Fire From Above With BILL STEVENSON From DESCENDENTS

Interview by Kris Peters
The modern generation of punk music lovers have been brought into a
sanitised world where punk music is more about the music than the
attitude. While not a fatal death blow to the genre - there are
still punk bands killing it - gone are the days where punk bands
would rather fight or wreak havoc than be respected by their peers.
They have been replaced with an almost universal acceptance of the
movement that became a genre, and one which, no matter how hard
emerging bands try, will never be the same as the era that spawned
it. One such band to come out of the Southern Californian punk
scene in the mid to late 1970s that is still terrorising
concertgoers everywhere is Descendents, a band who are widely
recognised as having one of the most enduring legacies of any punk
outfit in history. Next week the Descendents touch down on this
side of the world, starting in Auckland on October 11 before
hitting Australia for a run of shows that promise to take you back
to the glory days where punk began - whether you like it or not!
Drummer Bill Stevenson sat down with HEAVY not long before lacing
up the boots for yet another assault of the Land Down Under. "Yeah,
yeah, yeah," he smiled when we ask if he is already packed and
ready to go. "I've got my checklist out and everything. It's funny,
the older you get you've gotta have a checklist before you go on
tour (laughs). It used to be I wouldn't even think about it. Just
one change of clothes and that's it let's go." I jump in and quip
something about the frailties of getting older to which Stevenson
shoots back. "I don't know if it's frailties. You get more…
specific about how you like things, so you've gotta bring some
stuff with you to make it that way (laughs)." While not being a
massive tour, the Descendents still have a decent stretch of six
shows a considerable distance from home, so we press Stevenson on
what sorts of things he does to prepare himself mentally and
physically for life on the road. "I don't think anything special,"
he measured. "The older I get I try to watch the things I eat and
get some decent sleep each night And practice. Three days on, and
then one day off. Three days on, one day off until we get to that
level where everything's just going smoothly. Plus I have to do my
stretches. I like to do my stretches every day. I guess technically
you could call it yoga, but I find that's too stuffy of a term for
me. I just call it my stretches (laughs)." In the full interview,
Bill talks about what we can expect from the shows, what has
changed with the band since their first tour here in 2010, what
songs he loves playing live, the early days of Descendents and
where they fit in, their early vision and how it has changed since,
joining Black Flag in the 1980s and how hard it was to ultimately
have to choose between the two bands, how the punk scene has
changed over the years, his three commandments of punk and more.