Interview with Descendents: Bill Stevenson talks new album, the Blasting Room, and, of course, coffee

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A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson for an interview at Southside Festival. The band played a gig on Sunday evening, the last day of the festival in Southern Germany. They were running late (I can't remember if it was due to traffic or lost luggage), so when they arrived, Bill and I did the interview standing between tour busses (as opposed to the quietness of a special interview room). It was one of my favorite interviews to date. I was wearing my Black Sabbath shirt (the one Tony Stark was wearing in the first Avengers movie) and Bill told me he had seen them on that U.S. tour in 1978. A nice transition to my first question concerning their live debut at this year's french metal festival Hellfest.

You played Hellfest for the first time this year. Did you do anything differently because it was a show at a festival focussed on metal, like did you pick your heaviest songs or something like that?

We pretty much just always do our thing. I don't think any of us are motivated or clever enough to try to anticipate what a crowd might want or not want. Maybe we leave it to the pop bands to figure that stuff out. We don't care. I'd love to go there again. It's such a cool festival site and everything. I had a great time.

You are working on new music and a new record. Can you tell us if there's already a title or a release date for the next album?

We recorded about 25 songs so far. We haven't finished the recordings on them. We'll probably record about 20 more and then kind of sift through them and figure out which ones we like the best. We don't have a title or a release date yet. It takes us longer because we don't go into the studio for like a month everyday, we don't do that the way most bands do. We kind of do it in our leisure, just so it's more fun. We each have a little workstation at our house. Milo has Pro Tools and a tiny studio in his house, so does Stephen and so do I. We can each record ourselves. I go do my drums at the Blasting Room because I own the studio but when I record Carlo's bass I do that in the basement at my house. When we're all finished we take it to the Blasting Room to mix it. I guess we just like to take our time. We don't want to to feel like we're under any kind of a schedule. When bands put out a record every two years or whatever, I feel like the quality just goes down. You gotta have good songs or you really don't have anything. 
Bill Stevenson (2nd from left) drinks up to
15 espressos before a show.  Photo: Kevin Scanlon

You will play in Lindau on August 5th. Have you been there before?

I honestly don't know. I started this band 40 years ago and there's so many things I don't remember.

It's part of the Punkrock Holiday Reloaded.

Oh! You're talking about punkrock holiday! We played it three years ago. I don't know, Lindau doesn't ring a bell. But Punkrock Holiday is my favorite of all the festivals.

The latest song you published is called „Who We Are“ and there's the line „In times like this we oughta stay together/But they just pitted us against each other/Just give it some time though and you will see/That we all have a common enemy“. I guess it's clear who you are singing about even if you don't name him. Do you feel like the US have reached that point already?

First of all the common enemy would be those fascist right wing narrow minded belief systems. It's not one human. That one human you are referring to, that's just one small part of the problem. We have hundreds and millions of people who voted him into office. And it's those belief systems that would allow that racism and fascism into our country. It's terrible. Hopefully we can get rid of them.

Do you have hopes for the 2020 elections?

I do. To me, Santa Clause could kick him out of office. I loved the idea of Bernie Sanders being president when he ran. I was very supportive of him, his platform reminded me of what Franklin Delano Rosevelt tried to do right before he died. He had a second bill of rights that he was proposing. It was like the right to a safe home to live in, the right to an education and these sorts of things. I guess you call it democratic socialism. I'm not into politics, but what I am into is I don't want my brothers and sisters and my friends to be starving to death and sleeping on a fucking park bench. Noone should have to live like that. It's our responsibility as people that have things, that have money to help those around us not to live poorly. That's not politics, and our song is not political, it's humanitarian. Talking about how to be a good human and that's something what I think we all should do. We should all just be good people. That's it, it's not complicated.


 Just two music nerds discussing
nerd music between two nightliners.   Photo: Me
You have produced a lot of important records at the Blasting Room studios, like Lagwagon's „Hang“ or „Exister“ by Hot Water Music. Is there a special band or musician who you'd like to record there?

I can't think of any because I usually work with the bands that I want to.

But is there still some unfulfilled dream or someone you'd like to record in the future?

Oh you know I would really love to record the Pears.

Pears like the fruit? I got to admit I have not listened to them yet. What do they sound like?

It's crazy music, it's definitely influenced by A Wilhelm Scream who I love so much.

I guess it would be hard to name a favorite band that you have worked with in the past, right?

I guess it is hard to single one out. What I've enjoyed about being in music in general and also about the producing work, songwriting, and drumming is the diversity. All the different things I've been exposed to. I love all of it, I don't have a favorite because I don't think of it that way. Like in your record collection: You didn't produce it, right, but what's your favorite records? It depends on what day of the week it is, on what mood I'm in...

Yeah, you can't even narrow it down to 50...

Yes exactly.

Le's talk about coffee. I read that you better don't drink coffee on a plane because the water comes from the tap and can be gross there. Do you drink coffee on a plane when you travel? And do you have a recommandation for your favorite coffee?

I don't drink coffee on planes but not because of cleanliness, I don't really give a fuck about that. I just...for me, it's just not wise to be pinned into a seat and be all high on coffee. If anything, I might have a vodka or anything just to keep me relaxed so I don't feel like a caged animal. Coffee is no good on a flight, it makes you too nervous. You can't be fidgeting and bothering everyone around you. So it's better to give into it, to yield.

So when is the best time for coffee?

90 minutes before we play. I drink between eight and fifteen espressos before we play. Even right now, I have not had coffee yet. At home we practice at ten in the morning. So I have it at 8.30 am when I wake up, I drink ten espressos then.

When you play festivals, do you rely on them to have good coffee or do you bring your own?

This bus, they put a small espresso maker in, not a pot, it makes great coffee, it's a lot like the one I have at home. That one I have at home is made by Delonghi. Milo bought it for me three or four years ago kind of as a present when I came home from his house helping him recording all his vocals. And when I came home there was an espresso maker for me. A lot of times the festivals have good coffee, it depends.

 You can buy tickets for the show at in Lindau on August 5th via the Club Vaudeville web page. For more information on the Descendents, check out their Tumblr page or their Facebook.