left to join The Last with his brothers.[2] In late 1978 Navetta, joined by drummer Bill Stevenson, and with Nolte switching from guitar to bass, revitalized the Descendents project.[2][1] Nolte sang with the group at several of their early performances alongside Navetta, but by the spring of 1979, The Last were becoming more active and he left the Descendents again, being replaced by bassist Tony Lombardo.[2] The lineup of Navetta, Lombardo, and Stevenson recorded the band's debut single at Media Art studios and released it on their own label, Orca Records, named after Stevenson's fishing boat.[2][1][3][4] Navetta sang "Ride the Wild" while Lombardo sang "It's a Hectic World". Nolte produced and mixed the session, and his brother Joe turned the lead guitar level up, resulting in the guitar being very loud in the mix.[2]
A caricature of singer Milo Aukerman has been a mascot for the Descendents since the early 1980s, appearing on the covers of five of the band's seven studio albums. The character was created by Rodger Deuerlein, a classmate of Aukerman and drummer Bill Stevenson's at Mira Costa High School who taunted Aukerman by drawing comic strips and posters depicting him as the class nerd.[2][43] "He usually used me to make campaigns for people running for class office. [...] I remember him making one that said 'Don't be a nerd like Milo, vote for Billy!' or something like that."[2] For the cover of the Descendents' first album, Milo Goes to College (1982), Stevenson asked friend Jeff "Rat" Atkinson to draw his own interpretation of Deuerlein's Milo character: "I go 'Roger does the drawing'", recalled Atkinson, "He goes 'No, you gotta do it.' I said 'Okay, what kind of Milo do you want?' So I draw him a Milo. First was the crew neck T-shirt, then I drew the polo shirt Milo, then I drew the Milo with a tie, because he goes to college. Bill goes 'Oh, that's it', and it becomes the cover of the first record."[43] For the band's 1985 album I Don't Want to Grow Up, the character was reinterpreted as a baby.[11] When the band's name was changed to All upon Aukerman's departure in 1987, bassist Karl Alvarez created the character Allroy to serve an equivalent function for the new band.[44]
In addition to appearing on much of the Descendents' merchandise and promotional materials, the Milo character has been reinterpreted by other artists for all of the band's releases since 1996:
Legacy and influence[edit]
The Descendents have been cited as hugely influential to a large number of modern-day punk bands such as Blink-182, MXPX, NOFX, Green Day, Pennywise, Propagandhi, Rise Against, The All-American Rejects, The Bouncing Souls, The Offspring, and The Ataris.[48][49] "Everything about how I sing and play guitar came from this band [...] Blink is absolutely a product of The Descendents," said Blink-182 vocalist/guitarist Tom DeLonge in 2011,[50] while vocalist/bassist Mark Hoppus called "Silly Girl" from I Don't Want to Grow Up (1985) "the first song that really altered my life. [...] It spoke to me in a way that nothing did."[51] In 2014, Filmage: The Story of Descendents/All, a documentary on the band, premiered. The film features interviews with Hoppus, Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, and Mike Watt of Minutemen.[52]
Milo Goes to College has been included in several lists of noteworthy punk albums. Spin has listed it several times, ranking it No. 74 in a 1995 list of the best alternative albums and No. 20 in a 2001 list of "The 50 Most Essential Punk Records", and including it in a 2004 list of "Essential Hardcore" albums.[53][54][55] In these lists, critic Simon Reynolds described the album as "Fifteen Cali-core paroxysms that anatomize dork-dude pangs with haiku brevity", while Andrew Beaujon called it "Super clean, super tight, super poppy hardcore about hating your parents, riding bikes, and not wanting to 'smell your muff.'[54][55] In 2006 Kerrang! ranked it as the 33rd greatest punk album of all time.[56] The German edition of the Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time ranked it at 349.
In 2016, a Descendents branded IPA entitled "Feel This Coffee" was released by the San Diego branch of Mikkeller Brewery. It is named after a track from their 2016 album Hypercaffium Spazzinate.[57]
Documentary[edit]
In 2013 Rogue Elephant Pictures, an Austin Texas-based film company, announced the pending release of Filmage: The Story Of The Descendents / ALL, a film by Deedle Lacour and Matt Riggle. The documentary film has more than 40 interviews with band members past and present and keynote commentary by associated musicians such as Keith Morris of Black Flag, Mike Watt of the Minutemen, Kira Roessler of Black Flag, members of Rise Against, and many more. The film was released on June 15, 2013.[58]
Studio albums
EPs